Update: Lawyers for landowners in Iowa are announcing a lawsuit at a press conference in Des Moines tomorrow. The suit is being filed in state court in opposition to the eminent domain land seizures by Bakken. The Sierra club is also looking into a federal hearing seeking an injunction to halt Bakken until thorough assessment of impacts can be done — something not done by the Iowa legislature.
Clarence, Iowa - "Last week, three separate federal agencies slammed the Army Corps of Engineers and raised serious environmental concerns about the Bakken pipeline and its fracked oil. The letters send warning shots across the bow of the Corps of Engineers – and the establishment politicians who allowed Bakken to happen,” said US Senate candidate Tom Fiegen this week.
A complete list of Iowa politicians who took money from Bakken is provided at the end of a new campaign video. The list was compiled by www.iowainformer.com. News of the three federal agency letters was originally published in Blog for Iowa: http://bit.ly/1SZeTgU.
US Senate candidate Tom Fiegen, a farm bankruptcy lawyer in Cedar Rapids said “The letters directly call into question the lack of debate on the Bakken pipeline by the Iowa Legislature, especially the Government Oversight Committee lead by State Senator Rob Hogg. A self-described “climate warrior,” Hogg and his oversight committee were notably stone-cold silent on the Bakken and failed to ask the highly relevant questions raised by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of
Interior or the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) in their letters.”
Fiegen has invited Hogg to a live debate on Bakken and other issues. The state senator has so far refused to respond.
“Either Mr. Hogg does not have the courage to push against the political establishment in Des Moines or his receipt of PAC money from the fossil fuel industry has made him a fossil fuel industry mole, respectfully. Again, we respectfully ask Mr Hogg to debate this and many other issues openly.”
Fiegen is calling on Bakken opponents to regroup and organize against the Bakken decision.
“The EPA, DOI and ACHP letters open a door of opportunity to call on the federal agencies to seek a federal court injunction to freeze the construction of the Bakken pipeline until the serious environmental issues raised in the letters are studied and addressed. Should the federal agencies not pursue a federal injunction, the letters provide Indian tribes and landowners in the path of the Bakken pipeline a blueprint for obtaining a federal court injunction on their own. Sadly, the grounds raised in the three letters should have raised by the Iowa legislature.”
“The climate change movement was betrayed when a fossil fuel pipeline ran right through their backyards while Hogg’s Government Oversight Committee looked the other way. Iowans do not need to send a "establishment team-player" fossil-fuel mole to Washington, D.C.. We already have lots of them," Fiegen said.
According to a Des Moines Register poll in February 2016, 57% of Iowa Democrats opposed Bakken. The pipeline was favored by a majority of Iowa Republicans. Hogg is a Democrat.
The campaign launched the new hashtag #BakkenIsntOver on Twitter yesterday. The Iowa primary is June 7th.
(This article is re-printed from a news release)
Tuesday, Apr 12, 2016 · 4:52:04 PM +00:00 · IowaDemocrats
Update: Lawyers for landowners in Iowa are announcing a lawsuit at a press conference in Des Moines tomorrow. The suit is being filed in state court in opposition to the eminent domain land seizures by Bakken. The Sierra club is also looking into a federal hearing seeking an injunction to halt Bakken until thorough assessment of impacts can be done — something not done by the Iowa legislature.