It’s somewhat astounding to me. The turn of events… what has happened in the last few months. I would give the State Department credit. They came out to Nebraska and all the other states and held hearings. They must have listened to our concerns.The people of Nebraska came out in full force, filled the hearing rooms, expressed our concerns about this project. They listened to what we had to say. I thank the president… he has listened as well.

Nebraskans have really mobilized against this pipeline. Tell us about the different people who got involved. Would you consider yourselves environmentalists?It was a very diverse group – I’m in the agricultural, farming, ranching and livestock business all my life. I’m a conservative person. Many other landowners are the same way. We joined forces with Bold Nebraska, which is more of a progressive group. All had a common cause and we all worked side by side. I worked with environment people, and have a new respect for them as they do … for us.

It’s been a tremendous experience for all of us to work together. We all had the common cause — our state, water supply and natural resources. I’m very proud of our citizens here in Nebraska.

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Keystone pipeline a tough decision for Obama ^[4]

By Tim Cohen, CNN = December 13, 2011

From the beginning, the Keystone XL oil pipeline project presented President Barack Obama with a choice certain to anger part of his political base.

Now at the center of a political showdown over extending the payroll tax cut, the pipeline that would run from northern Alberta in Canada to the Gulf Coast of Texas is supported by unions eager to get their members working on construction jobs under the project.

However, environmentalists oppose how the pipeline bolsters U.S. reliance on oil — in this case a kind that results in more greenhouse gas emissions during production — as well as the potential impact on natural resources.

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