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Pipeline plan shows contempt for N.D. |
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Monday, 11 February 2008 |
Letter from Shirley Starke
Valley City, N.D.
Thank you for your coverage of the potential rerouting of the Keystone oil pipeline to avoid damaging the scenic Sheyenne river valley and polluting the Sheyenne River, the Fordville Aquifer and Lake Ashtabula.
It is very clear that the pipeline poses a real danger to the river, lake, and aquifer, and that it would inevitably cause a great deal of damage to the scenic byway, especially at the river crossing at Fort Ransom. According to Keystone's own website, their pipelines have leaked 572 times in six years, and only one such oil spill would pollute the Sheyenne River and Fargo's water supply. The presently proposed route would also cross miles of irreplaceable native prairie and wetlands. The clear solution is to move the pipeline to its original route on or adjacent to the I-32 highway right of way. This would put it on the other side of a moraine from the lake, aquifer, and most of the river, and protect them from pollution in the event of an oil spill. It would utilize land that has already been disturbed in building the highway rather than cutting a swath through 218 miles of North Dakota's woodlands, prairie, wetlands, and prime farmland. The present route would require extensive use of eminent domain for private purposes, in direct contradiction to the eminent domain law passed by the voters of North Dakota. This pipeline is not a public utility - it doesn't even have an outlet in North Dakota - and calling it a utility for the purpose of circumventing the eminent domain law creates a precedent that will inevitably weaken that law. The people of North Dakota made it clear that they do not want eminent domain used to benefit private companies. The people are supposed to be sovereign - their word is literally law. Anything that weakens a law passed by the people through the initiative process is an attack on the initiative process itself and on the power of the people. For all these reasons, the pipeline should be rerouted six miles east to the I-32 right of way. Since this was Keystone's original choice, it is very hard to see why they are fighting it as they are. Their resistance to changing the route is an example of the contempt of Big Oil for the environment, the people of North Dakota, and the initiative process.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )
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