TransCanada representatives showed up at the tribal office in Eagle Butte to talk up the Keystone XL pipeline, which will cross the Cheyenne River just outside the southwest corner of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. They had a closed-door meeting with tribal chairman Kevin Keckler. After that meeting, Cheyenne River Sioux Councilwoman Robin LeBeau caught TransCanada's hired men and offered the response we all ought to give to TransCanada: take a hike.

Councilwoman LeBeau understands that TransCanada is just another bunch of wasicus looking to rape and steal and take her people's land. And in TransCanada's eyes, we are all Indians.

Here's the second part of LeBeau's conversation with TransCanada's men, in which she gets to know these fellas, who say they are from Sioux City and Oklahoma. The reps note that the tribal chairman says he opposes the pipeline but welcomes TransCanada to send folks to talk:

I don't know if they're black, but helicopters controlled by a hostile foreign entity will be flying over South Dakota within a few days surveying an invasion route. These helicopters will be surveying land that the foreign entity intends to seize from Americans and permanently occupy.

Seriously.

Doreen Creed reports on Meade County Town Hall that helicopters from TransCanada will be patrolling the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline route starting today in Steele City, Nebraska. The choppers will spend a couple days in Nebraska, then sweep northward. TransCanada spokesman Bud Anderson promises the survey helicopters "will seek to fly high or wide around livestock and residences to avoid any possible disturbance." Creed advises residents with concerns to call Western Energy Planning at 406-287-9952.

Pipeline trivia: Creed also notes that TransCanada will seize more miles of land for Keystone XL in Meade County than in any other South Dakota county.

On a weekend about salvation, Fast for the Earth is planning to save the planet with a roadtrip to Nebraska. The Brookings group is organizing carpools from eastern South Dakota to join the protest events Bold Nebraska is organizing on April 17 and 18 to fight the Keystone XL pipeline.

The State Department is holding a public hearing in Grand Island, Nebraska, to take comment on the new Draft Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement it issued on March 1. Fast for the Earth, Bold Nebraska, and other organizations want to bring as many anti-pipeline, pro-property rights voices as they can to counter the voices that Big Oil will surely ship in to push TransCanada's inflated jobs numbers.

If you like clean water and clean farm land, hop in the van with Fast for the Earth... or send them a little gas money!

Senator Tim Johnson joined 16 other Senate Democrats and all 45 Senate Republicans in voting in favor of a non-binding amendment expressing support of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Senator Johnson tells Politico he will announce on Tuesday whether or not he plans to run again in 2014. The fact that he didn't sign a January letter urging the President to approve Keystone XL was taken by some tea-leaf readers as a sign Johnson planned to retire and didn't need to insulate himself from right-wing attacks. If that logic holds, one could get even tea-leafier and contend that Johnson may be leaning back toward challenging Mundt's four-term record... and that he doesn't think he needs the votes of anyone interested in the environment or property rights.

I don't know if we can find a Democrat who will run for statewide office and raise holy heck about the lies and abuse dished out by TransCanada in selling its pipelines. But with today's vote, it's that much easier for me to say to Senator Johnson, "Step aside and let us try."

Bad vote today, Tim. Bad vote.

Take heart, Romney fans! We missed our chance to make a wealthy, French-speaking Massachusetts liberal President, but at least we get one for Secretary of State!

I want to believe President Barack Obama has moved in the right direction on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline with his Secretary of State nomination. The President has moved on from TransCanada-stockholder Susan Rice to nominate climate hawk John Kerry to be the diplomat in chief. The senior senator from Massachusetts has advocated strong action to fight climate change. He co-sponsored with Senator Barbara Boxer the very sensible but doomed American Clean Energy and Security Act, the 2009 cap-and-trade bill.

However, Senator Kerry has owned up to $650,000 in ConocoPhillips stock. ConocoPhillips was TransCanada's partner in the Keystone 1 pipeline until TransCanada bought them out in 2009. His wife's trust fund held a similar amount in BP stock the year before BP blew its giant gasket in the Gulf of Mexico. Kerry's total investment in oil and gas companies in 2009 topped $6 million.

Not that you can trust much of what TransCanada's bosses say, but CEO Russ Girling says he doesn't think a Secretary Kerry will block Keystone XL. Besides, President Obama may make his final decision before Kerry clears Senate approval.

Nonetheless, some Brookings neighbors are hoping to join a Presidents' Day protest against Keystone XL in Washington, D.C. Says Brookings activist Phyllis Cole-Dai:

Everybody’s concerned about the “fiscal cliff,” but the “climate cliff” is looming even larger--arguably it’s much more of a real threat. Our continued development of extreme forms of fossil fuel extraction only moves us closer to that cliff. The Keystone XL, through which TransCanada wants to move dirty tar sands oil across the heart of the US for export from the Gulf, is symbolic of extreme fossil fuel development, of humanity’s addiction to fossil fuel use, and of the incredible power of Big Oil to dominate government, threaten vital natural resources, and crush local communities and landowners.

Climate change is THE civil rights issue of our day—indeed, it affects every living creature. Let’s be marching. Let’s get some bodies in front of the White House [Phyllis Cole-Dai, e-mail, 2012.12.21].

Let's hope a Secretary Kerry will look past his stock portfolio to the people's portfolio and amplify that message to the President.

Oh, and a quick reminder from the Canadian press: the whole purpose of the Keystone XL pipeline is to make us pay more for oil:

The Harper government has been lobbying heavily to win U.S. approval for the Keystone project, which it considers to be a critical piece of infrastructure that will allow Alberta crude to reach new markets and provide a secure supply of oil for the American consumers.

Lack of sufficient pipeline capacity has driven down the price of oil sands crude, dramatically reducing revenue not only for the industry but for the provincial and federal governments [Shawn McCarthy, "Obama's Secretary of State Nomination Raises Environmentalists' Hopes," Globe and Mail, 2012.12.21].

If you want to increase your gasoline bill and keep Canadian taxes low, you support Keystone XL. If you put America first, you say no thanks, TransCanada!

Just what is that stuff that TransCanada wants to pump across our stolen land in the Keystone XL pipeline? It's not crude oil, says one cranky ex-Marine who had gotten a Texas judge to halt construction of the southern leg of the pipeline:

Texas landowner Michael Bishop, who is representing himself in legal action against the oil giant, filed his lawsuit in the Nacogdoches County courthouse, arguing that TransCanada lied to Texans when it said it would be using the Keystone XL pipeline to transport crude oil.

Tar sands oil — or diluted bitumen — does not meet the definition as outlined in Texas and federal statutory codes, which define crude oil as "liquid hydrocarbons extracted from the earth at atmospheric temperatures," Bishop said. When tar sands are extracted in Alberta, Canada, the material is almost a solid and "has to be heated and diluted in order to even be transmitted," he said.

"They lied to the American people," Bishop said.

Texas County Court at Law Judge Jack Sinz signed a temporary restraining order and injunction Friday, saying there was sufficient cause to halt work until a hearing Dec. 19. The two-week injunction went into effect Tuesday after Bishop posted bond ["Texas Judge Halts Keystone XL Pipeline Work," AP via Lincoln Journal-Star, 2012.12.11].

Bishop, a Vietnam veteran and retired chemist who's now in medical school, started studying law on his own after the potential cost of hiring a lawyer to fight TransCanada's condemnation of his land forced him to settle with the company. But now, he's ready to make TransCanada's life as hard as he can:

"Bring 'em on. I'm a United States Marine. I'm not afraid of anyone. I'm not afraid of them," he said. "When I'm done with them, they will know that they've been in a fight. I may not win, but I'm going to hurt them" [AP 2012.12.11].

That's my kind of Marine. Hey, Stace, when are we going to see you start shelling TransCanada on behalf of South Dakota landowners?

I'm not buying into the misguided GOP/Fox News effort to sandbag Susan Rice's career by hyping the Benghazi attacks (and please, Thomas Ricks, don't apologize).

But if the Administration does nominate Susan Rice to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, I'll happily provide cover fire for Senator Thune or Senator Johnson to put a hold on Rice with this point: Susan Rice is rolling in dough from Canadian tar sands oil. She and her Canadian-born husband own $300K to $600K in TransCanada stock. The Rices got as much as $20K in income from that stock just last year. The State Department gets to issue the final decision on whether TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline moves forward.

Good night! Could the State Department be any more in the tank for Canadian oil?

If Rice comes for a confirmation hearing, Senator Thune should invite Bill McKibben and Jane Kleeb to testify:

Environmentalists quickly criticized the potential selection of Rice given her investments.

“It’s really amazing that they’re considering someone for secretary of State who has millions invested in these companies,” Bill McKibben told On Earth.

“[Keystone XL] would be one of the first decisions she would make, and she’s not qualified to make an unbiased decision,” said Jane Kleeb, executive director of the anti-pipeline group Bold Nebraska [Alex Guillen, "Susan Rice Holds TransCanada Stock," Politico, 2012.11.28].

It can't be that hard to find a skilled diplomat with such a blatant financial conflict of interest. Let's keep Rice out of the pipeline.

What's Matt McGovern doing after losing his bid to replace Kristie Fiegen on the Public Utilities Commission? Oh, the usual: trying to prevent big government from redistributing the wealth of South Dakota landowners to foreign moochers.

Wait a minute: isn't protecting property rights supposed to be the Republican Party's purview? You'd think, but as usual, when it comes to TransCanada and the Keystone XL pipeline, South Dakota conservatives are dead silent when it comes to protecting South Dakota landowners.

McGovern is representing Colome rancher John Harter in court. TransCanada plans to plow the Keystone XL pipeline into his pasture. They offered him a dollar a day for the privilege of hosting their risk. Harter said no. TransCanada took him to court to force him to give up his land. The South Dakota court sided with TransCanada, saying as another court did in 2008, that a private pipeline owned by a private foreign corporation hauling only that corporation's private clients' product qualifies as a "common carrier" and thus can seize land from South Dakotans under eminent domain.

Conservatives hate eminent domain. They ought to be going ape over this abuse of South Dakota property rights. They ought to be hanging these judges in effigy and starting recall petitions (can we do that to judges?). But because its Big Oil, the right-wing commentariat gives us crickets.

And John Harter waits for a Tripp County jury to decide how much TransCanada must pay him for scarring his land and putting his cattle, livelihood, and resale value and permanent risk. We can only hope that Harter's peers will recognize the great value of his land and the great sacrifice he is being forced to make by a greedy, arrogant corporation.

Harter speaks about his land (his land, dang it!) in this video from the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Blaise Emerson, Black Hills economic development honcho, tells that Sioux Falls paper he doesn't see any reason Keystone XL shouldn't go forward. Emerson and the state of South Dakota don't see John Harter. Matt McGovern does. We all should.