From Bundy To The Keystone XL: Where's The Property Rights Outrage Here?

[G_j]

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5235813?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

Kate Sheppard

Posted: 04/30/2014 7:30 am EDT

WASHINGTON -– Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy has become something of a folk hero among the anti-government, pro-property rights crowd, thanks to his recent standoff with the federal Bureau of Land Management. Some landowners in the path of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline want to know where the support for them has been, since their private property will actually be taken away without their approval.

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Federal control of land has also flared lately in Texas, where state Attorney General Greg Abbott recently accused BLM of "hijacking private property rights" in updating management plans for land bordering Oklahoma.

But many of the pundits and talking heads who rallied behind Bundy (at least before his racist outburst) are also advocating the Keystone XL pipeline -- despite the ranchers and farmers up in arms about pipeline owner TransCanada Corp. trying to force its way onto their land.

That includes third-generation Texas farmer Julia Trigg Crawford, who has been fighting for years to prevent TransCanada from running the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline through her property. Crawford's 600-acre farm is in Direct, Texas, where she raises soybeans, wheat, corn, and cattle. She turned down TransCanada's original offer for her land. The company took her to court to claim eminent domain to take it anyway.

The 485-mile-long southern portion of the pipeline is already in the ground and carrying oil, but Crawford is still fighting.

"They didn't have a right to take my land against my will," Crawford told The Huffington Post this week. She had just returned to Texas from a Keystone XL protest in Washington, where she joined other ranchers and tribal groups.


Crawford said she's worried about the pipeline's effect on cultural and environmental aspects of the land. But mostly she said she's mad that TransCanada could essentially take her land without her permission. She is trying to get the Texas Supreme Court to hear her case, arguing that the company should not have had the ability to claim eminent domain in the first place.

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[newfie11]

1. Bundy doesn't own the BLM land

No one is after the land he owns.

The keystone pipeline is/can make property owned by other folks unusable and/or drop the property values. The oil companies do not own the land.

Bundy and oil companies have a lot in common.


Bundy is a lowlife moocher while the oil companies are raping the land and water that belongs to all of us.

[G_j]

2. Nebraska Rancher Randy Thompson’s Open Letter to Senate on Keystone XL Vote

http://boldnebraska.org/nebraska-rancher-randy-thompsons-open-letter-to-senate-on-keystone-xl-vote/

By Mark Hefflinger - April 30, 2014

As the Senate once again prepares to take a vote on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, Nebraska voices will remind Senators that states’ rights are at stake, and that a vote for Keystone XL is a vote to disregard Nebraska’s legal process.

Nebraska rancher Randy (“Stand With Randy”) Thompson penned this open letter (below) to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, April 30. Thompson has been a key rural voice against Keystone XL — he was arrested along with others in a civil disobedience action at the White House protesting Keystone XL in 2013, and is one of the three landowner plaintiffs in Thompson v. Heineman, the lawsuit that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the KXL routing process in Nebraska, leaving TransCanada with no legal route or eminent domain power.

4/30/2014

Dear Honorable Members of the Senate,

As you prepare to take a vote on Keystone XL, I want to remind you what is at stake for those of us along the proposed pipeline route. When the political pundits move on to another debate, our families will still be here defending our property rights and clean water.

TransCanada has no legal route for their pipeline in Nebraska. Citizens took Gov. Heineman to court for violating our state constitution and we won.

The Governor is now trying to get the decision overturned by the Nebraska Supreme Court, but that does not magically give TransCanada their route back. Today, they have no route and over 115 landowners are refusing to sign with TransCanada in order to protect their water and property rights.

As a Nebraskan, I urge you to vote against the Keystone XL bill—and instead vote in favor of American landowners.

You can vote against the Keystone XL bill and still support the pipeline. I certainly don’t agree with President Obama on everything he does, but I stand with him today on his decision to delay Keystone XL until all legal issues are resolved—and I ask you to do the same.

American landowners are fighting tooth and nail to protect our constitutionally-protected property rights against a foreign corporation who wants to take our land. TransCanada disregards our American dream, and a vote for this pipeline bill would do the same.

TransCanada has spent millions of dollars to tell you and your staff that their pipeline is good for America. From one American to another, though, I must tell you that they have been misleading you and misleading the public. Keystone XL will pollute our water, pollute our air, and tarnish our American values by prioritizing Big Oil over American citizens.

We are asking that you stand with us in defense of both property rights and Nebraska’s state rights by voting no on the Keystone XL pipeline bill. You must remember that there is no legal route in Nebraska. Governor Heineman used an unconstitutional law to take authority away from the Public Service Commission and instead give his office pipeline siting and eminent domain authority. That decision was a direct violation of our state constitution and the judge agreed with us.

Last week while you were home with your family, Nebraska farmers and ranchers stood side-by-side with tribal leaders in DC to ask elected officials like you to protect our land, water and future generations. Not only is tar sands more carbon intensive than traditional crude oil, it is also far more difficult—and more expensive—to clean when it spills. The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the country’s largest sources of freshwater; even a small leak in the aquifer, our rivers or a family’s water well will have devastating consequences for our agriculture and ranching, and for every family that relies on clean water for their livelihoods.

Please think about us as you make a decision on how to vote regarding the Keystone XL pipeline. We do not have the millions to spend on TV ads and lobby campaigns. But we have our stories, we have our voices and we have our pride in the land that was passed down to us through generations.

We invite you to visit with us at our farms and ranches. We can also come to DC to meet with you and discuss the heavy-handed tactics TransCanada has used in our states, their threats of eminent domain and the very one-sided contract they force on to our families.

I once said at a rally and now many of us remind folks often of this simple fact—there is no red or blue water, only clean or polluted. Ignore the color of your party on this one. Stand with our families.

—Randy Thompson