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South Dakota Farm Bureau president remains confident in Keystone Pipeline

The president of South Dakota Farm Bureau does not want people to overreact following a Keystone Pipeline oil spill in his state earlier this month.

Scott Vanderwal, who’s also vice president of American Farm Bureau, tells Brownfield he remains confident in the pipeline.

“You don’t want this type of thing to happen, and obviously they’re going to have to figure out why it happened.  But we also don’t want to overreact and throw the baby out with the bathwater (so to speak), because (pipelines) have been proven safe over the years.  It’s still safer than a truck on the road, even though a truck hauls far less gallons.”

The existing Keystone system—which runs from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas coast—has had three significant leaks since beginning operations in 2010.

Two of those have occurred in South Dakota, and Vanderwal says the latest spill continues to be assessed.

“I’m not sure what the impact is going to be.  I know they’re trying to contain it and clean it up.  I don’t know how much it has soaked in or anything like that, or what the mitigation measures will be.  But I know the Public Utilities Commission is watching it very closely and will make sure it gets handled.”

The Keystone leak November 16^th happened days before regulators in neighboring Nebraska approved a route through the state, lifting a regulatory hurdle that’s delayed expansion for years by environmental opposition.