"U.S. construction workers, environmentalists and company executives squared off on Thursday at a raucous meeting on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but it was unclear the gathering changed any minds on the controversial project."
"U.S. State Department officials hosting the meeting repeatedly called for order at the hearing in Grand Island, Nebraska. It was the first since the department released a 2,000-page report on the environmental impacts of the pipeline in March and more than four years after the project was first floated.
The proposed 830,000 barrel per day pipeline would link Canada's oil sands petroleum fields with U.S. Gulf Coast refineries and also carry domestic oil from Montana and North Dakota through states such as Nebraska.
Dozens of speakers from both sides of the fence took three-minute turns before the microphone at the Heartland Events Center. They often interrupted one another during the eight hours of testimony at a venue more used to hosting monster-truck derbies and antique shows."
Katie Schubert reports for Reuters April 19, 2013.
SEE ALSO:
"The First -- And Last -- Hearing on Keystone XL Environmental Impact" (Mother Jones)
"Keystone XL Pipeline ‘All Risk, No Reward’ State Dept. Told" (ENS)
"Nebraska Hearing Vitrifies Keystone XL Pipeline Debate " (Christian Science Monitor)
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