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MT Landowners Call for Keystone Pipeline Safety Check
News Articles | Public News Service | September 28, 2010
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BILLINGS, Mont. – A 48-point safety checklist is sitting before the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), put together by local landowners who will be affected by construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The line is planned to carry oil from Alberta, Canada, to Texas, with a section running through eastern Montana.
Sandy Barnick is one of those property owners and a representative for the Northern Plains Pipeline Landowners Group. At the top of the list is a requirement that an emergency response plan be in place before construction begins, she says.
“See what’s happening in Michigan and in Minnesota? Failure to have an emergency response plan causes a lot of damage.”
Other items on the checklist include a requirement that the company building the line, TransCanada, keep roads maintained during construction and that, as crude flows through the pipeline, the pressure be kept below current federal regulations.
Barnick says another big issue is eminent domain. Much of the pipeline runs through private land, including hers. She doesn’t want to sell, and doesn’t want the line on her property.
“They are threatening to take our private land. TransCanada has already threatened landowners in Nebraska with eminent domain, in writing.”
The DEQ has indicated the list will be considered as permits are being processed.
The group has also posted its concerns on a website, http://northernplains.org.
Tagged with: keystone xl, transcanada, pipeline, montana, safety, landowners, department of environmental quality
