Sen. Susan Collins has been re-elected and is now free to do what she does best: represent the interests of her wealthy contributors and the partisan interests of the Republican political leadership.

Again she voted for the Keystone XL pipeline. But the legislation she voted for allows a foreign corporation to seize private property by eminent domain.

That became true when the Nebraska Supreme Court approved sweetheart state legislation for the TransCanada pipeline company as constitutional. This allowed the governor to dictate where the pipeline would go and whose farm and home would be torn up for a pipeline that is predicted to spill – the only question is where and how much.

The legislation she voted for also limits the ability of citizens who will be impacted by the pipeline to seek an impartial judicial review of government decisions. Is this democracy?

No, this is the kind of “law” the oil and gas companies paid for with their $56 million in congressional campaign contributions (not including estimates of many millions more in “dark money” contributions).

The real problem with what Sen. Collins has voted for is that it perpetrates an assault on our democracy by foreign corporate interests. This sets a precedent for Congress ramrodding a foreign company’s pet project down the throats of their constituents with no recourse to justice.

What’s next? How would Mainers feel if the next time they did this, it resulted in a pipeline in Maine? Anyone care in South Portland?

Laurent Hourcle

Saco

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