An opponent of the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline said it was a joke when he wrote: “blow them up with several sacks of fertilizer and a gallon of diesel fuel.” Funny, the FBI wasn't laughing.
"I'm not a violent person. I'm an old man," said Richard Starke, 76, of Burlington, N.D., who owns land along the proposed Keystone pipeline route, in the Canadian Press.
The email was sent Monday to other opponents of the line, with a copy to Public Service Commissioner Susan Wefald. She turned the email over to the state Highway Patrol. Lt. Mike Gerhart, a patrol spokesman, said they made Capitol security staff aware of it, “and the information was forwarded to federal authorities” — that is, the FBI, according to the Jamestown Sun.
PSC Commissioner Kevin Cramer considered the threat “rhetorical and not literal,” from “a passionate opponent (who) expresses himself with strong rhetoric, but is a faithful patriot and good citizen.”
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