Keystone Pipeline Makes Strange Bedfellows

Des Moine Register:

A second prominent Nebraska Republican, U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns, came out against the Keystone Pipeline that would extend from Alberta, Canada, through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma to Texas Gulf refineries.
Johanns’ opposition comes a week after Nebraska’s Republican governor Dave Heinemann came out against the Keystone, which is touted as a new route to energy independence for the U.S. but opposed vehemently by environmentalists angry about the oil sands extraction technology.
Nebraskans are particularly worried about what impact the Keystone might have on the Ogallala Aquifer, Nebraska’s huge underground lake in the irrigation-needy state.
President Obama will make a decision by the end of the year. The White House involved because the pipeline would cross an international border.
Said Johanns: I support Governor Heineman’s request that President Obama and Secretary Clinton deny the current application from TransCanada to build the Keystone XL pipeline along a route crossing Nebraska’s Sand Hills and the center of the Ogallala Aquifer,” said Johanns.
“The proposed route is the wrong route. It’s clear to me, after traveling throughout the state, that most Nebraskans agree a better route is needed.

When did you ever think you'd see Great Plains Republicans on the same side of an energy project as a bunch of environmentalists.  It seems odd that these guys aren't opposed to drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, but are opposed to a pipeline running across their state.  NIMBYism isn't just for the suburbs.  I don't really have a strong opinion either way on the project.  I think it is a long-term waste of resources to build up the Tar Sands, but I can guarantee that nobody in the U.S. is going to wean themselves off of the Big Oil teat anytime soon.