After watching a segment on NTV news this evening, I couldn’t contain myself any longer. My wife, Melanie, let me vent for about 10 minutes then insisted that I do something to challenge what we witnessed in the story. I have worked in the Oil Industry for nearly 5 years and have picked up enough information to know when people are making statements that just aren’t quite true. The Keystone XL pipeline has been a closely watched national story and has certainly been a topic of debate right here in Nebraska. Both sides of the subject have valid points to their arguments. I don’t care to persuade or influence anyone about their position on this issue. In fact, I don’t personally have anything to gain or lose if the pipeline is or is not placed through our state, but it infuriates me when someone comes on our local news and makes misleading and outright false statements. After watching the news, I looked up the story on NTV’s website and it is titled: “Updated: TransCanada Files Paperwork to Acquire Nebraska Land for Pipeline”. This is the first problem with the story. The title implies that Trans Canada is actually acquiring land in Nebraska. If you read the first paragraph of the story, it says: “TransCanada officials announced Tuesday that theyve filed paperwork in nine Nebraska counties to acquire access to land along the planned route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.” There is a BIG difference between a company acquiring the land and a company acquiring access to the land. The first step in understanding this issue is that we need to know that TransCanada does NOT take ownership of any land. They purchase a Right-of Way which allows them to build and maintain the pipeline. They pay the landowner for this right. The landowner maintains ownership of the land and the pipeline company assumes all responsibility and liability for any environmental issues that might arise from the pipeline. Once the construction is completed, the Company returns it to the same condition as before and the land owners gets full use as before. Most of the time with little or no restrictions or loss of space. This is no different from what landowners receive for oil wells drilled on their land in TX, OK, KS, CO, ND, etc. When the term Eminent Domain gets thrown around over the next several weeks, understand that this means that landowners are required to negotiate in good faith for the right-of-way easement which again, they get paid for but yet keep ownership. The real credibility issue of this story is centered around the guest that appeared in the segment, Jane Kleep, who is the Director of Bold Nebraska. It is important to understand that this is a political group that has been fighting the pipeline and will apparently bend whatever truths are needed to accomplish their goals. The first misleading statement that she made was, “We have no tar sands pipelines that go through the sandhills which this pipeline route still crosses and none that cross through the heart of the Ogallala Aquifer.” To understand why this statement is so misleading, all you need to do is look at 4 maps. First, how many existing pipelines are in Nebraska and where are they? ***See Picture*** This map shows all the Hazardous Liquid and Gas Transmission pipelines that are already in the state. The irony of this is that the new pipeline will be much safer than the ones that were constructed years ago that don’t have all the monitoring and protective measures included. Second, what is the actual planned route for the Keystone XL pipeline? ***See Picture*** Third, where are the Nebraska Sandhills? ***See Picture*** The proposed route for the new pipeline barely crosses the extreme North East portion of the Sandhills. Why does everyone keep talking about the Sandhills? Is it worse to cross them than someone’s cornfield? Fourth, where is the Heart of the Ogallala Aquifer? ***See Picture*** The pipeline doesn’t cross anywhere close to the Heart of the Ogallala Aquifer but does cross the extreme North Eastern portion of it. The next point Ms. Kleep made was, “So there’s about 90 landowners and we just met with all of them last week. It is a gut-wrenching process for them because they are still holding out a lot of hope that the President will stand with them over a foreign oil corporation. But they’re facing a Sheriff knocking on their door handing them papers saying that their land is now being taken away by a corporation and that is not only heartbreaking, it’s terrifying, it’s confusing and so we are doing everything we can to support them.” As I explained earlier regarding Eminent Domain for the acquisition of land verses the acquisition of access to land, this statement by Ms. Kleep is an outright LIE. A lie that is meant to cause heartbreak, terror and confusion to support her political agenda. Let it be known that I wouldn’t expect Seth and/or Colleen to argue or call out a guest on the show as their function is not to hold a political forum. I can appreciate their kindness toward their guest and wouldn’t want it any other way. I can only hope that NTV takes the time to point out the falsehoods that were presented in this segment. Their viewers have the right to know the facts! Shawn Jaeger
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 04:05:19 +0000
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