Letter to County Commissioners re: Keystone XL

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Dear Commissioner,

Scattered out across Montana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, there are dozens of huge lime green TransCanada trucks, headed our way.   Loaded with pipe and heavy equipment, they weigh over 200,000 pounds each.  They are taking their time as they meander across the country, cutting through Indian reservations and county roads in order to avoid costly weigh stations.  Some are heading for the six Oklahoma counties where the most toxic and dangerous pipeline on earth will be installed.  Some will go straight through to Texas.

TransCanada has gone to great lengths to avoid any potential liability for the havoc they intend to wreak on our counties, our state and our region.

Why didn’t they just run their pipeline across their on country?  Because the people of Canada understood how toxic this tarsand oil really is, and they knew TransCanada’s poor safety record.  The Canadian people said “No”, so they decided to bring their pipeline right down through the middle of Indian country.

You’ve probably been told that TransCanada is going to pay a lot of ad valorem taxes.  The amount of taxes they will pay will be small in comparison to the damage they will do to our roads and bridges,  not to mention our underground water.

You have probably been told that this is just another pipeline.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Tarsand oil is too sluggish to move smoothly through the pipe on it own, so it will be heated.  There has never, in the history of our planet, been a pipeline that big carrying hot oil laced with benzine and arsenic.

I urge you to look at the easements TransCanada pressured your friends and neighbors into signing.  Unless your friends are very wealthy and spent a great deal of money on attorneys, the easements leave TransCanada blame free.  When that pipeline leaks (and it will leak sooner or later) your county, your state and your constituents will be left holding the bag.

Perhaps you think you are off the hook because the pipeline does not come through your county.  That doesn’t mean that TransCanada’s Trojan trucks won’t cut through your county, tearing up your roads and bridges.

I urge you to strictly enforce all existing weight limits on county roads and bridges, and to decrease those limits where appropriate to keep TransCanada’s truck from doing permanent and irreparable damage to our roads and bridges.

I am attaching a link to a brief video where three Texas landowners talk about how TransCanada trespassed on their land and pressured them into signing easements they didn’t want to sign:

Click on the title:  “Texas Landowners Fight Keystone XL Pipeline”

The third speaker on this video is a pipefitter/mechanic/welder named Mike Hawthorne.  Mike explains:

It’s a dangerous pipeline.  This is a tarsand under high pressure and high temperatures, and I know what sandblasting does to metal.  It’s gonna eat is up, and it’s gonna eat it up pretty fast.

This pipeline can leak 1.7 million gallons of tarsand oil per day without triggering any alert system.  Eventually, it will leak into our Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer.

Thank you for your careful consideration of this important matter.

Sincerely,

(Your name goes here)

Address

Phone

 

 

 

Which archeological sites are set for destruction?

Politics, Uncategorized , , , , , , , 7 Comments
Citizens of Oklahoma continue to dig for information about the destruction of archeological sites and historical structures, although it looks like the moguls behind the Keystone XL pipeline do not want us to know which sites are scheduled to be bulldozed so that a Canadian company can sell oil to China, Europe and South America.
It seems that it was Bob Blackburn, in his role as Oklahoma’s “Historic Preservation Officer”,  who signed the paperwork to let TransCanada bulldoze 71 of our archeological sites and 22 historical structures.
Today I asked Melvina Heisch, a division head a the Oklahoma State Historical Preservation Society, if the public could get a list of the archeological sites and historical structures that Bob Blackburn has agreed to let TransCanada destroy.  She would not volunteer a single iota of specific information.  She did say, however, that she would send me information on how to legally demand the data from them.
I also spoke with Alex Yuan at the US Department of State. He too refused to give me the list. He said they keep this information under wraps to keep collectors from pillaging the sites. I said,
“Do you mean you will let a foreign company bulldoze the sites, but you won’t let local citizens even know where they are?”
He tried to refer me to the government website, but admitted that it does not have the exact descriptions and locations of the sites. He does think that it might be possible to get the information if we can show that we have a legitimate reason for wanting the info. He suggested that we contact our state representatives and ask them to try to get it for us. I ask him if they would give the information to the Sierra Club, and he did not answer that question.
I have submitted a Freedom of Information Request asking for  all correspondence and other documentation regarding TransCanada and the Oklahoma State Historical Preservation Society, but my dear Uncle Sam can drag his feet if he does not want to.
Lily Teague of Burbank, Oklahoma stated:
Oklahoma law governing the Historical Society considers information and maps about archaeological sites to be public as long as there is no risk that the sites will be tampered with in any way (as in if they feel there is a risk you will enter the property and remove things, they aren’t telling you anything). The majority of property involved here is private property and the information about it is considered private. Texas law goes a bit further than Oklahoma law does. It actually says flat out that the information about archeological sites is not public and will not be publicly released…  During the survey process, they even identified new archeological finds that were previously unreported. I think it said seven of them.
The Arbuckle Karst Conservancy, the Sierra Club, and the Coalition Against Keystone XL Pipeline continue to seek the vital information we need in order to defend ourselves against this onslaught of corporate greed, apparently laced with government corruption.

Citizens are urged to:

1.  Call your county commissioner about the 200,000 pound lime green TransCanada trucks that are headed our way.

2.  Call your Senator and Representative about helping us get this vital information.

3.  If you are a member of a tribe, contact your tribal council.

Footnotes:

On p. 11 of the document sited below, it lists the titles/authors of the reports that were done on route variations / resources. This could be a  good “starting” place for those who want to learn more:

www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov

Melvina Heishch’s phone number: (405) 522-4484

Alex Yuan’s phone number: (202) 647-4284.

It would be interesting in somebody decided to occupy Bob Blackburn’s world.

Keystone XL Equipment Rolls In as Citizens Fight On

Community Voices, Culture, Native American, Politics, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline enjoyed a temporary victory today when, by a narrow margin, the US Senate failed to override President Obama’s decision to deny TransCanada’s permit to build the huge pipeline across our country Still, TransCanada’s huge trucks rumble across out nation, tearing up our roads as they head for Oklahoma and Texas, where they will destroy dozens of archeological sites and historical structures.

Last night Oglala Sioux were joined by Occupy Boston in  a candlelight vigil opposing the Keystone XL pipeline at the Canadian Embassy in Boston.

In the meantime, 92-year-old respected Lakota elder Gracie Randall continues to stand as an example of an honorable warrior in the fight against greed, while TransCanada continues to bring its gigantic and ominous monster trucks across Indian Country.

Another Lakota grandmother, Debra White Plume, was arrested along with four other Lakota tribal members for trying to block a Keystone truck from coming on tribal lands this week.

David Duenas stated:

“Through NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Repatriation Act)
an injunction should be ordered as it is currently illegal to knowingly desecrate any type of grave.  If ran into during construction activities the law says to cease and desist.  A state archeologicalist must be called in to monitor the site.”

In the meantime, Native Americans, environmentalists and members of the Occupy movement focus their attention on Oklahoma and Texas.  It is believed that we have only a few weeks to take a variety of necessary actions to stop the destruction of our archeological sites, historical structures and ancestors’ graves, as well as the pollution of our land and water.

There is a huge amount of ground work that needs to be done. If a thousand of us go out and get arrested, it won’t even phase TransCanada. We are the ones who will have to pay the fines. We need people to drive and walk the route, looking for Indian graveyards. There are federal laws protecting all Indian graves. We need a lawsuit demanding an archeological study of the 29 changes to the route which were made in Oklahoma, and I don’t know how many in Texas. We need legal support for all the landowners who are holding out, refusing to risk their water and soil so TransCanada can make a profit. We need 93 lawsuits, asking for restraining orders regarding all the archeological sites and historical structures they are planning to destroy. And that is in Oklahoma alone. We need artists to draw and paint and sculpt about this. We need song writers to write songs about it. We need film makers to quickly create short clips. We need poets to write poems. We need someone to do fundraising so we can have a world class art contest. We need people to walk the already existing Keystone pipeline to discover leaks they haven’t discovered or failed to report. We need thousands of people on the ground and on their computers, fighting this on every level.

If you want to help fight the Keystone XL pipeline, contact Fannie Bates at fannie_bates@yahoo.com.

See the candellight vigil here:

http://bluemassgroup.com/2012/03/today-a-candle-lit-circle-stood-in-solidarity-with-the-oglala-sioux-of-wanble-against-keystone-tar-sands-pipeline/

 

Keystone Pipeline Route Affects Eight Oklahoma Counties

Culture, Features, Opinion, Politics, Wellbeing , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
Keystone Pipeline Route Affects Eight Oklahoma Counties

TransCanada, a Canadian company, is planning to run their Keystone XL pipeline across eight of Oklahoma’s counties:

  • Atoka
  • Bryan
  • Coal
  • Creek
  • Hughes
  • Lincoln
  • Okfuskee
  • Seminole

Citizens of Oklahoma are gearing up to fight the pipeline, which is designed to carry tarsand oil containing benzine and arsenic. Tarsand oil is the dirtiest oil in the planet. The mogul wants to bring it through the USA because the people of Canada knew how poisonous it was and refused to let them ship it across Canada.

A representative of the Sierra Club has stated that, contrary to popular belief, the local cost of gas will actually increase because of this pipeline.

An archeological survey found 88 archeological sites and 34 historical structures in the path of the proposed pipeline. TransCanada agreed to go around a few of the sites, but plans to bulldoze through 71 of the archeological sites and 22 of the historical structures.

TransCanada is planning to sell the oil to Europe, China and South America.

Opponents are planning to drive and walk the route of the pipeline from Cushing to the Red River, visitng with the local folks about what they can expect from TransCanada. Mostly spills. Arsenic laces spills.

The Indigenous Environmental Network and several tribes including the Lakota tribe are leading the opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.

To see the pipeline route, go here:

http://www.cardnoentrix.com/keystone/XL/er/Appendix%20C%20-%20Oklahoma.pdf

Note: I believe this is the old route, before TransCanada agreed to make adjustments to avoid 17 of the archeological sites and 12 of the historical structures.

For more information, contact Fannie Bates at fannie_bates@yahoo.com.

Native Americans Thrown in Jail for Standing Up to Keystone

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March 6, 2012

Thousands of tribal members and environmentalists from across the USA who are fighting to prevent the pollution and devastation of the Keystone XL pipeline suffered a huge blow in South Dakota yesterday, but also won a great court battle in Texas.

At least five members of the Lakota tribe were arrested yesterday by their own tribal police for attempting to stop TransCanada, a foreign corporation, from bringing its heavy equipment onto their tribal lands. It is a sad day for our country when the rights of foreign corporations trump the rights of Native Peoples who have lived here for thousands of years.

Simultaneously, the primarily Caucasian Oklahoma state legislature has begun to work towards legislation which they hope will prevent Indian tribes from participating in the debate about environmental issues.    Tribal rights were created by treaties between the USA and the various tribes, and treaties trump state law.  The fact that the contemplated law would probably be unconstitutional doesn’t seem to deter the Oklahoma state legislature with moving forward in their efforts to stifle efforts by the tribes to protect their soil, their water  and their ancestors’ graves from a foreign invasion by TransCanada and its Keystone XL pipeline.

But in Texas, the people fared much better against the mogul.  A farmer named Julia Trigg Crawford who had challenged the right of a foreign company to forcibly take her land via imminent domain won her case.

By Kenny Mitchell kmitchell@news-journal.com

As the operator of her family’s farm in Lamar County, Crawford sought the restraining order in response to TransCanada’s attempts to take the land through eminent domain, and because of concerns the pipeline will damage Caddo Indian antiquities in its path.

This is a huge victory for tribes and environmentalists across the country who are determined to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from bulldozing through our cultural sites, our archeological sites, our historic structures and our ancestors’ graves.