Page 12 ■ Thursday, November 24, 2011


NATION & WORLD


Nebraska lawmakers give second approval to Keystone XL pipeline bill


By GRANT SCHULTE Associated Press


“This one’s on the house.”


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makers avoided a drawn-out political fi ght Nov. 17 after a prominent critic of the planned Keystone XL pipeline backed away from his proposal to keep nearly all oil lines out of sandy-soil hills that sit atop an enormous U.S. water supply. A plan to regulate major oil pipelines


LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska law-


in Nebraska sailed through the second of three required votes. The bill by state Sen. Annette Dubas of Fullerton would place the state Public Service Commission in charge of pipeline developers who want to build in Nebraska. Gov. Dave Heineman called the spe- cial session last month to address mount- ing worries that the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline could leak and foul the Ogallala aquifer, a groundwater supply beneath Nebraska and parts of seven other states. The $7 billion crude pipeline would


move oil from Canada through Mon- tana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma before it connects with Texas Gulf Coast refi neries. Debate over the pipeline has drawn


Associated Press


Speaker of the Legislature, Neb. Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk, addresses lawmakers in Lincoln, Neb., Nov. 16. A measure that would trigger an environmental review of proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline routes within Nebraska has won legislative approval, despite criticism that state taxpayers will foot the bill.


international attention focused largely on Nebraska, and pipeline operator TransCanada announced Nov. 14 that it would voluntarily reroute the pipe- line in the state after environmentalists and landowners protested its pathway through the rural Sandhills. But national environmental groups have said they will actively fi ght the project along any route because of potential environmen- tal threats. TransCanada spokesman Shawn


during bill hearings aimed at oil pipe- lines. “Real Nebraskans who attended the


the wrong time, then shame on us.” The State Department still has to ap-


hearings and spoke on their own account sent an overwhelming message,” Haar said. “They want it made clear that the Sandhills should be avoided — avoided, not excluded.” Haar had introduced a bill earlier


Howard said the reroute will avoid the Sandhills, but keep the same proposed entry and exit points on Nebraska’s borders. He said the company will like- ly need to secure between 100 and 200 new easements from landowners on any new routes that win approval. Howard said landowners who are no longer in the pipeline’s path will have easements removed from their property titles, and can keep the money TransCanada paid for the land. State Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm,


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to create “exclusion zones” where pipes larger than 8 inches in diameter could not run. The measure would have pre- vented the Keystone XL from running through the Sandhills, certain cold water streams or other regions where ground- water is near the surface. The proposal stayed in the Legisla-


ture’s Natural Resources Committee, which has voted out two other bills to the Legislature. State Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala


a critic of the pipeline, introduced an amendment Nov. 17 that would have designated the Sandhills an “avoidance zone” and banned major oil pipelines from the area unless pipeline developers can show they have no reasonable alter- native. Haar later withdrew the amendment,


after saying it refl ected the will of Ne- braska residents who testifi ed last week


warned that Haar’s measure could un- dermine the state’s agreement with TransCanada, which has garnered wide- spread support in the one-house Legisla- ture and praise from Heineman. “That’s why it’s rather disturbing to


me to think that what we all have found that we can agree on, that we come back and see people wanting to move further down the road than where we are,” Schilz said. “I think that’s dangerous. We have to understand that, really, this is quite a fragile arrangement we have here. We need to make sure this moves forward. If we let this fall apart because of trying to do too much too soon, or too much at


prove or deny the entire Keystone XL project, because it crosses an interna- tional border. On Nov. 10, the federal government delayed a decision on a fed- eral permit for the project until it stud- ies new potential routes that avoid the Sandhills area and the aquifer Members of Bold Nebraska, which opposes the pipeline, said they were still concerned because lawmakers have not passed a measure that specifi cally protects the Sandhills. The group said TransCanada has not confi rmed in writ- ing that it will avoid the Sandhills. Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada’s president for energy and oil pipelines, committed ver- bally to rerouting the line Nov. 14 dur- ing a news conference to announce the agreement. Dubas’ bill would require petroleum pipeline developers to seek a permit from the state’s Public Service Commission for lines larger than six inches in diam- eter. Companies would have to provide a description of the proposed pipeline route, why it was selected, descriptions of materials used, a plan to mitigate spill damages and other information. State Sen. Paul Schumacher of Co- lumbus also tried to insert language in the bill that would give Nebraska the right to lay fi ber-optic cables for pipe- line monitoring, safety and broadband for Internet services. Lawmakers rejected the amendment.


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