It would appear that the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Bakken pipeline system will soon move into Louisiana, running from Lake Charles to St. James, and slashing across 700 bodies of water in the process.
The so-called “Bayou Bridge” pipeline has met with significant public outcry, and a number of protests are planned to disrupt its construction. The pipeline will move fracked oil from the Bakken shale in north dakota all the way down to the Gulf coast, where it can be moved via commercial ships.
A mercenary firm that acted illegally in North Dakota has recently applied for the ability to work in Louisiana, but their purposes there are unknown.
TigerSwan worked on behalf of Energy Transfer Partners during the Standing Rock Sioux protests in North Dakota, so many wonder if their presence in Louisiana has something to do with the imminent pipeline construction.
A dangerous past
TigerSwan is a firm that doesn't share much about itself and has operated outside of the law. During the protests in North Dakota that opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline, they were accused of using counterterrorism tactics against US citizens.
Ex-Delta Force soldiers founded the company, and their CEO, James Patrick Reese, is alleged to have a criminal record. While Mr. Reese has denied this charge, he was not able to produce evidence of a clean record when TigerSwan was investigated in North Dakota.
What is known is the view that TigerSwan took toward the protesters in Standing Rock, when they compare them to “jihadists” and “militants.”
A delta farce
The Delta Force was founded in the 1970's as a direct policy response to rising terrorism, and have taken part in numerous classified missions since then. The Department of Defense refuses to refer to their existence publicly, and their mission profile has never been made public.
It is known that they were based on the British SAS, and are used for potentially violent missions in combat zones around the world. What their former members are doing in the US while they work on behalf of Energy Transfer Partners has not been made public, but when their presence was discovered in North Dakota, they were quickly removed from their roles.
Upon review, TigerSwan was denied the right to operate in North Dakota, and they were also accused of using dishonest tactics to accomplish their work. As of yet, they have not been granted the right to work in Louisiana, nor has Energy Transfer Partners disclosed any connection between the Bayou Bridge pipeline project and TigerSwan's application to work in Louisiana.
When mention of TigerSwan's interest in a license to operate in Louisiana was made to groups that are resisting the construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, these was little surprise.
