FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 26, 2018 — 2:00 p.m. CT,
Contact Ed Fallon at (515) 238-6404 or ed@boldiowa.com
Pipeline “Sabotage” Bill Called Legislative Extremism
Proposed bill could render peaceful protest against oil pipeline impossible
Bold Iowa today strongly criticized legislation that passed unanimously out of a Senate subcommittee on Thursday. The legislation — Senate Study Bill 3062 — defines “critical infrastructure sabotage” as an “unauthorized act that is intended to or does in fact cause a substantial interruption or impairment of service rendered to the public related to critical infrastructure property. The bill provides that a person who commits critical infrastructure sabotage commits a class B felony.” Such an offense would come with a fine of $100,000 and a prison sentence of up to 25 years. The parent company of the Dakota Access pipeline — Energy Transfer — is listed in support of the bill.
“This latest attempt by Big Oil to silence dissent is no surprise,” said Ed Fallon, a former lawmaker who now directs Bold Iowa. “This is legislative extremism at its worst. The bill’s backers want you to believe this is about cracking down on arson and vandalism. But the hundreds of pipeline protests who were peaceful, nonviolent and didn’t engage in property destruction could be accused of interrupting service under this bill and subject to insane consequences.”
Bold Iowa is continuing to fight Dakota Access through educating Iowans about the lawsuit filed by Iowa landowners and the Iowa Sierra Club. That case is expected to come before the Iowa Supreme Court this spring. Bold also supports the growing movement to compel banks to divest from financing fossil-fuel infrastructure projects. A couple dozen Bold supporters will travel to Minneapolis on February 3 for “Super Saturday,” calling out US Bank to stop funding oil pipelines.
Bold Iowa was formerly part of the national Bold Alliance and is now an independent non-profit organization that addresses the climate crisis, opposes the misuse of eminent domain to expand fossil-fuel infrastructure and other private purposes, promotes individual and entrepreneurial efforts in renewable energy and energy conservation, and works to build a broad, urban/rural coalition of Iowans. The organization’s website is www.boldiowa.com.
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