Greg Awtry

In 10 days the entire international oil industry will be focused on a small rural town in Nebraska.

Or will it?

On April 18, 2013, the U.S. State Department will hold the nation’s final Keystone XL public hearing in Grand Island, Nebraska.

In conjunction with the hearing, the public has been submitting electronic comments to the State Department for weeks, but there is one small catch. The State Department won’t make these “public” comments public!

It seems the State Department contracted with a company to handle all these comments, a company called Environmental Resources Management (ERM), ironically the same company TransCanada hired to help them with their environmental study.

ERM will then roll all these comments up in a nice tidy package to be used by President Obama and John Kerry when they finally make the decision on the Keystone XL.

Now we find out the public comments will not be made public unless a Freedom of Information request is filed with the State Department, and the chance of receiving any information before the pipeline decision will most likely be too late! This smells worse than toxic odors in the Mayflower, Ark., tar-sand spill!

You might ask why Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry must decide. Two reasons: (1) the pipeline crosses an international border and (2) Obama and Kerry must determine if the foreign company’s (TransCanada) request to make billions by slicing open our nation’s heartland is in our “national interest.”

Listen folks, this pipeline is clearly not in the United States’ national interest. First of all it is a publicly held foreign company simply trying to make money for its stockholders.

Second of all it would be constructed to do one thing and one thing only: to pipe foreign oil to Texas refineries so it can be sold on the world market which is about 25 percent higher than the price tar-sand oil is selling for in Canada.

In other words the price of this oil will go up once it reaches our southern coast. Yet there are people, including Nebraska’s own Third District Congressman Adrian Smith, who tell us it may lower the price of fuel. What economics class did he take!

Will the Keystone XL create jobs? Sure it will, temporary ones, and nowhere close to the over-exaggerated claims made by TransCanada, politicians and the national media.

When the dust settles on the construction of this pending disaster, real numbers say it will create 35 permanent jobs in America, 13 of them in Nebraska according to the this state’s own DEQ report. By contrast a typical super Wal-Mart will employ nearly 200 people. Now you tell me is the Keystone XL is in our national interest?

Some folks say because Canada is one of our largest trading partners, denying the pipe will make them mad. Hey, Canada doesn’t own that oil, oil companies do, and don’t for a minute think all those oil companies are in Canada and the U.S. China has already invested billions of dollars into the Canadian tar sands, as has Korea, Thailand, France, England and the Netherlands.

That’s who owns the oil that will be pumping through Nebraska’s Sandhills and the Ogallala aquifer! National interest? Certainly, but whose? Not ours, that is for certain!

So, let’s talk about safety. TransCanada would have us believe this pipe, nine times larger than the pipeline that spilled in Arkansas, will be safe. But Scientific American reported just last week that “pipelines in the upper Midwest that routinely carry oil from tar sands have spilled 3.6 times more oil per pipeline mile than the U.S. average.”

The facts are that pipeline companies are having a very difficult time keeping this highly pressurized DilBit oil inside the pipes, evident by major spills in the Yellowstone River, the ongoing disaster in the Kalamazoo River and now the Mayflower, Ark., spill, along with dozens of other smaller spills.

TransCanada talks about how it can detect leaks and shut down the pipeline. But in many cases the public finds the spills first.

In Michigan, the Enbridge control booth operators misread the readings for 17 hours, and never did detect the nearly 1,000,000 gallons of tar-sand oil that was gushing into Talmadge Creek, and ultimately into the Kalamazoo River. The public found the spill. Just imagine if that were to occur in the remote and sparsely populated Sandhills.

The bottom line is that big oil money, and millions of TransCanada dollars, have bought public opinion. We know big oil is a major contributor to political campaigns, and one could make the case that it has worked considering Nebraska’s entire Washington contingency and governor are in favor of the pipe.

Well, thank goodness for the people of Nebraska. Hundreds of courageous landowners and concerned citizens in our state have done nearly everything in their power to counter big money with common sense. Their love of the land is born from a pioneering spirit that is alive and well.

They have proven Nebraskans can make up our own minds, and they have shown our opinions are not for sale at any price! Had it not been for these brave stewards of the land, the Keystone XL may have already been buried in our soil, just ½ inch away from our water supplies.

Now these dedicated people, who have sorted through all the corporate and political spin to expose the real truths of this pipeline, and who are trying to save our most valuable resources from being decimated by a foreign company, deserve your support.

They will line up by the hundreds to testify. Their comments won’t be hidden from public view because the York News-Times will be there in your behalf, when they gather a week from Thursday in the small Midwestern town of Grand Island, Nebraska to fight for all of us.

Publisher’s note: Let this editorial serve as an invitation to York’s mayor, the entire city council, York county commissions, Speaker of the state legislature, state senators, Nebraska’s federal congressmen and senators and our governor to attend this final opportunity to hear from the people who put them in office. There could be nothing on their respective pubic calendars more important than this project which will have a lasting and potentially dangerous effect Nebraskans. Let’s see if they can show the courage of their constituents and be in Grand Island on April 18, to hear the people of this great state.

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On Jan. 1 this year all working folks found out when they received their first paystubs of 2013, that the government had cut your take home pay by 2 percent.

They restored your contributions to Social Security and Medicare back to where they were a couple years ago, so the bottom line was your paycheck was 2 percent smaller.

Did President Obama travel all around the country saying that because Washington was cutting your paycheck by 2 percent the world as we know it was going to change? No, instead he just assumed Americans would do what we always do, tighten up our belt another notch and go back to work.

Enter the “Sequester” cuts. President Obama has spent the past few weeks flying around in his $200,000 an hour jet, telling crowds across America how devastating these Sequester cuts are going to be for our federal government. He doesn’t mention that it is only about 2 percent of federal spending.

Seems it was fine in January when Washington made us do with 2 percent cuts on our paychecks. Seems now, it is a national crisis two months later when the government is asked to cut its spending by 2 percent. Disgusting enough to make you sick, right?

Did Obama, in any of those stops where he was “crying wolf” say that Washington, even with the 2 percent cuts, is still going to spend more in 2013 than it did in 2012? No, he wouldn’t want you to know that.

What Obama should have done, instead of flying around, was to sit down at the Oval Office desk and write a few letters. We the American people could help him. Here are my suggestions:

His letter/s should say:

Dear (Other Country’s Leaders),
We regret to inform you that effective immediately we will no longer be sending you any more foreign aid until we balance our budget and pay off our debt.
You are aware the U.S. Congress has overspent our income to the tune of $16 trillion, and it seems foolish for us to give you more of our hard working Americans’ money along with the 40 cents we must borrow for every dollar we give you.
Feel free to contact us after our country is debt free and we’ll see if the American people will be willing to loan (not give) you some of their money at that time.
Sincerely, President Obama

Dear American People,
We regret to inform you that effective in 90 days the United States government will no longer be offering welfare to able bodied Americans since we as a nation can no longer afford to take care of those who are able to take care of themselves.
The U.S. Congress has put us $16 trillion in debt and it is time everyone who is able goes to work and helps us out of the mess they made.
You will be asked to show up at a local labor pool, sponsored by your town, city, county or state. At the end of your first month’s work, you will be handed your unemployment check.
Contrary to what the media reports, there are millions of jobs out there and we are counting on you to work as hard as the great Americans who built this marvelous nation for all of us.
Sincerely, President Obama

Dear United States Military,
Over the centuries you have been there for us. We have tried to give you everything you need to protect our nation. And, as you know the world has changed since WWII and we can no longer afford to have troops deployed all across the world, especially since the most serious threat the nation faces today is a financial one as the U.S. Congress has borrowed $16 trillion to keep us afloat.
So effective immediately we will no longer be borrowing money from foreign countries to fund our military. Instead we will be bringing our troops home to defend our nation instead of policing the world.
Rest assured, we will continue to fund the military for the purpose of defense, but will no longer be in the business of nation building.
Your Commander in Chief, President Obama

Dear Congress,
Half of you in the House and Senate can blame me for the $16 trillion debt. The other half can blame George Bush, but the fact is you appropriate the money and you make the tax laws, so before you whine and moan any longer, first take a long look in the mirror. There you will see the person/s responsible for our nation’s fiscal crisis.
You have given the American people a government they can no longer afford and it is high time you fixed the problem. Yes, it will take an increase in taxes. Effective immediately, the Democrats will be in charge of this. It will also take drastic spending cuts. The Republicans will be in charge of this.
This should be a labor of love for each party and provide you the opportunity to correct your previous wrongs and leave a country in pristine financial condition for future generations of Americans who hopefully will learn from your mistakes.
Awaiting your legislation, President Obama

Okay, I know the letters I wrote for the President seem far-fetched, but it is true we can no longer afford the government we have now.

We all have to either pony up and/or expect a lot less from the federal government. And it is true that Congress is solely responsible for this and until they put Americans and the United States above their political careers and political parties, nothing of any consequence will happen in Washington.

It is time they stop pointing fingers and it is time we begin to point fingers, and I am pointing mine squarely at the Halls of Congress.
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President Obama and the U.S. Congress are very good at raising taxes and spending money. They are very bad at reducing spending and lowering taxes.

You have all seen and read the ads and news accounts about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Kalamazoo River pipeline rupture (Nat. Trans. Safety Bd.)

Sometime between August 2011 and June 2012 Nebraskans lost something of critical importance to our state. Well, maybe not Nebraskan’s but apparently our Governor Dave Heineman has lost something, misplaced it, or forgotten all about it. That’s odd, because last summer Heineman was so concerned about it he wrote a letter to President Obama pleading with the President to save it. Now, ten months later it seems to have disappeared.

What is “it”, where is “it”, and, what happened to “it”?

“It” is the Ogallala Aquifer. I believe it’s still there, beneath the feet of most Nebraskans. It must be. I still see irrigation pivots watering our state’s golden cash crop. I turn on my tap water and crystal clear Ogallala Aquifer water runs into the sink. According to Governor Heineman we have 92,685 registered irrigation wells supplying over 8.5 million acres of harvested cropland and pasture. Yes, the aquifer must still be there!

Last August, Governor Heineman wrote the President saying, “I am opposed to the propose Keystone XL Pipeline route because it is directly over the Ogallala Aquifer.” In the same letter he also said, “I believe that the pipeline should not cross a substantial portion of the Ogallala Aquifer.” Heineman told the president the original Keystone XL pipeline route crosses 254 miles directly over the Aquifer, and he ends his letter to the President saying, “Do not allow TransCanada to build a pipeline over the Ogallala Aquifer and risk the potential damage to Nebraska’s water.”

And now “it’s” gone! At least the Ogallala Aquifer is gone. Gone from Heineman’s recent column printed in the York News-Times on June 9, 2012, updating Nebraskan’s on the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline proceedings. After referring to the Aquifer five times in his letter to the President, Heineman’s recent column drops all references to the aquifer as if it doesn’t exist!

Governor, where did it go? What happened between last August and now that would make your overwhelming concern about our precious aquifer disappear?

Many of you probably think that after all the statewide and national hoopla that TransCanada has relented and proposed a new route that would avoid the aquifer. You would be wrong. The “new” routed would still enter and exit our state in the same places as before. All TransCanada did was to toss Nebraska a bone, and like an over-hungry guard dog we leaped at it, and are now distracted from the real issue, exactly as they planned.

TransCanada adjusted their proposed route about 30 miles in northern Nebraska to avoid an area of the Sandhills where the water is abnormally close to the surface. That’s it. They did nothing about the over 200 miles where the pipeline carrying this noxious cancer-causing benzene-laced diluted bitumen (tar-sand oil) is still planned to cross our aquifer, or “lifeblood to Nebraska’s agricultural industry” as Heineman referred to it when he was so concerned about “it” last August.

As the Governor stated last week, Nebraska will conduct our own study. We’ll pay for it too, over $2 million dollars. I have no objection to that; after all it’s our water we are (or used to be) trying to protect. The governor also states that the study will cover only the portion of the route through Nebraska that TransCanada has changed. Remember now, that is just the little jog around a couple Sandhills. The concerns about the vast crossing of the Ogallala Aquifer have disappeared. No more studies, no more evaluations, apparently no more concerns from our state regarding the majority of the aquifer.

Folks, it sadly appears this is a done deal. Dot a few “i’s”, cross a couple “t’s”, shake hands and sit back until the heat of the election passes in November and the president (whoever it will be) can sign a document allowing a foreign corporation to use eminent domain to slice open Nebraskan’s land from stem to stern, to pipe other country’s oil to a port city where it can be refined and eithe exported to other countries or sold on the open market.

Last August Governor Heineman was spot on, writing the President, pleading with him to deny the TransCanada Keystone XL permit because it crossed “a substantial portion of the Ogallala Aquifer.” Folks, the “new” route still crosses “a substantial portion of the Ogallala Aquifer.” I think it (the aquifer) is still there. I believe you too think it is still there. I believe you want to protect it now and forever just as I do. But now it’s gone, at least gone from the drastically different point of view our Governor had just a few months ago.

To Governor Heineman’s credit he is asking Nebraskans to weigh in… again. I already have, and will do so again and again. I invite you to do the same, but I want to remind you that TransCanada can build their pipeline AND avoid the majority of the aquifer eliminating potential risk to our “lifeblood”, but they won’t because it would cost them more money. The jobs would still be there. The tax revenue would still be there. But more important than either of these two things, our precious and life-sustaining Ogallala Aquifer would still be there.

Risk Nebraska’s future for a few jobs and some extra tax money? I don’t think so.

TransCanada, go ahead and build your pipeline, it is the best way to transport this oil. I know Nebraska is in your way, but for our sake, and for the sake of generations of Nebraskans who unknowingly are counting on us to do the right thing, go around the aquifer.

And Governor, I urge you to rediscover the Ogallala Aquifer, to protect it at all costs, to demand as you did last August when you said to President Obama, “I am opposed to the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline route because it is directly over the Ogallala Aquifer.” Nebraskans, now and forever, are counting on you to do the right thing.

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