Sadly, Clinton's State Department approved the pipeline last week. Feh. Seems quite ridiculous to me, given this map. Most of the XL's route duplicates that of the Keystone 1, which was repeatedly found to have problems. I guess they want to pump bigger, better, faster, more!
Well we can do bigger, better, faster, more, too! Last week's unfortunate approval was not the end of this fight, thankfully; there is still a lot we can do. According to gchaucer, State's approval kicked off some more review periods, first with EPA, then the White House. So what can we do?
Write letters to the editor, for one thing. Throw out lofty phrases like "NASA scientist say this will push global climate change to the point of no return." Speaking of NASA scientists, James Hansen will be protesting at the White House today.
Join him if you can! Then you can write an LTE about your protest experience with him! Seriously, though, letters to the editor rock. So does sitting in with the other protestors at the White House. And, of course, there is the petition to sign.
And there is some goodish news to be had; a Nebraska group is now organizing to oppose the routing of the pipeline through the Oglalla aquifer. As well they should:
The pipeline would pass through Nebraska’s Ogallala aquifer, which provides more than seventy per cent of the state’s drinking water and more than eighty per cent of the water used for irrigation. Because tar-sands oil is so thick, it has to be diluted in order to flow, and one of the solvents that is commonly used is benzene, a known carcinogen.
Benzene is some seriously nasty business and absolutely not something one wants in the water supply. It saddens me to think that the aquifer is the only objection to the pipeline for some, but I suppose we have to take what we can get. If the aquifer gets us there, great.
Right now -- this is the bad news -- it definitely looks like we are swimming upstream on this one. There are six states affected by the pipeline plan; five of those governors support the project. The sixth, Nebraska's, is pulling a NIMBY and opposes it only because of the aquifer. He would be perfectly happy to see it somewhere else, though.
So, if you are in the following states, please call your Governor and get everyone you know to call as well: Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas. I know, I know; calling Governor Goodhair is rather futile, but he is trying to win over a national audience right now. Let's keep in the spotlight in the bad way. Demonstrations at state capitols would be good for those who can't make it to D.C.
Nebraskans are especially lucky, as such goes in this case, because Senator Mike Johanns has set up two public meetings to discuss the pipeline:
Nebraskans will have a chance to weigh in on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route at two meetings scheduled in September.
U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns says the meetings he requested will be held on Sept. 27 in Lincoln and Sept. 29 in Atkinson.
Goooooooooooooooo, Nebraskans, go! This makes letters to the editor all the more important there, since Johanns is looking for pubic input. It is also true that Nebraska has somehow fared a lot better than most states during the downturn; the economic appeals for jobs pushed by the proponents won't hold as much sway there.
So, the Cliff's Notes version: Protest at the White House Today with James Hansen. Sign the petition if you haven't. Get all of Nebraska on red alert for those public meetings. Call the Governors of the states affected. And everybody everywhere, please write LTEs and call the White House.
Let's cause the pipeline a death by 1,000 headaches!