聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Around dawn on October 11, across the northern United States, five pipelines were struck at various remote sites roughly simultaneously.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Near-simultaneous strikes have been a hallmark of Al Qaeda, be it the embassy bombings in Africa, 9/11, or bombings in London and Madrid. Except in this case, instead of bombs, the weapons were bolt cutters. In several cases, flowers, not shrapnel, were left behind. Hitting in remote areas, the perpetrators targeted pipeline block valves. The intention, as their hashtags say, was to #ShutItDown.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Wearing white plastic hardhats, each with a large red 鈥榅鈥� across the forehead, these protesters hit five of the key international pipelines that ship Canadian 鈥渢ar sands oil,鈥� as the activists called it, to American markets. The lines included Kinder Morgan鈥檚 Trans Mountain in Washington, Spectra Energy鈥檚 Express line in Montana, TransCanada鈥檚 Keystone in North Dakota and Enbridge鈥檚 Lines 4 and 67 in Minnesota.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The acts of vandalizing these block valves were broadcast live via Facebook.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淏REAKING: To avert climate catastrophe, activists are shutting down pipelines bringing tar sands oil into the US, in solidarity with Standing Rock,鈥� their posts said. The reference to Standing Rock refers to the North Dakota band protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline south of Bismarck.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 While individuals or pairs went onto the site, others videoed the acts and the subsequent arrests. Police showed up, and cordially arrested the trespassers.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 These people should have been thrown to the ground and eaten dirt with a knee on the back of their necks when they were arrested. Despite their self-righteousness, these truly militant and criminal acts should be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law. Interfering with infrastructure vital to national security is not something the American government is liable to take likely.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Shutting down pipelines is not a joke. It鈥檚 not chaining yourself to a bulldozer.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Thankfully, the SCADA system would have monitored any pressure variation and shutdown in the system before anything serious, like a spill, could happen.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Not surprisingly, these protests were videoed and broadcast with cellphones made of petrochemicals. Their high-visibility vests were made of petrochemicals. And, in each of the videos I watched, they drove there.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淪hutting down鈥� might be too strong of a term. It didn鈥檛 look like they did much cranking on those valves. Nonetheless, at least two of the pipeline companies shut down their lines as a precaution.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I鈥檓 familiar with most of the major pipeline rights-of-way in Saskatchewan. I usually notice a pipeline every time I drive past one, to the point where my kids are probably sick of it. 聽聽聽聽 Often I鈥檝e wondered about the security of sites such as block valves like the ones these protestors tampered with. You can bet after this little fiasco, there will be millions spent on video cameras for every site that doesn鈥檛 have them already.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The real worry is actual terrorism. No amount of security cameras, chains or fences in the world is going to speed up response time to sites in the bald prairie. Thankfully, since pipelines are well buried, any damage would be limited.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 These vandals, whose group picture on their Facebook page shows them to be white men and women in their 50s and 60s, stated they did this, 鈥渋n support of the call for International Days of Prayer and Action for Standing Rock. Activists employed manual safety valves, calling on President Obama to use emergency powers to keep the pipelines closed and mobilize for the extraordinary shift away from fossil fuels now required to avert catastrophe.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I surely hope they had time to feed their horses on the way to and from these attacks.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Wait, didn鈥檛 one talk about where his Jeep was parked?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Right, it鈥檚 catastrophic, until the Jeep needs to be filled up at Phillips 66. Then it鈥檚 just convenient.
