TransCanada / TC Energy just submitted an application for permits to build a “mancamp” to house hundreds of workers for its proposed Keystone XL pipeline near the town of Plainview, Nebraska.
The city of Plainview (pop. 1,195) in Pierce County (pop. 7,148) is not far from the largest nearby city of Norfolk (pop. 24, 651), in the state of Nebraska where Covid hospitalizations are on the rise [1], and amid reports of Covid filling up hospitals in small cities. [2]
The Plainview zoning board will meet this coming Monday, Aug. 3rd at 7:00 p.m. at the Plainview Library to discuss TransCanada’s mancamp application.
(Note: While Bold is not encouraging anyone to attend indoor public hearings or events during the coronavirus pandemic, the meeting *is* open to the public. Jane Kleeb plans to attend and we will update with a report-back on Monday’s meeting, and details of any future public meetings on the proposed mancamp.)
Bold is calling for a full and open public hearing process to review TransCanada’s mancamp application that includes the ability to participate remotely on video via Zoom.
Tell Plainview’s elected officials: Reject the Keystone XL mancamp.
We are outraged that this foreign corporation continues to plow forward with needless endangering of pipeline workers, public employees, and communities along the proposed KXL route during the coronavirus pandemic, despite lacking a key construction permit for waterways — and in the face of Joe Biden’s pledge to yank the KXL permit, and power as President if he’s elected to pull any pipe up out of the ground.
The mancamp itself presents a clear and present danger to communities surrounding Plainview, and all of the other rural towns where TransCanada is proposing to build mancamps during Covid.
Under-funded rural hospitals and Indian Health Services cannot be expected to be burdened with any additional strain on their already limited capacity to provide care to those infected by the coronavirus. Man camps also generally bring into communities increased crime and sexual violence — especially targeting Indigenous women and girls. [3]
Thanks for standing with us.
Tom and the Bold team
REFERENCES:
[1] “Hospitalizations on the rise as coronavirus cases climb in Nebraska,” Lincoln Journal Star, 7/30/20.
[2] “Data Analysis: COVID-19 Is Filling Up Hospitals In Small Cities,” NET Nebraska, 7/29/20.
[3] “South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault,” South Dakota Public Broadcasting, 6/15/20.
