Month: April 2021

Virginia: Scientist Locks to Truck to Stop Mountain Valley Pipeline

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cross-posted from Appalachians Against Pipelines

A truck carrying pipe for the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been BLOCKED as it was crossing a bridge over Sinking Creek in Maybrook, Virginia. Thomas Adams, Montgomery County resident, hydrologist, and elected Director of the Skyline Soil and Water Conservation District has locked himself to the pipe truck!
The Mountain Valley Pipeline route crosses Sinking Creek just over a mile away from the site of today’s action.
“I have committed no crime. I would have committed a crime against humanity had I sat as an idle bystander, letting the greed of political and corporate forces advance,” explained Thomas.
Join us on site to rally in support of Thomas and against the Mountain Valley Pipeline!
Donate to support resistance to pipelines in Appalachia: bit.ly/SupportMVPResistance

Podcast: Fighting Fossil Fuels with Wild Idaho Rising Tide Organizer Helen Yost

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cross-posted from the Green and Red Podcast

In the Earth Day episode of the Green and Red Podcast, they talk with Wild Idaho Rising Tide co-founder and organizer, and host of Radio Free Moscow’s “Climate Justice Forum,” Helen Yost.

Listen in: https://bit.ly/WildIdahoGandR

In 2011, Wild Idaho Rising Tide launched with a direct action campaign to stop the “Tar Sands Megaloads,” huge pieces of oil drilling equipment being shipped by the oil industry from the Pacific Coast to Alberta’s tar sands. Scott and Helen discuss that campaign and all of the climate and political organizing in Idaho that has come since 2011. This includes scrappy campaigns against fossil fuel transportation, infrastructure and extraction that has led to unusual alliances between environmentalists, Indigenous groups and property rights advocates. And the backlash that Helen and other activists have faced from industry, the state government and the feds. Most notably, the FBI visits of anti-fossil fuel activists in 2014. We even listened to a voicemail left for Helen by an agent.

Helen shared a story about living in Northern Idaho during the 2020 uprisings. As high school students organized small peaceful marches around the murder of George Floyd, they were harassed by local white supremacist militias. The harassment led to the town organizing and mobilizing against the militias each time the students had a march or rally.

Described as a “one woman army,” Helen Yost is co-founder of, and an organizer with, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT). She is also a citizen journalist, producer and host of the weekly Climate Justice Forum program on KRFP Radio Free Moscow. Her academic background is in conservation of resources, wilderness, wildlife, and environments She has served during her 14 years in north Idaho as a social sciences research assistant, education and outreach director, board member and president, canvasser, and organizer for regional groups. WIRT and allied, grassroots activists effectively confront the root causes of climate change through locally crucial and creative, direct actions and solutions, including peaceful protests, protective monitoring, public processes, and defensive litigation

 

Hill City, MN: Water Protectors Block Line 3 Construction in Honor of Earth Day

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: media@resistline3.org

(Hill City, MN) Early Friday morning, five water protectors locked themselves into concrete barrels at the entrance of Swatara oil pump station, halting construction of the Line 3 Replacement project. This action was taken with Camp Migizi in recognition of Earth Day, coming a day ahead of “Stop Line 3 x Earth Day”, a march that will be taking place in Duluth, Minnesota. Two of the protestors sat behind a hand painted banner reading “Earth Day Every Day”, while other banners in front of the pump station gate read “No Pipelines on Stolen Land,” “Land Back,” and “Protect the Water.”

Construction faces active and growing resistance led by Indigenous groups who see the project and the risk of a spill as a violation of treaty rights, as the project endangers wild rice lakes in treaty territories where the Anishinaabe have the right to hunt, fish, and gather. There have been over 250 arrests made since construction began in December 2020, making this the largest pipeline protest since Standing Rock.

One of the water protectors present at the action decried the construction of Line 3 for breaking treaties and desecrating the land. In their words, “What Enbridge is doing is perpetuating that colonial cycle of violence and disregard, until we are at a point where our waters do not flow, and our grasses wilt and die, and all we have in common are fires, floods, state surveillance, and the thin, decimated ozone hanging low above our heads.”

Groups resisting Line 3 in honor of Earth Day cite the ecological destruction that is being caused by the pipeline, particularly the project’s contribution to climate change. Oil from the tar sands is the world’s most carbon-intensive fuel, and the expanded Line 3 would release as much carbon as 50 new coal-fired power plants. Enbridge calls this construction a “replacement project”, omitting the fact that the new Line 3 pipeline would nearly double its capacity to carry oil, all but guaranteeing that our state would not meet its emissions reduction targets. The new route also goes through hundreds of acres of wetlands and over 200 bodies of water untouched by infrastructure projects.

This action was taken in recognition of the colonial violence and ecological destruction that is being caused by the construction of Line 3, and in honor of Earth Day. As one of the Water Protectors present said, “We take this stand today, to celebrate creation in the face of tyranny.”

Additional photos and interviews with movement leadership available upon request.

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Giles County, VA: Lockdown to Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline

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cross-posted from Appalachians Against Pipelines

“Alice Elliot has stopped active construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Giles County, VA, by locking herself to construction equipment, suspended about 20 feet in the air! MVP has been unable to use the equipment that Alice is locked to since 7 am this morning.

“By locking myself to this equipment, I’m stopping MVP from using it and costing them tons of money, but this is just one form of resistance,” explained Alice. “Being arrested while doing lockdowns is often glamorized and upheld as the ultimate way to be an activist, but all kinds of resistance are necessary and happen every day. From long-term jail support for incarcerated people, to labor organizing at warehouses and factories, to fighting for police abolition, to babysitting and organizing childcare at actions, many different routes are being taken to revolution. Even something simple, like someone taking the leap to go to therapy and work on their shit — that matters.”

Nearby, a rally of folks have gathered in support of Alice’s lockdown. Karolyn Givens, a self-described 79 year old badass and owner of the Giles County Historic Leffel Farm stated: “I hear there is some resistance in Newport! I wonder why??? MVP is dynamiting family farms, working as fast as they can up and down our beautiful steep mountain sides in this historic tight knit community. They’re threatening our water and damaging our farms. They are threatening our very lives putting this 42 inch pipe with 1400 PSI of fracked gas right through the center of the village, placing the whole community in the blast evacuation zone. Yes, we need to make our voices heard in every way possible! I know that I will not and cannot quit resisting this money making boondoggle that is ONLY helping its wealthy investors.”
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a 42-inch diameter, 300-plus mile, fracked gas pipeline that runs from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia, with a proposed 70-mile extension into North Carolina. The MVP contributes to climate change, increases demand for natural gas (and as a result, fracking), and is entrenched in corrupt political processes. It endangers water, ecosystems, and communities along its route. The failing pipeline project is years behind schedule, several billion dollars over budget, and is still missing key permits — including permits to cross streams, waterways, and the National Forest. Until recently, MVP was unable to work in Giles County based on its proximity to the Jefferson National Forest. In early April, the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice asked Governor Northam to issue a moratorium on all new fossil fuel projects.
Meanwhile, Acre and Wren are currently being held in jail with no bail for misdemeanor charges after their extraction from the Yellow Finch tree sit, which blockaded the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for 932 days. Before they were arrested, Wren said, “The fight continues, and the struggle for a better world always will.” The banner hanging at today’s action is a reference to Wren’s statement.”
Donate to support Alice and resistance to pipelines in Appalachia: bit.ly/SupportMVPResistance
Join us! Email appalachiansagainstpipelines@protonmail.com