The Keystone spill and what comes after

By now, I expect you’ve heard about the massive oil spill in Keystone 1 – the older tar sands Pipeline that Keystone XL is meant to expand and replace.1 More than 200,000 gallons of oil are still on the ground just miles from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate reservation.2

This is all happening at a critical moment. On Monday, the Nebraska Public Service Commission will decide a crucial local permit for Keystone XL. A denial of that permit, or even a decision to permit it with significant restrictions or re-routing could make the Pipeline too expensive to build, or create years of additional delay we can exploit to protest, organize, and eventually stop this disastrous project.

I don’t know what will happen on Monday. But I’ve spent the whole weekend with an amazing coalition of frontline activists and pipeline fighters, fossil fuel export exterminators and other fabulous people at the #PeoplevsOilGas summit. It’s given me hope and made me believe that together we can stop these pipelines — all of them. From the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines (and others) in the East; to Keystone, Dakota Access, Line 3 and Rover pipelines (and others) in the midwest, to the Trans Mountain pipeline and Jordan Cove export terminal (and others) on the west coast. I encourage you to follow along on our Facebook page and on the hashtag #peoplevsOilGas on twitter where we’re posting tons of updates from panels and conversations you can’t find anywhere else.

Together, we can stop all of the pipelines, export terminals, compressor stations and more. Monday, we’ll learn more about how the Keystone XL fight will continue.

Also on Monday, hundreds of us from this conference will take to the streets and visit the home-offices of some of the biggest fracking, pipeline and polluting companies in America. They all share office space a few minutes outside Pittsburgh, one of the reasons we picked this city to host our conference (in the belly of the beast, so to speak). This, too, gives me hope that we can rise up – stronger, more unified, and more defiant no matter what happens on Monday.

For now, I just wanted to send you a quick update, invite you to follow along on our Facebook page and on the hashtag #peoplevsOilGas on Twitter. If you haven’t yet (or even if you have) it’s a great idea to share the news about the Keystone 1 spill on Facebook and Twitter. The more attention this spill gets, the harder it will be for the Nebraska PSC to approve it on Monday.

11 Comments

  1. Pingback:Taking action while waiting for Keystone. | 198 methods

  2. WATER IS LIFE!

  3. I grew up in “coal country” in South Eastern Pennsylvania. When in grade school there in the ’50’s, when a local mining company collapsed a mined out coal seam a mile and one half away and a half mile down, a sinkhole opened up and ‘swallowed’ their 3 story house to the roofline. He, his siblings, and parents all died of methane poisony. Later, when driving back and forth to college, I had to take a road that passed over a river that was on fire!

    WILL WE NEVER LEARN?!!

  4. James & April Thompson

    The Keystone Pipeline is an absolute obscenity. The recent spills were predicted to occur and come as no surprise. There can be NO safe way to transport oil without causing severe and irreversible environmental damage. More oil spills are guaranteed to happen which will pollute land and water.

  5. Sickening!!!

  6. I think we should be finding and funding alternative energy since fossil fuels are damaging our world I used to live in Nebraska and think this is a very bad ides for such populated areas. Now I live in Alaska and yes we have a pipeline but remote from most population centers. Currently fighting the opening of the wildlife refuget to oil exploraction. We need protected unspoiled areas on this planet. If the land is ruined here or lower 48, will take many generations for the soil to heal if it ever really does. ßtjill scars from Excon Valdez.

  7. How sad that politicians don’t readily recognize the potential of environmental destruction that comes with pipelines. It is not a matter of IF, but WHEN they will leak. Hope Nebraska people can speak out loud enough to be heard on this distressing matter. The earth does not need more pollution. Our lives are at stake.

  8. We need to encourage renewable energy – not coal!

  9. The Keystone Pipeline will only cause more destruction. We must prevent it and all other pipelines from damaging our country.

  10. Just want we need oil all over the farm land and in the drinking water in this country!

  11. It is time to replace the methods used to energize our world. When pipelines cause problems everywhere they are put then it is time to stop using pipelines. We need other ways to power our world. Wind, Solar and water needs to replace oil and gas.

    Stop causing pollution!! Do run pipelines!