Keystone XL pipeline is back in eye in S.D.

A group of protesters braved below-zero temperatures in Sioux Falls on Monday to call attention to a hearing on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

The five protesters bundled up to stand at 10th Street and Minnesota Avenue as snow piled at their feet, holding signs that read "Water instead of oil/reject oil pipeline" and "Save the Aquifer/No XL."

The protest was one of two organized for Monday by Dakota Rural Action to call attention to Tuesday's pipeline hearing at the Public Utilities Commission.

The push for attention to the pipeline also dovetailed with an expected push from the GOP-led U.S. Senate to reopen the national discussion on the project, a move backed by two Senators from South Dakota.

The pipeline would send crude oil across 313 miles of western South Dakota on its path from Alberta, Canada's tar sands to refineries in Texas.

The local question concerns a request to the PUC from the Yankton Sioux Tribe, whose lawyers want the Commission to dismiss TransCanada's application to re-certify a Keystone XL construction permit first issued in 2010. The company was required to request recertification because four years have passed since the permit was issued.

Organizers of Monday's protest said they want South Dakotans to know that the certification process has re-opened and that they can offer comments to their elected officials on the controversial project.

The tribe says the project has changed too much since the initial permit was granted, and that the company ought to re-apply. TransCanada's written response says the changes, which include new cost estimates, don't significantly alter the scope of the project. The PUC's staff wrote that the proper venue for the tribe's objections will be at an evidentiary hearing in May.

The protesters say the issue deserves attention regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's hearing.

"We want to bring this back into focus, so people are aware that this is an ongoing process," said Tony Helland, who helped organize Monday's Sioux Falls protest.

Protesters also gathered in Rapid City Monday morning and have planned a prayer session at the Capitol Tuesday after to the PUC's hearing on the motion to dismiss.

The potential impact on western South Dakota's grasslands is an issue that concerns Paul Seamans, a Dakota Rural Action board member who lives in Draper along the pipeline's proposed path.

When Keystone XL's construction permit was initially approved in 2010, a list of 50 conditions included restoring and replanting land disrupted by the project. Seamans says it will take years for the land to bounce back, however.

"Native grass doesn't just come back," Seamans said. "It takes a lot of love and tender care to bring it back to where it was before."

The larger question of climate change has become a more serious focus in the state since 2008, Seamans said. Oil from Alberta's tar sands is more difficult to extract and dirtier than other options, he said.

The potential environmental impact of the fuel played into President Barack Obama's refusal last year to approve the pipeline's construction.

With the U.S. Senate in the hands of Republicans thanks to November's mid-term elections, Keystone's supporters are anxious to bring the pipeline back into public focus, as well.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune told Fox News Sunday that the President ought to approve the pipeline, and that he hopes the Senate can force his hand through legislation. Incoming Sen. Mike Rounds, elected by South Dakotans to replace retiring Sen. Tim Johnson, said he plans to sponsor legislation calling for a permit as one of his first acts in national office.

Thune told Fox News that repeated environmental impact studies have shown minimal impacts.

The State Department's study said the project was "unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the oil sands." Alberta's crude moves by railcar now, which supporters say is more dangerous to the environment than a pipeline.

Seamans pointed to a different figure from the State Department, though. The report said that oil extracted from the tar sands emits 17 percent more greenhouse gases than conventional drilling.

"Even in South Dakota, we're starting to become aware of the problem of climate change," Seamans said.

The PUC's hearing on the Yankton Sioux Tribe's motion to dismiss begins at 9:30 a.m., and will be streamed online at https://puc.sd.gov.