O'NEILL -- Over coffee and pie slices, Nebraska's pipeline fighters rallied Monday, laying out plans and crafting a strategy to stop, delay or reroute construction of the Keystone XL.
“We are here, yet again, as we have been many times before in this room, to talk about how to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. For most of us in this room it won't be the first time, or the second time, it will be the third time that we stop the Keystone XL,†Jane Kleeb, leader of the left-leaning activist group Bold Alliance, told the crowd of close to 150 people gathered at the O'Neill Community Center.
"Stopping the Keystone falls on our shoulders.â€
Former President Barack Obama twice denied a permit TransCanada needs to build across the border between the U.S. and Canada, the last time saying the United States must lead efforts to curb climate-warming emissions.
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This time it won't be national environmental advocacy groups or politicians that stop the Keystone XL pipeline -- resurrected earlier this month with a stroke of President Donald Trump's pen -- rather it will be farmers, ranchers and American Indians fighting before the Nebraska Public Service Commission and in courts, Kleeb told the group.
First proposed in 2008, the Keystone XL has long been a contentious issue in Nebraska. Political and legal battles here led to years of delays for the project and thrust the state into the national limelight as the project became a symbol of how the U.S. should approach climate change concerns.
TransCanada wants to build the 36-inch diameter underground pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, south through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska meeting up with an existing network of pipelines at Steele City.
Nebraska is the only state without an approved route and the only state in which TransCanada still needs right-of-way easements. The company has more than 90 percent of the easements it needs in this state, but a core group of landowners have refused to sign on, including Karen and Kenneth Prososki, who run a cow-calf operation near Fullerton. A mile of the proposed pipeline would cross their property, starting at where it borders the Loup River.
Despite assurances from TransCanada that the Keystone XL would be the safest pipeline ever built, the Prososkis fear a leak would be devastating to wildlife, livestock, drinking water and downstream communities like Genoa and Columbus.
“With all that benzene in it, it scares the hell out of me,†Kenneth Prososki said.
While they're feeling discouraged at Trump's attempts to fast-track approval of the pipeline, the Nance County couple isn't giving up hope.
“We're not going to lay down,†Kenneth Prososki said.
Attorney Brian Jorde of the Domina Law Group, which represents the majority of holdouts, assured clients at the Monday meeting that Trump's action has no impact on Nebraska's requirement that its Public Service Commission approve the pipeline route, a process that is expected to take eight months to a year and must be done before the company can begin with eminent domain proceedings.
The Public Service Commission, an independent five-member elected board, will review evidence and comments from people who file protests or register as an intervenor before deciding whether to alter, deny or approve TransCanda's route.
TransCanada has said it will submit paperwork to begin the review in coming weeks, and the route will mirror the one former Gov. Dave Heineman gave a thumbs-up in 2013.
In the meantime, organizers encouraged landowners and activists to contact their state senators and ask them to support the creation of a panel to look at eminent domain issues.
If the Commission won't reject the pipeline, Bold and Domina Law plan to push for it to be rerouted along the path of the existing Keystone pipeline, which began moving oil in June 2010. Doing so would have the potential to add years to the project to get the new route approved and new right-of-way contracts negotiated.
As a final line of defense, landowners have promised to fight in court arguing the pipeline doesn't meet the public use criteria required of eminent domain projects because Nebraskans would not have access to use it like they would a highway or park.
The meeting Monday took place following a district court hearing on an appeal over a Nebraska judge's order to repay fees and costs incurred by Nebraskans who TransCanada had taken to court before Obama rejected the pipeline. There are 59 such cases in nine Nebraska counties. The hearing on Monday was for a case in Keya Paha County, but was held in the Holt County Courthouse in O'Neill.