DES MOINES, Iowa — Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline are still awaiting federal and Iowa Supreme Court rulings in a case over the controversial project, but any new actions against pipelines could land them in prison for 25 years.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the "Sabotage" legislation, Senate File 2235, last week. The law imposes some of the harshest penalties in the nation for criminal acts against "critical infrastructure."

Carolyn Raffensperger, chair of the Iowa Sierra Club, said critical infrastructure has historically applied to public lines that transport electricity, gas and water.

"The bill is particularly dangerous because it slips in the idea that a crude oil pipeline owned by a massive corporation not even located in Iowa is critical infrastructure,” Raggensperger said.

Supporters of the new law say it's not intended to impede legal, peaceful and legitimate protests, but rather targets such things as terrorist threats. The legislation followed acts of arson and vandalism against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017 that resulted in millions of dollars in damages.

The bill was put forward by Energy Transfer Partners, the corporation behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. Raffensperger said the Iowa law is designed to discourage dissent against new pipelines, even if opponents fear for the safety of their drinking water.

"They are trying to take away the ability to give or withhold consent from something that threatens a basic necessity of life - drinking water,” he said.

The pipeline cuts through 18 counties and was opposed by environmentalists and some farmers who objected to the use of eminent domain to obtain access to their land. Raffensperger worries the new law will permit more corporations to claim critical infrastructure status and use eminent domain to change property from private to common.

"So it's one thing to take private land and build a road or add it to a national park,” Raffensperger said, “but to take it and give it to a private corporation is undermining that power to move private property into the common."

The new law makes the crime of critical infrastructure sabotage a Class B felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison and a fine of between $85,000 and $100,000.


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Lawmakers in the West Virginia Senate have passed a bill to remove mandated inspections for chemical storage tanks in the oil, coal and gas industries.

The measure is now pending before the House Energy and Public Works Committee.

Morgan King, climate and energy program manager for the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, said lawmakers have repeatedly tried to gut protections over the past decade but this time, they appear close to succeeding. She added up to 1,000 tanks scattered across the state would be removed from inspections.

"That just puts us at risk for future water crises if another leak occurs and it's not caught," King contended.

West Virginia passed strict regulations aimed at preventing water tank leaks after a 2014 chemical spill. The spill dumped around 10,000 gallons of chemicals into the Elk River, which supplies drinking water to around 300,000 people in the Charleston area.

According to the West Virginia Environmental Council, 38% of all confirmed tank leaks reported to the West Virginia Department of Environmental protection are located in zones of critical concern. King believes the move signals lawmakers are willing to put the bottom line of industries and their profits above the health and safety of Mountain State residents.

"We're seeing that they're putting the interests of the executives over that of public interest," King outlined. "Around our health, around economic growth, around our ability to have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink."

In the weeks following the 2014 chemical spill, the West Virginia Poison Center received thousands of phone calls from people reporting rashes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms, according to a state report, which also found an increase in emergency room visits.


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West Virginia environmental groups are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, arguing the agency failed to consider residents' health when it gave the stamp of approval for the creation of four valley fills on a thousand-acre surface mine in Raleigh County.

Vernon Halton, executive director of the nonprofit Coal River Mountain Watch says the region experienced severe flooding in the 1990s and early 2000s, and says more valley fills, which involve dumping rocks, minerals and waste into nearby waterways, will put their lives at risk.

"It's going to permanently endanger the people whose homes are in the valleys below, he explained."

According to Environment America, valley fills permanently bury headwater streams and reduce water quality. More than 2,000 miles of headwater streams have been buried due to mountaintop removal.

Haltom added that communities continue to grapple with health challenges unparalleled outside of the coalfields.

"Higher rates of cancer, higher rates of heart disease, higher rates of birth defects, higher rates of other diseases, and most of them can be linked to the airborne dust that people are forced to breathe," he continued.

Research has shown breathing in toxic dust promotes the growth of lung cancer cells in people living in communities near mountaintop removal. Coal is mined in 22 of West Virginia's 55 counties, according to federal data.

A Knoxville environmental group is raising concerns over federal budget cuts and their effects on jobs at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The Trump Administration briefly laid off workers at the complex but called them back the next day.

Tanvi Kardile, coordinator for the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, warned the cuts, including layoffs at the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration, are troubling. She advocated shifting jobs from weapons production to environmental cleanup, citing ongoing efforts to address groundwater contamination, though she pointed out cost overruns and major concerns remain unaddressed.

"One of these cuts we feel should be the uranium processing facility, which is being constructed to replace, all these old, deteriorating buildings at Y-12," Kardile explained. "The budget for that keeps skyrocketing.
And this is one of the largest construction projects in Tennessee history."

Kardile emphasized the uranium processing facility is estimated to cost $10.3 billion and will not be complete in 2031. Initially, the project was expected to cost $6.5 billion and be finished by this year.

Kardile added her group is hesitant about Trump's statement expressing his intention to initiate nuclear arms reduction negotiations with China and Russia. The future of the U.S. nuclear weapons program remains uncertain as a result.

"Who knows if reduction talks will happen or how successful they'll be, especially with some other energy initiatives that he supports, such as discrediting climate change, promoting fossil fuels and drilling," Kardile outlined. "It doesn't seem like the administration will take many initiatives to protect the environment."

Kardile argued it is crucial for Tennesseans to push for greater accountability from the Department of Energy on the rising cost of Y-12 and collaborate with lawmakers to find the best path to allocate their tax dollars and protect public health.