American Ken Ilgunas is walking the 1,700 mile long path of the Keystone XL pipeline through the United States. He has now been walking for over 70 days.
His mission started with a flight over the Alberta Tar Sands. Ilgunas flew high above the beautiful Boreal Forest. But, as the forest suddenly turned to a wasteland he knew he had a cause for his journey.
“As far as the eye can see, it is an apocalyptic devastated landscape,” Ilgunas told the media.
He says seeing the Tar Sands of Alberta is a game changer. “All you can really feel is shock and awe,” Ilgunas said.
Ilgunas has been talking to farmers, land owners and other citizens in order to obtain their views on the building of the pipeline. His efforts and the media coverage are helping to obtain grassroots views on the pipeline.
FROM KEN ILGUNAS’ BLOG
DAY 99
In Nebraska, I was a celebrity. I was interviewed by countless small newspapers, the Nebraska chapter of the Sierra Club, and two TV stations. I was given organic cheese, buffalo jerky, and money was stuffed in my pants. Several drivers who were, dare I say, “starstruck,” pulled over to say hello. “I can’t believe it’s you,” said one driver. “I mean, I was just out for a drive. And there you were.”
But when I crossed the border into Kansas, it was as if I suddenly turned back into an anonymous bum.
A father and daughter pulled over in their car, and the father asked, “What are you a…a…a… transient?”
I was walking perfectly south through Kansas, taking a country road that paralleled the Keystone Pipeline. This is where the Keystone XL and Keystone Pipeline can get confusing.
Map of the existing Keystone pipeline and the planned Keystone XL pipeline. Courtesy: Ken IlgunasLet me try to explain…
The Keystone XL will be a 36-inch-diameter pipeline. It has yet to be built. If it is approved by Obama, Tar Sands oil will travel down already-existing pipelines from Fort McMurray, Alberta to Hardisty, Alberta. In Hardisty, the Keystone XL will begin. From there, the Keystone XL will run across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, and South Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska. In Steele City, the oil will begin to flow through the already-built Keystone Pipeline.
The Keystone Pipeline, built in 2010, is a 30-inch-diameter pipeline that goes through many of the same states/provinces that the Keystone XL is planned to go through. At Steele City, it branches off and ends at refinery hubs in Patoka, Illinois and Cushing, Oklahoma. The second part of the proposed Keystone XL will begin again at Cushing, Oklahoma. The Keystone XL will be built to link Cushing with refineries along the Gulf Coast of Texas.
If none of that made any sense, just look at the map.
American Ken Ilgunas is walking the 1,700 mile long path of the Keystone XL pipeline through the United States. He has now been walking for over 70 days.FROM KEN ILGUNAS’ BLOG
