Oil Pipeline Initiated Measure

Landowners say it s about future generations The members of Save Our Soil want a planned Keystone pipeline moved three miles east of state Highway 32 near Valley City They say farms and Fargo s water supply is at stake if the pipeline leaks Members filed for an initiative measure at the Secretary of State s Office today The measure would say that no pipelines carrying crude oil may be built within six miles of a lake or aquifer that supplies water to more than five-thousand people Corey Bergsrud SOS Member We want justice We want our water supplies to be saved Water is the most important thing to keep our people alive for future generations It s not about today its about our future of our generations Richard Starke SOS Chairman We re not saying stop it we re saying just get it where it s safe If they leave it where it s at and it blows it s going to hit the Sheyenne River in less than an hour The Public Service Commission made a decision to allow the route permit for Keystone to build the 219 mile pipeline through North Dakota Commissioner Kevin Cramer says it was not a quick decision Cramer feels the state PSC is looking out for the best interest of the people of North Dakota Kevin Cramer ND Public Service Commissioner Fact of the matter is we actually extended the process to accomodate the concerns of the city of Fargo as many people will probably recall That resulted in the city of Fargo having a couple of days of hearings It also resulted in a settlement between the city of Fargo and the company That is all part of the process So yes it was a long rigorous intense process and at the end of it some people aren t as satisfied Save Our Soil members need 12-thousand-844 signatures to get the measure to go to a vote