After 2 Weeks Of ?s, State Dept. Cannot Say How, Even If Keystone Public Comments Will Be Read, Used

[hatrack]

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To try to answer those questions, InsideClimate News asked the State Department how the public comments are being processed and who is responsible for reading them.

After two weeks of e-mail exchanges and phone calls, however, the two agency spokeswomen we dealt with couldn't explain how or when the comments will be processed, or whether any of the actual decision-makers are obligated to review them. The spokeswomen said only that all agency staff working on the pipeline review will "have access to the comments." When we asked for the names and job titles of those who might be expected to read the comments, we were told that information was not available.

Susan Luebbe, a Nebraska rancher who traveled at her own expense to speak at the final public hearing in Washington, D.C., said it was "depressing" to think that her comments may never reach decision-makers. "So many people put a lot of effort into and followed along with the rules," she said. "It would look really bad on part not to follow through on their word."

The problem, it turns out, is that this last round of public testimony on the Keystone XL isn't protected by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a decades-old law that requires the State Department to solicit and respond to public comments about federal projects that could have a significant impact on the environment.

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http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20111031/keystone-xl-pipeline-public-hearings-state-department-obama-transcanada-cardno-entrix-oil-sands