Observers of the fights by environmentalists against corporate energy projects are putting their money on the Keystone XL pipeline project in Nebraska as the site of the next messy protest.
With the protesters gone from the site of the last work at the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, the focus is turning toward TransCanada’s request to build the Keystone XL across Montana, Wyoming and ending in Nebraska.
Even the sheriff who handled the protesters in Morton County, North Dakota is predicting Nebraska will be the site of the next massive demonstratioins. Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier doesn’t wish that on any sheriff.
The main group fighting the Keystone XL pipeline, one that will use existing lines to move oil to Cushing, Oklahoma and eventually south to the Texas gulf coast refineries is Bold Nebraska.
Its leaders are already asking people for donations but also to risk arrest. Bold Nebraska founder Jane Kleeb doubts the Nebraska protests will be on the scale of what happened at North Dakota.
“We’re certainly not setting up a big protest camp like at Standing Rock—we’ve made that clear to partners,” she told the Omaha World-Herald. “But we do have supporters, including land owners, who want that option to participate in civil disobedience.”
Bold Nebraska’s website asks opponents, “I pledge to participate in peaceful direct action that may result in my arrest, should construction begin on the Keystone XL pipeline.”
Some believe it could take two years or more for expected-lawsuits to be settled including a federal suit filed to block the project. But others regarding eminent domain are expected.