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. 

Republicans give-up on property rights and U.S. sovereignty for Keystone XL Pipeline!!!

Brad Blog was right to point out the absolute destructive lunacy of our rightwing authoritarian overlords when it comes to gaming the system against the American public.

Two incredible examples spilled out of the Keystone XL pipeline debate:

1. “The pipeline's owner, TransCanada Corp., has now filed an eminent domain action in a Nebraska state court seeking to force private landowners to grant an easement that would permit the Canadian-owned company to erect sections of the highly controversial Keystone XL on privately owned land.”

2. The new filing comes on the heels of a controversial decision earlier this month in which a 3-judge minority of the 7-judge Nebraska Supreme Court were permitted to overturn a lower court ruling that the process by which the state's Republican Governor Dave Heineman permitted TransCanada to revise the pipeline's route was unconstitutional … a Cornhusker state requirement that state constitutionality be determined by a super-majority of high court's justices. 

The supposed party of property rights and U.S. sovereignty just got exposed as absolute bullshitters.

This reminds of the GOP's 4th Amendment work-around where they can glean suspicion of drug use from a "questionnaire" for food stamps. I'm sure there are an infinite number of ways for constitutional conservatives to bypass our founding document, and they won't hesitate to use them.

Senate Republican Keystone XL Pipeline bill will kill Wisconsin Great Lakes Shipping Jobs!! Yeah free trade...

A new wrinkle has emerged as the Republicans try to ram through passage of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Thanks to a Senate amendment written by Sen. John McCain, about 1,200 jobs will be lost in our norther section of the state. WPR audio: 

Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain has filed an amendment to repeal the Jones Act, which allows only U.S.-built ships to carry cargo between U.S. ports. McCain said in a release that the law hinders free trade and raises prices for consumers due to shipping costs.

Members of a Great Lakes labor and management coalition say the move would hurt the U.S. shipping industry. Tom Curelli is with the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force and is operations director for Superior’s Fraser Shipyards said a repeal may mean more Canadian competition and fewer U.S. jobs. “For every trip they take, that’s one less trip for our vessels to operate on. When you remove enough trips and enough tonnage, you tie up the U.S. flag vessels and you don’t put them to work,” said Curelli.

Curelli said around 1,500 jobs may be affected in the Twin Ports and roughly 60,000 across the Great Lakes.

Still want to pass the pipeline bill?

Nebraska Republicans, Special Interests, bypass Citizens and PSC oversight to pass Keystone XL Pipeline.

The Republican governor of Nebraska beat the people, and legally won his approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Nebraska Republicans decided to tilt the scales of justice to their side, by requiring a super majority of justices on the State Supreme Court to overturn any piece of legislation thought to be unconstitutional. Yes, they made it harder to overturn unconstitutional legislation. That’s freedom and liberty, “constitutional conservative” style.

So when Republicans gave the partisan governor complete control over the Keystone XL Pipeline, allowing him to bypass his own state Public Service Commission, they also gave up their constituents property rights. And now the pipeline is a done deal.

This is the power of special interests, which are now controlling state legislatures everywhere. Sadly, conservative voters may even like this ploy if they can actually get what the party wants.

From today’s amazing State Supreme Court decision:

L.B. 1161 allows “major oil pipeline” carriers to bypass the regulatory procedures of the Public Service Commission (PSC). As an alternative to obtaining approval from the PSC—a constitutional body charged with regulating common carriers— L.B. 1161 permits these pipeline carriers to obtain approval from the Governor to exercise the power of eminent domain for building a pipeline in Nebraska. The district court ruled that the Legislature had unconstitutionally divested the PSC of its regulatory authority over common carriers.

Four judges of this court have determined that the appellees (the landowners), who challenged the constitutionality of L.B. 1161, have standing to raise this issue and that the legislation is unconstitutional. Three judges of this court conclude that the landowners lacked standing and decline to exercise their option to address the constitutional issues.

The majority’s opinion that the landowners have standing controls that issue. But because there are not five judges of this court voting on the constitutionality of L.B. 1161, the legislation must stand by default. Accordingly, we vacate the district court’s judgment.

The Minority Wins? The minority, who actually won the decision, made this stunning leap of logic:

The Legislature did not abolish the Public Service Commission or take away any of its powers. Instead, it conferred alternative jurisdiction on the executive to approve the site of a proposed pipeline.

A legal loophole you could drive a fleet of trucks through. Don't be surprised if you don't see something like this happen here in Wisconsin. 

Enbridge Oil Spill on same Pipeline through Wisconsin!!!

The Enbridge Pipeline will be cranking more tar sand crude through Wisconsin than even the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, which has been held up for environmental reasons.

Well guess what Wisconsin. Now comes word of a massive spill in Canada from that same pipeline:

Canadian energy delivery company Enbridge Inc. has temporarily shut down and isolated one of its crude oil pipelines that connects to the United States after a 1,350-barrel, or 56,700-gallon oil spill, the company reported Wednesday evening ... the 796,000 barrel-a-day Line 4 pipeline, which connects to a terminal in Wisconsin, carries heavy, medium, and light sour crude ... the spill happened because of a problem with a valve within the terminal, and not because of a problem with the actual pipeline. 

It has made headlines here due to its role in the largest and most expensive inland oil spill in U.S. history, an event which saw more than 800,000-gallons of thick Canadian tar sands crude oil flow out of a ruptured Enbridge pipeline and into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. That spill was also the costliest inland oil spill in U.S. history, with Enbridge estimating cleanup costs alone to be about $1.2 billion. 

A problem valve? As you can see by the map, Wisconsin will soon see a whole bunch of new pump stations, with similar valves? The story is unclear about that. But still, will our DNR look into this?

Enbridge won't have the same kind of regulatory scrutiny, because Scott Walker has already approved the massive build up of the pipeline:

The state Department of Natural Resources on Thursday approved an air permit that gives an oil pipeline company the go-ahead to triple capacity between Superior and the Illinois state line. DNR officials also said state law doesn't allow officials to use a company's past operating record when reviewing environmental permits.

Enbridge has had problems with spills before in Wisconsin:

In January 2007, an Enbridge pipeline ruptured, pouring more than 29,000 gallons of crude oil onto a farm field in the town of Curtis in Clark County. A month later, another Enbridge pipeline rupture dumped 176,000 gallons of heavy crude oil in a Rusk County farm field. In January 2009, Enbridge Energy Partners paid the State of Wisconsin $1.1 million to settle claims under Wisconsin’s waterway and wetland protection and storm water control laws. In July 2012 a farm field in Grand Marsh, Wisconsin was covered by at least 1,200 barrels of oil after an Enbridge pipeline ruptured there. Enbridge had to purchase a nearby home that a local resident described as being “covered in oil.”

Wisconsin House Republicans didn't just pass the Keystone XL Pipeline, they exempted Big Oil from paying for the Cost of Cleanup!!!

With the Republicans taking complete control of the legislative branch in 2015, all they need is a president to rubber stamp the following irresponsible act of belligerence. 

If passing the Keystone XL Pipeline in the House and “bypassing ... the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act wasn't bad enough, get a load of what OUR Republican Wisconsin Congressmen voted against; a Democratic motion to protect the taxpayers from paying for costly oil spills. From Roll Call:

LIABILITY FOR OIL SPILLS: The House on Friday refused to require the Keystone XL Pipeline to pay into the Treasury Department’s Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Sponsored by Democrats, this motion to HR 5682 (above) sought to blunt an Internal Revenue Service ruling under which crude extracted from tar sands is exempted from mandatory support of the oil-spill fund. The ruling spares TransCanada Corp., the Keystone owner, from having to pay 8 cents per barrel into the fund to help cover the cost of cleaning up any spills. Congress established the fund in response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez grounding, which spilled hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. A yes vote was to require the Keystone XL Pipeline to contribute to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

Guess who voted yes? Rep. Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore.

In a breathtakingly irresponsible vote to exempt big oil from paying for spilled tar sand oil? The same guys taking charge in 2015; Rep. Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, outgoing Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble.

Why not right? The press is not covering this. Our Republican representatives have been voting like this for years. Search my blog for "roll call" or "ribble" and you'll see what I mean.