Who’s minding the store? It’s clear that nobody is looking after the public interest. We hear it over and over again from public officials in North Dakota and eastern Montana, “This is the price you have to pay for energy independence.”
It isn’t. This is the price you have to pay when citizens don’t stand up for their rights.
NOTE: At the request of a reader I’m adding the Montana railway map. There are only two routes westbound trains can take out of the Bakken, one north and one south.
Montana Rail System: Only two main routes
Trains that take the southern route go right through Billings, Laurel and Columbus. The next plume of smoke you see could be right nearby.
Actually, it’s “the price you pay” when capital interests control “your” government: hard to stand up when you have no standing. An economic tsunami is as physical as a hydraulic tsunami (no pun), just measured differently. If you can’t swim, you’d better run.
See Chris Eckhoff’s Guest Editorial in 01/10/2014 Billings Gazette for an operant example described by a keen observer.
I don’t dispute the difficulty of fighting off corporate interests, and Chris’ guest editorial was daunting. But American history is full of examples of citizens successfully fighting long odds to win their rights against corporations. Recent fracking history already has a number of examples of people rising up to demand their rights, in Pennsylvania, Dallas, Colorado and other places.
Chris’ notion that you either need to give in or leave doesn’t sit well with me. I’m ready to fight, and I’m guessing a lot of others are as well.