It seems the main fear being raised here is that the pipe line would leak, and this would be followed by disastrous and unrecoverable pollution of the local water table. And that’s the reason the protesters have been chanting “Water is life” in various languages.
Credible engineering data is needed here, and the credibility might be a problem in an era when global warming is considered a fait accompli, rather than something that might occur under certain circumstances that we can’t even predict yet. I don’t want to see the water table polluted any more than the next guy does. But I do want to intelligently weigh disaster scenarios that include what would likely happen as an alternative (like trains carrying all the oil). If a pipe does spring a leak, what happens? Would it even hurt the water at all, floating on top of it like it would tend to do? So many questions, so few attempts at answers, so much Chicken Littling.
“Credible engineering data is needed here,”
We already have a multitude of pipelines crossing Nebraska. Right over the aquifer and through all terrain of Nebraska.
Pipelines are safer, cheaper and more efficient than rail or truck.
The engineering data is already there. No more need to delay over a need for data.