Activists gathered on Sunday in Nebraska to march through the streets in protest of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The pipeline fighters hoped to raise awareness of the environmental dangers the oil pipeline poses right before weeklong public hearings on the pipeline are scheduled to begin.
This week environmental and citizen advocates, Native American Tribes, and Nebraska farmers and ranchers will present evidence on Keystone’s hazards to the Nebraska Public Service Commission. The groups hope to prove that the tar sands pipeline is unnecessary and not in the public interest.
Nebraska officials eager not to hear from homeowners during #KXL hearings. Oil ind. is so devious, but on we fight https://t.co/zBbcod9dTR
— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) August 4, 2017
Jane Kleeb, president of Bold Alliance, a group that will be present during the hearings, put it simply: “Keystone XL never has been and never will be in Nebraska’s public interest. This is a foreign pipeline, headed to the foreign export market, wanting to use eminent domain for private gain on Nebraska landowners. We are confident the PSC will follow the rules they set forth and reject the proposed route that still crosses the Sandhills and risks the Ogallala Aquifer.”
Nebraska residents believe that the pipeline threatens water supplies, such as the Ogallala aquifer, and Nebraska farmland.
The coalition of groups, which includes environmental advocates like the Sierra Club, 350.org, Bold Nebraska, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Greenpeace, have been working tirelessly, collecting public comments from citizens of Nebraska and around the country on people’s concerns about Keystone XL’s affect on property rights, water, and climate.
The groups will present these comments to the Nebraska Public Service Commission offices on August 10.
COMMENTS