By Resist AIM. Cortlandt, NY — On Friday morning – in front of a packed courtroom of over 100 New York residents, activists, sympathizers and supporters opposed to Spectra’s “AIM” Pipeline – Cortlandt Town Court Judge Daniel McCarthy issued sentences for nine New York residents (known as the “Montrose 9”) that were arrested for blocking access to a Spectra Energy construction yard in November 2015. Each of the nine of the defendants were fined and sentenced to community service. The defendants had pled the “Necessity Defense,” arguing that their activity was justified because it was done to stop a danger more harmful than the violation of the law, and only after all other legal and regulatory options had been exhausted. The danger they oppose is Spectra’s “AIM” Pipeline, a high-pressure 42-inch gas pipeline that runs within 105 feet of critical Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant safety facilities.
By Rafe Mair for The Common Sense Canadian. Canada – None should be in the slightest surprised at the anti-British Columbia stance of Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. As Talleyrand famously noted when, after the fall of Napoleon the Bourbons were restored, “they learned nothing and forgot nothing”. Thus it is with the Liberals who, once safely back in power, turn their attention to repaying supporters, namely Ontario financiers and the oil industry, often the same people. This ancient Liberal policy never fails. This time Justin Trudeau has overstepped the mark and as Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson warns, if he approves the Kinder Morgan pipeline, “…you’ll see protests like you’ve never seen before …” His Worship is right. British Columbians know that the standard Ottawa patter that something is “in the interests of Canada” is ill-concealed code for “in the interests of Bay Street and whatever they’ve invested in or covet.”
By Hilary Hanson for The Huffington Post – Footage taken during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in North Dakota Wednesday appears to show a rubber bullet hitting a journalist in the back as she conducted an interview. Erin Schrode, an activist and congressional candidate in California, posted a video on Facebook Thursday that shows her interviewing a Native American man, then suddenly falling to the ground as people rush to surround her in concern. She wrote that law enforcement shot her in the lower back with a rubber bullet, though neither the act nor the bullet can be seen on camera.
By NoDAPL Solidarity. The Red Warrior Camp calls on all People from around the world to take action and join the Global Solidarity Campaign. If you live on this land, breathe the air and drink water, this is your fight too. Our Brothers, Sisters and Protectors are putting their bodies and lives on the line everyday on the front lines in Standing Rock. FIRST AND FOREMOST, WE CALL UPON ALL PROTECTORS TO COME STAND WITH US ON THE FRONTLINES. If you cannot be physically present, you can still take escalated action to stop the pipeline and support our struggle. The projected in service date for the Dakota Access Pipeline is January 1st, 2017. With that date quickly approaching, we are calling for two months of sustained waves of action targeting the Army Corp of Engineers, investors, pipeline companies, security firms and elected officials who are behind this project.
By Frank Cordaro of the Des Moines Catholic Worker. Jessica Reznicek out of jail and is now starting a “24/7” occupation of the Dakota Access pipeline Mississippi entrance just north of Keokuk IA. DM Catholic Worker Jess Reznicek was arrested twice earlier this week for blocking traffic at this Dakota Access pipeline entrance on the Mississippi. In hopes to get more people to join her, Jess changed her presence from blocking traffic in and out of the site to setting up her tent and starting a 24 hr / 7 days a week occupation of the entrance. Jess got permission from the property owner to set her tent up and welcomes others to join her in the same nonviolent spirit.
By NBC 29 News. NELSON COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) – The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will not conduct a study on three pipelines projects, including the hotly contested Atlantic Coast Pipeline, slated to cut through Virginia. FERC’s study would have analyzed potential environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with these natural gas pipelines. Many groups, including the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, are unhappy the study is off the table. The chapter’s director, Kate Addleson, released a response to FERC’s choice to not move forward with an environmental impact statement. Addleson believes the study was, “necessary to assess the need and consequences of the proposed pipeline projects in Virginia.” Addleson also says the choice is in direct opposition to the requests of landowners, concerned citizens, and even elected officials.
By Rising Tide Vermont. Monkton, Vt.- In a new wave of public opposition to the project, participants in the campaign to stop the fracked gas pipeline have stopped construction for the second time this week. Early this morning, Samuel Jessup scaled a tree on an active work site to begin yet another indefinite delay, this time by tying the support line of his platform to machinery meant to blast open the hillside where Vermont Gas Systems plans to build the pipeline. “The climate crisis is already deadly, and it’s getting worse” Jessup said. “Each passing month there are new records set for heat and drought across the planet, and with each passing year, fossil fuels kill five million more people. We simply can’t afford to let this pipeline get built.”
By Vermont Rising Tide. Williston, Vt. – Members of the Stop the Fracked Gas Pipeline Campaign are blocking pipeline construction, enforcing what they call a “keep fossil fuels in the ground” strategy to avert the worst impacts of global warming. Several people are locked to equipment, and others are blocking an access road to stop construction. Participants say they need to take direct action to stop the pipeline because state regulators and Governor Shumlin have refused to cancel permits, despite a groundswell of opposition to the project over the past three years. The work disruption comes in the beginning stages of the 2016 construction season. Vermont Gas hopes to finish construction in the fall, and has stated the significant delays in construction and easement acquisition could threaten the viability of the project.
By Douglas Smith and Henry Harris. Randolph, VT – Early this morning, members of the People’s Department of Environmental Justice (PDEJ) served notice of eminent domain at the home of VT Public Service Department Commissioner Chris Recchia. Just before 7:00 am PDEJ Members, dressed in hard hats and high visibility vests approached Recchia with a Notice of Eminent Domain. The notice stated, “the land belonging Commissioner Recchia is now under the legal jurisdiction of those most severely impacted by the permitting of the VGS Fracked Gas pipeline project.” It continued, “If Recchia will not take any accountability for his role in rubber stamping extreme energy projects that accelerate the climate crisis, exploit first nations communities and harass the public here in Vermont, the People’s Department of Environmental Justice will continue ongoing education development projects on this property.”
By Nicky Woolf for The Guardian. Standing Rock Nation – Dozens of tribal members from several Native American nations took to horseback on Friday to protest against the proposed construction of an oil pipeline which would cross the Missouri river just yards from tribal lands in North Dakota. The group of tribal members, which numbered around 200, according to a tribal spokesman, said they were worried that the Dakota Access Pipeline, proposed by a subsidiary of the Dallas, Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, would lead to contamination of the river. The proposed route also passes through lands of historical significance to the Standing Rock Lakota Sioux Nation, including burial grounds.
By John Zangas of DC Media Group. New Milford, PA – The land of the free got a little smaller this week when cutters from Williams Partners Company began clear-cutting trees on the Zeffer-Holleran property, readying it for construction of the Constitution pipeline. Five acres of the property were condemned under eminent domain to build the natural gas pipeline. A dozen Pennsylvania State police and heavily armed U.S. Marshals escorted scores of tree cutters to remove hundreds of sugar bush maple trees from the property. The Marshals carried AR-15 assault weapons and wore bullet proof vests. But when the cutters began tree removal they encountered trees with U.S. flags activists had painted on them. Activists stood out of the way during the cutting but held large signs spelling “People Not Pipelines.”
By Joe Mahoney for The Daily Star. With the $700 million Constitution Pipeline project held up by New York environmental regulators, the company began clearing the pathway near the project’s starting point in Pennsylvania on Friday after getting permission to do so from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Meanwhile, in two separate legal actions, Stop the Pipeline and the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society filed notices in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the opening volley of civil court challenges to FERC’s decision to issue a certificate of necessity to the natural gas transmission project. The opponents had been prevented from mounting a court challenge to the pipeline project until FERC last week denied their formal request for a rehearing on the certification decision issued in December 2014. The new legal challenges were brought against FERC, not the pipeline company. “This is the first step in a long process,”
By Alex Lotorto of Energy Justice Shale Initiative. Landowners in PA were notified by Pat McCluskey (chief landman) via a letter that tree felling will begin on Friday in Susquehanna County. We will need people on Friday morning through the weekend to volunteer. The Holleran property is located at 2131 Three Lakes Road, New Milford, PA, but use these coordinates to find us: 41.8272387, -75.7585062 Parking is up in the field or down by the cabin, so look for “P” signs on either side of the road and follow the arrows. Wear layers and shoes/boots that can get dirty. Bring cameras if you have them. We have been present at 7AM every day since Saturday with little activity beyond Constitution trucks driving by slowly to check us out from the road.
By Mary Esch for Associated Press – New York’s attorney general filed objections Thursday to the Constitution Pipeline Company’s request to cut trees along the proposed route of its 124-mile natural gas pipeline, citing the lack of a state water quality permit and pending requests for a rehearing of the federal agency order that cleared the way for the project. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the pipeline in 2014 with certain conditions, including a water quality permit from the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation. No timetable has been given for a decision on a water permit.
By Staff of CBC News – After years of negotiations and months of testing, oil is set to flow west to east again in Enbridge’s Line 9B. Starting this month, the flow of the pipeline will be reversed to bring 300,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s oil sands to Montreal’s refineries. The exact date for the oil to start flowing hasn’t been disclosed. Enbridge says it’s already pumping oil into the line as scheduled — but it’s not actually moving. “And so what we can expect is before the end of the year, in December, first deliveries will be made to our refineries in Montreal and Quebec,” said Éric Prud’Homme, a spokesman for Enbridge.
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