National Farmer’s Union Press Release
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 28, 2011
CONTACT: Ryan Salmon, National Wildlife Federation: (703) 438-6000
Graham Christensen, Nebraska Farmers’ Union: (402) 476-8815
National Farmers Union:
Protect Clean Water and Landowners from Pipeline Threats
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 28 – As Midwestern farmers’ concerns mount about the
proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, the National Farmers Union has
adopted strong policies opposing any project that threatens water supplies
and condemning the use of unfair tactics to secure right-of-way from farmers
and other landowners.
NFU, which represents farms and ranchers nationwide with 32 state
affiliates, adopted the pipeline
policy<
http://www.nfu.org/images/stories/Final_2011_Policy.pdf
>at its
national convention March 15. The resolution comes in response to
farmers’ concerns about the Keystone XL, which TransCanada Corp. proposes to
build to carry crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta to Gulf Coast
refineries.
- The proposed route<
http://dirtyoilsands.org/images/uploads/NRDC-KeystoneXLmap-687×1019.png
>of
the 1,980-mile pipeline would slice through Montana, South Dakota,
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. It would cross the Ogallala Aquifer in
Nebraska – source of 30 percent of the nation’s agricultural water and
drinking water for millions – with a pipeline carrying diluted bitumen, a
thick, heavy, corrosive and toxic form of crude oil associated with pipeline
ruptures at 16 times the
rate<
http://www.nrdc.org/energy/files/tarsandssafetyrisks.pdf
>of
conventional crude.
- Along the route, landowners and lawmakers are decrying TransCanada’s
bullying and aggressive use of eminent domain to push the pipeline through.
Farmers in Oklahoma<
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tar-sands-us-legal-challenge-to-eminent-domain-for-transcanadas-keystone-xl-pipeline-2011-01-17
>and
other states have taken TransCanada to court on grounds that as a
foreign corporation it can not take right-of-way under eminent domain. And
in a report to Canadian energy officials, TransCanada stated that one reason
for the pipeline is to raise the
price<
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/117832183.html
>Midwestern
refineries pay for crude oil by as much as $5 billion. That could
bring a 20 cent per gallon increase in the cost of gasoline at the pump,
which would hit farmers hardest.
“We oppose any infrastructure or resource development that jeopardizes the
health, safety and quality of the Ogallala Aquifer and other freshwater
resources,” says the new policy. It opposes “the use of eminent domain
without the developer putting into place environmental safeguards and
assuming liability for damages,” and calls for “transparency in the planning
and routing process including public input, fair compensation to landowners,
and a process to deal with landowner and public complaints and conflicts.”
“Midwestern landowners have felt they have been misled by a multi-national
oil company that is planning to build a pipeline at all costs,” said Graham
Christensen, public affairs director for the Nebraska Farmers
Union<
http://www.nebraskafarmersunion.org/
>,
which introduced the pipeline resolution at the national convention. He said
the policies would “give landowners some basic protections from pipeline
companies that may have conflicting economical and environmental interests.”
The National Farmers Union resolution raises yet another hurdle for the
troubled pipeline, which is awaiting a decision from the State Department on
whether to issue a permit for the project. In early March, in response to
the pipeline’s threat to the Ogallala aquifer and the high accident rate for
pipelines carrying tar sands oil, the State Department ordered additional
study of the Keystone XL’s environmental impact.
