Iowa Senate bill would ban sabotage of pipelines, other 'critical infrastructure'

Criminal acts against pipelines, telecommunications facilities, water treatment plants, and a long list of other critical infrastructure would result in a long prison sentence and a steep fine under legislation advancing in the Iowa Senate.

Senate Study Bill 3062, proposed by the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, appears to be a response to millions of dollars in damage inflicted by protesters on Iowa sections of the Dakota Access Pipeline, prior to the crude oil pipeline becoming operational last year across four states.

Jeff Boeyink, a lobbyist for Energy Transfer, the developer of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, told a Senate subcommittee Thursday he considers his company's project to be the "poster child" of why the legislation is necessary.

"This is not only dangerous, but it has huge monetary implications," Boeyink said.

The bill says that a person who sabotages critical infrastructure could be charged with a Class B felony, punishable by no more than 25 years in prison, plus a $100,000 fine.

John Benson, a legislative liaison for the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said Iowa law currently allows criminal charges for terrorism, arson, burglary and criminal mischief. However, these charges do not specifically include "critical infrastructure," he said, and operators of these facilities want criminal charges that are appropriate for such actions.

Lobbyists registered in support of the bill include Energy Transfer, plus a host of other businesses and entities, including Des Moines Water Works, MidAmerican Energy, Alliant Energy, CenturyLink, U.S. Cellular, Magellan Midstream Partners and others.

The Senate subcommittee voted 3-0 Thursday to advance the measure to the full Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Tom Shipley, R-Nodaway, said the bill needs to be amended, but he believes it's a step in the right direction.

"There is no question about it that we have people who are looking to do others harm," Shipley said. That's evidenced by "terrorist activities on pipelines" and other threats to infrastructure that can damage the nation's economy and put lives in peril, he remarked.

Hundreds of Iowans protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and many were arrested in demonstrations along the pipeline route over the past two years. Most of the protests were peaceful, but in July 2017, two activists with a history of arrests for political dissent claimed responsibility for repeatedly damaging the Dakota Access Pipeline while the project was being built in Iowa.

Ruby Montoya, 27, and Jessica Reznicek, 35, who both resided in Des Moines at the time, described their pipeline sabotage as a "direct action" campaign that began in November 2016. They said their first incident of destruction involved burning at least five pieces of heavy equipment on the pipeline route in northwest Iowa's Buena Vista County.

The two women said they researched how to pierce the steel pipe used for the pipeline and in March 2017 they began using oxyacetylene cutting torches to damage exposed, empty pipeline valves. They said they started deliberately vandalizing the pipeline in southeast Iowa's Mahaska County, delaying completion for weeks.

Reznicek and Montoya said they subsequently used torches to cause damage up and down the pipeline throughout Iowa and into part of South Dakota, moving from valve to valve until running out of supplies. They said their actions were rarely reported in the media.

Frank Cordaro, a political activist in Des Moines and an associate of the two women who was also involved in the anti-pipeline protests, said Thursday that Reznicek and Montoya have not been charged with any crimes for their activities in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline, which they believe is justified. FBI agents in August raided the Catholic Worker house in Des Moines where they lived in search of pipeline sabotage evidence.

Cordaro said the two women have since relocated to an undisclosed location. However, he added that federal prosecutors still have the ability to keep in touch with the women's lawyers.

Cordaro was critical of the proposed Senate legislation. “This legislation is to criminalize protesters as terrorists, and we are not,” he said in an interview. "The companies want us to look at people like Jess and Ruby as terrorists. They say that the companies are destroying our land and water.”

The pipeline, which transports North Dakota crude oil, has encountered strong opposition in Iowa, particularly from environmental activists. The project, which cuts diagonally through 18 Iowa counties, has also been fought by farmers who have criticized the use of eminent domain to obtain access to their land for the pipeline. Litigation involving the pipeline is still pending in federal court and before the Iowa Supreme Court.