gmatx, I'm not George, but I've been following the issue.
I live in CA and the oil industry has been trying to drill in our state for years and years, but they have been repelled every time.
John Bennett of the Sierra Club Canada. "It's the first time the environment has trumped oil in U.S. politics."
No, it's not the first time.

We have been heard. The spin the link had on the issue probably showed some bias but political parties didn't have anything to do with the opposition here in the state. If you want to find a bunch of conservative people just check with the sandhill ranchers. I persoanlly know a number of ranchers from the area and some won't even let anything but flotation tire vehicles or horses go out in the hills.

Cattle are not the ideal animals for tthe range, they tend to stand in one spot and eat the grass before they move on. The sandhills and buffalo evovled together, buffalo take a bite of grass and move ahead so the range repairs itself readily. Now, ranchers use pastures of many 1,000s of acres and move the animals regularly.

first TransCanada was telling us that the pipeline would be built so that there would be no possibility of a leak. Later, the said well even if it does leak the crude would be so thick and heavy it wouldn't sink in but would just lie on top of the sand until it could be cleaned up. Yeah that sure made us feel better

I took a sigh of relief as well. There were numerous ways to do it without marching through the Sandhills. The delay would have been avoided if they'd planned it responsibly the first time. ;-)

It's not only the Sandhills which are in danger, the present plans show that it runs through an earthquake prone area, a break could endanger the large aquifier and it will also endanger the spirit bears in Canada. I have been somewhat involved with the protest letter campaign against the building for a couple of years.
The new 2nd route has it's own problems.

calliope, they "planned it responsibly the first time" for their ceos, board members and shareholders.

I watched one news program where they had a representative in from the company and he was saying a government board had chosen this location as the best of the options. If it did pass through a regulatory process and it was their choice to take it through the sandhills, if that were true, then the blame........er.....responsibility lay not with the private but the public agency. Possibly the whole responsibility wasn't so cut and dried as it may have appeared. But whatever, it takes two to tango.

They seem to be saving money or something by dubbing the voice of a country sounding white guy over the image of a black guy lip reading the same words with different back round in their commercials. Weird and I have wondered if any others had seen it. Hope it gets defeated and more alternatives are implemented.

Now TransCanada is saying we will just build the pipeline around the sandhills, no problem. Huh, isn't that what we were asking for in the first place, Now a new invironmental study has to be done for the projected route of the pipeline.

I read one study where the the summary stated the initial route through the Sandhills was ecologically safe but just had negative 'cultural' impact. If it weren't so serious I'd have laughed. I don't understand why it has to be piped all the way across the country before it hits a refinery. Wouldn't it be more economical to build a refinery where it enters the country than a pipeline across it? This is raw, dirty crude they're transporting.....not a finished product. How is the Gulf anymore centrally located than where it enters from Canada? Speaks to using tanker transport..........and why if the finished product is to remain domestic?

Implement more solar and wind on a personal home level and up the MPG of cars and it would not be needed at all. Agree they should make the refineries near the oil fields and transport finished product from there but they want to mix it in with world oil exports and get best dollar from where ever they can. That would be easier from the gulf.

That's sort of what I was figuring, but didn't have the data to back it up. I have heard conficting opinions about whether this crude is even going to stay domestic. IOW build pipelines to our refineries and then ship the finished product elsewhere so we support the dirty processing and we use our ports and we get the pollution involved and somebody else gets the profit and goodies? You cannot get a straight answer on any of this, no matter how deep you dig.

Our area is going through much of the same situation. Joint domestic and foreign gas interests are wanting to harvest the deep natural gas from our oil/shale/gas fields by fracking deep wells. Also newer technologies and it could be a very big win/very big lose situation as well.

My concern is that reaping local supplies will not just buy us time to develop alternate energy, but again make people forget that we very much need to and put it on the back burner.

gandle. since you brought up the issue of the pipeline in Nebraska, I've been following it. I would have not known about if you had not brought it up.
It seems that this has been one h@ll of a fight between all kinds of interested parties.
It seems that it comes down to the wire now. And that wire is our President Obama, saying yes or no.
I vote for, NO, No pipeline.

I t appears to be on hold. Not sure the present demonstration in D>C> "cowboys and indians will do much good. IMHO it needs political pressure. The only way politicians seem to pay any attention is when votes are involved

Morning George - Was somewhat surprised to see this post show back up as active. Hope you and Leone are well.

Yes, as DH says, the only way some people pay any attention to something is when you "get in their pocket", which votes would certainly do. Hope we can put a stop to this project once and for all. Especially since our country would be shouldering all the risks with none of the long-term benefits remaining here.

We are fighting a similar battle here in KY. With our underlaying karst landscape and crossing umpteen waterways, large and small, it is also a breeding ground for disaster.

The reason I brought up this thread again, is because the issue(s) are not done yet, but as I said, I think it is close to being done.

Thank you west_gardener. I was not being negative about the post resurfacing, I just figured that anything else posted would maybe show up under a new title - that's all.

I sure hope that it is close to being done. This does not need to be dragged out any longer.

anneliese - I haven't looked at what your battle is yet. Could you post some of the info?

Wish it could be stopped, the steam roller of "progress" just continues with very little common sense about how fouled the world nest is.