40 Miles; 1 Station

TransCanada said Monday the company will work with the State Department and Nebraska’s Department of Environmental Quality to determine a new pipeline route.

“I am pleased to tell you that the positive conversations we have had with Nebraska leaders have resulted in legislation that respects the concerns of Nebraskans and supports the development of the Keystone XL pipeline,” Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada’s president of energy and oil pipelines, said in a statement. “I can confirm the route will be changed and Nebraskans will play an important role in determining the final route.”

A new environmental review will be required as well, which the State Department said last week could take until early 2013.

Rerouting the Keystone XL line will likely require 30 to 40 additional miles of pipe and an additional pumping station. The exact route has not yet been determined, so those numbers are still soft. 

I considered the weight of 1700 people attending the State Department’s public meetings last month, Bill McKibben’s weeklong protest at the White House, I Stand With Randy signs in store fronts and on yard signs on every corner in Lincoln, and political pressure from a state and national scene to get 40 miles of pipe and one pumping station.

When you have people on one side and oil or money on the other I think the Kestone pipeline is an example of how people can win. But it takes  a strong, steady push from the peoples’ side to get there. In my lifetime that strong and steady push hasn’t happened all that often. It’s a sort of awe-inspiring sight when it does.