MIssouri: It looks like you're going to get the Keystone XL Pipeline you don't want

Breaking news today:

Four States Introduce Keystone XL Resolutions, Lifting Language From ALEC and TransCanada

Legislators in four states have introduced bills in recent weeks supporting the controversial TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, with language that appears to have been lifted directly from a "model" American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) bill and from TransCanada's own public relations talking points. 

 

Some of the first bills proposed in Missouri, Mississippi, Michigan and Minnesota in 2013 have been resolutions calling on the president and Congress to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which the Obama administration delayed last year in response to a wave of protest and civil disobedience. Environmentalists oppose the pipeline because extracting oil from Canadian tar sands would unlock huge amounts of carbon, increasing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Rallies are planned for this weekend to hold President Obama to his promise to fight climate change by urging him to not approve Keystone XL's pipeline application.

Missouri Resolution Tracks ALEC Model 

The Missouri resolution is nearly identical to an ALEC "model" resolution approved at the December 2011 ALEC meeting. TransCanada had been a member of the ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force in 2010 (along with oil companies like BP and Exxon Mobil). In states like Ohio and South Dakota, the corporation paid into the state "scholarship" fund that pays for legislators' flights and hotel rooms to ALEC meetings. The ALEC resolution has been passed in a handful of states.

Both Missouri's HCR 19 and the ALEC Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline begin:

WHEREAS, the United States relies - and will continue to rely for many years - on gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, as well as renewable and alternative sources of energy;

And conclude:

The Missouri bill was proposed by Rep. Caleb Rowden (R), a newly-elected politician who has been in office for less than two months. It is not known whether Rowden has already become an ALEC member, but he may have been assigned the legislation by a more senior ALEC member legislator -- an increasingly common way of hiding ALEC's fingerprints. Rowden, who before becoming a legislator was a Christian rocker, certainly did not come up with this legislation on his own.

Though the Keystone XL approval will happen on the federal level, the corporate interests that stand to benefit from the pipeline have lobbied extensively to curry favor in the states, which can lend the appearance of grassroots support and put pressure on federal officials.

So heads up, fellow Missourians--your legislators are, as usual, being bought and paid for by corporate interests and you and your wants will be ignored and denied.

We need to get and stay busy on that so Canada's oil doesn't go through the state, just so they can sell it for a far bigger price on and to the international markets.

It points out, too, once again, why we need to kill campaign contributions so we get our government back for the people, first and last, and not just for the wealthy and corporations.