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bold nebraska
Keystone XL By Any Other Name Will Be Just As Crudely Sour
The Big Oil powers that be have a Keystone XL obsession that just won’t die. Opponents are just as adamant that it won’t be built.
Apr 08, 2026
Here we go again.
The Big Oil powers that be have a Keystone XL obsession that just won’t die. Opponents are just as adamant that it won’t be built. The latest industry brainstorm is to bring a whole bunch of dirty tar sands oil from Canada to Guernsey, Wyoming, and then… well, “some future company” would need to build an additional pipeline, in order to get that oil down to refineries on the Gulf Coast. That’s a risky plan for a pipeline investor.
To review: The pipeline company TransCanada, which later became TC Energy and then recently spun off into new corporate entity “South Bow,” first proposed building the Alberta to Texas tar sands pipeline in 2008. As a trans-boundary pipeline, it required not only state permits and land acquisition from farmers and ranchers along the route, but also a Presidential Permit determining it to be in the national interest.
It was sailing along its permitting process despite opposition from First Nations in Canada, when climate scientist James Hansen pointed out that if the super-dirty high-carbon Alberta tar sands were fully developed it would be “game over” for the climate. At the same time, farmers and ranchers in Nebraska noticed that the route went through the fragile Sand Hills region and threatened the Ogallala aquifer. A battle royale ensued, with an unlikely alliance of farmers and ranchers, students, tribal nations, grassroots climate activists, and environmental nonprofits joining together against KXL supporters, which included the Alberta government, the Canadian government, the Republican Party, about half of the Democratic Party, and the entire oil industry.
To call this plan half-baked would be an insult to baking.
Remarkably, the unlikely alliance won. Barack Obama denied the Presidential Permit in 2015. Donald Trump approved it on the first day of his first term, but litigation prevented it from moving forward for the next four years. Joe Biden re-cancelled it on the first day of his presidency, and KXL was not built.
Now, however, there is an inkling of a plan to sort of revive KXL, although “plan” is an exaggeration. A company called Bridger is testing the waters by proposing to take bitumen, the technical term for the thick gooey hydrocarbon also known as tar sands or oil sands, from Alberta and pipe it through Montana to Guernsey, Wyoming. From there, according to press reports, “spurs” would be “bolted on” to take it to refining hubs and to the Gulf Coast for export. But it’s over 700 miles from Guernsey to the hub in Cushing, Olahoma, and over 400 miles to Steele City, Nebraska, where it could connect to existing underutilized pipelines.
Four hundred (400) miles is not exactly a “spur” that you “bolt on.” In fact, that route would require a state permit from the Nebraska Public Service Commission, and the acquisition of land—through eminent domain if necessary—from hundreds of Nebraskans. The process would take years, and generate the same controversy it did back in the early 2010’s. And if South Bow fails to get the full route built before the militantly pro-oil US president is out of office, the cross-border Presidential Permit could be denied—again. That “spur,” potentially cutting across the entire state of Nebraska, is the part that “some future company” would be responsible for. To call this plan half-baked would be an insult to baking.
The current war in Iran is making oil and energy markets more volatile than anytime since the 1970’s, with oil prices over $100. That might make it seem that tar sands oil, which is not only the dirtiest but most expensive oil to produce, could still make money. But in the long run, oil will probably settle somewhere under $100, because that’s where Saudi Arabia, OPEC, and the US producers want it—high enough to generate high profits, but not high enough to provoke recession. And in the even longer run, the world will inevitably electrify transportation, because this dependence on oil, with its wars and spills and price spikes and insecurity and pollution and global warming, is just too crazy.
Let’s add up the risks:
- The US is producing more oil than ever, and doesn’t need dirty Canadian tar sands oil.
- ”The future company” and the second half of the project connecting down to the Gulf may never materialize, making this a pipeline to nowhere.
- If the Venezuelan oil sector is revived, it will have easier access to the Texas refineries and export facilities than Alberta tar sands oil.
- The price of oil in the long run is only marginally high enough for tar sands oil to be profitable.
- The opposition to taking of land by eminent domain will be intense, especially for a project that will export oil.
- A pipeline like this will cost billions of dollars.
- A pipeline like this will spill and contaminate land and water along the route.
- Climate change is still real, even if the US government denies it.
- The US president will not grant a permit with nothing in return; he will want a piece of the action.
Let’s add up the rewards:
- A few thousand short term construction jobs.
- A few dozen permanent jobs.
- Tax revenue for counties along the route.
The risks far outweigh the rewards. Which is why this pipeline should not be built.
The US Bureau of Land Management and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality are now jointly accepting public comments on permit applications for the project through May 1, and holding several public meetings in Montana.
Bold Nebraska, the group that helped lead the original fight against Keystone XL by organizing farmers and ranchers along the route into an unlikely alliance with Tribal Nations, grassroots advocates, and national environmental groups, is collecting comments from citizens for the docket that it will deliver by mail on the May 1 deadline. Click here to use Bold’s form to submit a public comment to oppose the new “Keystone Light” pipeline project.
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Climate Campaigners Demand 'Action, Not Words' After Biden's 'Code Red' Comments
"If President Biden believes this is an actual 'code red' situation, he should treat it as such by declaring a climate emergency immediately through an executive order and stopping all fossil fuel projects."
Sep 09, 2021
Responding to U.S. President Joe Biden's recent comments calling the climate emergency a "code red" situation, environmental and Indigenous leaders representing a coalition of advocacy groups on Thursday implored the administration to act accordingly by declaring a climate emergency and stopping all fossil fuel projects.
"In the face of the climate crisis, we should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry and allowing the government to subsidize and hand off funds to the fossil fuel industry."
--Tara Houska, Giniw Collective
"President Biden has acknowledged that the climate crisis is here. In fact, to quote him, he said 'climate change poses an existential threat to our lives and our economy, and the threat is here,'" Jane Kleeb, president and founder of Bold Alliance and Bold Nebraska, said during a press call organized by the Build Back Fossil Free campaign.
Kleeb referenced Biden's Tuesday visit to the Tri-State Area in the wake of the deadly devastation wrought by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, during which he said: "They all tell us this is code red. The nation and the world are in peril. And that's not hyperbole. That is a fact."
"Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, our economy, and the threat is here," the president added. "It's not going to get any better. The question is: Can it get worse?"
Kleeb replied that "all of us who work with frontline communities are here to answer President Biden's question: It can get worse--and with his administration's decisions--it is getting worse."
"President Biden has the full authority right now--without Congress--to hit a pause button on all proposed fossil fuel projects," she said. "If President Biden believes this is an actual 'code red' situation, he should treat it as such by declaring a climate emergency immediately through an executive order and stopping all fossil fuel projects."
While Biden delighted climate campaigners by rescinding the federal permit for the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, the president has disappointed many activists by declining to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), as well as for defending a massive Trump-era drilling project in Alaska, and for so far refusing to cancel Enbridge's Line 3 project.
"Over 800 of us have been arrested fighting against the Line 3 tar sands expansion project," Giniw Collective founder Tara Houska said on the call. "To hear President Biden talk about the climate emergency as 'code red' yet knowing that he has said absolutely nothing about the brutalization that's occurred of water protectors, and the collaboration between state and private interests in this fight, is hypocrisy."
Underscoring the dissonance between Biden's often lofty rhetoric and his administration's actions in the face of a worsening emergency, climate campaigners on Thursday responded with alarm after the president tapped Willie L. Phillips--who Food & Water Watch policy director Mitch Jones said "spent his career working on the side of the oil and gas industry and electric utility giants"--to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"In the face of the climate crisis, we should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry and allowing the government to subsidize and hand off funds to the fossil fuel industry," said Houska. "It'd be good to see action, not words."
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Indigenous, Climate Leaders Launch National Effort to Demand Biden 'Stop Trump Pipelines'
"Decision-makers in Washington, D.C. and across the country now have a choice—stand with the Trump pipelines that prop up big oil and gas profits and cronyism or the approach Biden established when he canceled KXL."
May 21, 2021
Indigenous and climate activists this week launched a national "Stop Trump Pipelines" campaign to pressure U.S. President Joe Biden and other key decision-makers to depart from the polluter-friendly positions of former President Donald Trump by blocking a pair of controversial fossil fuel pipelines.
"Do not be afraid to do the right thing, President Biden."
--Joye Braun, IEN
The effort--led by Bold Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and partners from frontline communities--is kicking off with a six-figure television and digital campaign targeting Canada-based Enbridge Energy's Line 3 and Line 5 pipelines.
Moving forward, organizers said Friday, the campaign plans to "launch new efforts on the airwaves, online, and in communities across the country to keep the pressure up on policymakers and stop risky pipelines advanced by the Trump administration."
The day he took office in January, Biden revoked a permit that Trump granted for the Keystone XL pipeline in March 2019, citing the climate crisis and declaring that the project did not serve the U.S. national interest.
"Keystone XL was the first pipeline that President Biden rejected," says the new campaign website, "but it should not be the last."
Campaign organizers say that "decision-makers in Washington, D.C. and across the country now have a choice--stand with the Trump pipelines that prop up big oil and gas profits and cronyism or the approach Biden established when he canceled KXL."
"Stand for science, respect for treaty and property rights, racial justice, clean water, and solutions to the climate crisis," campaigners instruct Biden and other political leaders, "and stop the Trump pipelines."
"On Day One Biden canceled KXL, but this was never going to be a one and done, feel good decision to stop climate change," said Joye Braun, frontline community organizer with IEN, in a statement Friday. "We must stop all toxic pipeline projects from moving forward."
"Trump told lies to bolster corporate profit and rape of our lands and resources," Braun added. "Do not be afraid to do the right thing, President Biden."
Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Nebraska, said that "Biden showed tremendous strength in rejecting Keystone XL in favor of clean water, farmers' property rights, the sovereign rights of tribal nations, and clear action on climate change."
"We want to make sure with the climate goals that Biden has set forth, that it is understood we cannot keep building fossil fuel pipelines and reach those bold goals. Our communities deserve clean water and a future that respects the land," she said.
The Washington Post noted Thursday that Republican politicians and the energy industry blamed gas prices on Biden's decision and claimed that the move hurt workers. Kleeb told the newspaper that "I think it was a failure of our community that we weren't ready with ads and arguments."
The campaign's new ad in Michigan argues against Line 5--a decades-old system that Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a key Biden ally, took action to shut down in November, highlighting its threat to the Great Lakes. Enbridge fought back, and the company and state are now engaged in court-ordered mediation talks.
"Gov. Whitmer heeded the call: Strong hearts to the front. It took courage and wisdom to stop the dangerous Enbridge Line 5 pipeline," the ad says. "Her actions are aligned with the Biden administration's commitment to protect clean water."
"Just like when President Biden rejected the KXL pipeline," the ad continues. "President Biden and Gov. Whitmer are strong of heart and are choosing our families over the interests of a foreign oil corporation. Protect our water. Protect our future. Stop Line 5."
After Biden won the November election but before Trump left office, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a key permit for Enbridge's Line 3, which is being built to replace an aging oil pipeline and crosses Anishinaabe treaty lands. Opponents have challenged it in court and on the ground, sometimes halting construction.
"Trump disrespected tribal nations, violated our rights, and lied about the impacts of oil pipelines on our health, water, and climate in order to rubber-stamp these risky projects across Indigenous lands," said Dawn Goodwin, an IEN member and co-founder the Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging (RISE) Coalition, which is fighting against Line 3 in Minnesota.
"By rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, President Biden signals that he wants to take science and Indigenous rights seriously," Goodwin said. "But the work to protect the land and water cannot stop with that one action. It is time for the president and state leaders to uphold their commitments to tribal sovereignty and racial justice by stopping these toxic pipelines and investing in a better future for the next seven generations of life."
Indigenous leaders and climate activists plan to gather in Minnesota from June 5 to June 8 to peacefully disrupt Line 3 construction. Major events are scheduled for Monday, June 7.
"We need to protect all that we have left of the sacred gifts and land," declared Goodwin. "I said that I would do all that I could. And I have done all that I could in the legal system, thus far following that process. Now, they have failed us through regulatory capture and corporate financing. So now we need you."
Tara Houska, founder of the Giniw Collective and another key opponent of the project, said Friday that "we've elevated the national profile of Line 3 through people power."
"Biden hears our voices, but the wetlands and wild rice need action," she added. "We cannot mitigate climate crisis and we cannot stand idly by as [the Dakota Access pipeline] and Line 5 fossil fuels flow illegally, as young people chain themselves to Mountain Valley pipeline and Line 3. Stand up for what is right."
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