Dakota Rural Action, Native allies, and other Earth-friendly neighbors go to Pierre today to show their opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline at a Public Utilities Commission hearing at the Capitol. DRA was out yesterday in Rapid City and Sioux Falls protesting the proposed Canadian tar sands pipeline:
My Orland neighbor Charlie Johnson goes to the Lake County Commission in Madison today to talk about his concerns about the proposed Dakota Access pipeline, which will cross his organic farm land against his will to carry Bakken crude to Illinois refiners. Commission chairman Scott Pedersen tells me that the only permits Dakota Access would have to submit to Lake County would be the boring permits to bore a path for the pipe under county roads. Dakota Access would also have to apply to the township boards to drill under township roads. That's the only local monkey wrench available to pipeline opponents; otherwise, Charlie and friends will have to go to the PUC to talk Dakota Access, just as DRA and friends are doing today on Keystone XL.
I'm glad Charlie and DRA are braving the cold to bring some heat on these pipelines. I wonder: why do so many other South Dakotans seem so eager to embrace environmentally dangerous projects that abrogate our property rights?
While technically not a permit, Energy Transfer Partners will need to obtain road haul agreements from both the county and from the townships. These are important if roads are to be protected and brought back to standards. In zoned counties permits are needed for pump stations (there is only one pump station planned in SD). Possibly permits can be required for contractor yards and pipe yards. Good luck to Charlie.
At today's PUC meeting a motion by the Yankton Sioux Tribe will be heard to deny TransCanada's application to certify it's permit. The Rosebud, Standing Rock, and Cheyenne River tribes along with DRA have joined with the Yankton Sioux in this motion. No KXL Dakota, a coalition of native and non-native grassroots groups and individuals, will hold a Prayer Rally in the Capitol Rotunda after today's PUC meeting. All denominations are invited to participate.
People embrace environmentally dangerous projects because they are stoopid and out of spite for environmentalists.
Republicans have been trying to jamb this black snake down our gullets by saying this will bring jobs jobs jobs. Thanks to protesters and concerned citizens, they have managed to make for an examination of the facts. http://theweek.com/article/index/274457/sorry-republicans-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-is-not-a-jobs-agenda
TransCanada and their puppets, South Dakota congress critters, have said some 40,000 jobs! Here is the money quote from the article.
"How many long-term jobs? Fifty. That's right, 50 whole long-term jobs. (One more, and the pipeline would have to get health insurance for them! Unless they hired veterans, I suppose.)" My guess would be that as they are such a crooked bunch, they would not hire veterans and hold the employment down to 49. South Dakota has this going for them though, we have managed to elect the biggest group of bullshitters that have ever hit the stage in Washington!
The White House has confirmed that President Obama will veto any bill containing language that will create KXL.
Larry,
I just saw that CNN Breaking News Alert.
John Thune was on with Wolf when it was announced and grudgingly had to admit that it would be difficult to get the 67 senate votes to override a presidential vetol
Why would Marlboro Barbie Thune expect Dems to go along with obstructionist wingnuts in any shape or form?
marlboro thune, barbie noem and "joop" rounds. hahahah
we are doomed for two years.
so proud of people standing against Koch's KXL.
Roger, Larry, you remind me that the GOP is exercising serious hypocrisy: they fabricate memes about the President overstepping his authority to rule by fiat, but on Keystone XL, they are trying to take away the pretty clear-cut authority of the executive branch, through the State Department, to issue the final decision.
But hey, Mark Trahant tells Indian Country Today that Keystone XL is dead. The number one reason: the fact that oil has dropped below $50 a barrel.
And you know, the Bakken producers should be thrilled to see Keystone XL die. TransCanada's pipeline adds much more value for their northern tar sands competitors than it does for them. American producers should say, "Fine! Screw the tar sands!" and maintain market share for their own product. At least that's what I would be thinking if I were a red-blooded, America-First capitalist in Williston, North Dakota.
Meanwhile, the PUC today rejected the Yankton Sioux Tribe's longshot motion to kill the re-certification process and subject TransCanada to a de novo permit approval process. Hey, you can't blame a tribe for trying!
Hey C.H. is the feds still looking into hire my relation Mike Rounds E.B.5 scandal
Moses, I have no inside intelligence on that question. The last public word from the FBI in October was that the investigation was ongoing.
mitch mcconnell today said he will pay the Koch Bros. back for their support in Kentucky [election] by pushing thru KXL so Koch's can realize gains on their holdings in alberta and refine the oil sands at Koch's refineries in the gulf. Thom Hartman
NPR is preceding rounds' swearing in today with the announcment of conviction/2 year sentence of republican gov. whatever-his-name-is for bribery. interesting
While Mike, John and Kristi are playing petty politics with the KXL pipeline, the South Dakota media is taking their lead hook, line and sinker rather than asking deeper questions and having a greater insight to both energy and jobs with bills that are already in the Congressional works.
Elizabeth Warren lays their rhetoric bare:
"If this is about energy policy, Keystone is about bringing oil down to the gulf and preparing it for export. If this is about energy policy, why isn't the Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)- Rob Portman (R-Oh.) energy efficiency bill first up?" Warren said at an editorial board meeting in Worcester on Monday. "If it's about jobs, why not the Highway Transportation Bill? Instead, the first thing up is a bill that is very divisive, that runs powerful environmental risks for this country. This tells me that with the Republican rhetoric that they are going to find things for us to work together on- their actions don't match their words."
Oh yeah, that energy bill would create 200,000 jobs. The Highway Transportation Bill? John, Mike and Kristi seem more interested in building foreign infrastructure, at domestic risk, rather than take care of business at home. But then again, they aren't paid to think, just follow their puppeteers.
Shame on them and shame on the media for letting our politicians do their journalistic research and write their stories.