Thousands to Join First-Ever Washington, D.C. March Against Fracked Gas Exports as Obama Administration Weighs Cove Point Permit
Colorful march will bring giant ‘Stop Cove Point’ pipeline prop to the front door of Obama’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Anti-fracking and climate justice leaders Sandra Steingraber, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Tim DeChristopher and Cherri Foytlin (Gulf Coast) to speak
WASHINGTON, DC—On Sunday afternoon, several thousand activists from across the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond will join the first-ever Washington, D.C. rally against the gas industry’s controversial push to export fracked and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from U.S. coastlines. As a key decision nears on the Cove Point export terminal proposed in Lusby, Md., just 50 miles south of the White House, protesters will call on President Barack Obama and his Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to halt approval of all LNG export projects and protect communities from the surge of new fracking wells, pipelines and planet-warming pollution they would trigger.
The July 13 “Stop Fracked Gas Exports” mobilization is uniting communities on the front lines of the gas industry’s proposed fracking-pipeline-export build-out. The Cove Point terminal would be the first on the East Coast and could incentivize a dramatic expansion of fracking activities across the Marcellus shale region. FERC, which could decide on whether to approve the Cove Point terminal as early as this August, is currently reviewing 14 export terminals proposed throughout the U.S.
Featured speakers will include a sixth-generation Pennsylvania landowner, a Maryland mother whose home is only a few hundred feet from the proposed Cove Point plant, and Cherri Foytlin, a Gulf Coast mother of six and climate justice advocate in South Louisiana.
After rallying west of the U.S Capitol reflecting pool on the National Mall, participants will march on FERC headquarters with giant props, including a 100-foot-long “Stop Cove Point” pipeline, an LNG tanker, and mock wind turbines and suns representing true clean energy solutions.
WHAT: Rally and march to stop fracked gas exports at Cove Point, Md., and beyond.
WHEN: Sunday, July 13. 12:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Schedule: 12:15 p.m.: Press availability begins by the stage. 12:45 p.m.: music and “The People’s Puppets.” 1 p.m.: Rally speakers begin. 2:15 p.m.: March to FERC begins.
WHERE: West of the Capitol Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. The rally stage will be located near the intersections of 3rd Street SW and Jefferson Drive SW. The march will go north on 3rd Street NW; turn right on Constitution Avenue NW; turn left on Louisiana Avenue NW, proceed to North Capitol Street and conclude at FERC’s headquarters at 888 First St. NE.
SPEAKERS:
- Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., biologist, author and science advisor to Americans Against Fracking
- Tim DeChristopher, youth climate activist who served time in prison for nonviolently disrupting a federal oil and gas lease auction.
- Cherri Foytlin, author, advocate, speaker and mother of six, who lives in South Louisiana, an area inundated with industrial pollution. In the spring of 2011, she walked to Washington, D.C., from New Orleans to call for action to stop the BP Deepwater drilling disaster.
- Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president and CEO, Hip Hop Caucus
- Rachel Heinhorst, teacher and mother of three from Lusby, Md., who lives in the home closest to Dominion Resources’ proposed Cove Point LNG export facility.
- Craig Stevens, sixth generation landowner from Silver Lake Township, Pa., who has experienced the firsthand impacts of fracking and pipeline blowouts.
- Fred Tutman, CEO, Patuxent Riverkeeper
- Tyson Slocum, Energy Program director, Public Citizen
- Wenonah Hauter, executive director, Food & Water Watch
- Mike Tidwell, director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
For more information go to www.StopGasExports.org. More than 40 national, state and community-based groups have endorsed the July 13th rally: