Despite Recent Keystone Oil Spill, Nebraska Approves Dangerous Pipeline
The Nebraska Public Service Commission is putting Sandhill Crane habitat and water supply for Nebraska communities at risk.
GIBBON, Neb. — Today, the Nebraska Public Service Commission granted permission to TransCanada to build the Keystone XL pipeline along an alternate route, removing a final hurdle for the project. In response, the National Audubon Society issued the following statement:
“Bringing the Keystone XL pipeline back to life is dead wrong. It puts America’s birds and people in danger, and would further destabilize our changing climate,” said Bill Taddicken, director of Audubon Nebraska’s Rowe Sanctuary.
“This pipeline would bulldoze a path right through some of the most vulnerable habitat for birds and important water sources for people. The Ogallala aquifer, which supplies water to Nebraska's farms and communities and supports the migration of the Sandhill Cranes—one of the most stunning bird migrations on the planet—would be especially threatened. These cranes are also one of 314 species of North American birds that are already at risk due to climate change. This pipeline will only make their future and ours more uncertain.
“Millions of Americans want a speedy transition to a clean energy economy. Why aren't we listening?”
In 2014, Audubon published its Birds and Climate Change Report. The study shows that more than half of the bird species in North America, including species like the Bald Eagle, American Kestrel and Sandhill Cranes, could lose at least half of their current ranges by 2080 due to rising temperatures. Given the urgent threat climate change poses birds and people, Audubon supports common-sense, bipartisan solutions that reduce carbon pollution at the speed and scale necessary.
To learn more about Audubon’s Climate Initiative, including how members and supporters can take steps to help birds in a changing climate, please visit www.audubon.org/climate.
The National Audubon Society saves birds and their habitats throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon's state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon's vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.
Contact: Nicolas Gonzalez, ngonzalez@audubon.org, (212) 979-3100.
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