It's about our water, stupid

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Many of the protestors in Washington DC a couple of weeks ago, and in Ottawa earlier this week, seemed to be using the proposed Keystone XL pipeline as a proxy for their concerns about the Alberta Oil Sands.

But for the locals in Nebraska, it’s about their water. Specifically, the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies 80% of Nebraska’s water.

This vast, yet shallow, water table aquifer is one of the world’s largest, covering 450,000 square kilometers in portions of eight states.

Many Nebraskans are asking why the proposed pipeline can’t follow the same route as the existing Keystone pipeline, which skirts the eastern edge of the aquifer.

This story was in yesterday’s Calgary Herald: “Emotions bubble over at pipeline hearing”