Dakota Access Pipeline Construction Apparently Halted In North Dakota Pending Federal Court Review; Will The Dakota Access Pipeline Be Keystoned? -- August 19, 2016

Updates

August 29, 2016: And now for another perspective: the Dakota Access Pipeline and the "law of Christendom." From Indian Country, TodayMediaNetwork. com.

August 26, 2016: every day this situation is not resolved increases the odds that it will be keystoned. We now have reported that a Native American group is flatbedding a 22-foot totem pole all the way from Oregon to North Dakota as a symbol of support. The organizers will make this protest bigger and bigger. My hunch is that if this isn't resolved before September 9, 2016 (scheduled court date), the Federal judge will punt, sending it back for a new environmental review, essentially killing the project. 

August 22, 2016: looking more and more like the Dakota Access Pipeline will be keystoned. Federal judge delays hearing until September 8. Recommends two sides meet in good faith to come to "deal." Meanwhile, operator agrees to stop construction until this winds its way through the court system. The permits have a "drop-dead" date. If the operators aren't careful, this project will be keystoned in North Dakota. A $3.1 billion project stopped by 24 protestors ... and the pipeline doesn't even cross their land. 

August 22, 2016: from KBUR.com --

A judge has denied a request by Iowa landowners to immediately halt construction of an oil pipeline on 15 parcels of their land.

District Court Judge Jeffrey Farrell says in his order posted Monday that a 1989 Iowa law requires landowners to first go to the Iowa Utilities Board to stop a utilities project.

The landowners have sued, saying the board doesn’t have legal authority to give for-profit Texas oil company Dakota Access the right to forcefully condemn private farmland under an eminent domain law for the pipeline.

The landowners’ attorney, Bill Hannigan, says the request will be filed with the board and refiled with the court if it’s rejected. He says it will be appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court if necessary.

Sounds like Dakota Access Pipeline builders better get this segment completed while they have the "get out of jail free" card.

Original Post

Link here.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple has declared an emergency to make more state resources available to manage public safety risks from an ongoing oil pipeline protest near Cannon Ball.
Dalrymple said Friday the declaration allows the state to bring greater resources to bear if local officials need help addressing safety concerns.

Over two dozen protesters have been arrested since last week for interfering with the construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline that’s designed to carry North Dakota crude to Illinois.

Developers have agreed to halt construction of the project in southern North Dakota until a federal court hearing next week.

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Massachusetts To Tax Uber 

To Support Conventional Taxi Service

I can't make this stuff up. But here it is, at this link.

What if every airline ticket you purchased, tucked amid all of the security fees, taxes, and airport facility charges, included a small additional line item: the Ocean Liner Support Fund, to help that industry stay afloat?

Could a similar subsidy have saved cinema organists, minicomputers, or the Pony Express?

That’s the kind of experiment Massachusetts is embarking upon, with a new fee on so-called transportation network companies, or TNCs, such as Uber, Lyft, and Fasten.

When Governor Charlie Baker signed a law earlier this month regulating TNCs, it included a little-discussed component. For every trip, the TNCs will have to contribute a nickel to a new fund to support modernization, training, and improvement of the taxi and livery industry. The 5-cent fee will stay in effect until the final day of 2021.

A nickel doesn’t sound like much, until you learn that the top two TNCs, Uber and Lyft, are currently facilitating more than 2,500,000 rides a month in Massachusetts. (Fasten, a TNC based in Boston, wouldn’t release numbers.)

According to a back-of-the-envelope estimate that assumes a 25 percent annual growth rate among all of the three services — with a rough guess of 100,000 rides a month as a base for Fasten — the nickel fee could add up to about $15 million before it is phased out. (My numbers also assume no newer TNC players will enter the market in Massachusetts, which certainly could happen.)

My question: why did they stop at a nickel? Why not a dollar? Or $5? Fifteen million dollars doesn't really seem like much for a slush fund.