Protesters arrested after barricading themselves inside portion of Keystone Oil Pipeline

Protesters arrested after barricading themselves inside portion of Keystone Oil Pipeline

en.wikinews.org

Two protesters were arrested after they barricaded themselves inside a portion of the Keystone Oil Pipeline under construction in Winona, Texas.

Spokesperson for TransCanada Grady Semmens called the incident "unfortunate" saying, "This project is about supplying Canadian and American oil to U.S. refineries, pushing out more expensive crude oil from foreign regimes that do not support American values of freedom and common sense — Libya, Venezuela and the Middle East."

(visit the link for the full news article)

I think the headline speaks for itself. I don't agree with the protesters motives, but I would think the site in question would have a bit more security even though that portion of the pipe isn't in operation.

You would think with all the so-called concern for terrorism, this would be one of the top security priorities.

But the fact that the company says the Middle East lack "common sense" or the hope of "freedom" is just ridiculous. The person who spoke these words was either speaking from a prepared statement that didn't go as far as they would've liked, or they really are out of touch with reality.

en.wikinews.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

The real facts are that it would add to the costs opf any project by an unrealistic figure to have real tight security on it....
The truth is we cannot afford the security they are trying to sell us....
They want a nation of security personell, with nobody to support them for gods sakes.....

reply to post by DragonFire1024


I found this amusing....

Spokesperson for TransCanada Grady Semmens called the incident "unfortunate" saying, "This project is about supplying Canadian and American oil to U.S. refineries, pushing out more expensive crude oil from foreign regimes that do not support American values of freedom and common sense

Common sense like the BP disaster?

www.telegraph.co.uk...

or
www.msnbc.msn.com...

Oil companies don't have that great of a record using common sense imo.

I wouldn't want that pipe line in my neighborhood either.

Well - they were arrested in the thriving burg of Winona Texas. It had a pop of 582 in the 2000 census. So its not like its going to have a high security presence given that no oil is flowing through it yet.

Now, I agree that Americans jive with the 'freedom' idea, the IDEAL of 'common sense'.. although its rarely put to use, least of all by our government. You'd think that Mr Semmens would have had enough 'common sense' to see that him saying those few words, insulting other countries/cultures, is in fact a shortcoming or lack of common sense. Good laawwwd, Ms Maude.

Sometimes I just sit back and stare. At what, you ask? Everything. Slowly laughter erupts as the absurdity of everything going on sinks in. What else can ya do!

reply to post by stirling


That's oppression 101, my friend. What's the easiest way to impose perpetual oppression? You pervert the population to the extent that they become the means of their own oppression. The sad thing is, 90% of the "boots on the ground" of the security establishment is getting screwed over just as bad as the rest of us, and yet don't realize it for some reason.

the problem with this pipeline is transcanada corp and their outright stealing and confiscation of land thru eminent domain.

if you own land that the pipeline is projected to be built on, you have two choices: accept their one sided lease agreement or have it taken thru emiment domain by the courts.

i wouldn't want a pipeline going right thru my farm, making my life twice as difficult to harvest and turning a pristine and natural environment into an eyesore.

imagine waking up in the morning at daybreak, with a coffee in your hand, breathing in the crisp cool air, sitting down on your porch, petting your dog and instead of taking in a view of a vast open tree lined land, you sit down to a view of a rusted, decrepit pipe snaking its way around your land gurgling oil without your willing consent.

i would blow it up.

Keystone is not about American oil as the spokesmanin the story said.

Every drop of oil that ends up in Texas at the terminus will be sold on the international market.


Right now we have fairly cheap gas in the midwest because it's too expensive to get it to the gulf.


If we really want energy independence lets keep that oil right here and refine it locally.

Everyone, good posts. All are good arguments and valid points. I pretty much gave everyone a star and was not expecting to have done so at least this early on

With that said, I was absolutely surprised at the speediness of TransCanada to reply to my brief questions, but judging by the statement they gave, I asked the right one. To be honest I only asked for an statement. I was not expecting a reply in a matter of minutes. I was thinking I would be lucky to have had a reply tonight.

I asked for the initial statement, but because I got such a quick reply, I decided to ask another question; whether construction was halted or not. If I got an equally speedy reply, I knew what I had was from a real person as opposed to an automated response.

Originally posted by DragonFire1024
I think the headline speaks for itself. I don't agree with the protesters motives, but I would think the site in question would have a bit more security even though that portion of the pipe isn't in operation.

You would think with all the so-called concern for terrorism, this would be one of the top security priorities.

It's a pipe. They were arrested, so clearly someone knew they were there. Empty pipe isn't that much of a security risk, as long as things are monitored.

Originally posted by DragonFire1024But the fact that the company says the Middle East lack "common sense" or the hope of "freedom" is just ridiculous. The person who spoke these words was either speaking from a prepared statement that didn't go as far as they would've liked, or they really are out of touch with reality.

en.wikinews.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 3-12-2012 by DragonFire1024 because: typo

edit on 3-12-2012 by DragonFire1024 because: add

I don't know about the statement being ridiculous. Consider the situation in Egypt. Their high court stopped working, because people supporting their new leader blocked their court officials from entering to settle on a case against Morsi, where he declared himself above the courts. That doesn't sound like a pro-freedom thing to me (his actions, not those of the court). In many other places, pro-freedom types are pushed out by radicals. Common sense? Debatable. The other half seems right on target, though.

Interesting story, in any case.

Spokesperson for TransCanada Grady Semmens called the incident "unfortunate" saying, "This project is about supplying Canadian and American oil to U.S. refineries, pushing out more expensive crude oil from foreign regimes that do not support American values of freedom and common sense — Libya, Venezuela and the Middle East."

hmmm according to this article Venezuela only supplies 5.9% of americas oil supply
and all "middle east" countries combined is 12.9%
and Libya well...
www.npr.org...

Libya is such a small source that it doesn’t make it into the list of the top 15 countries from which the United States imports oil.

www.politifact.com...
its less that 1% of US supply in fact we import roughly 25 million barrels yearly from libya which is a little over 24 hours of total US oil use.
They are just using boogie man countries that are "bad" to make this project sound like a great idea and if you dont agree you are supporting dictatorships. im surprised he didnt mention north korea in there as well.