We speak with activists who are fighting to protect their homes from new fossil fuel projects. Cherri Foytlin from South Louisiana has been working constantly since the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to protect the people of that region and their livelihoods. She is currently organizing a mass action to peacefully protest an auction of more oil drilling leases in the Gulf on March 23. Megan Holleran is a landowner in Northeast Pennsylvania who is physically blocking Williams, the company that wants to build the Constitution gas pipeline, from cutting down more than 100 trees on her property. Williams has not yet been granted all of the permits required to build the pipeline. The Holleran family and supporters are maintaining a vigil on their property to stop any tree cutting.
Listen here:
Relevant articles and websites:
Cherri Foytlin’s articles on Huffington Post
Historic Call for an End to New Drilling Leases in the Gulf of Mexico
Flipping the Script on Eminent Domain by Matt Martin
People Turned Away Tree Cutters, More Help Needed by Megan Holleran
No Constitution Pipeline in PA Facebook page
Pennsylvania Farm Defended against Constitution Pipeline Tree Cutters by John Zangas
Guests:
Cherri Foytlin has been a constant voice, speaking out to the Obama Administration’s Gulf Oil Spill Commission, and in countless forms of media. On July 15, 2010, in a CNN interview, she called out to the president for help, but was unanswered. She has also spoken at “The Rally for Economic Survival” and at the “Spill Into Washington Rally” in Washington D.C.where she challenged the American people to get involved in what she sees as an “atrocity on the shores” of the Gulf Coast. In the Spring of 2011 she walked to Washington D.C. from New Orleans (1,243 miles) to call for action to stop the BP Drilling Disaster, and has been a constant voice speaking out for the health and ecosystem of Gulf Coast communities, in countless forms of media. In addition, Cherri has written and illustrated a children’s coloring book on coastal erosion. Cherri will continue her fight for the industries, people, culture and wildlife of south Lousiana and the Gulf Coast “until we are made whole again”.
Megan Holleran is a Field Technician for her family’s business, North Harford Maple in New Milford, PA. The family taps trees on their property to produce maple syrup. Wiliams wants to cut down 100,000 trees on their property to build the Constitution gas pipeline. They have not received all of the permits yet, but they are starting to cut trees in preparation. In February, 2015, a federal judge in Scranton, PA condemned the Holleran family’s land so that it could be seized by eminent domain for the pipeline. The family has been fighting that ever since. And on February 4, the family began a vigil on their property to protect it. Supporters are coming from all over to help them protect their trees.