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• "What's happening in Nebraska proves that this isn't a red and blue issue," Bond said. "Nebraska proves that this is a common-sense issue about protecting our water and our climate."
• National opponents have formed a new group, the "All Risk, No Reward Coalition," which recently ran television ads in large markets, including Boston, Denver, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, and planned to air the ads Tuesday in Lincoln, Neb. The ad targets what the group calls TransCanada's poor safety record and highlights a recent oil spill in Arkansas.
• Opponents say the thick, gooey oil derived from tar sands in western Canada is harder to clean up than conventional oil. The Keystone XL pipeline would carry a similar type of oil.
• The Sierra Club sent emails to supporters showing video of the Arkansas spill, warning that tar sand pipelines are "disasters waiting to happen."
• Terry Frisch, a landowner from the north-central Nebraska community of Atkinson, insisted a core group of Nebraska opponents -- dubbed "the posse" -- remains strong, but he acknowledged some landowners have moved on.
• Although the line was shifted away from his property, Frisch said he remains ardently opposed because of fears the pipeline could endanger the aquiver.
• "This has caused some real friendships to go by the wayside," Frisch said. "The only ones who are satisfied with it are the politicians and the ones who are bought off by TransCanada. But this is all we've got. It's all we've got. We're expected to feed the world, and this water is our lifeblood. We won't live without water."
• Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, who opposed the initial route but supported it after the route was changed, said this week he was satisfied the state listened to landowners' concerns. He pointed to a 2,000-page review by the state Department of Environmental Quality that concluded the project would have a minimal environmental impact.
• TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said the company has listened to the concerns of Nebraska residents during a series of state environmental hearings. The company also submitted to four federal environmental reviews and nearly a dozen state and local ones, he said.
• "The product we carry is essential, and the need for it doesn't change," Howard said. "Would you rather get it from Venezuela, and have to ship it farther, in a way that's less safe? Where do Americans want to get the oil that we all use to power our homes and our vehicles -- including the vehicles and airplanes that are going to bring the opponents to this meeting?"
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