Gadgetory

okay Keystone pipeline on president Trump's fourth full day in office he signed two presidential memoranda that resurrected oil pipelines everyone thought were dead with respect to the construction of the Dakota access these pipelines are concerning for States landowners and tribal nations worried about construction and dangerous bills and for environmental groups who want the u.s. to move away from fossil resources the Keystone XL pipeline is intended to carry crude oil for 1,200 miles from Canada to Steel City Nebraska and connects to an existing segment that ends on the Gulf Coast and the Dakota access pipeline toward Apple is a three point eight billion dollar pipeline stretching 1,100 miles from North Dakota to Illinois it ignited a massive protest movement that started at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota which happens to be right next to where the pipeline would cross the Missouri River the Obama administration had paused both Keystone XL and 2015 and the Dakota access pipeline were recently in late 2016 Trump's memoranda directed the agencies in charge of approving each pipeline to speed them through the review process and that's a problem because there were a lot of reasons people wanted these pipelines to be gone for good some of those reasons have to do with the pipeline sprouts with Keystone construction would need to cross the Ogallala Aquifer which stretches beneath Nebraska South Dakota Wyoming Colorado Kansas Oklahoma Texas and New Mexico the aquifers water is used for both drinking and irrigation so if it were contaminated by say yeah pipeline spill it could be devastating to people's health and nearby agriculture while pipelines are statistically safer than transport by train or truck they're still prone to breaking and when they do spill they spill about three times more volume than trains recently a Canadian pipeline spilled 200,000 litres of oil and days later there was another even larger spill in Iowa despite these risks pipeline companies continue to claim that there for the economy TransCanada the company in charge of Keystone XL promised it would create thousands of much-needed jobs for Americans Trump echoed that claim when he signed the memorandum if they'd like let's see if we can get that pipeline built a lot of jobs 28,000 jobs great construction jobs but those big numbers are misleading sure Obama's State Department calculated that Keystone XL might create 40,000 or more jobs but they would only be temporary construction gigs over the long term it would only create about 50 permanent jobs in the US this is going to be full employment for lawyers you know because I think we're going to see all of these things contested in the courts the war is not over but I'm afraid it's going to be much more of a guerilla war in the courts already being challenged in the courts the Dakota access pipeline construction on the pipeline is almost complete except for the final most contentious stretch to finish it the pipeline operator energy transfer partners needs to drill beneath Waco ah hey on the Missouri River and for that it needs an easement from the US Army Corps of Engineers lekha why is the water source for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe which has been fighting the pipeline since April Standing Rock leaders argue that they weren't adequately consulted about the pipeline which could contaminate their water supply and endanger sacred sites after eight months of clashes between the protesters in an increasingly militarized police force the US Army ruled that energy transfer partners would not be allowed to drill beneath the river but President Trump asked the Army Corps to revisit that decision Obama could unilaterally decide to stop it three months ago and Trump now even though he's issued is never in it doesn't say go forward and grant this permit more outs it says agency you need to consider these for them simply to stop that process switch gears I think it was the door to some significant potential legal challenges particularly their decision is essentially arbitrary aside from legal battles what might really kill these pipelines or economics dropping oil prices might take away the incentive for companies like say TransCanada or energy transfer partners to invest in pipelines in the future which would be good news for the environmentalists and the First Nations people who have been fighting for centuries to protect their land there's this whole other wrinkle to that we didn't even get into which is the problem eminent domain in the state of Iowa the government granted there's 200 parcels of land to the Dakota access pipeline and of course 17 of those landowners were like no and they sued and then in Nebraska with Keystone the state government couldn't actually agree with in itself who had the power to grant eminent domain