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Indians Pessimistic But Fighting Keystone XL; Winner Mayor Inflates Job Hopes

South Dakota's tribes are gearing up to fight the Keystone XL pipeline, the "black snake." But Yankton tribal elder Faith Spotted Eagle isn't very optimistic:

"There is no way for Native people to say no—there never has been.... Our history has caused us not to be optimistic.... When you have capitalism, you have to have an underclass—and we're the underclass" [Faith Spotted Eagle, quoted in Rob Hotakainen, "American Indians Versus the Pipeline," Governing, 2014.02.18].

Winner mayor Jess Keesis doesn't let Marxist critique weigh down his Dakota development desperation:

Mayor Jess Keesis is eager to welcome construction workers from a 600-member "man camp" that would open just 10 miles from town if President Barack Obama approves the pipeline.

"Out here on the prairie, you know, we're a tough people," said Keesis, who's also a member of the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation in Kansas. "We deal with drought and 8-foot blizzards and all kinds of stuff all the time, so anytime we can get something like this to give us a shot, it's a good thing" [Hotakainen, 2014.02.18].

Of course, if any of those men are gay, a lot of Winner businesspeople won't want their money, right?

Mayor Keesis also engages in some irrational optimism at the black snake's business prospects:

Besides the short-term construction work, Keesis said his city would gain another 30 to 40 permanent residents who would work on pipeline-related jobs. He said Winner needs a lift, noting that since the city shut down its strip clubs a few years back, fewer pheasant hunters are visiting, opting to stay in big hunting lodges nearby.

"When I moved here, during the first three weeks of pheasant season, you couldn't find a parking space," he said. "Now you can park anywhere" [Hotakainen, 2014.02.18].

Mayor Keesis, read the State Department report again: Keystone XL will only create 35 permanent jobs nationwide. Those jobs will not all land in Winner. And even if it were possible that they would, must Winner and all of South Dakota really be that desperate to reopen the strip clubs by sacrificing our land, water, and safety?

Related: Speculators are optimistic about Keystone XL, because they see the southern leg of the black snake (wait, snakes don't have legs...) doing just what I've reported it would for years: ease the glut at Cushing, Oklahoma, and raise our oil prices.

13 Comments

  1. interested party 2014.02.19

    The Obama Administration is saying stuff like this: "Secretary of State John Kerry is continuing a push to move climate change to the top of the global agenda, telling an audience in the archipelago nation of Indonesia that rising global temperatures and sea levels could threaten their 'entire way of life.'" it's a pretty clear signal that KXL would go forward only with a carbon tax, more wilderness, and more species protection.

    South Dakota's junior senator just voted for continued subsidies for Big Oil, more evidence that fascism is just fine with South Dakotans, punctuated by his extremist legislature.

    Flush Pierre now.

  2. rollin potter 2014.02.19

    I would suggest all you supporters of the keystone pipeline go to the web site, http://www.globalresearch.ca/
    Also if it goes through check your electric bill from west central electric when they start buying extra power to take care of the booster pumps for keystone!!! the power cost adjustment of $0.025 per kwh will take a little jump also????

  3. interested party 2014.02.19

    BREAKING: #NeLeg bill allowing Keystone XL to precede with construction has been ruled unconstitutional by Lancaster County judge
    Judge's ruling also includes an injunction preventing @Gov_Heineman or #Nebraska DEQ from taking action to authorize or advance pipeline
    Lincoln Journal Star @JournalStarNews

  4. Roger Cornelius 2014.02.19

    In many aspects, Faith Spotted Eagle is correct, tribes has been held hostage by a capitalistic system they never fully understood. Not being able to say no to the government was actually having the government take away what little services you have. Often times there was no choice.

    Keystone XL has caught the attention of a younger generation that have taken it up on themselves to fight for the preservation of our natural resources. They are admirable and a strong force that isn't beholden to the government or the lure of corporate dollars.

    The mayor of Winner is like so many of Keystone supporters that believe there will be an employment boom like we have seen in North Dakota.

  5. mike from iowa 2014.02.19

    That is good news. Let's hope the joker in the deck-Obama-doesn't screw this up. Every foot of the Nebraska crossing was over top of the Oglala Aquifer,except one county in SE Neb.

  6. Jerry 2014.02.19

    So far that joker in the deck has done a pretty good job of stalling this out to give other forms of blocking a chance to do it. With Kerry calling global warming a "weapon of mass destruction", lets hope that the death blow comes when it comes. I am not in a hurry to see it die, but die it must.

  7. interested party 2014.02.19

    @fredmknapp
    Nebraska Attorney General @JonBruning announces he'll appeal judge's ruling that #KXL pipeline siting law is unconstitutional.

  8. interested party 2014.02.19

    Wish Madville could do blockquotes, Cory.

  9. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.02.19

    One of these days, Larry, I'll get under the CSS hood... but right now, I have four posts to right for tomorrow! Content before programming!

Comments are closed.