Keystone XL: All Risk and No Reward
Dakota Rural Action Joins New National Coalition
Representing South Dakota’s landowners, Dakota Rural Action has joined a new coalition aiming to bring to light the risks associated with the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, and to make sure landowner voices are heard in the ongoing national debate.
The All Risk and No Reward Coalition focuses on the risks to landowners, water, and the environment posed by the Keystone XL pipeline – risks that are on display in recent Arkansas tar sands spill. The Pegasus pipeline spilled over 80,000 gallons of diluted bitumen, the harsh chemical-ridden substance that will be flowing through the Keystone XL pipeline. But while the Arkansas spill happened in a well-populated area with quick emergency response teams available, any spill that will occur in South Dakota will not have that kind of support.
Because the IRS does not consider diluted bitumen to be oil, companies transporting tar sands oil are exempt from paying into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. The tax-free tar sands product flowing through South Dakota in the Keystone XL pipeline would be exempt from paying into the fund which is used to pay for oil spills. This means South Dakotans will have to rely on taxpayer dollars to pay for a spill, because the state legislature has declined to require a bond from TransCanada for the pipeline.
The risks in South Dakota include spills over water bodies, impacts to agriculture and livestock from both the construction and the operation of the pipeline, the impacts on local communities from temporary work camps during construction, and the on-going risk of taxpayers losing money when tar sands oil spills in South Dakota.
“The press is always talking about the jobs they’re going to create,” says DRA Board Chair and landowner Paul Seamans. “TransCanada’s original estimate was 5,000, now it’s 20,000. I’ve even seen 100,000 mentioned. But even [President] Obama knows it won’t create those jobs, and it’s going to be an export pipeline – it blows out their jobs and oil independence arguments. And when they first put an easement in front of us, they wanted us to assume the risk.”
A group of Dakota Rural Action landowners and allies will be traveling to Nebraska for the State Department hearing on the Keystone XL pipeline April 18, and will be meeting with coalition members to discuss ways to ensure the safety of landowners, our water, and our environment. Neither the state of South Dakota nor the landowners crossed by the pipeline should be asked to take all the risk for a no-reward pipeline.
The All Risk, No Reward Coalition includes: Oil Change International, League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, League of Women Voters, Indigenous Environmental Network, Bold Nebraska, Keystone XL Truthforce, STOP Tarsands, Sandhills Beef, Nebraska Farmers Union, Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light, League of Women Voters Nebraska, and Dakota Rural Action.