STOP THE KEYSTONE OIL PIPELINE THROUGHT NEBRASKA! IT WILL POISON THE TRILLION GALLON FRESH WATER OGALLALA AQUIFER FOREVER! THIS PROPOSED PIPELINE IS MADNESS, I TELL YOU, MADNESS!!
What can I do? I have written Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telling her not to allow the pipeline through Nebraska. It will inevitably break and forever poison the entire Ogallala Aquifer, one of our country's most precious and fragile assets. I am no crank. I supported Democrats my whole life, including the Clintons and President Obama. But the proposed oil pipeline is madness. It will break despite the bogus assurances to the contrary. And it will poison forever the pristine fresh water of the Ogallala Aquifer.
I have also written to President Obama to stop this oil pipeline.
But what good does it do? I protested against the Viet Nam war as early as
1966 as a child. Did anyone listen? The war continued. There were more deaths; more maimed; more injured; more treasure wasted.
And all for what?
To protect Saigon from being overrun by the Communists! Of course, today Saigon doesn't exist -- it is called Ho Chi Min City! So . . . why didn't anyone listen to me? Think of the lost lives that could have been saved.
Now, they are set on a course to pollute the fragile, pristine Ogallala Aquifer.
I have written letters, supported organizations and now I post on my blog; but what good is it?
Nobody listens. Nobody cares. Then one day everything is ruined and the powers that be just shrug. Why won't anyone listen? DON'T DO THIS! PROTECT THE OGALLALA AQUIFER !
IT IS PURE MADNESS TO BUILD AN OIL PIPELINE OVER THE OGALLALA AQUIFER
Here is what I have to say,
Dear Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
Please use your authority to STOP TransCanada Keystone XL from building an oil pipeline over the Nebraskan portion of the Ogallala Aquifer. The Aquifer is irreplaceable. As we saw with the BP Oil Co. and the Louisiana gulf spill, as well as the Yellowstone River spill, all assurances that "nothing could ever happen" are bogus. It is insane to jeopardize the most pristine fresh water resource in the country. One spill, and the entire Aquifer is forever ruined. As one scientist said, "there is no room to allow for any chance at a spill, however small, of petroleum near that national treasure."
A route further east--outside of Nebraska--is ultimately less expensive compared to the risk of the damage to the environment of Nebraska.
If you must have a pipeline then you must find a better, safer route to transport the petroleum. DO NOT BUILD THE PIPELINE THROUGH NEBRASKA!
But don't take my word for it. Listen to a scientist:
"As a longtime professional meteorologist with training in hydrology and as a passenger on airlines flying over and observing the blowouts caused by central irrigation pivots, I full-heartedly agree that to allow TransCanada Keystone XL to run a pipeline anywhere near the Ogallala Aquifer is sheer lunacy.
There is no room to allow for any chance at a spill, however small, of petroleum near that national treasure. It is a treasure in the real sense of the word. In the past several decades, farmers and ranchers have experienced significant droughts and were saved only by the availability of the water in the Ogallala Aquifer.
Even today, small towns in Nebraska are facing large costs to clean their drinking water that was polluted by spills from livestock feeding pens and from chemical fertilization of croplands.
The Sandhills can be described as one huge beach, similar in character to the beaches now being polluted by the Gulf oil spill.
Even if TransCanada were to be required to double-pipe the petroleum, there would be a chance of an accidental spill, but even more so, with hundreds of miles of pipeline through vast unpopulated areas, the threat of terror attacks should make even the most "Drill, Baby, Drill" enthusiast reconsider support for the pipeline along the present route.
The cost of a route further east, although large in dollars, is small in comparison to the damage that could be done to the lives and economy of Nebraska, Nebraskans and all others in states relying on the precious water in the aquifer.
Transport the petroleum, but do it over a safer route.
Richard H. Klodnicki, Lincoln"
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And here is what BOLD NEBRASKA thinks about this crazy oil pipeline idea:
1. The pipeline would cross the Nebraska Sand Hills, a fragile and unique ecosystem that is easily damaged and difficult to repair.
2. It is a threat to the Ogallala aquifer, one of the world's largest supplies of groundwater, and the primary source of groundwater for agriculture and domestic use in Nebraska. Once an aquifer is contaminated, it is expensive and difficult to clean up. Experience has taught us that most clean up efforts have focused on containment rather than actual removal of contaminants.
3. Building the pipeline would provide oil companies more incentives for further development of the tar sands in Canada, an expensive and extremely environmentally damaging process that generates greenhouse gases, pollutes watersheds and destroys woodlands and other wildlife habitat.
4. The proposed pipeline would use higher pressures and thinner pipe walls than have been typically used in pipelines. As the disaster in the gulf has shown us, oil companies should not be allowed to use risky methods because flaws in design and construction can lead to catastrophic results.
