Tag Archives: Keystone XL

Water Protector & Pipeline News – Red Terry Comes Down From Her Tree, Louisiana Court Declares Bayou Bridge Pipeline Permit Illegal & More

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Louisiana State Court Declares Bayou Bridge Pipeline Permit Illegal A Louisiana judge recently ruled that the state regulators violated guidelines when it issued Energy Transfer Partners’ controversial Bayou Bridge pipeline a coastal use permit. The permit was issued for the last 18-mile stretch of the fracked oil pipeline that would have run through the riverside town of St. James Parish, where dozens of refineries and industrial facilities are already fueling a public health crisis in the mostly African-American community. The proposed 162-mile Bayou Bridge pipeline would connect the contentious Dakota Access Pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico. As noted by … Continue reading →

Water Protector & Pipeline News – Supplies Cut Off To Mountain Valley Protestors; Judge Allows Case Against TigerSwan To Continue & More

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Judge Won’t Dismiss Complaint Against Pipeline Security Firm A state judge is refusing to throw out a complaint that a North Carolina-based private security firm operated illegally in North Dakota during protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Judge John Grinsteiner also is declining for now to restrict evidence during TigerSwan’s upcoming civil trial or to dismiss company founder and President James Reese as a defendant. He ruled there are enough questions about the company’s actions and that Reese “is legally accountable for conduct performed by TigerSwan.” North Dakota’s Private Investigative and Security Board sued TigerSwan and Reese last June, … Continue reading →

Water Protector & Pipeline News – Northam: Tree Sitters’ pipeline protest is ‘unlawful’; TransCanada acquiring land in Nebraska for Keystone XL & More

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Va. governor says tree sitters’ pipeline protest is ‘unlawful,’ cites health concern Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday that it’s unlawful for a mother and daughter to sit in trees and block a natural gas pipeline across their property outside Roanoke, and that he’s particularly worried about the older woman’s health. But Northam (D) stopped short of saying he would order state police to do anything to resolve the standoff. Theresa “Red” Terry, 61 and daughter Theresa Minor Terry, 30 have been on wooden platforms in trees on Bent Mountain since April 2, preventing workers for the Mountain Valley Pipeline from … Continue reading →

12/20 News Roundup – Sanders: “Tax Bill A Victory For Corporate Campaign Donors” & More

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Sanders: Passage of GOP tax bill a ‘victory’ for Koch brothers, campaign donors, corporations

Sen. Bernie SandersBernard (Bernie) SandersSchumer: Franken should resignFranken resignation could upend Minnesota racesAvalanche of Democratic senators say Franken should resignMORE (I-Vt.), on Tuesday, blasted the GOP tax overhaul bill, arguing that its expected passage is a “victory” for the Koch brothers, Republican campaign donors, large corporations and even some lawmakers.

“Today marks a great day for the Koch brothers and other billionaire, Republican campaign contributors who will see huge tax breaks for themselves while driving up the deficit by almost $1.5 trillion,” Sanders said in a video posted on Twitter.

“Today is also a victory for the largest and most-profitable corporations in this country like Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer and General Electric, who, despite record-breaking profits, will now see hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks,” he added.

Sanders also indicated that some of his own colleagues had a personal financial interest in passing the bill, pointing to lawmakers who have real estate investments and will benefit under the new plan.

“Today is also a victory for a number of members of the United States Congress who have significant investments in real estate who, with this vote, will substantially lower the taxes that they pay and will further enrich themselves,” he said.

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.

11/28 News Roundup – Sanders Hits The Trail To Fight The GOP Tax Bill, Keystone XL Operators Push For Preferred Path & More

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Bernie Sanders hits the trail again, this time to fight GOP tax bill

Sen. Bernie Sanders is traveling to Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania this weekend to rally against the Republican tax bill, his office told NBC News, keeping up a brisk pace of political activity since leaving the presidential race last year and ahead of a potential second one in 2020.

Sanders, who held a similar series of rallies across the country this year to oppose the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, is using his “Protecting Working Families Tour” to pressure on-the-fence GOP senators before a vote on the tax bill, President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority.

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In addition to condemning the bill for reducing taxes on the wealthy, Sanders is hoping to use the tour to argue the tax plan would pave the way for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, which have proved politically deadly for Republicans in the past.

The bill is expected to raise the deficit by $1.4 trillion, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently say could trigger an obscure budget rule that Democrats warn could force Medicare cuts.

“This legislation goes well beyond taxes,” Sanders wrote in an email that will be sent to supporters Monday. “Mark my words. If passed, the Republicans will then rediscover the ‘deficit crisis,’ and push aggressively for massive cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education — higher education in particular — nutrition, affordable housing and more.”

“That is why I am going on the road this week to talk directly to working people,” Sanders added.

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments, including:

*Bernie Sanders, Ben Jealous to hold Medicare-for-all rally in Baltimore
*New Study Shows How Taxing Rich Saves Lives, While Trump’s Tax Plan… Kills
*Meet the Socialist Marine & Anti-Police Brutality Protester Who Won Democratic Seats in November
*Protesters Slam Trump Attempt to ‘Vaporize’ CFPB as Agency Power Struggle Begins
*Pipeline updates, Water Protector news & more

(If the comments do not load, try clicking either the comment box itself or the ‘sort by newest/oldest’ and they should then pop up. Apologies for the inconvenience, still waiting on a patch to fix the issue!)

11/21 News Roundup – A Dysfunctional ‘PIG’ Is Leading To Environmental Disasters, Single Payer As ‘A Line In The Sand’ Issue & More

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Will You ‘Promise to Protect’? Coalition Urges New Wave of Resistance to Stop KXL

Shortly following the Nebraska Public Service Commission’s “shortsighted and dangerous” vote to green-light TransCanada’s Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline, a coalition comprised of Indigenous peoples, farmers, and ranchers living along the oil project’s proposed route published a letter on Monday urging the public to join them in protecting sacred land from corporate exploitation.

Endorsed by Native tribes, green groups, and high-profile environmentalists, the “Promise to Protect” call to action argues that making “a concerted stand” against TransCanada’s $8 billion dirty energy project “will make other fossil fuel companies think that much harder about their own expansion plans.”

“Together we’ve stopped them for many years, and we are going to keep stopping them,” the letter reads. “But we need everyone’s help. We need you to take a stand no matter what land you live or work on. The struggle to save Mother Earth begins with you.”

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The letter goes on to make several requests of those who wish to participate in the “creative resistance” against KXL that is expected to take shape in the coming months, including:

*Commitment to entirely peaceful acts of protest, even in the face of “the pain caused by TransCanada’s aggression”;
*Respect for “the leadership of Indigenous peoples, farmers, and ranchers in the action, and the plans and strategies of the front lines and their allies who have made promises to protect the land, water, and climate”;
*Preparation in advance of the demonstrations, including training sessions with organizers, so that “you’re able to find the place you’re most needed on any given day.”

The fossil fuel industry “believes that with the inauguration of Mr. Trump, the obstacles in their path had disappeared,” the letter concludes. “They are unaware of the rising tide of indigenous unity and the strong alliances with ranchers, farmers and the climate justice movement which grew stronger at Standing Rock. When the president approved the federal permits for KXL last winter, he asked TransCanada executives when construction would start: Our job is to make sure the answer is, no time soon.”

Meanwhile, ‘The Rational National’ covers a potential cause of the uptick in pipeline spills (spoiler: it involves corporate greed & corruption):

More News/video/tweets/etc. in the comments, including:

*Bernie Sanders Is Now Backing Randy Bryce—Which Could Be Very Bad News for Paul Ryan
*Whitefish energy company halts work to restore Puerto Rico’s power over unpaid bill
*De Blasio heads to Iowa in hopes of defining a national role
*The Trump Administration Revokes Legal Status for More Than 50,000 Haitian Immigrants
*Pipeline News, Water Protector Updates & More

11/20 News Roundup – Sanders Discusses The GOP Tax Plan, Nebraska Regulators Rule on Keystone XL Pipeline & More

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Bernie on CNN Sunday:

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the in the comments, including:

*Opioid Addiction: Sanders, AG talk with students in emotional high school assembly
*Meet Billings’ Democratic Socialist city council member
*New PACs are emerging on the left and the right to get women elected in 2018
*A civil rights ’emergency’: justice, clean water and air in the age of Trump
*If you tax the rich, they won’t leave: US data contradicts millionaires’ threats
*Pipeline news, Water Protector updates & more

6/29 News Roundup – Bayou Bridge & Keystone XL Pipeline Resistance, Turner Takes Over As Our Revolution president & More

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Resistance Grows Against Bayou Bridge Pipeline

Native communities and environmental justice advocates in Louisiana opened a new resistance camp Saturday to oppose the proposed Bayou Bridge Pipeline project. Called L’eau Est La Vie, or Water is Life, the camp will consist of floating indigenous art structures on rafts and constant prayer ceremonies during its first two weeks.

The Bayou Bridge project, owned in part by Dakota Access Pipeline owner Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), would transport crude oil over 163 miles of natural heritage swampland to a terminal in St. James Parish in Louisiana. St. James residents and environmental advocates recently filed suit to overturn the pipeline’s permit, claiming that the state did not adequately address impacts of a potential spill on the community or surrounding wetlands.

“Once again Indigenous communities are being put in harm’s way and over 700 bodies of water will be threatened by one of the worst environmental offenders known to date,” said the Indigenous Environmental Network in a statement. “We stand with the Water Protectors here in southern Louisiana to protect these critical wetlands that serve as protection for the people of this region from floods and storms.”

The Indigenous Environmental Network announced the opening of the camp with the video above explaining why completion of the Bayou Bridge pipeline must be stopped.

Meanwhile In Nebraska:

Hundreds again pack meeting room, again disagree on Keystone XL

Nebraska residents again pack a room and Nebraska residents again offer drastically different views of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Hundreds attended the third public meeting held by the Nebraska Public Service Commission on TransCanada’s application to cross the state and complete the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline. This time the setting was the Divots Conference Center in Norfolk.

Becky Van Housen, who farms in York and Polk Counties, told commissioners she worries about the impact on the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies ten wells on her farm.

“This proposed Keystone XL pipeline cannot be allowed to cross the Ogallala Aquifer,” Van Housen stated. “A spill to the Ogallala Aquifer would not only threaten the drinking water of millions of Americans, but threaten the livelihood of hundreds and thousands of farmers and ranchers.”

More news/video/etc. in the comments, see you there!

6/8 News Roundup – Bernie Takes On Trumps Infrastructure Plan, Gabbard Rejects Rolling Back Wall Street Regs & More

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Why Trump’s So-Called Infrastructure Plan Is Good for Wall Street But Bad for America by Bernie Sanders

Donald Trump’s so-called infrastructure plan is a huge giveaway to Wall Street that fails to create the millions of jobs we need to modernize our roads, bridges, water systems, rail, airports, levees and dams.

At a time when the American Society of Civil Engineers says we need to spend $2 trillion above current spending levels just to get our infrastructure back to a state of good repair, Trump actually cuts direct federal spending on our crumbling infrastructure by nearly $145 billion over the next decade. This would force state and local governments to shoulder more of the financial burden for our infrastructure needs at a time when they can least afford it.

Just like Trump’s “health care” bill is actually a $231 billion tax cut for the top 2 percent, his infrastructure plan would create $200 billion in new tax loopholes and other giveaways for wealthy investors, and it would reward corporations that have stashed their profits overseas with huge tax cuts.

Under Trump’s proposal, billionaires on Wall Street, wealthy campaign contributors and even foreign governments would receive hundreds of billions in tax breaks to purchase our highways, airports, and water treatment plants. They would then be allowed to impose huge new tolls and fees on the backs of American commuters and homeowners.

The reality is that Trump’s plan to sell off our nation’s highways, bridges, and other vital infrastructure to Wall Street, private investors, and foreign governments is an old idea that does not work.

More news/video/etc. in the comments!