VIDEO: Young Iowan Questions Rick Perry on Fracked Oil Pipeline Ties at Town Hall Meeting

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By Davidย Goodner

When 24-year old Iowa native Kevin Rutledge first heard that former Texas governor and potential Republican Party presidential candidate Rick Perry had been appointed to the Board of Directors of Energy Transfer Partners, which is attempting to build a pipeline carrying oil obtained via hydraulic fracturing (โ€œfrackingโ€) from North Dakotaโ€™s Bakken Shale through his home state, he was hoppingย mad.

So on February 16, Rutledge decided to drive three hours from Des Moines to Sioux City, Iowa and ask Rick Perry face-to-face about his ties to the company during a town hall meeting at Morningsideย College.

Rutledge is from Ottumwa, Iowa and the proposed route of a new Dakota Access crude oil pipeline would cut right through the heart of the southeast Iowa county where he grew up, potentially impacting his home community with oil spills, polluted waterways, and damagedย farmland.

โ€œIowans and Americans are tired of not being listened to because we donโ€™t have millions of dollars to influence politicians,โ€ Rutledge told DeSmogBlog. โ€œI heard about ties between Rick Perry, Iowa Governor [Terry] Branstad, and the Bakken oil pipeline and immediately knew this was an opportunity for me to ask him a question about it and bring this issue intoย light.โ€

Although the Des Moines Register ignored the run-in entirely in their coverage, at least two other big city newspapers, The Sioux City Journal and The Houston Chronicle, reported on Rutledgeโ€™s confrontation with Perry. Rutledge also posted a video of the incident to his YouTube channel, including a full transcript of the four-minute interaction, reported on now for the first time byย DeSmogBlog.

The video shows a visibly nervous Perry and the young Iowa State University alumnus going back-and-forth for several minutes on the proposed pipeline and the role of big money inย politics.

Iowans like Rutledge think Perryโ€™s board appointment is extremely relevant, saying that industry money that he and other presidential contenders are flooding into the state of Iowa is corrupting the first-in-the-nation Iowaย Caucuses.

Rutledge and other concerned Iowans say there is no way to trust the integrity of Iowa Republican Governor Terry Branstad and state regulators like the Iowa Utilitiesย Board.

They believe that because nationally prominent political allies of Branstad like Perry raise millions of corporate dollars to come to Iowa and campaign for nationwide office, giving public speeches on the importance of โ€œenergy independenceโ€ and de-regulating government when both they and their financial supporters stand to gain from the policies theyย champion.

Perry has spoken both publicly and privately in support of Energy Transfer Partnerโ€™s Dakota Access Bakken oil pipeline in Iowa before his appointment to the board of Energy Transferย Partners was madeย public.

Pipeline politics are not nearly as popular with the GOPโ€™s grassroots base as they are with the GOPโ€™s Big Business wing. The issue could potentially threaten Perryโ€™s presidential aspirations, as his direct financial ties to Energy Transfer Partners and the Dakota Access oil pipeline may alienate him from family farmers and libertarianย voters.

Perry may have also unwittingly painted a giant protest target on his back that a growing grassroots coalition of environmental activists, or other social movement actors like the American Friends Service Committeeโ€™s Presidential Campaign Project, are sure to exploit every time he visits the Hawkeye state throughout Caucusย season.

Photo Credit: YouTubeย Screenshot

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