Red State Ranchers Vs. the Pipeline

Video courtesy of BoldNebraska

The Nebraska Sandhills are the largest and most intricate wetlands system in the United States.

Photo by Justin Bugsy Sailor

The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline would carry thousands of gallons of crude oil from the Alberta tar sands across the American Plains every day. Despite claims by developer TransCanada that there is little risk of disastrous environmental impact, opponents of the project are concerned about the potential for contamination of waterways and fragile ecosystems.

In September thousands of people converged on the White House in the largest act of civil disobedience in the history of the U.S. climate movement. The protesters sat-in peacefully and over 1,200 were arrested in protest of the Keystone XL project. Now the movement has gained fierce support from landowners of Nebraska. More than 2,000 people showed up at the Nebraska State Department hearing to say they don't want crude oil running through the delicate Sandhills or the Ogallala aquifer—which supplies water to most of the Midwest.

• Read more about the Nebraska hearings
  

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