Washington, DC – Beyond Extreme Energy folks kicked things off at 6:00 am on Thursday, September 19, by hanging large banners across from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). At 7:00 am, a crew of elders from Third Act DMV and Beyond Extreme Energy used rocking chairs to blockade the driveway to FERC’s garage. They held banners reading “The Fall of FERC” and “US Courts: FERC is a Climate Denier.” The Federal Protective Service (FPS) of the Department of Homeland Security arrived and asked the blockaders to leave.
Today we blockaded @FERC for 1.5 hours and disrupted the meeting 15 times! A large rally with frontline folks from the Gulf outlined that despite DC Circuit Court of Appeals vacating several FERC permits- LNG projects continue. Is FERC and the fossil fuel industry above the law? pic.twitter.com/w3IN45Y8Jn
— BeyondExtremeEnergy (@BXEAction) September 19, 2024
At about 8:00 am, while Federal Protective Service officers were talking with the protestors, a FERC employee jumped the curb, ran over the leg of a rocking chair and knocked a protestors out of the way attempting to enter the driveway. The driver was held for questioning by FPS and FERC security for several minutes before being allowed to proceed into the parking garage and presumably the FERC office. BXE took pictures of the driver and the car’s license plate. No one was injured.
After an hour and half of blockading, FPS issued their final warnings, and the blockaders moved onto the sidewalk. No arrests were made.
At 9:00 am, dozens of adults and kids from Gulf Coast communities in Louisiana and Texas rallied with their supporters outside FERC, demanding that commissioners listen to their concerns about FERC continuing to greenlight LNG export terminals, which are hugely polluting for frontline communities and for the climate.
Manning Rollerson Sr. from Freeport Texas spoke to the fallacy that fossil fuel projects are necessary to bring jobs and economic opportunity to communities like his: “At the end of the day if our children are sick and we’re getting sick from the chemicals, and there’s no accountability then this is not working for us. If everyone is sick, who’s going to work? If the children are dying, who’s the future. FERC needs to change and to find out that the courts told FERC to do something and FERC did nothing? … The people have to follow the law, and the government does whatever it wants to do. And that’s not right!”
The FERC meetings started off on the right foot- with our pal River disrupting right at the attend of the Pledge of Allegiance- demanding “Liberty and Justice for All.” This was the first meeting for three new FERC commissioners, and all told it was disrupted 15 times- stalling the meeting for 30 minutes. We hope their first day on the job was truly shameful!
As the last of the disrupters were being escorted out of the FERC building at ~11am, a large crowd of activists previously banned from the FERC meeting for disruption reentered the back of the building, chanting UNFRACK FERC and singing, before being ushered out by security. With grass roots movements escalating against fossil fuels and federal courts finally validating our arguments and issuing real consequences for FERC’S failures, is this the beginning of the fall of FERC?