About revoking that Keystone 1 pipeline permit—Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen says, fat chance:
South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen said the commission has no authority to revoke TransCanada’s permit to operate the pipeline in the state unless an ongoing investigation shows the company violated one or more of 57 conditions set by the commission.
The conditions include that TransCanada comply with all laws, regulations, permits, standards and commitments.
Knowing whether TransCanada violated any of the conditions will take time, Fiegen said.
“So it may take months or up to even a year to get back the forensic analysis to find out what happened, and then the commission will see if there are any violations,” she said [Shannon Marvel, “Former TransCanada Worker Says Company Compromised Keystone Pipeline’s Integrity,” Aberdeen American News, 2017.11.28].
Dang, it could take months, up to a year, for us to revoke Kristie Fiegen’s term on the PUC and replace her with someone who takes a more precautionary approach to pipelines. Running tar sands oil through our farm land is a privilege, not a right. With two big spills in two years and a wealth of evidence of corrosion and shoddy construction practices, TransCanada deserves a timeout. Let’s revoke their permit now and place the burden of proof on our Canadian friends to prove their pipeline can be restarted safely in South Dakota.
What excuses will be used to excuse the violations that WILL be uncovered in construction and placement of this cluster?
Or maybe the actual violations will be shrugged off as minor blips because this is a pipeline and pipelines are known to leak.
Or maybe someone will not bother to see violations if they don’t actually look for them.
Or maybe the oversight buck gets passed up the chain to another bureaucrat that sees no harm in oil spills because the state doesn’t do oversight worth a darn.
Or…..
What would Curt Hohn Say?
Slow-walking something like this is how South Dakota ends up with sewage ash scams. PUC could actually do something, but they seem content to let this group of criminals run their agency.
Just a few things to think about. If TransCanda obtained a permit through studies that suggested a certain level of leaking that is vastly over what is being experienced, then the permit is based on faulty information and must be opened up. They can do that by motion of the PUC. It could happen very quickly that way. Otherwise a citizen could allege a violation of the permit and a violoation of any laws of South Dakota or the US, and sue the PUC and TransCanada. If you breathed in any of the fumes you have standing. PUC can prevent them from restarting unless they have done certain reasonable monitoring/testing, or reconstruction. They can put additional requriements on them, just as the mines had whenever they violated a permit. They can fine them. They can do a lot of things, but Fiegan’s hand-waving is the typical chickens**t way SD officials deal with environmental criminals.
There are no sewage ash scams. Ask Mr. Nelson of the PUC. He is very much against sewage ash and would not even let it come to a vote. They would have to sneak it into South Dakota in the middle of the night on a slow-moving train and then funnel it all down a borehole next to the tracks by Kimball.
Water pipeline projects do more environmental damage to the land than gas or oil pipelines. Mr. Hohn ripped up his share of virgin prairie.
Fiegen Says TransCanada’s Keystone Permit Safe for Now
Time for goobernatorious candidate Marty Jackley to serenely walk the commissioner back from the edge and save Trash Can’s hide and permit just in time for the next election.
Not so fast, Buster. Here comes the other candidate fresh from an emergency flight from her job in DC to push the commish back towards the edge so Kristi Noem can be the one to save Trash Can’s whatever.
How will this ever end? Will there be a real hero involved? Will Trash Can be rilly grateful? I mean RILLY GRATEFUL? Stay tuned for the next exciting adventures of small state pols battling to save a grateful foreign korporation from itself.
The question to Ms. Faken would be this, how many more 15,000 barrel leaks are you going to tolerate before you declare that it may not be safe for now? What does it take to get kicked out of the state? How many barrels, gallons, spills or what not (what is a what not anyway?)?