How are your allergies this spring? Many people I know have been suffering from the pollen blues—or should I say "yellows" as I have found my white car turns yellow in a matter of hours.
Studies consistently show that fracking and associated infrastructure leak more methane than previously estimated, and that rising methane levels are now driving adverse climate impacts.
Steingraber said she cannot protect her children from harm or plan for their future without taking climate action. For her, engaging in climate activism is of the same importance as other safety precautions like vaccinations or paying attention to car seat recalls.
"We demand TD Bank stop using our money to fund tar sands pipelines that our communities and planet cannot afford. We call on our neighbors, elected officials, and pension managers to close all accounts with TD Bank unless they immediately stop financing tar sands pipelines."
-- Divest the Globe statement
Following nearly four years of struggle against a powerful company (Kinder Morgan and its subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline) backed by laws and a Federal commission, it seems that now is an appropriate point to judge performances of the various participants and agencies that could have made more of a difference to avoid this calamity.
“I want to raise the idea of conservation and civil disobedience. This is a symbol of our resistance and our resolve to stop this.”
--- Sugar Shack Alliance member Will Elwell
As chainsaws wielded by workers from Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company began to bite into the state-protected trees of Otis State Forest, members of the Sugar Shack Alliance stood in defiance of this dismemberment of the sanctuary for a natural gas pipeline. Ben Hillman provides a video report.
On March 15, the Court held that the Natural Gas Act does not allow pipeline companies to leapfrog over state administrative procedures in order to expedite their projects. This is the first time a federal Circuit Court has interpreted the relevant language in the Natural Gas Act.
According to deputy tribal historic preservation officer Doug Harris, one-third of the ceremonial stone landscapes will be disturbed or destroyed during the construction of the pipeline.
Sheffield filmmaker Ben Hillman made the short video about the situation, called Down the Tubes, with support from activists Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben and Lawrence Lessig.
Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline has been in court since early spring to gain immediate access to clear 3.83 miles of state protected land in Otis State Forest.
The gas company is running roughshod over Sandisfield townspeople, too, as it backs away from promises to give the town money to fix roads and bridges that may be chewed up by massive pipeline trucks.
Citing inadequate capacity commitments from prospective customers, the Board of Directors of the Texas-based Kinder Morgan has voted to suspend further work and expenditures on its proposed 120-mile pipeline known as Northeast Energy Direct. Suspension of the NED project does not appear to have any effect on Tennessee Gas’ Connecticut Expansion Project, a pipeline storage loop through a slice of Massachusetts-owned and protected land in Sandisfield, Massachusetts.
The situation in Sandisfield is fast becoming a precedent-setting testing ground for the power and teeth of Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution that preserves state-protected land. That’s why the Attorney General is now involved.
