An Old School Straw Poll

We've been collecting data at our opposition meetings over the last few months to try and figure out what went wrong with this project... How could it be possible that so many people seemed not to know about the scoping period? Was there some kind of silent majority who did know and just a few unluckies who happened to band together? Did we have a blindspot bias? Or was there truly enough of a breakdown in the notification process (for whatever reason- we'll not speculate here, although I'm sure readers can guess what our hunches are) that there should be some kind of official inquiry into exactly what happened? Well, we're not statisticians. We're farmers. We don't have the resources to survey everyone on the line... But we know how to take a head count...

Now, if you're reading this blog, you probably know that yesterday was a pretty big day for us. But it wasn't just the introduction of Senators Boozman and Cotton's APPROVAL Act (Assuring Private Property Rights Over Vast Access to Lands Act), though that was huge. And, incidentally, though some people have tried to shame the Senators for their attempt to return veto power to the states in transmission siting while supporting the Keystone XL pipeline, this "left-wing extremist" right here would like to point out that, regarding Keystone, the Obama Administration refused to take action until the issue of eminent domain was settled by Nebraska's Supreme Court. Why? Because state rules matter, too. In fact, just today we found out an injunction was ordered to halt the condemnation proceeding for Keystone as some issues are worked out.

But that's not all... Yesterday, we found out that, contrary to what we've all been led to believe, there is opposition to this line in Tennessee. Go, Tipton County:

The commissioners unanimously passed a resolution Monday night that read, in part, "The necessity of this massive project is questionable given TVA's release statement that it has already reached EPA's target system-wide and expects to exceed it."

(Should we maybe start a discussion here about the difference between what qualifies as a need that justifies eminent domain and what's just convenient for industry?... Sigh, again...)

And if that wasn't enough, late last night we learned that both the Cleburne and Franklin County Quorum Courts passed unanimous resolutions against Clean Line. We don't have links to those yet, but will post them as soon as we do.

If I may, there is no joy in this. Even while we celebrate the relationships we've made with each other and these tiny (and not so tiny... I mean... federal legislation? Introduced specifically because one company managed to bungle their PR so badly? Even though 1222 has always been sketchy...Dang. And that's nothing compared to what's coming. Lawyers are salivating to get their hands on this bad boy. Did I mention this? Looks like Iowa's had enough, too). But while small victories give us a little hope, they don't give us relief. We don't get back our time, which has been stolen by these people. We don't get back the money we've spent, just to do the job they haven't and reach people. We don't get back the sleepless nights.

Dr. Moniz- It's time...