Keystone XL Pipeline

[we vs us]

Never mind that that the Nebraska governor and the Nebraska senators wanted the route changed. Never mind that the Canadian Company easily changed the route after Obama made them look at other options. Obama must be anti-America if he does anything to stop a Canadian company from build a pipeline right through the middle of the country . . . in order to supply Canadian oil to the Asian market. 

Just made a small addition there.

[heironymouspasparagus]

But that doesn't fit Obama's opponent arguments.

Never mind that that the Nebraska governor and the Nebraska senators wanted the route changed. Never mind that the Canadian Company easily changed the route after Obama made them look at other options. Obama must be anti-America if he does anything to stop a Canadian company from build a pipeline right through the middle of the country.

My favorite part of the issue is how the jobs created got multiplied. The company said that as many as 20,000 jobs would be needed to construct the pipeline. Rush Limbaugh has been saying Obama has stopped 200,000 jobs.

He must have just gotten confused by all the zeroes. 

Naw...he just got confused because the company guys were using English, and proper grammar.  Since Rush is a draft-dodging drug addict, you just can't ever tell what the translation in his head really becomes.

[AquaMan]

But that's okay. Cause he's just entertainment doncha' know.

[Townsend]

Farmer Loses Case Against Keystone XL Pipeline

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/08/22/farmer-loses-case-against-keystone-xl-pipeline/

The ruling came by iPhone.

Late Wednesday evening, Judge Bill Harris of the Lamar County Court at Law released his decision in the case of the North Texas farmer, Julia Trigg Crawford, versus the Keystone XL pipeline, owned and operated by the Canadian company TransCanada.

In an email to lawyers involved in the case, the judge announced he was granting TransCanada’s motion for summary judgement and denied Crawford’s plea. The message ended with “Sent from my iPhone.”

After Crawford refused to allow the pipeline on her land, TransCanada used eminent domain last fall to seize her property. She fought back in court, and the case finally came before Judge Harris a few weeks ago. In the meantime, construction began on the southern leg of the controversial pipeline.

“It is absolutely unbelievable to me eminent domain abuse continues in Texas given the revelations made during our court case,” Julia Trigg Crawford says in a statement.

“With every turn we found black holes of responsibility, endless loops of non-accountability, and the cart miles in front of the horse,” Crawford says. “The Texas Railroad Commission says they have no power over eminent domain, yet turns a blind eye when pipelines under their jurisdiction state they indeed get the power from the Commission.”

Much of Crawford’s argument in the case centered around whether or not the pipeline qualified as a “common carrier,” a pipeline that would be in the public interest because it would be available “for hire” for other companies to use.

“So we asked TransCanada to produce their tariff rate schedule, a requirement of all Common Carriers and therefore part of proving the right of eminent domain,” Crawford says in a statement.
“TransCanada’s attorney refused to provide anything, responding in court that tariffs will be provided ‘about the time it gets ready to transport product on the line.’  That means they can’t even produce this proof they qualify as a Common Carrier until after the land is seized and the pipeline built.”

So will Crawford appeal? “It is certainly one of our options, likely a strong one,” she says in an email to StateImpact Texas. “I’m not done…”

In the meantime, construction on the southern leg of the pipeline has begun, and TransCanada legally has the right to start digging on Crawford’s farm.

[Gaspar]

I figured out how to get Keystone passed. . .and funded by the government!

They need to reclassify it as art.  The largest modern art exhibit in the world spanning the length of the United States.  And, it's functional art because it just happens to carry oil!

Thanks to the Obama administration UC Berkley now boasts the most expensive public funded piece of art in history.  The piece representing $500 million dollars in taxpayer money sits in a grotto in the UC Berkley Botanical Garden.
http://www.treehugger.com/solar-technology/discarded-solyndra-solar-tubes-used-berkeley-art-installation.html

[JCnOwasso]

I figured out how to get Keystone passed. . .and funded by the government!

They need to reclassify it as art.  The largest modern art exhibit in the world spanning the length of the United States.  And, it's functional art because it just happens to carry oil!

Thanks to the Obama administration UC Berkley now boasts the most expensive public funded piece of art in history.  The piece representing $500 billion Million?dollars in taxpayer money sits in a grotto in the UC Berkley Botanical Garden.

[Gaspar]

My bad!

[Townsend]

I figured out how to get Keystone passed. . .and funded by the government!

They need to reclassify it as art.  The largest modern art exhibit in the world spanning the length of the United States.  And, it's functional art because it just happens to carry oil!

Thanks to the Obama administration UC Berkley now boasts the most expensive public funded piece of art in history.  The piece representing $500 billion Million?dollars in taxpayer money sits in a grotto in the UC Berkley Botanical Garden.

Oh, we've just let him go ahead and babble.  We've thought about letting him have his own subject heading.  There'd be Local politics, National/international, and Gaspar politics.  The latter, of course, would have a warning with it.

[Hoss]

Oh, we've just let him go ahead and babble.  We've thought about letting him have his own subject heading.  There'd be Local politics, National/international, and Gaspar politics.  The latter, of course, would have a warning with it.

[AquaMan]

I have a hard time with one post explaining how the pipeline is being fought over and built, in Texas, while the next post explains how to get the pipeline approved. If it isn't approved, why are they building it?

Besides the dissembling of course. I never understand that.

[Townsend]

This is going well...

“New York Times Reporters Detained Covering Keystone XL Protests in East Texas”

Two reporters covering Keystone XL protests for the New York Times were “handcuffed and detained” by a TransCanada security guard, our partners in Texas are reporting.

For weeks, protesters have chained themselves to tractors and fences in attempts to halt construction of the pipeline … The reporters were on the private land at the invitation of the landowner, but were detained for trespassing, according to a spokesperson for the newspaper. After identifying themselves as members of the media, they were released, but told they had to leave the property immediately or they’d be arrested for trespassing.

I'm still at a loss how this all worked out this way. 

[patric]

This is going well...

“New York Times Reporters Detained Covering Keystone XL Protests in East Texas”

WINNSBORO, TEXAS – THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 – Two journalists working for the New York Times were handcuffed, detained and then turned away from private property by local law enforcement employed as private security guards for multinational pipeline corporation TransCanada. The journalists were grabbed by police, physically restrained, and prevented from approaching the blockade site or making contact with protesters. These actions took place on private property, indicating that TransCanada is employing a private police force to actively patrol beyond the boundaries of the Keystone XL easement without landowner permission.

A Times spokesperson released a statement saying, “While reporting a story on how protestors in East Texas are trying to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from being built, [a Times reporter] and a Times photographer were detained yesterday by local police and a TransCanada security guard; they were told for trespassing.  They identified themselves as media and were released but told they needed to leave the private property where they had positioned themselves (with the permission of the landowner). They complied.”

Minutes after the first two journalists were handcuffed, police barred another group of journalists from approaching even within sixty feet of the Keystone XL easement, an arbitrary designation with no legal precedent.

Yesterday’s events came only one day after the arrests of another two journalists, Lorenzo Serna and Elizabeth Arce.  Despite clearly displayed press credentials, the two were arrested ultimately to have their charges dropped only after spending a night in Wood County jail.

These events mark the latest in a series in which journalists and the Constitutional ideal of a free press suffer the same disrespect and abuse that TransCanada has shown to families along the Keystone XL pipeline route for years. Reports have included open threats of arrest on private property, the confiscation of cameras and video equipment, and arrests of by-standers on public right of ways. All the while, questions linger regarding the legality of policing the Keystone XL pipeline easement in this way.

Arthur Judge, a Wood County deputy sheriff, admitted to Texas landowner Susan Scott that TransCanada was paying the police by the hour to work private security details. “He was patrolling the easement on my farm and he informed me that his mandate was to arrest anyone at anytime that sets foot on the easement,” attests Ms. Scott. “The officer also demanded that I show ID or he would arrest me, all this while I was standing on my own private property in the middle of the woods. TransCanada is ordering police to arrest me just for trying to take a walk across my own farm.”

[Townsend]

WINNSBORO, TEXAS – THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012 – Two journalists working for the New York Times were handcuffed, detained and then turned away from private property by local law enforcement employed as private security guards for multinational pipeline corporation TransCanada. The journalists were grabbed by police, physically restrained, and prevented from approaching the blockade site or making contact with protesters. These actions took place on private property, indicating that TransCanada is employing a private police force to actively patrol beyond the boundaries of the Keystone XL easement without landowner permission.

A Times spokesperson released a statement saying, “While reporting a story on how protestors in East Texas are trying to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from being built, [a Times reporter] and a Times photographer were detained yesterday by local police and a TransCanada security guard; they were told for trespassing.  They identified themselves as media and were released but told they needed to leave the private property where they had positioned themselves (with the permission of the landowner). They complied.”

Minutes after the first two journalists were handcuffed, police barred another group of journalists from approaching even within sixty feet of the Keystone XL easement, an arbitrary designation with no legal precedent.

Yesterday’s events came only one day after the arrests of another two journalists, Lorenzo Serna and Elizabeth Arce.  Despite clearly displayed press credentials, the two were arrested ultimately to have their charges dropped only after spending a night in Wood County jail.

These events mark the latest in a series in which journalists and the Constitutional ideal of a free press suffer the same disrespect and abuse that TransCanada has shown to families along the Keystone XL pipeline route for years. Reports have included open threats of arrest on private property, the confiscation of cameras and video equipment, and arrests of by-standers on public right of ways. All the while, questions linger regarding the legality of policing the Keystone XL pipeline easement in this way.

Arthur Judge, a Wood County deputy sheriff, admitted to Texas landowner Susan Scott that TransCanada was paying the police by the hour to work private security details. “He was patrolling the easement on my farm and he informed me that his mandate was to arrest anyone at anytime that sets foot on the easement,” attests Ms. Scott. “The officer also demanded that I show ID or he would arrest me, all this while I was standing on my own private property in the middle of the woods. TransCanada is ordering police to arrest me just for trying to take a walk across my own farm.”

That seams pretty F'd up.  Where's the governor in all this?

number sign Muslimrage

[patric]

That seams pretty F'd up.  Where's the governor in all this?

Maybe paid to take a vacation?


Rresidents that simply want to go from one side of their farm to another and are being told if they set foot on their own property they are going to be arrested.

An easement contract is right to use property that is not owned. It is like a telephone or gas company being able to walk on property to do maintenance.
If telephone companies hired a patrol to rove around and round up people they did not want near them when they were doing maintenance, it would be outrageous. That is what TransCanada is doing, Seifert explained.

“A foreign corporation is saying this is our land. We get to decide who can and cannot be on it at all times,” Seifert outlined. “If you disagree with what we are doing, we’re going to have you arrested because we bought out the local police department and we’re paying them directly by the hour to work for us.”

  "  …Off-duty police officers are being paid by TransCanada to do private security, however, they’re still wearing their police uniforms. They’re still using their police equipment. They still have their state-issued weapons and utilities about them. And they still have all their police resources and they’re still arresting people and acting as on-duty police officers. They’re pay check is coming from TransCanada. They’re equipment and their power is coming from the state and there is this collusion. These two things have comingled. It’s an alarming course of events. It’s not something you expect in America, that a multinational corporation would be paying police directly to do whatever it said. The police are being mandated by a foreign corporation to do what it says rather than to obey the law…  "

[nathanm]

That's not really unusual for moonlighting officers to wear their uniforms and radio and whatnot. What is unusual is that TransCanada thinks that their easement allows them the right to exclude the landowner and that the police are enforcing that very strange position, off duty or not.