To: Illinois Commerce Commission, Honorable Janis Von Qualen, Administrative Law Judge and Christine Ericson, Office of General Counsel
Deny Pipelines Eminent Domain in IL
Taking private property from landowners for corporate profit is an abuse of eminent domain and should only be exercised when it is for the benefit of the citizens of Illinois, not corporations that are beholden to shareholders exporting oil to foreign countries for profit.
Take a moment to sign our petition and let Illinois Commerce Commission know we want the application denied.
Take a moment to sign our petition and let Illinois Commerce Commission know we want the application denied.
Why is this important?
This pipeline intends on transporting 660,000 barrels per day over the New Madrid and Wabash fault zones, across the the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Deny Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners request for Eminent Domain
Dakota Access, LLC and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company, LLC, subsidiaries of Energy Transfer Partners, filed an application with the state of Illinois Commerce Commission to claim eminent domain from Illinois property owners to construct a 30" pipeline and transport Canadian petroleum products (tar sands) and crude oil from North Dakota Bakken oil fields to Patoka, IL, where it will connect with an older pipeline that runs through the middle of the Shawnee National Forest, cross the Ohio River and head south towards a Sunoco refinery in Nederland, Texas.
Energy Transfer Partners is a corporation that has a net worth over $35 billion dollars and will profit from the transport and exportation of Canadian petroleum products and Bakken Crude Oil to the Gulf coast refinery and export terminal. Eminent domain should be exercised when it is for the benefit of the citizens of Illinois, not corporations that are beholden to shareholders to export oil to foreign countries for profit.
We ask the Illinois Commerce Commission to deny Energy Transfer Partners, their subsidiary companies Dakota Access and Energy Transfers Company, their request for eminent domain (Dockets #14-0754 & #14-0755)
Additional reasons we request the ICC deny the applications:
Unrefined Bakken Crude oil and Canadian tar sands are corrosive, toxic, and highly explosive. A recent Wall Street Journal review found that there were 1,400 pipeline spills and accidents in the US 2010-2013. According to the Journal review, four in every five pipeline accidents are discovered by local residents, not the companies that own the pipelines.
The southern portion of the route is an older pipeline that the companies have been granted permission to reverse flow. The Mayflower Arkansas Pipeline disaster in 2013 shows the consequences of allowing a reversal of flow in older pipelines. The older portion travels under Lake of Egypt and through portions of the Shawnee National Forest and will carry up to 660,000 barrels per day to the refinery.
Pipeline leak. The pipeline route goes through water sheds of sensitive ecosystems that feed the Federal Wetlands of Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge and Cache River. It crosses the Illinois, the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers, Carlyle Lake and Lake of Egypt. Last month, a Phillips 66 pipeline north of St. Louis, owned by the same parent company Energy Transfer Partners, leaked 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a canal that emptied into the Mississippi River.
In 2014, The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change report affirms that the world must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels to avoid climate chaos. This pipeline flies in the face of dire warning, by facilitating even greater amounts of Bakken crude and Canadian Petroleum products to market. In fact, the massive amounts of flaring — or burning off natural gas makes Bakken oil extraction twice as carbon polluting as traditional oil extraction.
The EPA Clean Power Plan recommends a shifts away from higher-emitting fossil fuels and deployment of zero-carbon generation sources such as wind and solar. Permitting fossil fuel infrastructure is not the direction we should be heading. Renewables will bring the national security and energy independence we need to procure a viable future for the next generation.
Thank you for signing.
Sincerely,
The Shawnee Forest Sentinels
Deny Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners request for Eminent Domain
Dakota Access, LLC and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company, LLC, subsidiaries of Energy Transfer Partners, filed an application with the state of Illinois Commerce Commission to claim eminent domain from Illinois property owners to construct a 30" pipeline and transport Canadian petroleum products (tar sands) and crude oil from North Dakota Bakken oil fields to Patoka, IL, where it will connect with an older pipeline that runs through the middle of the Shawnee National Forest, cross the Ohio River and head south towards a Sunoco refinery in Nederland, Texas.
Energy Transfer Partners is a corporation that has a net worth over $35 billion dollars and will profit from the transport and exportation of Canadian petroleum products and Bakken Crude Oil to the Gulf coast refinery and export terminal. Eminent domain should be exercised when it is for the benefit of the citizens of Illinois, not corporations that are beholden to shareholders to export oil to foreign countries for profit.
We ask the Illinois Commerce Commission to deny Energy Transfer Partners, their subsidiary companies Dakota Access and Energy Transfers Company, their request for eminent domain (Dockets #14-0754 & #14-0755)
Additional reasons we request the ICC deny the applications:
Unrefined Bakken Crude oil and Canadian tar sands are corrosive, toxic, and highly explosive. A recent Wall Street Journal review found that there were 1,400 pipeline spills and accidents in the US 2010-2013. According to the Journal review, four in every five pipeline accidents are discovered by local residents, not the companies that own the pipelines.
The southern portion of the route is an older pipeline that the companies have been granted permission to reverse flow. The Mayflower Arkansas Pipeline disaster in 2013 shows the consequences of allowing a reversal of flow in older pipelines. The older portion travels under Lake of Egypt and through portions of the Shawnee National Forest and will carry up to 660,000 barrels per day to the refinery.
Pipeline leak. The pipeline route goes through water sheds of sensitive ecosystems that feed the Federal Wetlands of Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge and Cache River. It crosses the Illinois, the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers, Carlyle Lake and Lake of Egypt. Last month, a Phillips 66 pipeline north of St. Louis, owned by the same parent company Energy Transfer Partners, leaked 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a canal that emptied into the Mississippi River.
In 2014, The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change report affirms that the world must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels to avoid climate chaos. This pipeline flies in the face of dire warning, by facilitating even greater amounts of Bakken crude and Canadian Petroleum products to market. In fact, the massive amounts of flaring — or burning off natural gas makes Bakken oil extraction twice as carbon polluting as traditional oil extraction.
The EPA Clean Power Plan recommends a shifts away from higher-emitting fossil fuels and deployment of zero-carbon generation sources such as wind and solar. Permitting fossil fuel infrastructure is not the direction we should be heading. Renewables will bring the national security and energy independence we need to procure a viable future for the next generation.
Thank you for signing.
Sincerely,
The Shawnee Forest Sentinels