HOW TO ARGUE ABOUT THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE WITH A REPUBLICAN

It’s well known that the Republican Governor from Nebraska, Dave Heineman, was one of the first power brokers to publicly inject himself into Keystone XL debate. The surprise was that he was demanding President Obama deny TransCanada the right to construct its massive oil pipeline. It was a surprise because of the Governor’s political affiliation, but it should not have been.

TransCanada plans to build Keystone XL from Montana to Texas, through the Sandhills territory of Nebraska. The Sandhills territory is a delicate wetland ecosystem, distinct from other grasslands of the Midwest. Sandhills is home to wildlife preserves, riparian waterways, and protected vertebrate species. But that’s not why laying pipe is the problem. Subjacent to the Sandhills is the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest sources of potable groundwater in the United States.

The complexities of pipeline construction are great, and I don’t pretend to fully appreciate half of them. But it is undisputable that eventually, all pipelines leak. If Keystone XL passes through Ogallala, it will contaminate the aquifer. Once the aquifer is contaminated, it’s gone.

This is serious business for Nebraska. Think about it, what does Nebraska do? Statewide it has two distinct industries: beef and corn, both of which depend heavily on water availability. Indeed, it has been shown that, on average, it requires 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.

The implications on the potential destruction of the corn crop are alarming. In order to import foreign oil we could wipe out one of our largest sources of biofuel. That doesn’t sound like energy independence to me.

And all along I thought Republicans were upset about our dependence on foreign energy. If that were the case, this would be a great time to prove it. Deny the import of foreign oil in favor of preserving our future in domestic biofuel production.

Update: Predictably, Governor Heineman has flip-flopped. He is working on a re-route for the project to bypass the Sandhills, which President Obama will likely permit.