Crumly’s family raises cattle and corn in Holt County in north central Nebraska. To provide water for thirsty crops and livestock, they draw from the High Plains Aquifer, an underground reservoir she calls the lifeblood of their operation.
Keystone XL would run through land that lies above that water supply. The company in charge of the project, TransCanada, says pipelines are safer than hauling oil by train and that it will accept the legal responsibility to clean up any potential damage.
“Should an incident occur where there is a release of crude oil into the environment, our focus will be on remediation, repairing the pipeline, and of course restoring the environment back to its original state,” says TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha.
The company’s first Keystone pipeline, which also runs through Nebraska, has sprung leaks. A defective weld was blamed for a leak of nearly 17,000 gallons of oil from Keystone 1 in South Dakota in April 2016.
For Crumly, an oil leak like that on her land is something she can’t afford.
Now, Crumly and dozens of likeminded landowners in this farming and ranching community are reviving their resistance. They gathered at the Community Center in the Holt County seat of O’Neill, Nebraska, recently to talk strategy with other pipeline opponents.
