2017: Pipeline Resistance Gathers Steam From Dakota Access, Keystone Success

Donald Trump may promise to get more pipelines built, but activists are energized by the grassroots success of 2016 and vow to keep fighting.  Inside Climate News, by Lisa Song Jan 2, 2017

When President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month, his pro-drilling, anti-climate action energy policy will buoy the oil industry. But it will also face staunch resistance from a pipeline opposition movement that gathered momentum, particularly with this year's successful showdown over the Dakota Access pipeline, and shows no signs of slowing.

Local grassroots action, governments' environmental concerns and market forces have stopped or delayed dozens of fossil fuel projects since the high-profile Keystone XL pipeline was cancelled in November 2015, and activists are continuing to oppose at least a dozen oil and gas pipelines around the country. 

"There have been people fighting pipelines since pipelines first went into the ground," but awareness of the issue has grown due to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access, said Cherri Foytlin, director of the advocacy group Bold Louisiana.

Opposition to pipelines has united environmentalists, Native Americans and rural landowners of all political backgrounds, many of whom resent the pipeline companies' use of eminent domain to seize their land.

Full article includes a summary list and map of some of the most contested pipelines around the country:

 https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21122016/trump-pipelines-dakota-access-keystone-xl-activism-opposition 

Louisiana Environmental Action Network

E-Alert: Louisiana's Dirty 100 Orphaned Oil & Gas Wells

The "Dirty 100" are the 100 orphaned wells that are ranked as having the highest priority for the need of permanent plugging. They are leaking oil or Natural Gas, are currently causing an environmental problem and may also present a hazard or concern to human health and safety. These wells are orphaned wells, which means that the well's operator of record is no longer a viable responsible party. In other words, the companies that extracted minerals from the wells no longer exist so the responsibility of dealing with the wells now rests on the State of Louisiana. The State of Louisiana charges the Oil and Gas industry a fee of one and one-half cents ($.015) for every barrel of oil and condensate produced, and three-tenths of one cent ($.003) for every thousand cubic feet of gas produced which goes to the states Orphaned Well Program . This allows the Louisiana Orphaned Well Program to deal with approximately 160 wells per year. There are currently 2820 wells identified as orphaned wells in need of permanent plugging in the State of Louisiana.

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