One of the best agruments against the Keystone XL pipeline I've seen. 
Phyllis
Proposed Keystone pipeline poses threat to Midwest water supplies
Big Oil is nurturing a nightmare that could poison the drinking water for
a good hunk of the Midwest.
TransCanada wants to lay a 2,000-mile pipeline carrying hot, tar-soaked
sand from Canada to refineries in Texas. The oil industry is pouring
millions into its effort (thus far successful) to push aside any serious
federal study of possible consequences. Meanwhile, the Natural Resources
Defense Council and other watchdog groups are appealing for pocket-change
from donors to try to fight back.
The tar sands lie under the ancient woodlands of northern Canada. These
boreal forests, summer home to 40 percent of America's “backyard birds,”
are being torn up and strip-mined for the sludge that is shipped to
nearby refineries. The industry wants to double production and pump the
sludge through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma en
route to Texas. That puts it through the heart of the Ogallala Aquifer,
the vast underground source of fresh water that nourishes all or parts of
11 states.
Oh, but the pipeline — Keystone XL — will be safe, the industry says.
Meanwhile, the affected areas in states further East, on the path of
Keystone One, remember only too well the 12 ruptures that “safe” pipeline
experienced last year.
In a half-page ad in the Aug. 31 Register, Big Oil claims the sludge
“could support 600,000 American jobs” 25 years from now. That's “could,”
as in maybe. That's “support,” not create — and “support” could include
whatever jobs one wants to toss into the count.
What else it “could” do, of course, is disrupt or poison the Midwest's
water supply.
The governor of Nebraska, Republican Dave Heineman, has already asked the
State Department to deny the federal permit needed to lay the pipe across
the U.S. border, pointing out that the Ogallala Aquifer is the “lifeblood
of Nebraska's agricultural economy.” It is also the source of drinking
water for 2 million Americans.
What the sludge pipeline would be certain to do is cost billions, divert
resources from non-toxic energy sources, and drastically reduce songbird
and other wildlife populations. And if history is any guide, it's almost
certain to spill its cargo of poison.
Some time ago, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton both promised a responsible scientific study. That could take
time, and the administration now says it will decide by the end of the
year. As the NRDC said, “It's beginning to look like the fix is in.”
— Bill Leonard, Des Moines

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