IN THE MAIL: Pipeline can and must be stopped
Grand Forks Herald
Published Wednesday, March 12, 2008
GRAND FORKS — The Keystone oil pipeline should not be built in the location where the state Public Service Commission has given permission to begin construction.
Hundreds of thousands of people depend upon the water sources that the pipeline threatens. I’m also against it because the Red River Valley is a sacred and vital land to many who depend on it for food. People in eastern North Dakota, western Minnesota and Manitoba are threatened by this decision by our PSC and our own people.
I say “our own people” because not enough of us made the effort to speak up for ourselves or our neighbors. I give thanks to those who put forth effort for the people, even though it may not have been enough.
However, do not lose hope. There is still time to speak up on this issue, and the time is now or never.
We must continue the fight in a legal battle that the Dakota Resource Council has been waging from the start. The council and Plains Justice in Iowa, both non-profits, now are deciding whether to appeal the decision of the PSC. The council will be able to continue its battle only with the support of the people.
Simply put, the council needs more members. Members do not have to be from North Dakota; and the more members there are, the more people power the group will have.
The more people power, the louder the voice. The louder the voice, the more the group will be heard.
The council also is planning an initiative to let voters decide where the pipeline may be placed. The ballot measure prohibits any oil-carrying pipeline from being built within six miles of a lake or aquifer that supplies water to at least 5,000 people. It would prevent future pipelines from being built where they would pollute the water, and since there is evidence Keystone plans to put more two more pipelines along the same easement, it might also prevent the present pipeline from being built in its proposed location.
If enough people make our voices heard, we can save our water supply and by becoming “Green” North Dakota, set an example to other states if not the world. Let’s live up to the name, “Red River Valley of the North.”
Corey A. M. Bergsrud
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