12/8/17

Democratic lawmaker will draft bill to fund disaster cleanups


Democratic South Dakota State Senator Jason Frerichs of Wilmot was part of a group getting an update on a pipeline that gushed diluted bitumen into a Marshall County ecosystem.

South Dakota has no contingency money for cleaning up such disasters and because it is an international project ecoterrorist Trans Canada doesn’t pay into a reclamation fund.

Frerichs said he still has questions about the breach, how to prevent future ones and pledged to introduce bills in the 2018 legislative session dealing with spill clean ups and assessing future repair costs.

A former TransCanada engineer says the pipeline is destined to break again.

The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Nations were affirmed after a federal judge ordered greater oversight of the Dakota Excess Pipeline.

Photo: Frerichs and 2018 gubernatorial candidate Billie Sutton rehearse for a skit during the 2014 Democratic State Convention in Yankton.

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