Jared PolisColorado Congressman Jared Polis is stepping into the debate surrounding the violent protesters at the Dakota Access Pipeline.  Because he can’t resist a good enviro fight. That’s why. Upset about “the use of less-lethal weapons” by law enforcement, the Boulder democrat sent a letter to President Barack Obama and Attorney General Loretta Lynch today urging them to:

  • Send “federal observers” to oversee the protests
  • Instruct the National Guard to “better protect the physical safety of the demonstrators”

Polis has a long history of siding with extreme environmental activism, and it looks like he has been duped by fake news about this group of protesters near an Indian reservation.  Some inconvenient facts about the Dakota Access Pipeline include:

  • Protesters have not been peaceful, as they threw rocks and bottles at workers and attacked security guards.
  • The pipeline does not disrupt any known Indian burial grounds or other areas of cultural significance, and archaeologists are on standby to deal with any un-mapped areas of cultural significance if they are encountered.
  • It traverses only private property, and does cross into the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
  • It does not threaten the reservation’s water supply, as pipe is the safest way to transport energy liquids and gasses, and this pipeline will be one of the most technologically advanced in the world.
  • Supporters of the protesters created a fake news story about a girl being mauled by a security dog.

Extremists like Polis have long held to the premise that natural resources need to stay in the ground, and their strategies take the form of whatever excuse they can devise to delay, obstruct, and stop energy exploration.

Today it is the Indian reservation, but it could just as easily be the Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse, or coincidental seismic activity.  The point is that none of these things really matter to the environmentalists – they are just a means to keep resources in the ground.

Shiny objects like this are difficult for Polis to resist, but we would all be served better if he focused his efforts on real problems that need attention in our won backyard.  While millionaire Polis does not have to worry about the human costs or economic costs of expensive energy, most of Colorado still does.