Posted by Dennis Pybum
Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman approved the Keystone XL reroute proposed by TransCanada and forwarded his support for construction of the pipeline to President Obama and the Department of State.
This is a very positive and key step in the KXL approval process, report proponents of the project, including Montana's leaders in economic development.
In January 2012, President Obama rejected the Keystone XL proposal due to concerns raised by Nebraskans over the pipeline's potential impact on environmentally sensitive areas in their state. The State Department must now make a determination on the project, following public comment.
Shortly after the announcement, more than half the US Senate – 53 Senators — urged quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ramping up pressure on President Barack Obama to approve the private enterprise project.
TransCanada worked closely with state regulators to design a new pipeline route and implement additional environmental protection measures to alleviate Nebraskans' concerns. In a letter to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton , Governor Heineman explained that the new route will have minimal environmental impacts and avoids the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region and other areas of fragile soil in northern Nebraska. Heineman also points out that the construction of the KXL pipeline will result in $481.1 million in economic benefits and generate up to $13 million in local tax revenue.
The State Department, which is currently undertaking a Draft Environmental Impact Study on the new pipeline, will factor Governor Heineman's recommendations into their report. Once completed, the State Department will open the Draft Environmental Impact Study for public comments and then make a determination on whether KXL is in the national interest. After the national interest determination is made by the State Department, the decision to approve or deny the permit rests solely with the President.
The President should feel confident that the concerns of Nebraskans have been addressed by both the state review process and TransCanada. He should immediately approve the KXL pipeline for the benefit of our nation and its workers, stated Matthew Koch, Vice President, Institute for 21st Century Energy.
From the other side of the controversy, saying Nebraska's Governors decisions "stems from a flawed process," Josh Morgerman of the National Resource Defense Council, said, "This decision will not ease the concerns of Nebraskans worried about the impacts a spill could inflict the sensitive environments the pipeline would pass through. Moreover, Governor Heineman's decisions has no bearing on the fact that an approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would be fundamentally inconsistent with the plan to address climate change that the President outlined in his inaugural address."
Underscoring that the opposition's concerns are not so much pipeline safety as they are about the advancement of the fossil fuel industry, Morgerman pointed out that their political strategy has other opportunities to block the Keystone XL. "Before the northern portion of the pipeline moves forward, the State Department is obligated to finish its supplemental environmental impact study on the entire project. It could come out at any time now, and should point to be biggest issue associated with the whole scheme: carbon pollution. If we are going to get serious about climate change, opening the spigot to a pipeline that will export up to 830,000 barrels of the dirtiest oil on the planet to foreign markets stands as a bad idea."
Read the full article at Big Sky Business Journal