By Scott Harvey
Yantis – Opponents of the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline that would run through parts of East Texas are holding a town hall meeting Monday night in Yantis regarding the Department of State's recent supplemental environmental impact statement.
Eddie Radillo is a member of STOP (Stop Tar Sands Oil Pipeline).
"I've looked at the supplement, and it does not appear to address the concerns of we Texans when it comes to this pipeline crossing over our aquifers here that could get ruptured or leak, and affect our drinking water in the Sulphur Springs area, the Lake Fork area, etcetera, and the Winnsboro area," Radillo said.
He says the meeting would help inform residents how to publicly comment on the environmental statement.
"It's an educational process. It's a grassroots process. So that when these people leave they can go out into their communities, to their families, to their churches, to their schools, to their PTO organizations. Spread the word, so that everyone knows how to specifically comment to this supplement."
The public has a 45 day window that ends June 6 to comment on the study. Monday's meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Yantis Community Center.
Keystone XL is a proposed 1700-mile oil pipeline from the U.S.-Canadian border in Montana, through Cushing, Oklahoma, to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. More information on the study is available at http://www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/clientsite/keystonexl.nsf?Open.
Radillo continued, "People need to know they don't have to have a solution, they just need to say they don't want the Tar Sands pipeline in Texas. They don't want to start a precedent to allow other Tar Sands oils to come in here because they know what would happen if this toxic hazardous oil were to leak and get into our drinking water."