Gassman Targets TransCanada in SB 138

Hat tip to my neighbor Charlie!

District 8 Representative David Gassman (D-Canova) has joined six other legislators to sponsor Senate Bill 138, "An Act to require financial assurances for certain petroleum pipeline operations for the remediation of potential environmental damage." Short form: anyone applying to the Public Utilities Commission to build, operate, or expand an oil pipeline in South Dakota has to put up a bond, insurance, or some other guarantee of payment to cover any environmental damage caused by said pipeline.

As you may recall from the PUC hearings in December, many of the folks testifying against TransCanada's proposed Keystone pipeline were asking for exactly this sort of guarantee from TransCanada. Remember, TransCanada's opponents in South Dakota aren't all saying, "No pipeline, not in my backyard!" Landowners are mostly just asking for respectful treatment, a fair price for the land rights they'll lose, and a guarantee from TransCanada that they'll take responsibility for any problems their pipeline causes.

Gassman and his colleagues (Senators Kloucek and Katus and Representatives Nygaard, Engels, Feinstein, and Thompson) include an emergency provision to make this law take effect immediately upon passage, obviously so it will apply to the Keystone pipeline. Gassman et al. receive the Madville Times' commendation of the week for being the first legislators to go on record as standing up for South Dakota's interests against TransCanada's push to plow up our land for its profits.

SB 138 gets a hearing before the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee tomorrow. District 8 Senator Dan Sutton (D-Flandreau) represents Miner County, which is on the Keystone route [careful! big JPEG file!], and serves on that committee. As a matter fact, all nine members of the Ag/Nat.Res. committee either farm or ranch or represent counties on the pipeline route (Senators Hanson and Kloucek do both). If you're interested in holding TransCanada accountable, call those senators -- it shouldn't be a hard sell to get them to fast-track SB 138 straight to the Senate floor for a vote. All we want is two words from the committee tomorrow: "Do Pass!"