Landowners Testify Keystone XL Pipeline Not In The National Interest

About 40 members of Northern Plains Resource Council, including landowners affected by the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, attended a national hearing last week at the Dawson Community College, Glendive.

“The pipeline is for the purpose of generating profit for a private company – it’s for a private use,” said Terry Blevins, a Wolf Point-area landowner crossed by the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and member of the Northern Plains Pipeline Landowners Group. “It will generate few, if any, local jobs, and the oil is likely to be destined for export markets. This is not in the national interest.”

Hundreds of people attended the hearing that was intended to advise President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the National Interest Determination for the Keystone XL pipeline. Many landowners and concerned citizens testified that the pipeline is not in the national interest.

Many landowners along the proposed route of the pipeline and other speakers expressed similar concerns to Blevins’ about TransCanada’s pipeline spill record, the lack of an Emergency Response Plan for the pipeline, thinner pipe slated to be used in rural areas, and the recent Washington Post article (Sept. 22, 2011) which revealed TransCanada’s close relationship with the State Department through personnel who formerly worked for Hillary Clinton and other relationships.

“The Keystone I pipeline, the precursor to the Keystone XL pipeline, has had 14 spills since operations began in June 2010 including a 21,000 gallon spill in North Dakota, and the Enbridge pipeline carrying tar sands in Michigan spilled 843,000 gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River. An expert safety review by the U.S Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is needed,” said Blevins.

The Northern Plains Pipeline Landowners Group, a committee of Northern Plains Resource Council, is a group of landowners who have organized to negotiate with the company an equitable agreement which protects landowners and public safety.

For more information on the Keystone XL pipeline, see http://www.northernplains.org/the-issues/tar-sands-pipeline/.