I have relatives who live very close to this pipe spill. That these pipes leak was well known to everyone locally back when it was laid.

And no lawsuit emerged from that knowledge?

Situation normal. Corps run America including all the means of justice. I'm sure they were involuntary forced into an arbitration agreement by having the oil fall on their land and not putting it back into the pipe.

Yeah the farmers were pretty much forced to sell the land to the pipeline company. There wasn't a practical choice. The best you could do is to hold out for a somewhat better offer than the first one.

Not sure I understand the question. Everyone in the local area knew that pipes like this leak. Hence it leaking is not a surprise.

That's right, nobody except everybody...

Well, everybody who wasn't making bank on it.

They can foresee it, the risks are probably built into their cost-benefit analysis. The cost is small so they just don't care.

You mean, the cost _to them_ is so small they don't care.

The bright side could be that it is a good side for democracy.

That thing we were protesting happened in the worst way, maybe you will pay attention now?

The next time they roll out a new pipeline, we might see few or no protesters at all. States have passed (or are working to pass) laws that make protesting pipelines like this a felony.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/08/wave-of-...

Which is horrible and probably against the first amendment.

Ah, the Condoleezza Rice Defense.

(PS- I know you're being sarcastic. Just naming the tactic. Mostly out of anger.)