Reject the Keystone XL Pipeline Water Permits
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nebraska Department of Environment & Energy, South Dakota Dept. of Energy & Natural Resources, Montana Dept. of Environmental Quality
TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) has applied for new permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and state agencies to build its proposed Keystone XL pipeline across over 1,000 U.S. waterways, including the Missouri, Niobrara, and Keya Paha Rivers in Nebraska.
TransCanada is trampling the sovereign rights of Tribal nations, abusing eminent domain for private gain and seizing land against farmers' will, and threatening to significantly exacerbate our climate crisis with its proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
The pipeline would imperil the drinking water of Tribal, rural, and urban communities -- including the city of Omaha -- that rely on the Missouri River, as well as the precious Ogallala aquifer, which provides water that irrigates one-third of our nation's crops.
This move by TransCanada to apply for new permits comes after indigenous, landowner, and environmental groups including Bold successfully sued to stop the company's illegal use of a blanket "Nationwide Permit 12" to fast-track authorization of Keystone XL construction through all 1,000+ water crossings.
The Army Corps and state agencies are now accepting public comments on TransCanada's new water permit application until Oct. 13, 2020.
Sign your name on to Bold's public comment, or submit your own Comments to the U.S. Army Corps and state agencies in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana.
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To:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nebraska Department of Environment & Energy, South Dakota Dept. of Energy & Natural Resources, Montana Dept. of Environmental Quality
From:
[Your Name]
We urge rejection of the water permit applications for TC Energy / TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
The dirty tarsands oil that KXL would carry has been shown to sink in water, and become impossible to clean up. A 2010 tarsands pipeline spill into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan is still not completely remediated, after a decade and over $1.2 billion dollars spent on clean up.
The proposed KXL route crosses Nebraska waterways that have experienced monumental flooding and washouts in recent years, increasing the danger of a rupture. A pipeline spill would pose an imminent threat to rivers that provide drinking water to millions in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana, and destroy wildlife habitat of endangered species like the beloved whooping crane.
A spill into the precious Ogallala aquifer could imperil the water that irrigates 1/3 of our nation's agriculture. TC Energy's horrendous safety record -- including a history of 20 spills on its original Keystone pipeline in just 10 years of operation, leading to three Corrective Action Orders issued by federal regulators, and an ongoing Government Accountability Office investigation -- should be key disqualifying factors that lead you to reject this permit.
The Army Corps must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act before making a determination on TC Energy’s application, and cannot rely on the flawed analyses identified in the public notice. Prior versions of those analyses have been ruled invalid by a court, and the current versions are the subject of a lawsuit due to their continued inadequacy.
TransCanada is trampling the sovereign rights of Tribal nations, abusing eminent domain for private gain and seizing land against farmers' will, and threatening to significantly exacerbate our climate crisis with its proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The project was rejected in 2014 for not being in the U.S. national interest, and that finding by the U.S. State Department remains true today.
We urge rejection of TC Energy's permit, and call on the Army Corps and relevant state agencies (Nebraska Dept. of Environment & Energy, South Dakota Dept. of Environment & Natural Resources, and Montana Dept. of Environmental Quality) to hold public hearings on the permit applications that allow full participation and enable citizens to hear each other's live testimony.
Signed,