Transportation of energy always demands caution

They Keystone XL Pipeline's future was thrown into further disarray this week with the ruling Wednesday by Lancaster County District Court Judge Stephanie Stacy that LB 1161, which allows the governor and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to approve a route for the pipeline, is unconstitutional.

Attorneys for three landowners argued that the law unconstitutionally gave the governor regulatory control that rightfully belongs to the Nebraska Public Service Commission, and the required land cannot be taken from the owners for that purpose.

"This case is not about the merits of any pipeline in particular," said Dave Domina, attorney for the landowners. "This is a landowner rights case involving whether a specific statute was invalid under the Nebraska State Constitution."

The Keystone XL pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries once completed. Heineman approved the 195-mile project leg through Nebraska -- avoiding the environmentally sensitive Sandhills region -- in January 2013, which gave TransCanada the power to use eminent domain on landowners who denied the company access to their property. Three landowners filed suit, saying the Public Service Commission should have made the decision.

Opponents have demonstrated against the pipeline at the Nebraska and national capitols, and have even gone so far as building a solar- and wind-powered barn that would have to be demolished if the revised route is finally approved.

Concern about endangering the Ogallala Aquifer are not unfounded; the diluted bituminous crude that is transported through such pipelines is truly nasty stuff, which can indeed sink into groundwater, despite most oil's natural tendency to float on top of water.

Stopping the pipeline won't prevent the utilization of Canadian tar-sands crude oil, however, it will only force it into other more expensive "pipelines" such as trucks and railroads, which have hazards of their own.

Regardless of the pipeline's fate, the BNSF railroad will continue to haul oil and ethanol, and announced plans to purchase 5,000 new stronger tanker cars to replace older ones that are more prone to split in accidents.

That's good planning by the railroad.

We were also reminded of good planning by local emergency crews, who were called to a minor derailment of a tanker car in downtown McCook on Thursday.

There was no leak and no danger, but had it been something more serious, like the derailment in Ontario, Canada, last July that killed 47 people, local firefighters would have been in a better position to deal with it, since the fire station has moved a couple of blocks away from the railroad, rather than its old position adjacent to the tracks.

It's a good reminder that transporting energy -- whether in the form of oil, natural gas, ethanol, hydrogen or even electricity -- is always going to be a risky business that demands the utmost in precautions.