Breaking Good News: Lower Niobrara Natural Resource District Opposes Keystone XL

Friends south of the border let me know that the Lower Niobrara Natural Resource District has passed a resolution opposing the construction of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline through their district in northern Nebraska. The resolution received unanimous approval at last night's meeting. No one spoke up with any plus side to running a tar sands pipeline right over the Ogallala Aquifer. Residents don't even see the pipeline adding any tax revenue to their coffers: they expect that if the pipeline is built, state officials will reduce aid to counties by exactly the amount counties see their local revenues increased by the pipeline.

According to my correspondent, the Lower Niobrara Natural Resource District has already helped some landowners get some changes in the pipeline route. If the District can put up serious resistance to the project as a whole, we may see some significant route changes. Of course, the better outcome would be for other landowners and citizens to recognize that they can align with groups like LNNRD to tell TransCanada we don't need their dirty foreign oil sustaining our fossil fuel addiction and spoiling our water and land. Keep up the fight, Nebraska! We're with you!