While a windmill swirls from a Nebraska summer breeze, retired Army pilot Cornelius Murphy of rural Holt County takes off in a small airplane down a grassy runway, looping a path along the Sandhills.
“It’s a diamond in the world,” Murphy says.
He’s referring to our precious topography which is at the center of an international controversy: the Sandhills and its underground aquifer against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, scheduled to pump 700 barrels of oil per day to the Gulf Coast region.
That’s double the amount pumped through the original Keystone project running through the eastern part of the Cornhusker State.
The scene is part of the independent documentary, “Pipe Dreams,” which premiered in Atkinson last week.
The film, produced and directed by Academy- and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks from California, attempts to answer how the intended pipeline will benefit Americans versus its possible environmental impact.
Last Thursday, Iwerks received notification that “Pipe Dreams” is on the shortlist for the upcoming Academy Awards.
Iwerks has also produced two films – “Dirty Oil” and “Downstream” – which tell stories related to Alberta’s tar sands mining operations.
The same tar sands oil proposed to move through the 36-inch pipe planted in Nebraska land.
Nebraska sits at the heart of the issue. State Senator Tony Fulton, who appears in the film, says it seems pipeline owners TransCanada placed a ruler on a map and drew a straight line to determine a route.
In addition to state officials, landowners from Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana, environmentalists, scientists, and federal lawmakers weigh in during the film.
TransCanada chose not to respond to Iwerks’ requests for the documentary.
People may crack jokes about the boring drive through our state, but after watching this film, you can’t help but fall in love with the landscape. Landowners Susan Luebbe and Teri Taylor walk with you through their ranch land. Sometimes, they’re standing in precious groundwater. Other times, they point to pooled patches of water, remnants from a summer’s rain which the saturated earth has yet to soak up.
It’s a stark contrast to the footage of the mining operation in the boreal forest of Alberta. The blackened waters paint a bleak picture of the process used to extract the oil from Mother Earth.
Iwerks speaks with South Dakota landowners, who protest TransCanada’s lack of respect for their land after the original line came through. Heavy equipment caused havoc with the gravel roads, still several feet-deep with ruts.
She interviews the South Dakotan who spied the spill along the original Keystone route. The spill that shot tar sands into the air for nearly 50 minutes.
Iwerks also speaks to a member of Nebraska’s labor union, based in Omaha, who believes the project must go through so Americans – and Nebraskans – can get back to work.
It doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with the proposed project; this is a must-see film that will make you question the power of big oil and big business and wonder if everyday citizens have a voice.
