LISTEN: Keystone XL Decision Day Telepresser for media:

  • Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska founder
  • Brian Jorde, attorney for Nebraska landowners (Domina Law Group)
  • Art Tanderup, Nebraska landowner on Keystone XL route
  • Chairman Larry Wright Jr., Ponca Tribe of Nebraska
  • Eriel Deranger, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
  • Bill McKibben, co-founder 350.org
  • Michael Brune, Sierra Club
  • Lorne Stockman, market analyst, Oil Change International
  • Anthony Swift, Canada Project Director, Natural Resources Defense Council


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2017

Contact:
Mark Hefflinger, Bold Nebraska, mark@boldnebraska.org

Keystone XL Partially Denied; Landowners Vow to Keep Fighting

Keystone XL route map showing the “mainline alternative route” that was approved by the Nebraska Public Service Commission.

Lincoln, NE — Landowners in the path of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on Monday vowed to continue to fight after the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) partially approved the Keystone XL pipeline route — relegating it to the “mainline alternative route” instead of TransCanada’s “preferred” route directly over the Ogallala aquifer and fragile Sandhills.

Jane Kleeb, Bold Alliance president:
“Keystone XL will never be built. We must protect the Sandhills and Ogallala Aquifer from a risky export pipeline and eminent domain abuse,” said Bold Nebraska founder Jane Kleeb. “TransCanada was already on thin margins to get their pipeline in the ground, and there is simply no reason they are not forced to move these last 50 miles of route as well, in order to avoid the Sandhills and our water.”

Art Tanderup, landowner on Keystone XL route:
“We are disappointed that the Commissioners approved Keystone XL, and have chosen to place the route through the most fragile soils and over and through the Ogalalla Aquifer — refusing to see the value of our natural resources,” said Art Tanderup, a farmer on the Keystone XL pipeline route near Neligh, NE. “The PSC has decided that a foreign corporation is more important than Nebraska citizens. Their message is that it is OK to abuse property rights, land use rights and indigenous rights. When the state should be moving forward with more renewable energies and a statewide energy plan, the Commissioners are allowing the dirtiest of fossil fuels to accelerate climate change.”

PHOTOS 2010-2017: https://flic.kr/ps/TcHNP (For media use with proper photographer credit)

Background and Next Steps:

Landowners, Tribes, Bold and other official intervenors now have the option to within 30 days file an appeal in the Nebraska courts of portions of the PSC’s decision, to ensure that property rights, cultural and natural resources receive maximum protections. Separately, intervenor parties may also petition the Public Service Commission for a rehearing within ten days of the decision.

As landowners, attorneys and other intervenor parties consider legal options, Bold Nebraska has announced an expansion of the Solar XL project, and will continue crowdfunding to build additional solar installations with landowners in the path of Keystone XL.

Nebraska landowners in the path of Keystone XL have successfully defended their land and property rights for over seven years — testifying at countless federal, state and local hearings, battling eminent domain for private gain in the courts, and engaging in creative resistance alongside Bold Nebraska.

During a weeklong intervenor hearing held by the PSC in Lincoln in August 2017, Nebraska farmers and ranchers, The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Yankton Sioux Tribe, Bold Alliance and other environmental advocates presented strong evidence and witnesses who testified that TransCanada’s tarsands export pipeline is unnecessary and not in the public interest.

Pipeline opponents vastly outnumbered proponents who showed up to testify at four public meetings on Keystone XL held by the Public Service Commission in Norfolk, York, O’Neill and Omaha, voicing concerns about the state authorizing the use of eminent domain for a foreign corporation to take their land for a private gain pipeline that threatens the Ogallala aquifer and fragile Nebraska farmland.

The PSC also considered the voices of KXL opponents from Nebraska and across the country who submitted nearly 500,000 written public comments with their concerns about Keystone XL’s threat to property rights, water and climate.

More details on the Solar XL project:

SOLAR XL: Resisting Keystone XL by Building Clean Energy in the Pipeline’s Path

# # #