{"id":27621,"date":"2017-11-05T13:27:10","date_gmt":"2017-11-05T18:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=27621"},"modified":"2017-11-05T13:27:10","modified_gmt":"2017-11-05T18:27:10","slug":"congress-works-with-big-oil-on-letter-suggesting-anti-pipeline-activists-face-terrorism-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=27621","title":{"rendered":"Congress Works with Big Oil on Letter Suggesting Anti-Pipeline Activists Face Terrorism Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 id=\"page-title\" class=\"page__title title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/2017\/11\/03\/congress-big-oil-letter-anti-pipeline-activists-terrorism-charges\">Congress Works with Big Oil on Letter Suggesting Anti-Pipeline Activists Face Terrorism Charges<\/a><\/h3>\n<article class=\"node-12260 node node-blog node-promoted view-mode-full clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/sites\/beta.desmogblog.com\/files\/styles\/full_width_blog_image\/public\/blogimages\/Group-Photo-Shut-It-Down-Climate-Disobedience-Action-Fund_www-shutitdown-today.jpg?itok=o4F_jHL3\" alt=\"Five anti-tar sands activists who shut down tar sands pipelines into the U.S.\" width=\"826\" height=\"620\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"new-horizontal-social-bar clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>On October 23, 84\u00a0Congressional representatives\u00a0made a splash when they <a href=\"https:\/\/buck.house.gov\/sites\/buck.house.gov\/files\/wysiwyg_uploaded\/Protecting%20Energy%20Infrastructure.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published a letter<\/a>\u00a0to <span class=\"caps\">U.S.<\/span> Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/topics\/jeff-sessions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jeff Sessions<\/a> asking if those engaged in activism disrupting or damaging\u00a0pipeline operations should face criminal prosecution as an act of terrorism under the <span class=\"caps\">USA<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">PATRIOT<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">ACT<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Spearheaded by <span class=\"caps\">U.S.<\/span> Rep. Ken Buck (R-<span class=\"caps\">CO<\/span>) and co-signed by dozens of other, primarily Republican, representatives, the letter pays homage to the First Amendment, while also noting that\u00a0\u201cviolence toward individuals and destruction of property are both illegal and potentially fatal.\u201d The letter, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.katc.com\/story\/36662883\/is-pipeline-sabotage-domestic-terrorism-some-members-of-congress-ask-sessions-to-weigh-in\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">covered<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/story\/money\/business\/2017\/10\/25\/should-iowas-dakota-access-pipeline-protesters-face-terrorism-charges\/796025001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ksfy.com\/content\/news\/Noem-urges-Justice-Department-to-evaluate-pipeline-security-452584003.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">several<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.watertowndailytimes.com\/national\/protesters-labeled-domestic-terrorist-threats-20171028\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-pipelines-activism\/u-s-lawmakers-ask-doj-if-terrorism-law-covers-pipeline-activists-idUSKBN1CS2XY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outlets<\/a>, was championed by the\u00a0industry lobbying and trade association, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/american-petroleum-institute\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Petroleum Institute (<span class=\"caps\">API<\/span>)<\/a>, which said\u00a0it \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.api.org\/news-policy-and-issues\/news\/2017\/10\/23\/api-welcomes-bipartisan-effort-to-examine-attacks-on-us-energy-infrastructure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">welcomed<\/a>\u201d the\u00a0letter.<\/p>\n<p>But according to a DeSmog review, <span class=\"caps\">API<\/span> and other industry groups were a key part of bolstering the letter itself. <span class=\"caps\">API<\/span>, along with the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (<span class=\"caps\">AOPL<\/span>) and the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (<span class=\"caps\">INGAA<\/span>), is listed as among the \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/dearcolleague.us\/2017\/10\/help-prevent-dangerous-attacks-on-energy-infrastructure-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">supporting groups<\/a>\u201d on the website\u00a0DearColleague.us, which tracks congressional letters and their\u00a0backers.<\/p>\n<p>The website is <a href=\"http:\/\/dearcolleague.us\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">run<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/claytonhanson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Clayton Hanson<\/a>, formerly a reporter for Roll Call and the Charlotte Observer, which <a href=\"http:\/\/dearcolleague.us\/faq1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">says it exists<\/a> as the \u201clargest publicly available archive of free Dear Colleague\u00a0letters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDear Colleague letters are official correspondence between members of Congress that lawmakers use to gauge or build support or opposition for legislation or other causes,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/dearcolleague.us\/faq1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explains<\/a> the DearColleagues.us website. In the case of the October 23 letter to Sessions, its genesis was\u00a0a \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter written to other congressional offices to gather signatories for the\u00a0cause.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/dearcolleague.us\/2017\/10\/help-prevent-dangerous-attacks-on-energy-infrastructure-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/sites\/beta.desmogblog.com\/files\/Screen%20Shot%202017-10-30%20at%206.55.40%20PM.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congress Works with Big Oil on Letter Suggesting Anti-Pipeline Activists Face Terrorism Charges On October 23, 84\u00a0Congressional representatives\u00a0made a splash when they published a letter\u00a0to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking if those engaged in activism disrupting or damaging\u00a0pipeline operations should face criminal prosecution as an act of terrorism under the USA PATRIOT ACT. Spearheaded [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,6],"tags":[14,2688,5317,11481,793,1796],"class_list":["post-27621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","category-liberty","tag-activism","tag-big-oil","tag-desmog-blog","tag-steve-horn","tag-terrorism","tag-us-congress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27622,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27621\/revisions\/27622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}