I hope this is the last one.

Last what?, you might ask.

The last column I ever write on the TransCanada (now calling itself TC Energy) KXL pipeline. Last week, President Joe Biden denied their international border-crossing permit for the 36-inch pipe full of poison.

Now, before you jump to conclusions, hear me out.

It was in 2008. I was the publisher of the York News-Times, a small, daily paper in Nebraska, located about three miles east of the KXL pipeline route. TransCanada representatives came to our office to tell us how great this pipeline was going to be and the 20,000 new jobs it would create and the millions it would pay in property taxes. Heck, they were even buying advertising space on the big scoreboard at Nebraska football games.

I got to thinking, if this pipeline is going to be so good for us, why are they trying so hard to sell it to us?

Well, after a lot of investigative work, debunking many of TransCanada’s exaggerated jobs claims, and further investigation into actually what was to be going through that huge pipe, and that China had invested over $30 billion into the Canadian tar sands, it was clear to us the pipe was not a good thing for Nebraska, nor was it in the national interest of the U.S.

We took an aggressive editorial stand against the KXL, going to great lengths to tell our readers the facts and the differences between crude oil and the thick tar sand oil and how it must first be diluted to pump through a pipe, which would be directly above or in some cases directly through the giant Ogallala Aquifer, an underground source of fresh drinking water and agricultural production in eight states that has about the same amount of water as Lake Huron.

Then we discovered the diluted tar sand oil was headed to Port Arthur, Texas, where it would be refined and exported. That was not a pipeline to America. It was a pipeline through America. And it was carrying toxic benzene-laced mixture with diluents that causes cancer and birth defects right over the top of our drinking water.

Top all that off with the fact TransCanada had already put in the Keystone1 pipeline that leaked over a dozen times in its first couple years.

As people began learning the true facts about the pipeline, they, too became skeptical, and TransCanada was finding it difficult to get easements from many farmers and ranchers. TransCanada began meddling with the Nebraska Legislature and the pipeline siting laws and were threatening landowners, saying they would take the easement, anyway, through the eminent domain court.

Now, think about it: a foreign corporation taking some control of your land just so their stockholders can make more money?

Thus began an epic tale of David versus Goliath.

Knowing it would be a fight, a fight they would lose if the weapon was money, because TransCanada had as much as they needed, or political power, because TransCanada was deeply involved in effective lobbying and deceptive marketing campaigns. But, if the fight was going to be won or lost with weapons based on facts, courage, willpower and sacrifice, there was a slim chance the people would win over power and politics.

Enter Jane Kleeb, who noticed the growing opposition and decided to help organize landowners using her newly created Bold Nebraska activist platform. Kleeb was tireless in her fact-finding and effectively used her ability to pull conservatives and liberals together, along with Native American tribes also affected by the KXL, and, together, they formed the Cowboy and Indian Alliance.

I know. I was there. Our newspaper covered all aspects of the story, from county commissioner meetings to State Department environmental meetings, and, through it all, I met hundreds of people, many of them landowners, and learned their story.

I saw people never looking for a fight muster up strength they never knew they had. I saw the anguish in their faces. I heard their voices quiver at the hearings. I saw the tears flow down their cheeks when they spoke of the land they loved. I also saw politicians acting like children, choosing to play partisan games with the very lives and futures of the people who elected them.

Well, after a decade of struggles, the people won against all odds, and yet, they don’t gloat. Yes, there is joy, but more a sense of relief. They are tired. I am tired, but I remain astounded at their relentlessness, and am proud to call myself a KXL pipeline fighter.

I would hope TC Energy is tired of it, too, and that they don’t do what they did last time, when TransCanada sued the U.S. in NAFTA court for $15 billion in restitution.

But things have changed. We no longer need or want the toxic tar sand oil, and it’s time for TC Energy to turn their efforts elsewhere.

And what of the courageous KXL fighters?

I hope they, too, can get on with their lives, knowing that you can raise your voice and change the world.

Greg Awtry is the former publisher of the Scottsbluff (Neb.) Star-Herald and Nebraska’s York News-Times. He is now retired and living in Hubbard Lake. Greg can be contacted at gregawtry@awtry.com.