Native Americans and climate activists have been embroiled in a months long protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Keystone Pipeline (DAPL). While water protectors are standing up for the rights of the environment, and our collective right to clean water- instead of being lauded and appreciated, they are being met with violence by militarized police and the national guard. Protector camps on treaty land have been stormed with attack dogs, sonic weaponry, mace showers and even tasers. Politicians are making empty promises to save face or quell tensions, with no real resolve in hopes that protesters will give up.
“When the police and national guard attack U.S citizens on private property of protect corporate interests, who are they really working for?”
Isaac Davis of wakingtimes reports:
The corporate dream of the Keystone XL pipeline is to create a profit stream for a small number of people at the expense of the natural world and anyone in the way. At the top of this pyramid of profit is Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the company responsible for the project.
So who is Kelcy Warren?
A native of East Texas and graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington with a degree in civil engineering, Warren worked in the natural gas industry and became co-chair of Energy Transfer Equity in 2007. With business partner Ray Davis, co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, Warren built Energy Transfer Equity into one of the nation’s largest pipeline companies, which now owns about 71,000 miles of pipelines carrying natural gas, natural gas liquids, refined products and crude oil. The company’s holdings include Sunoco, Southern Union and Regency Energy Partners.
Forbes estimates the 60-year-old Warren’s personal wealth at $4 billion. Bloomberg described him as “among America’s new shale tycoons” — but rather than building a fortune by drilling he “takes the stuff others pull from underground and moves it from one place to another, chilling, boiling, pressurizing, and processing it until it’s worth more than when it burst from the wellhead.”
Shockingly, in 2015 the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, appointed Warren to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission which is an insult to environmentalists working to protect Big Bend National Park and surrounding sacred tribal lands from another $770 million pipeline project.
“According to the governor’s office, the state parks and wildlife commission “manages and conserves the natural and cultural resources of Texas,” along with ensuring the future of hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation opportunities for Texans.” [Source]
This glaring conflict of interest has inspired Environmental Science major at UTSA and former Texas State Park Ambassador Andrew Lucas to begin a drive to have Warren removed from this environmental post. His petition is described here:
Most people may know Kelcy Warren as the man behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. The Dallas-based billionaire and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners has been making headlines for fast-tracking a 1100 mile crude oil pipeline across the Midwest and under the Missouri River, just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. No environmental impact assessment, no respect for cultural sites, and no regard for the local and widespread communities living along the river. A similar story is unfolding out in West Texas, where Warren’s company has split through the pristine Big Bend region with the 200 mile Comanche Trail Pipeline and nearly-complete 143 mile Trans Pecos Pipeline. These Pipelines mark the way for massive natural gas and oil developments in the Trans Pecos region.
With untold damages unfolding for cultural and environmental resources at the hands of Energy Transfer Partners, it would surprise most to know that nearly a year ago, Texas Governor Greg Abbott appointed Kelcy Warren for a 6 year term as 1 of the 10 commissioners who preside over Texas Parks And Wildlife… Why? Probably the $550,000 in campaign contributions Abbott received from Warren.
Warren is listed as number 150 on Forbes list of wealthiest Americans with an estimated net worth of $4.2 billion in September of 2016. He is the head of the Dakota Access Pipeline snake.
When witnessing atrocities carried out by those paid by taxpayers (militarized law enforcement) or private security contractors and you wonder what it is all in the name of, the simple answer is big business. The concerns of the public, indigenous peoples all over North America, and water protectors are of no interest to those in charge of the DAPL.
If you are scratching your head wondering why militarized police and private security contractors are beating, gassing and attacking peaceful resistors, including women, children and the elderly, the answer is, they are doing it to protect the interests of Kelcy Warren and others invested in this pipeline project.
Instead of protecting it’s citizens, law enforcement is serving the multinationals who are illegally building instead of the water protectors who are lawfully protesting on treaty land.
What do you think about hard earned taxpayers dollars should used to protect the interests of private business, especially one who clearly has no regard for human or environmental rights? Voice your opinion in the comment section below.
(Article by Tasha Sharifa)
The post The Man Who Militarized Cops At Standing Rock Are ILLEGALLY and BRUTALLY Working For Has FINALLY Been EXPOSED appeared first on Counter Current News.