Part of a three part series on the Keystone XL Pipeline and Nebraska
Hopefully by now you’ve heard of the Keystone XL Pipeline (also known as the Keystone Gulf Coast Expansion), a tar sands pipeline proposed by Canadian company TransCanada that would bring Canadian tar sands oil from Alberta through Saskatchewan before entering Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma before ending up at its final destinations in Port Arthur and Houston, Texas.
While there are many non-profits, environmental and tribal groups currently fighting this pipeline, this first post of a three part series will focus on the largest issue threatening Nebraska, my home state. This is not to skirt over the horrible effects (dirty extraction, threats to tribal lands/water, a furthered dependence on fossil fuels and insanely large contributions to global climate change) that the pipeline will have on the other impacted areas in Canada and the United States, but Nebraska has a lot to lose from this pipeline being installed, and a lot to gain from fighting it. So, lets jump in.
Often in fights for environmental and climate justice, the realms of economy and environment are separated and exclusive. However, in Nebraska, OUR ENVIRONMENT IS OUR ECONOMY. Nebraska is an agricultural state first and foremost. Our economy is not as diverse as states like California because the large majority of our state is agricultural land and regardless of some of the potentially negative aspects of our agricultural economy (mono-cropping, GMO crops etc), this is how we exist. Without a pristine natural environment, our crops can’t grow…and what would a world without the famous Nebraska sweet corn be like?
And the Cornhusker state’s agro-economy can’t survive without water.
Nebraska is the nations leading irrigation state because of a precious and invaluable natural underground water table: the Ogallala Aquifer. This proposed pipeline threatens the environment and economy of Nebraska because, if approved, the tar sands pipeline would be installed four feet under the ground directly over sections of the world’s largest aquifer, which provides fresh drinking water to 2 million Americans, stretches over 174,000 square miles and provides 46% of irrigation water used by Nebraska farmers and ranchers.
While the Ogallala stretches over 8 US states, the large majority of the aquifer lies under the fertile soil of Nebraska, home of the Cornhusker’s. One thing we know about oil pipelines is that it is not a matter of if they break, but when they break…in the past year alone there have been breaks in China, North Dakota, Minnesota, Utah and Texas. While these spills are serious business, they pale in comparison to what would happen if this proposed pipeline broke over this precious water source. It is roughly estimated that one gallon of oil can contaminate up to 1 million gallons of water, so the threat this pipeline poses cannot be ignored, especially in Nebraska.
This is only one of the threats that the Keystone XL pipeline poses, but it is the most pressing. We cannot ignore the negative effects this pipeline will have on the Nebraska Sand Hills, a unique landmark composed of natural sand dunes stabilized by tall prairie grasses and home to the migrating Sand Hill Crane, but all of it revolves around the Aquifer. It has been referred to by many as the “lifeblood of Nebraska” and can not, should not and will not be compromised!
Look for the next post, which will explore the consequences of this proposed pipeline on the families and landowners (read: farmers and ranchers), whose land this pipeline will run through and what they are doing to fight it!
Filed under: agriculture, Dirty Energy, global warming, Impacted Communities, Oil, Tar Sands 
