I went to the Parkway Theater last night to watch the premiere of Black Snake Killaz. The documentary had its uplifting moments, but was a reminded that the deck is stacked against water protectors. Treaty rights don’t matter. A lack of adequate environmental review didn’t matter. The government could use military weapons. concussion grenades, mack and more and call the water protectors terrorists. A para-military private security firm was allowed to operate against the water protectors and influence law enforcement’s response, and did so without a license to operate in the state.
I checked my email when I got home and read a news update from MPR, another “stacked deck” story about water protectors.
It requires that I also run a correction to the post I wrote Thursday: Keystone Spills 200,000 Gallons of Tar Sands Crude, Could Affect Keystone XL Vote Monday. It discussed how the timing of a big spill on the Keystone Pipeline could affect a key vote on its sibling project, Keystone XL. The Nebraska Public Services Commission is scheduled to take a final vote on Keystone XL Monday.
Yes the leak happened, but no, it won’t affect the vote, according to the MPR story: Keystone pipeline leak won’t affect Nebraska ruling on expansion. State law “does not allow pipeline safety to be a factor in their decision,” the story said.
Nebraska lawmakers gave the five-member commission the power to regulate major oil pipelines in 2011 in response to a public outcry over the pipeline and its potential impact on the Sandhills, an ecologically fragile region of grass-covered sand dunes.
But when they passed the law, legislators argued that pipeline safety is a federal responsibility and should not factor in the state decision.
The law makes no sense and is one more example of a rigged system.
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