Pipeline controversies linger amid possible compromises

Bill Knight column for 4-19, 20 or 21, 2021 

President Biden recently declined to shut down the controversial Dakota Access pipeline while an Army Corps of Engineers review continues, a setback for dozens of Democrats who urged the shutdown, plus environmental and Native American groups that for years have fought the 1,200-mile underground project bringing oil from the Dakotas to Illinois – and threatening the Missouri/Mississippi River.

It’s part of the Bakken Pipeline System planned to deliver oil to a Patoka, Ill., hub and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline, which moves oil to the Gulf Coast for export, not domestic use.

A federal judge gave the corporation until late this month to justify its operations, but a lawyer for the Sioux tribe expressed disappointment.

“The company gets to keep the benefits of operating the pipeline that was never properly authorized while the community has to bear the risks,” said attorney Jan Hasselman. “It’s not right.”

Elsewhere, pipelines are the subject of other conflicts, although some common ground is emerging.

In June, work is set to start on Line 3 of a pipeline planned by Enbridge, part owner of Dakota Access, at a time when other pipelines – and their jobs – are in flux.

Pipeline-job disagreements pit union against union, with National Nurses United (NNU), Steelworkers and Teachers versus the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), Teamsters and Mine Workers.

Last April, a judge blocked a permit for a pumping station owned by Keystone, a 1,100-mile project from Canada to Nebraska built under a Project Labor Agreement benefiting Laborers, Teamsters and other unions who’d hoped for 20,000 jobs (although only 7,000 have materialized).

On Biden’s first day in office, he blocked Keystone’s construction license for its tar-sands pipeline, responding to concerns about oil spills, unfair use of Native American land, and opposition from NNU and other unions that object to the heavy oil’s high carbon and sulphur content.

Ironworkers president Eric Dean said, “We aren’t climate-science deniers but [ask] that the administration understand those pipelines provide meaningful, high-paying jobs.”

James Williams Jr., vice president at large at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), said it’s time to seek and see mutual interests.

            “I would blame labor a lot of the time for this [argument],” he said, “but there have to be deeper conversations about the fact that labor is going to lose jobs that have been really good jobs for a really long time.”

            Unlike Trump’s divide-and-conquer approach while favoring corporate polluters, Biden seeks common ground, saying, “Dealing with the climate crisis and revitalizing our economy with well-paying jobs are one and the same. We’re going to take money and invest it in clean energy, millions of dollars in wind, geothermal and solar.”

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka endorsed Biden’s zeal to fight climate change, which the President calls “the existential threat of our time”– IF it prioritizes fossil-fuel workers with future union jobs.

“The clean-energy economy must be built on a foundation of family-supporting union jobs, and President Biden is committed to that vision,” Trumka said.

Jason Walsh, director of the BlueGreen Alliance  – made up of the Teachers, Bricklayers, Painters, Service Employees, Plumbers, Steelworkers, and other unions plus environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club – said, “We are also excited to see [Biden] support workers and communities impacted by our nation’s transition to cleaner, cheaper forms of energy. These workers powered our nation for decades and we must ensure no community or worker is left behind as we move toward building the clean economy.”

            Environmental groups back demands for union jobs, teaming up with labor in ventures such as the “Good Jobs for All” campaign organized by the youth climate group Sunrise Movement.

NABTU issued a cautious statement of support: “We welcome this administration and the opposition for this and hundreds of other projects to engage with us on a rational, national strategy going forward that does not treat workers, their families, and entire communities as an afterthought.”

Last month, Democrats introduced the BUILD GREEN Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which would invest $500 billion over 10 years in state, local and tribal projects to help move to all-electric public transportation – reducing climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions and unhealthy air pollution while expanding clean mass transit and creating up to one million new jobs with strong labor provisions.

Introduced by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Andy Levin (D-Mich.), the measure is supported by about 60% of Americans, according to Data for Progress polling.

“We cannot Build Back Better without building back greener,” said Markey, who called the bill “our opportunity to invest in a clean-energy revolution across our country, transform our transportation sector to be climate-smart, and create millions of good-paying union jobs.”