KEYSTONE XL UPDATE

On Wednesday, May 3rd, several hundred Pipeline Fighters and landowners showed up in force to testify at the Nebraska Public Service Commission’s (PSC) 10-hour public meeting on TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline at the Holthus Convention Center in York, NE.

Pipeline opponents “steeply outnumbered” those who spoke in favor of KXL, the Omaha World-Herald reported, and 135 people in total stood to testify during the meeting that lasted from 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Bold live-streamed the majority of the testimony and our Pipeline Fighter press conference on Facebook.

Click here to view full video, photos and media coverage from the May 3rd public hearing on Keystone XL.

The PSC confirmed it is planning another “public meeting” on the pipelnie route before the August 7-11 intervenor proceedings; Bold will send an update when the PSC announces details.

*If you haven’t already: Submit a written comment now to the PSC with your concerns about Keystone XL.

In addition, Bold has now filed its first round of legal motions in the official “intervenor” process at the Nebraska Public Service Commission. Bold makes the case that Keystone XL is not needed, and furthermore would be all risk and no reward for Nebraskans — not in the public interest.

Bold’s intervenor filings with the PSC elaborate on five key arguments:

• Keystone XL isn’t needed: There is no U.S. demand for additional tarsands pipelines, so Nebraska should not risk our natural resources so that Canada can get their tarsands to the export market.
• TransCanada is a foreign corporation using eminent domain for private gain: The company has bullied landowners with threats of eminent domain, when they had no authority to do so. If the PSC grants TransCanada the power of eminent domain, it will be the first time in Nebraska’s history that a foreign corporation is allowed to seize Americans’ land for corporate gain.
• Bold’s Build Our Energy barn is an asset for Nebraska: The solar-powered barn built in the path of Keystone XL is a site with aesthetic and economic value, providing a venue for events and generating electricity that Nebraskans use to light and power their homes and farms.
• Keystone XL is all liability for Nebraska: The pipeline would offer minor short-term revenues that will be replaced by generations of risk.
• Nebraska’s water is our most valuable resource: Keystone XL could do immeasurable and irreversible damage to our world-class aquifer, farmers’ wells, and the over 200 bodies of water including the Niobrara River in the path of the pipeline.

Bold asks TransCanada for proof that Keystone XL is necessary and in the public interest, given current market conditions with low oil prices, as well as available capacity on other pipelines like its own Keystone 1, Kinder Morgan’s “Trans Mountain,” Enbridge’s “Line 3” and Energy Transfer’s “Dakota Access.”

Bold also asks TransCanada to provide details of its “shipper agreements” with oil companies looking to ship their oil via Keystone XL, as well as details and projections for a proposed “on-ramp” for U.S. oil to be transported via KXL.

Read the full text of Bold’s intervenor filings with the Public Service Commission.

The costs of fighting Keystone XL at the PSC include hiring attorneys and experts for the landowners who refused to sell their land to TransCanada; Bold’s attorney and experts we are hiring for the intervenor process; and our on-the-ground organizing to bring supporters to the intervenor hearings, rallies and other events scheduled Aug. 7-11 in Lincoln.