For those in attendance it may have been hard to point out the difference between a music festival and a protest rally on the Hughie Tweedy property in Lee County near Montrose on Saturday.
A huge tent, a dozen bands. Funnel Cakes. T-Shirts. Beer, and eclectic artwork gave a distinctly “Woodstock” vibe to what was ultimately a gathering for a much larger issue.
“This is a protest against eminent domain,” said Hughie Tweedy, the owner of an 80 acre multi-generational farm near Montrose that the Dakota Access Pipeline company is trying to pass through in order to build an oil pipeline stretching from the Bakken Oil Fields in North Dakota to a facility in Patoka, Illinois.
Eminent domain is the process through which the Government can order either the seizure of land or demand easement rights for large projects. Private businesses are allowed to petition the government to grant eminent domain rights.
“The Bakken Pipeline is trying to bully their way through this sacred family farm and I refuse to roll over and not fight this,” Hughie told KBUR.
Tweedy points out exactly where the pipeline company wants to lay the pipe through his property.
Tweedy has so far refused to take any kind of offer from the pipeline company, saying that they’re “bullying” him.
“To me it’s sacred, sacred earth,” said Tweedy, “I wouldn’t sell them a blade of grass for a million dollars…I will not back down, ever.”
Tweedy is a Libertarian, and even ran for state office as a third-party candidate in the early 2000’s–but he says it’s not a political issue, saying that the event was attended by those of all political stripes.
Tweedy made headlines in May after accusing a pipeline representative of offering him the services of an 18 year old prostitute in return for the land rights. He claims to have a recording of the representative making this offer, which has been transferred to the state Department of Criminal Investigation.
Hundreds passed through the rally, from all across the midwest.
