Colorado Paper Refuses To Retract Letter Calling For Violence Against Frackers

From The Daily Caller:

A newspaper in Colorado has yet to retract a letter to the editor it published suggesting state residents would be “intelligent” to act violently against oil pipelines in their communities. 

The Boulder Daily Camera posted a letter to the editor April 19 that citizens have a moral obligation to destroy pipelines and eliminate oil jobs if they violate the sensibilities of Colorado residents. 

Editors altered the piece after publication, but left the writer’s basic thesis in place: violence may be the only way to prevent pipeline construction. 

“If the oil and gas industry puts fracking wells in our neighborhoods, threatening our lives and our children’s lives, then don’t we have a moral responsibility to blow up wells and eliminate fracking and workers?” 

Andrew O’Connor wrote in a letter to the paper’s editors. The letter was edited the following day to read “don’t we have a moral responsibility to take action to dissuade frackers from operating here?” 

The Camera’s editors did not include an apology to its edits. O’Connor’s piece is worthwhile, the editors noted, because it brings up philosophical ideas that are important to consider when discussing fracking. 

“This letter was edited to delete references that may have been construed to expressly advocate violence or property destruction,” the paper’s editorial board wrote. “The Camera does not condone or endorse violence or property destruction of any kind.”   

His letter still claims, “fracking equals murder” and says blowing up gas lines would be the “intelligent” move. O’Connor implies using violence against pipeline companies is a matter of self-defense.