April 2, 2013
April Fools’ jokes are, by their nature, supposed to be funny.
But an April 1 press release sent out by the anti-Keystone XL pipeline group, Bold Nebraska, didn’t get a laugh from the Nebraska governor’s office.
The fake press release stated that Gov. Dave Heineman had written a letter asking President Obama to reject the controversial pipeline because of the risk of damage to Nebraska’s vast groundwater resources.
That would have been a complete about-face for the Republican governor who has been a whole-hearted supporter since TransCanada decided in late 2011 to reroute its 36-inch, crude oil conduit around Nebraska’s groundwater-rich Sand Hills area.
Heineman, remember, called a special session of the State Legislature due to his objections over the initial route that crossed the Sand Hills.
But with the route changed, he’s totally pro-pipeline.
A spokeswoman for the governor labeled the Bold Nebraska spoof as “immature” and ‘childish.”
But a Bold spokeswoman said the press release was intended to make a serious point — all of the statements included in the press release were made by Gov. Heineman when he expressed his problems with the original Sand Hills route of the Keystone XL.
”He has completely flip flopped on his word to oppose a pipeline crossing the Ogallala Aquifer,” said spokeswoman Mary Anne Andrei. “We will not let him forget his own words.”
To be fair, the governor’s words included opposition to the pipeline crossing “a substantial portion of the Ogallala Aquifer.”
The new route still crosses over a portion of the aquifer. Whether it’s a substantial portion is a subject for interpretation — and apparently April Fools’ jokes.
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