Republicans oppose Pipeline...that is, Wind Energy Pipeline through Arkansas.

After years of vilifying judges and justices who's decisions they disagree with as "liberal activists legislating from the bench," Republicans are admitting what they really wanted was "conservative activists legislating from the bench." Got it, loud and clear.

Republicans are about to blow up another myth, this time on jobs, energy pipelines and energy independence; Arkansas Republicans just came out against jobs and a 705 mile energy pipeline because it crosses right through their state and...wait for it, supplies electricity from WIND and not big oil. ArkTimes:

Wind Energy in 1923?

The Arkansas congressional delegation, all Republicans, quickly issued a statement decrying the decision. They said it usurped state control over transmission lines. They've been trying to pass legislation to prevent this.

The same Arkansas Republicans have been supportive of a pipeline carrying dangerous Canadian tar sands through the Great Plains in the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, despite local opposition in those states. That line doesn't pass through Arkansas.

What happened to job creation and making the U.S. energy independent? 

The electrical pipeline will move wind energy produced in Oklahoma and Texas through Arkansas to Tennessee. First, let's shine a light on a few Republican hypocrites:

Arkansas Republican Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, who are to the right of the right wing of the Republican Party and supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, have filed a bill in Congress that would give the states veto power over electric lines, ostensibly to stop the federal government from exercising eminent domain. Given their position on Keystone, it's possible their financial support from the oil industry motivates them and others who oppose the project.

I'm not arguing for or against the wind pipeline, I just wanted to point a finger at the hypocrites who are in the back pocket of big oil, and the vacuous nature of their "principled" arguments. 

What happened to job creation and making the U.S. energy independent?

Opposition is coming from the Cherokee Nation and one specific and unlucky wind energy supporter. On the latter, I thought her story was oddly funny;  

Clara Dotson's 80 acres north of Dover is crisscrossed by utility easements: a natural gas pipeline, HVAC power line and an Arkansas Valley Cooperative electric distribution line. Last year, she learned that Valero/Plains All American planned run its pipeline shipping crude oil from Oklahoma to Tennessee through her property. Utilities have the power of eminent domain in Arkansas, which means that landowners can't stop them from building on their land. They can dicker over compensation, but that's it.

Still, you would think getting forever utility payments to use her property would more than make up any loss in property value to Dotson, or any future land owners, right? 

Millsaps and others — including the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma — believe the line will lower their property values a full 30 percent. (Clean Line says studies indicate that 10 percent is a more accurate figure) … The company will offer "the full market value" for acreage in its easement and would also pay the landowner $500 for a "mono" pole and $1,500 for a lattice pole, which requires a larger base. He said easements would be between 150 and 200 feet wide.

Jobs, jobs, jobs, Republican want to kill all the jobs....

Three Arkansas companies will get working making components of the line ... Also, a converter station will be built in Arkansas so that power can be supplied in the state, not just carried through to others.