In the wake of pending approval of the Keystone Pipeline project in eastern North Dakota, two state residents have filed an initiated measure that asks voters to stop similar projects in the future.

Richard Starke, a Burlington-area landowner, and Corey Bergsrud, a University of North Dakota student, said they hope their effort also will cause the Keystone project to be moved to what they say is a safer location.

The measure attempts to do this by saying that "no new pipeline to carry crude oil shall be built within six miles of a lake or aquifer that supplies water to more than 5,000 people, except as necessary to develop oil wells in North Dakota."

Official wording has yet to be approved by the secretary of state's office.

The group, calling itself "Save our Soil," will then have to collect nearly 13,000 signatures to get it on November's ballot.

Their main concern is the perceived environmental impact of oil pipelines on water supplies generally, and on Lake Ashtabula and the Cheyenne River. They say they're especially concerned about the impact of Canadian Tar Sands oil because of its chemical content.

"We don't need their pipeline to come through our state and threaten our water and our land," Bergsrud said.

Starke, who's having his land taken by eminent domain for the pipeline after refusing to sign an easement, said he would like to see the pipeline routed along Highway 32 because it would pose less of an environmental threat there.

A debate played out before the Public Service Commission, which eventually granted the pipeline's approval, and between the city of Fargo and pipeline builder TransCanada. The company and Fargo settled on the use of thicker pipes in an area that could most impact the city's water supply.

TransCanada project manager Jeff Rauh said he thinks the complex process of approving a pipeline is best left to the PSC, which has a technical staff to assess issues like potential environmental impact.

He said 96 percent of landowners in the Keystone's path have signed on to the project.

"In any project of this magnitude, there are going to be a few landowners who are very difficult to satisfy," he said.

Environmental groups also are appealing the PSC's decision.

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@;bismarcktribune.com.)