Critics say Ohio pipeline protest bill is unnecessary, maybe unconstitutional

Energy News Network: Ohio lawmakers have tweaked a bill meant to deter damage from pipeline protests, but environmental groups, civil liberties advocates and other opponents still say the bill could be unconstitutional.

“From our perspective, it still has a whole lot of free speech problems,” said Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

Substitute Senate Bill 250 would make it a crime to knowingly destroy or improperly tamper with a “critical infrastructure facility,” or to “otherwise knowingly impede or inhibit the facility’s operations.”

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