by Walter Brasch
Julia Trigg Crawford
of Direct, Texas, is the manager of a 650-acre farm that her grandfather first
bought in 1948. The farm produces mostly corn, wheat, and soy. On its north
border is the Red River; to the west is the Bois d’Arc Creek.
TransCanada
is an Alberta-based corporation that is building the controversial Keystone
Pipeline that will carry bitumen—thicker, more corrosive and toxic, than crude oil—through
36-inch diameter pipes from the Alberta tar sands to refineries on the Gulf
Coast, mostly to be exported. The $2.3 billion southern segment, about 485
miles from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast is nearly complete. With the
exception of a 300-mile extension between Cushing and Steele City, Neb., the rest
of the $7 billion 1,959 mile pipeline is being held up until President Obama either
succumbs to corporate and business pressures or blocks the construction because
of environmental and health concerns.
