The Trump administration is moving on a separate path to go after pipeline foes and blunt the power of
states to block energy projects
Energy Transfer Partners also supported a similar measure in Iowa – alongside the American Petroleum
Institute, Koch Companies Public Sector, Magellan Midstream Partners, NextEra Energy and Valero
Energy, according to a state lobbying database.
And in Texas, a new critical infrastructure felony – which goes into effect on 1 September – was backed by a
slew of oil, pipeline, power and chemical companies, with representatives of Dow Chemical, Enbridge
Energy, Koch Industries, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips 66 and Valero lodging support, according to a
Senate witness list.
Refiner Valero pressed for action during construction of the Diamond Pipeline, which is now carrying crude
from Cushing, Oklahoma to the company’s refinery in Memphis, Tennessee. A Valero representative
encouraged Oklahoma’s governor to enact the measure, with a phone call saying it would help deter
“disruptive actions”, according to correspondence obtained by the watchdog group Documented.
The state measures gained momentum after high-profile protests against Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota
Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017 that led to confrontations with police and more than 700 arrests. Activists
led by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe camped along the oil pipeline’s route in North Dakota and sometimes
locked themselves to construction equipment. At one point, police sprayed water, fired tear gas and shot
rubber bullets at the demonstrators, with videos of the altercations shared widely online.
After months of protests – and after President Donald Trump reversed his predecessor’s rejection of the
project – Energy Transfer completed the line in 2017.
The Trump administration is moving on a separate path to go after pipeline foes and blunt the power of
states to block energy projects. Under Trump, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration has asked Congress to allow 20-year-prison sentences for “damaging or destroying”
pipelines.
Koch and other companies say action is needed to prevent harm to critical infrastructure – and even to the
activists themselves. Koch Companies Public Sector spokesperson David Dziok says the company respects
the right to peacefully protest and assemble, but “such demonstrations are not always peaceful” and “these
laws are necessary – not only for the safety of the communities in which we operate, but also for the safety
of those exercising their rights to demonstrate”.
Marathon Petroleum stressed in an emailed statement that “clearly, there have been many who agree that
this type of legislation is necessary to counter threats of vandalism that can disrupt emergency services and
people’s lives”.
But Greenpeace’s Gibson says the state measures have been propelled by industry – not a public clamour.
“It’s the fossil fuel industry that wants to put its opponents in jail, not the average voter,” Gibson says. “We
have never seen widespread rallies to make building petrochemical pipelines a national priority. This
phenomenon illustrates the broad problem we have with undue corporate influence in US politics, where
the demand of a wealthy minority dictates the outcome for the majority.”
Critics say the laws are drafted so broadly they could ensnare not just protesters but property owners and
hikers on land shared with energy infrastructure. “Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” could
put someone at risk of five years in jail, says Pam Spees, a senior staff attorney with the Centre for