Animals by Keystone Pipeline: Environmental Impact
Unmoving, at least for this moment, a greater prairie chicken stands at a mating gathering known as a “lek,” at Calamus Outfitters, near Burwell, Nebraska, on the eastern edge of the unique 19,600-square-mile (51,000-square-kilometer) ecosystem called the Sandhills. This native grassland and windswept sand, which covers one-quarter of Nebraska, forced a rethinking of the North American energy future.
Until last fall, it seemed as if the U.S. government was on track to approve the $7 billion construction of a 1,700-mile (2,740-kilometer) pipeline to increase imports dramatically from the oil sands region of Canada and deliver the crude to the refining centers of Texas. But mounting political pressure over the environmental risks of the pipeline route through Nebraska’s Sandhills put the brakes on the project in early November, and the Obama administration formally rejected the proposal Wednesday.
