Page 18 - 022218

Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 223 ~ 18 of 52
South Dakota Senate panel rejects refugee resettlement bill
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A state Senate panel has rejected a bill aiming to suspend refugee resettlement into South Dakota from countries on “any federal travel ban list.”
The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 8-1 Wednesday against the bill, which would have also di- rected the state to refuse “chain migration” from citizens of countries on such a list. That system gives advantages to the relatives of legal immigrants.
Matt Konenkamp, a policy adviser to Gov. Dennis Daugaard, asked the panel to oppose the bill, saying the state of South Dakota has no jurisdiction over refugees or immigration policy.
Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, which provides resettlement services for refugees, opposed the bill.
Republican Sen. Neal Tapio, the sponsor, has said the federal government doesn’t have the right to “make your neighborhood less safe.”
Judge orders gov’t review of Keystone pipeline documents By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Federal of cials must go back and review documents related to the disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline, under a Wednesday court ruling that came after environmentalists accused Presi- dent Donald Trump’s administration of withholding details on the project’s approval.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris said the government must provide any relevant documents by March 21 or explain why they should be withheld.
The ruling came in a lawsuit pending in federal court in Montana from environmentalists seeking to stop the 1,179-mile (1,897-kilometer) pipeline. It would carry crude from Canada’s oil sands region to U.S. re neries.
The project has become a ashpoint in the debate over climate change. It was blocked by former Presi- dent Barack Obama in 2015 before President Donald Trump revived it last year.
U.S. Justice Department attorneys fought against releasing the sought-after documents. They said it could take more than six years and cost $6.3 million for of cials to go through an estimated 5 million pages of documents that would need to be reviewed before they could be released.
Attorney Jackie Prange with the Natural Resources Defense Council said the government’s time and expense estimate was “vastly overblown” and included documents unrelated to Keystone.
“The public has a right to know what evidence and what materials were considered in making that deci- sion (to approve the pipeline), especially when that decision has changed,” Prange said.
Even in cases where the government withholds documents, Morris said it must provide a “privilege log” that includes a cursory description of the documents and explains why they can’t be released.
A spokesman for pipeline sponsor TransCanada Corp. said the Alberta-based company does not com- ment on ongoing litigation.
The company announced last month that it hopes to begin construction in 2019.
The pipeline would run from Canada through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, where it would con- nect to an existing pump station in Steele City, Nebraska. From there, it would continue through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to deliver crude to Gulf Coast re neries.
___
Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter at www.twitter.com/matthewbrownap .
House supports asking voters to make changes to Marsy’s Law
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota House has approved a measure that would ask voters to make changes to a constitutional bill of rights for crime victims passed at the ballot in 2016.
House members voted 65-0 Wednesday to send the measure to the Senate.
It would ask voters to change provisions of the “Marsy’s Law” amendment including requiring victims to