Monday, December 22, 2014
Fallon to walk Iowa stretch of proposed pipelineEd Fallon has announced his intention to walk the Iowa stretch of the proposed Bakken Oil Pipeline – roughly 400-miles that would take him one month to travel. Fallon will walk 10-20 miles per day. Each day along the route, he’ll hold a public meeting to listen to area residents’ concerns about the proposed pipeline. Fallon will share his own concerns about climate change, water quality and eminent domain.As a lawmaker, Fallon floor managed a key bill on eminent domain. From 1998-2004, both as a lawmaker and as director of 1000 Friends of Iowa, Fallon traveled the state working with dozens of communities opposed to what he and many others saw as the misuse of eminent domain.“We won most of those battles,” recalled Fallon. “I saw how deeply Iowans valued their land and their quality of life. And when pushed by a developer who sought to take their land for a lake or an airport or a mall, people banded together and fought and won. I doubt that’s changed much in the past decade.”

Both as an activist and as a lawmaker, Fallon believes his lengthy experience preventing the abuse of eminent domain could be helpful to land owners opposed to the Bakken Oil Pipeline. But he feels strongly that climate change needs to be part of the conversation as well.

“People need to understand the seriousness of the climate crisis,” said Fallon. “While this pipeline is wrong because government shouldn’t take people’s land so an oil company can get rich, it’s also wrong because it deepens our dependence on fossil fuel and slows the expansion of renewable energy. And renewable energy is doing a lot more for Iowa’s economy than oil ever will.”

Fallon commences his walk on March 1st, one year after the start date of the Great March for Climate Action. Fallon initiated that March and walked every step of the 3,000-mile trek. When asked why he chose to walk the pipeline route, not simply drive it, Fallon said:

“Walking puts you in touch with life and with people in a way that driving doesn’t. I want to touch the soil that would be damaged. I want to feel running through my fingers the water that might inevitably be contaminated. For me, just as with my walk across America, this is a pilgrimage of sorts, a chance to connect with people and the land in a way that makes our interaction more personal, more meaningful, more spiritual.”

Fallon is a former lawmaker who served in the Iowa House for 14 years before running for governor and US Congress. Since 2009, he has hosted the Fallon Forum, a talk show available online and on three Iowa radio stations: KDLF 1260 AM (Des Moines), KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames) and KPVL 89.1 FM (Postville). He can be reached at (515) 238-6404.

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