March 3, 2014 Secretary John Kerry U.S.

Department of State Bureau of Energy Resources, Room 4843 Attn: Keystone XL Public Comments 2201 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20520 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 RE: Comments on the Keystone XL re-route in Nebraska Dear Secretary Kerry and President Obama, For the last year I have worked with farmers and ranchers in Nebraska who are fighting the Keystone XL pipeline. These people are Republicans and Democrats. All are hardworking Americans who have lived on and worked their family land for generations. Five years ago, TransCanada, a foreign pipeline corporation, threatened them with eminent domain condemnation if they refused to sign an easement agreement that would allow the company to lay a tar sands, export pipeline across the Ogallala Aquifer and the fragile Sandhills ecosystem. Because Nebraskans insisted on protection of these resources in 2012, President Obama denied the permit urging a re-route that would avoid the Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer. TransCanada quickly re-submitted in 2013, insisting that they had followed the Presidents directive. However, the State Departments environmental assessment now acknowledges that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route continues to cross the Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer, it also confirms what Nebraska farmers and ranchers have known all alongthat toxic chemicals could be transmitted through the loose soils of the Sandhills and the alluvial soils of the Platte Valley at a rapid rate. Thats no surprise to farmers and ranchers who are out there every day and have been for generations. They know Nebraskas water, and they know its soil. And they understand how precious this resource is to Nebraska and the nation if we intend to protect our agricultural heritage. Were just glad to see that the State Department knows this too. The report also says that in the Sandhills, localized preferential flow paths do exist that could enable dissolved chemicals to move at an increased rate through the unsaturated zone to the water table (3.3-29). In other words, these preferential flow paths that exist in the Sandhills and the Platte River Valley would allow contaminants to move down toward the ground water relatively quickly. The State Department maps (3.3-2-2, 2-3, and 2-4) plot all of the wells within one mile of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route. The report tallies 88 miles in Nebraska with nearly

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2,400 wells that fit that category. Fourteen of those wells are within 100 feet of the proposed route. Compare the number of wells within one mile of the route in other states: Montana: 523 wells South Dakota: 105 wells Nebraska: 2,398 wells Nearly half of those wells in Nebraska are believed by the State Department to be shallow or very shallow. Thats 1,100 wells, along nearly one-third of the route in Nebraska that could be contaminated rapidly. And through the 88-mile corridor of the Sandhills and the Platte Valley Unit the report states that the average depth of the aquifer ranges from 20 feet to just 5 feet below the surface. Thats why Nebraskans are up in arms. And we are especially concerned, given TransCanadas own risk analysis. KXL, they say, would carry 835,000 barrels of crude per day. The company boasts that its safety system accurately monitors the flow of bitumen through the pipeline to 99 percent, which means that 1%, or 8,350 barrels per day could potentially leak without the system detecting it. That is 350,000 gallons per day leaching toxic chemicals into our soil and water. (To better understand the probability of a Keystone XL spill, please read Dr. John Stansburys report, Analysis of Frequency, Magnitude and Consequence of Worst-Case Spills from the Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline.) Think that possibility is remote? Consider these major tar-sands pipeline spills in the United States since 2010:

July 26, 2010Marshall, Michigan, Enbridge Line 6B ruptured and spilled 1.4 million gallons of tar sands into the Kalamazoo River. The spill was detected after days of citizen complaints, not by the companys safety system. May 11, 2011Near Brampton, South Dakota, a farmer spotted a 60-foot geyser of oil shooting from TransCanadas Keystone 1 pipeline, spilling 21,000 gallons of tar sands crude. The company admits it was still trying to understand why there had been a drop in their pipeline pressure when the landowner called. July 26, 2012Grand Marsh, Wisconsin, Enbridge Line 14 ruptured and spilled 42,000 gallons. It was not detected by the safety system but by a farmer. March 29, 2013Mayflower, Arkansas, Exxon Pegasus Pipeline ruptured and spilled 250,000 gallons of tar sands in the surrounding neighborhood and Lake Conway. The spill was not detected by the safety system but was reported at 2:45 PM by a homeowner. Exxon crews did not arrive until the next morning. September 29, 2013Near Tioga, North Dakota, a Tesoro pipeline ruptured and spilled about 900,000 gallons of tar sands. It was not detected by the safety system but by a landowner while harvesting his wheat crop.

Spills like the one that occurred in Marshall, Michigan, underscore the importance of protecting surface water. (Enbridge Line 6B ruptured under a pond that flooded into

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Talmadge Creek and finally into the Kalamazoo River.) And yet the State Department report does not adequately address surface water concerns in Nebraska. In 2011, University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists Dr. John Woldt and Dr. Wayne Gates urged the State Department to consider the abundant interaction between groundwater and surface water in Nebraska. Because lakes and streams in the Sandhills are fed almost exclusively by groundwater, they wrote, risks are not limited to the aquifer, but extend to surface water as well. Although the State Department report acknowledges that there are 281 waterbody crossings along the proposed Project route in Nebraska, including 31 perennial streams, 237 intermittent streams, eight canals, and five artificial or natural lakes, ponds, or reservoirs, only five rivers in Nebraska would be crossed using horizontal directional drill constructionthe safest method for crossing waterways (3.3-43). Why are we not doing all that we can to protect our water resources? Highly sensitive bodies of water like Verdigre Creek, one of the only trout streams in Nebraska, will not be afforded special crossing consideration. Both the Nebraska Game and Parks and Trout Unlimited have called for the crossing of this watershed to be avoidedor at the very least crossed using horizontal directional drillingbut the State Department report does not address this risk at all. The report acknowledges that floodplains are highly sensitive ecosystems and that, actions by federal agencies are to avoid to the extent possible the long- and shortterm adverse impacts associated with the occupancy and modification of floodplain development wherever there is a practicable alternative (3.3.4). And yet the proposed route crosses 12 floodplains in Montana, while four are crossed in South Dakota, and 74 are crossed in Nebraska. Most significantly, Pump Station 24 in Nance County Nebraska may be inaccessible during periods of flood (3.3-50). Given the acknowledged threat to floodplain ecosystems, the report concludes, The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), through the National Wild and Scenic River System, has a duty to protect designated river environments. The DOI has noted several potential impacts due to floodplain activities of the proposed Project. But the report recommends only that National Park Service criteria relating to Wild and Scenic Rivers be considered when designing crossings of tributaries to and upstream of the Niobrara National Scenic River and Missouri National Recreational River segments (3.3.4). Although the State Department report does not adequately address risks to Nebraskas surface water and the surrounding fragile floodplain ecosystems, the report does confirm that the proposed route still crosses the Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer, and what Nebraska farmers and ranchers have been saying all alongthat Keystone XL is an unnecessary and unwanted threat to our water and our way of life. I invite you, Secretary Kerry and President Obama, to come to Nebraska before you make your final decision. Let us show you who and what we are fighting for. Kindest regards,

Mary Anne Andrei Bold Nebraska