Could a 1,300-mile bike path along the length of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline quell the concerns of environmentalists? A "tongue-in-cheek" design put forth by SWA group doesn't appear to have won admirers on either side of the debate.
"The debate over the Keystone XL pipeline has gotten pretty heated and Kinder Baumgardner [creative director for the SWA Group] has an idea to cool the emotions: a really long bike path," reports Jim Snyder. "While the illustrations are tongue-in-cheek, Baumgardner insists the idea isn’t: making Keystone more palatable by creating a 'recreational corridor' along its right of way."
But neither opponents nor proponents were buying it. “'I think it’s ridiculous,' said Jane Kleeb, the executive director of Bold Nebraska, which opposes Keystone because it says it could pollute water and farm and ranch land in Nebraska."
"Shawn Howard, a spokesman for TransCanada, said he had not heard of the idea before being contacted by a reporter. He also wasn’t enthusiastic."
“To make sure we can maintain or access the pipeline, permanent structures couldn’t be built in the easement,” he said. “We do not own the land that the pipeline easement is for.”
To give you a hint of the original intent, Angie Schmitt notes that the concept was put forth on April Fool's Day.
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