As I hustle out the door to the library, I notice my friends at South Dakota Tar Sands Pipeline have noted a black man has filed suit against a Keystone pipeline contractor for alleged discrimination he experienced while doing prep work for TrasnCanada's pipeline in North Dakota last year. SDTSP notes that the plaintiff is an Illinois man; the defendant, a Pennsylvania company.
So I'm curious: how many South Dakotans did the Keystone construction effort employ? How many jobs will we get from Keystone XL? Is the only boost we get from trrenching these lines a brief surge in sandwich and motel room sales, followed by higher electric rates as the pumping stations slurp up our power?
And how much higher will those rates be if we convert to wind energy?
ReplyDeleteCory, your mention of the pumping stations reminds me of something.
ReplyDeleteOne of the lesser-known features of the Keystone XL project is the need in some states to upgrade transmission lines for the pumping stations needed to keep the oil flowing. In Nebraska, it appears that ratepayers will be footing the bill for some of those upgrades. Will South Dakotans? I honestly don't know.
There definitely is a pattern of TransCanada trying to get others to pick up costs of the project, whether it's a tax refund in South Dakota or not paying property taxes in Kansas. It's unsurprising TransCanada would do this -- like any business, they're trying to cut costs -- but it sure would be good to know how much citizens will be paying.
Kelly Fuller
Communications Director
Plains Justice