Very interesting article and it just seems like there is no easy answer to this one.
https://psmag.com/environment/why-ar...tect-pipelines
Five states have already signed bills protecting pipelines into law. The first such one, passed in Oklahoma in response to mobilization at Standing Rock, became the model for critical infrastructure legislation promoted throughout the country by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, and the bipartisan Council of State Governments. The Illinois bill was one of at least six critical infrastructure bills circulating in state legislatures. If the bill had passed the state Senate, Illinois would have become the first blue state to enact such legislation.
"It would be a watershed for ALEC and for the proponents of this bill," Udry says.
According to experts, the bill's initial success in a Democratic state was due, in part, to union support. Illinois has one of the highest union membership rates in the country, and nearly 184,000 Illinois residents were employed in the construction and extraction sectors last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Illinois bill largely mirrored the others—except that it safeguarded unions' right to picket, organize, and recruit at the protected facilities. Without that provision, Greenpeace staff attorney Maggie Ellinger-Locke says, union activity at critical infrastructure sites could have been subject to the same penalties as environmental protest.
"The way that the bill is pitting labor groups against environmental groups," Ellinger-Locke says, "is really dangerous for any kind of climate justice movement."
"It would be a watershed for ALEC and for the proponents of this bill," Udry says.
According to experts, the bill's initial success in a Democratic state was due, in part, to union support. Illinois has one of the highest union membership rates in the country, and nearly 184,000 Illinois residents were employed in the construction and extraction sectors last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Illinois bill largely mirrored the others—except that it safeguarded unions' right to picket, organize, and recruit at the protected facilities. Without that provision, Greenpeace staff attorney Maggie Ellinger-Locke says, union activity at critical infrastructure sites could have been subject to the same penalties as environmental protest.
"The way that the bill is pitting labor groups against environmental groups," Ellinger-Locke says, "is really dangerous for any kind of climate justice movement."