Tech | July 13, 2011 | 22 comments

Pipeline protesters hit Montana governor's office

source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-13-montana-oil-protest_n.htm

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JanforGore
More than 100 environmental activists from across the country descended Tuesday on the Montana Capitol to demand Gov. Brian Schweitzer rescind his support for the Keystone XL oil pipeline and ExxonMobil's megaload transportation project.

Approximately 70 of those activists filled the governor's reception room, where they pounded homemade drums and chanted slogans such as: "No pipeline, no oil, the Big Sky State's too good to spoil."

Two activists also scaled the flagpoles in front of the Capitol and strung up a banner that read "Pipelines spill, Exxon kills. Big oil out of Montana."

Six activists from the environmental groups Earth First! and Northern Rockies Rising Tide, including one activist from Great Falls, locked their hands together within a mock oil pipeline made of PVC plastic pipe and said they wouldn't leave willfully until Schweitzer met their demands.

Law enforcement officials cut the activists out of the pipes. The group of activists dispersed late in the afternoon after police arrested two men and three women who refused to leave and were chained together.

Group members said earlier in the day that they would not leave until Schweitzer, a Democrat, gave up his support for two major projects related to oil sands development in Canada: the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport Canadian oil sands crude to the Gulf of Mexico; and the "Kearl Module Transportation Project," which would ship about 200 massive Korean-built oil sands processing modules across Montana highways to the Kearl oil sands region in northern Alberta. That megaload project is slated to start later this year.

Schweitzer met with the activists for nearly 20 minutes in the reception room of his office, but ultimately refused their demands.

"I'm not prepared to do that today," Schweitzer said.

Members of the group told Schweitzer that last week's rupture of ExxonMobil's Silvertip pipeline — which poured an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River downstream of Laurel — is a prime example of why Schweitzer should "toss big oil out of Montana."

"We feel the Silvertip pipeline disaster on the Yellowstone is just a preview of what's to come if you continue to cater to big oil's interests and turn us into what would essentially be an energy extraction colony," said Missoula resident Max Granger of Northern Rockies Rising Tide, a group that has led protests against the Kearl Oil Sands project and the development of the Otter Creek coal tracts in Eastern Montana.

After listening to the protesters complaints and demands, the governor said he hoped the environmental activists would put their passion toward ending the nation's addiction to foreign oil.

"I will say to you that this country uses an inordinate quantity of hydrocarbons. I would say to you that 25% of all the oil that's consumed in the world is consumed by us — you, me," Schweitzer said.

Protesters cut off Schweitzer several times during the 20 minute meeting before one activist began playing a honky-tonk tune on a piano in the reception room. At that point more than a dozen protesters jumped onto the large meeting room tables and began dancing and chanting.

In a news release, Northern Rockies Rising Tide criticized Schweitzer for publicly chastising ExxonMobil while continuing to promote the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, megaload shipments bound for the Alberta oil sands and other "extreme fossil-fuel projects" throughout the state.


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22 comments // Pipeline protesters hit Montana governor's office

  • GameOver
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • If no one in the News Media mentions mining the hell out of Earth's Moon being the new plan, and where all the money has gone, that's proof it is the New Plan.

      Enough proof to satisfy my needs for proof. The Moon is like a great jewel, and men have always killed other men to have great jewels.

      Doing their mining without taxpayer consent was a neat trick.

    • 11 months ago
  • cmc101
    • 0
      cmc101  

    • Thanks for posting this.
      have you seen the commercials on Rachel Maddow. Exxon show its very misleading for the eager to be helpful misinformed half cocked seeking entertainment blind public do good's

    • 11 months ago
  • good_stuff
    • +1
      good_stuff  

    • Exxon must be paying a lot to keep the pipeline in that state. Since nothing is being extracted or process in Montana, where is the revenue and/or jobs that make the inherent risks look appealing?

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • good_stuff:

      Another pillow fight to keep peons from focusing on their plan to mine Earth's Moon. Scientists have verbalized it openly that the Moon contains many EXPENSIVE ORES. That's the objective here, keep everyone focused on LEAKING PIPES.

      hahaha AWESOME HOW THOSE PEOPLE THINK EH WHAT YANK?

      That's why we quit the Space Shuttle & sent $2,000,000,000,000.00 to other country's space programs (the so-called "Missing Money") so they'll mine the Moon w/out interference from environmentalists here. Over there they know what to do with environmentalist crazies big guns.

      You're being taxed for your Moon exploration dollars unabated by countries that will dig potholes in Earth's Moon without yur stinkin' interference.

      oops. without representation isn't it amazing?

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Rupert Murdoch losing a small skirmish HE DIDN'T NEED TO WIN was just staged to make people relax back in their recliners thing WHEW, THE SYSTEM'S FINALLY WORKING.

      hahahaha The U.S. system is being totally by-passed and buried in the tar sands of time.

      These people are really SMART. AMAZING. Truly Amazing. Tie up the cops too. George Peppard couldn't have planned all this any better!

    • 11 months ago
  • cmc101
    • 0
      cmc101  
    • Gravity_Man:

      there is no need to go to the moon when the game is to out smart non essential humans that only take up space on the great planet earth. Most of the world is 2 grades below our new education program and we are falling behind with the Privatization of everything including the Constitution,
      Control the word and you have the world as a foot stool
      Fight for the word TRUTH

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • squarethecircle
  • squarethecircle
    • 0
      squarethecircle  
    • Gravity_Man:

      was just saying the same thing...sooo transparent they have become with the same old tricks and sacrifices to pacify and direct the masses. Go voteall, I am sure it'll have a different outcome this time. Of course it will.

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  
    • squarethecircle:

      Yeah, and there's another Standard Rule you can always count on too => whenever the other man says you're a {insert name here} it means he's one and doing whatever he accuses you of being guilty of.

      This is like being lost in the Fun House. Without Pat Boone & Shirley Jones.

    • 11 months ago
  • squarethecircle
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • squarethecircle:

      Perhaps mining the Moon is being semi-hidden to be presented to The People as a totally unexpected windfall... altho killing off the Space Shuttle when they had another 3,000 flights in em and $2 trillion coming up missing is not really what ya call A GOOD SIGN.

      But of course!!! I'm paranoid!!! hahaha Silly me. Let's all go to the movies, Let's all go to the movies, Let's all go to the movies, Let's all go to the movies, yum popcorn!

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • squarethecircle:

      Kinda rough all those NASA boys & girls having to travel to India or Japan or Moscow to get a paycheck back eh? Hey everybody! Let's all go do something exciting like LEARN CHINESE, JAPANESE AND INDIAN WHATCHAMACALLIT.

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • squarethecircle:

      #1 the ONLY way to misplace $2,000,000,000,000.00 is to first slam the weight to the top o' the pole so no one pays no nevermind to it missing, as in a $50 trillion debt.

      #2, ya set the natives huts on fire every day with a new emergency so they never keep track of funds while they're trying to avoid being tomorrow's ROAST DUCK DINNER.

    • 11 months ago
  • cmc101
  • cmc101
  • squarethecircle
  • Gravity_Man
  • GameOver
  • JanforGore
  • Gravity_Man
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