Oil Archives » Lynda Waddington

14May 2017 by Lynda Waddington

Oklahoma provides template for pipeline protest backlash

Gazette Column

Dakota Access Pipeline protests have sparked changes to the Oklahoma criminal trespass code. The measures could become boilerplate bills for other jurisdictions. The Oklahoma bill, signed into law this week and immediately effective, mandates steep fines and jail time for those convicted of trespassing at “critical infrastructure facilities” with intent to hinder operations. Such facilities include pipelines, chemical plants, railways, oil refineries and other industrial locations, reports Dale Denwalt of The Oklahoman. Those who trespass, regardless of intent, face at least a $1,000 fine. (The law doesn’t set an upper limit.) If intent to disrupt is found, the trespasser faces a $10,000 fine and up to a year in jail. Those found guilty of “damaging, vandalizing, defacing or tampering” while trespassing face $100,000 in fines and up to 10 years…

Iowans owe debt to tribes fighting oil pipeline

Gazette Column

When this election is complete, I hope to travel and stand alongside the Standing Rock Sioux. It’s the least I can do for the 300 tribes who are inadvertently fighting for the protection of Iowa farmland while demanding their sovereignty be respected. The massive demonstrations near Lake Oahe in North Dakota began in the spring with a few members of the Standing Rock Sioux establishing a prayer encampment. It’s now blossomed into an international discussion that encompasses climate change, the future of renewable fuels and, of course, tribal rights. [caption id="attachment_87" align="alignright" width="640"] Dakota Access Pipeline protesters square off against police near the Standing Rock Reservation and the pipeline route outside the little town of Saint Anthony, North Dakota, U.S., October 5, 2016. (Terray Sylvester/Reuters)[/caption] It centers on the Dakota…

Plans for potential pipeline problems should be public

Gazette Column

Last week, Todd Stamm, vice president of the company that would operate the proposed Bakken oil pipeline, told Iowa Utilities Board members that threat assessments were created in relation to spill scenarios. According to a Des Moines Register report, those assessments include information about the scope and breadth of potential leaks. “It is just not information that I would suggest is information that you would want to be public as far as the physical location of where that location might be,” Stamm said in answer to why such information should be kept confidential. The proposed pipeline, under review by the Iowa Utilities Board for approval and eminent domain use, would carry about 450,000 barrels of crude oil each day from North Dakota to a distribution center in Illinois. The route…