Impacted Rancher Opposes Keystone XL

“The Northern Plains Resource Council believes that careful analysis of the just-released final Environmental Impact Statement will show that it is far short of demonstrating that the Keystone XL pipeline would be in the national interest,” said Darrell Garoutte, a Northern Plains member and rancher whose land would be crossed by the pipeline in McCone County, Montana. “The release of the final EIS means that it is now time for citizens, especially in the affected states with so much to lose, to speak up and let Secretary Kerry and President Obama know that we do not believe this project to be in the national interest.

“While proponents point to the lengthy multi-year review process undergone, the time that has passed has hardly done anything to get this pipeline closer to a project that is safe and beneficial for America. The time has been unproductive, not only frustrating pipeline proponents but also failing to satisfy the concerns of citizens and landowners in the path of the pipeline.”

Garoutte also pointed out:

“The Keystone XL pipeline tar sand is bound for export, doing nothing for ‘national energy security’; 

“The project still does not have an Emergency Response Plan, despite the historical warnings of the Kalamazoo and Yellowstone rivers disasters and others; 

“It would carry highly corrosive tar sands bitumen, while the strength of the pipe has been questioned, posing higher risk of spills and leaks; 

“It crosses the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers and Ogallala Aquifer, which provide drinking and irrigation water to a large percentage of our nation’s population; 

“The likelihood of adequate reclamation of land and waterways at certain places along the approved Keystone XL route in Montana, such as the gumbo hills of McCone County, is low;

“Property rights have been violated. There are landowners along the route facing condemnation by the Keystone XL pipeline who don’t want the pipeline on their land; 

“It isn’t needed here in Montana. It could only carry a small fraction of the daily production from the Bakken, if any, and that oil is already moving to markets without the Keystone XL pipeline;

“Agricultural production highly important to Montana’s economy is threatened by risk of spills or poor reclamation.”