Keystone XL

Keystone XL
The Reader's Turn
3/14/2021
Updated:
3/14/2021

As a native South Dakotan, I appreciated your article on how the Keystone XL cancellation negatively impacted the rural West River. I just wanted to offer one point of clarification; your article made it sound like the affected communities were on the up and up and the cancellation is what’s bringing them down. I can say with confidence (since I’m originally from West River) that those communities have been dead and dying for at least half a century, maybe more, and the XL was their (likely last) shot at rebirth (which is almost sadder when you come to think of it). Also, a bit of a rhetorical question, but isn’t it interesting that Dusty Johnson finally grows a spine when his actions are essentially meaningless?

J.M. Barnes