Its unsettling to learn how many people didnt learn about the Dust Bowl in school, especially those over 40. Its on Netflix this month and Im really hoping a lot of people watch it. To connect this history to recent events, the Ogallala aquifer is a major water source for the Great Plains. The Keystone XL Pipeline is tentatively scheduled to traverse the Ogallala aquifer (see image in comments). There is no such thing as a leak-proof pipeline. One leak would contaminate as much as billions of gallons of the aquifer, effectively shutting down many millions of acres of farmland. While I side with the initial 19th century surveyors who said the Great Plains was the worst place to farm (and history proved them right), there is nonetheless a substantial agricultural industry sitting on top of that aquifer. Burying the Keystone XL Pipeline along the aquifer (in many places it would actually sit in water) is to purposefully ignore the inevitable ecological, agricultural, and therefore financial disaster for want of the money that can be made before the pipeline leaks - which it will.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 19:55:10 +0000
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