The Keystone XL Pipeline: An International Town Hall

The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline is currently one of the most contentious international issues facing the United States and Canada.  It seeks to expand the shipment of oil sands from Alberta by going through Nebraska and eventually down to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.  In this special Town Hall event America Abroad has teamed up with CBC Alberta for a spirited discussion with a a wide range of views including:

Corey Goulet, the president of Keystone projects for TransCanada.

"We have agreed to 59 special conditions and those are contained in the final supplemental environmental impact statement. Conditions that involve the construction of the facility, the materials that are used for the pipelines as well as the operation of maintenance over the long term of the service of the facilities.Those will make this the safest pipeline in America. They add a level of redundancy much above what is normal in the industry."

Ken Winston of the Nebraska Sierra Club

"There’s more jobs that we can get through energy that will benefit us in the long run, that will benefit the planet in the long run and I’ve never heard of a wind spill damaging the aquifer."

Also we'll hear the voices of concerned citizens in both Alberta and Nebraska such as John Hanson, the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union who contends locals are being strong armed. 

"When widows call me up crying saying I had to sign because the TransCanada land agents who representt TransCanada and how they operate in our state, told her if she didn’t sign the easement they used Eminent Domain she would get nothing. Well that’s a complete total fabrication; she would get what the Eminent domain process would yield."

This international Town Hall was moderated in Lincoln Nebraska by America Abroad's Hari Sreenivasan and in Calgary by Donna McElligott, of the CBC.

Supported By:

Oak Foundation