Nebraska DEQ releases Keystone XL report

See KETV's coverage by Andrew Ozaki here.
Pictured: Anchor Todd Andrews.

A 2,000-page Nebraska Department of Environ­mental Quality report on the siting of the Keystone XL pipeline was released today — with no recommendations.
     It was farmed out to a consulting firm which does business with TransCanada, which would own and operate the pipeline.
     Omaha television news, except for KETV, did a wretched-to-nonexistant job of covering this important development.
     KETV's Andrew Ozaki covered the development on air and online yesterday. KMTV's web site, and presumably, its newscast, ignored it (not an ambulance story), as did KPTM; WOWT's website had three cursory paragraphs (no video) about the report landing on the governor's desk.
     Bold Nebraska, which has been fighting proposed locations of the pipeline, had several reactions:

Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska: Governor Heineman asked President Obama to deny the pipeline permit because the route crossed the Ogallala Aquifer. We continue to stand with Gov. Heineman and his valid concerns on the risks of this pipeline route to farmers and ranchers livelihoods and our water. We look forward to the Governor denying the route since it still crosses the Aquifer and the risks to our state's economy and identity remain at the forefront of this fight. The bottom line remains, why are we risking our water--the main source of our state's economy--for a foreign export pipeline?

Click graphic to enlarge and read.

Bob Allpress, landowner in proposed route: The DEQ report is a farce. Pencil whipping (creating an investigative report without leaving your desk) a map to create an avenue across the Sandhills continues in their report.  There is no physical break in the Sandhills. The route is still through the Sandhills and is still a threat to the aquifer. Our farm, established in 1886, is not in the report. It omits 5 potable water wells and 3 houses on our farm that the proposed pipeline will pass right by. The proposed pipeline route also plows right over a Bald Eagle's nest that also isn't in the report. Even though I contacted the DEQ several times, nobody from the DEQ ever contacted us nor inspected the route through our farm.   If this report is this flawed within two miles of the South Dakota border, the entire report is suspect. Governor Heineman, I call on you to reject this pencil whipping and get an unflawed report
John Hansen, President of Nebraska Farmers Union: We are extremely concerned about the Constitutionality of the LB1161 process, the way eminent domain authority is being granted, DEQ’s use of a consulting company with strong ties to TransCanada which colors its final work product, and the alternate route which continues to put the pipeline through light, porous sandy soils within a few feet of the Ogallala aquifer subject to leaching in the northern end of the route. Unfortunately, the Legislature put our landowners and natural resources at risk because of its failure to exercise its siting and routing authority in the first place that allowed TransCanada to take a siting short cut through Nebraska’s Sandhills and our Ogallala aquifer.  The initial route was not acceptable.  The alternative route may be an improvement over an unacceptable initial route, but it still goes through sandy, porous, soils a few feed from groundwater in a substantial part of the route, and still poses an unacceptable and unnecessary leaching threat to our underground water.

Click graphic to enlarge and read.

Ken Winston, Nebraska Sierra Club Policy Advocate: This report is fundamentally flawed in many areas. It begins with a premise that favors a foreign oil pipeline company over the fundamental rights of Nebraskans to own property and grow crops and livestock to feed the American people. It fails to address obvious issues such as the drought currently gripping Nebraska and much of the Midwest. And it relies on a list of promises from a pipeline company with no enforcement mechanism when we have seen numerous examples of this company reneging on promises and changing their stories to suit their purposes. Governor Heineman should stand up for the people of Nebraska and deny TransCanada’s proposed route.

Below: Landowners express their concerns on May 12, 2011 in Lincoln about the Keystone XL pipeline and the behavior of TransCanada: