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Pipelines

Pipeline Outrage Is A Human Issue, Not A Political Issue

May 17, 2018 By Norah Vawter, Otherwords.org , ,
The fight against pipelines can unite progressives and libertarians, city folk and country folk. I almost cried at a press conference, watching a mother and her grown daughter explain the dramatic lengths they’d gone through to protect their property in Southwest Virginia’s Bent Mountain from the Mountain Valley pipeline. If the pipeline is constructed, it will transport fracked natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia and perhaps North Carolina. Much to the Terrys’ outrage, their land is on the route — and eminent domain is forcing them to allow their land and trees to be destroyed, including a 100-year-old apple orchard. The pipeline will also cross their creek 23 times, threatening both erosion and groundwater pollution.

Federal Appeals Court Nullifies Key Permit For Atlantic Coast Pipeline

May 17, 2018 Robert Zullo, Richmond.com   , ,
A federal appeals court on Tuesday invalidated a key U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service review of the Dominion Energy-led Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a decision environmental lawyers who argued the case say should halt construction of the contentious natural gas project. Dominion vowed to continue to press forward on the project, asserting Tuesday night that the ruling covers only portions of the proposed route for the 600-mile pipeline. A three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with pipeline opponents, who argued that the federal review known as an incidental take statement — meant to set limits on killing threatened or endangered species during construction and operation — was so vague as to be unenforceable.

Demand An Overhaul Of The FERC Pipeline Review Process—Submit Comments For FERC Reform!

May 16, 2018 Delaware River Keeper, Go.pardot.com , , ,
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) operates as a rubber stamp on the pipeline infrastructure projects that come before it for review, with FERC approval being a foregone conclusion once the project goes before the FERC Commissioners for their vote. In addition, FERC commits a number of offenses that are too numerous to list here, that overall, sacrifice the safety, and health of people, communities, and the environment to advance the agenda of the pipeline companies. On April 25, 2018, FERC opened a 60-day public comment period regarding how FERC carries out its review and approval of natural gas pipeline infrastructure. This is a critical opportunity to demonstrate to FERC, the press, elected officials and the world, the massive outpouring of concern with FERC’s biased review process and the critical need for reform.

NLG Condemns Forest Service For Blocking Food & Water To Pipeline Protester

May 13, 2018 By Alan Graf and Joel Richard Kupferman, National Lawyers Guild Environmental Committee , ,
The Environmental Justice Committee of the National Lawyers Guild stated it condemns the actions of the United States Forest Service in denying basic necessities to a Virginia protester in violation of international law and 18 USC §2340(2)(b). The protester, a pod-sitter, with the forest name of “Nutty,” has sat in a pod since March 28, 2018, on a 50-foot pole in the Giles county section of Jefferson National Forest challenging the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The 50-foot pole is attached by guy wires to a gate on a road.  MVP, having already started the construction of a 300-mile pipeline scheduled to carry fracked liquid natural gas, has commenced tree-cutting in the county in preparation for pipeline construction. The US Forest Service has closed off areas near Nutty and her pod, denying access to water protectors who support her, but more importantly, denying her food and water and subjecting her to smoke, bright lights and noise in an attempt to force her down from her perch atop of the pod. 

At Dominion Shareholder Meeting, Pipeline Opponents Address CEO Directly In What’s Become An Annual Airing Of Grievances

May 11, 2018 Ned Oliver, Richmond.com , , ,
Opponents of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline have organized dozens of meetings, protests and marches in an effort to stop the project since it was announced in 2014. But there’s just one time a year they’re guaranteed an audience with the pipeline’s lead developer, Dominion Energy, as well as its CEO, Thomas F. Farrell II: the company’s annual shareholder meeting, where anyone who owns stock in the company or is representing someone who does is entitled to take to the microphone and unload for a few minutes. And this year, Wednesday was the big day.  “Mr. Farrell, do you feel Dominion’s profits are more important than people’s lives and the planet?” asked Deborah Kushner, a resident of Nelson County who lives near the proposed path of the pipeline — one of about 10 pipeline opponents who traveled to Richmond to address Farrell in person.

Chiefs From 133 First Nations Join Fight Against Kinder Morgan Pipeline And Oilsands Expansion

May 10, 2018 By Carl Meyer, Nationalobserver.com , ,
The organization representing First Nations in Ontario has joined a nationwide treaty alliance calling for a ban on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and other fossil fuel projects. The Chiefs of Ontario, which represents 133 First Nations across the province, lent its support to the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion, in a May 2 letter of support signed by Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day. “The Chiefs of Ontario agree to the immediacy of building a more sustainable future so our children do not have to rely or be exposed to fossil fuels which pollute and destroy the earth, air, and waters,” Day wrote in the letter, obtained by National Observer. The oilsands, deposits of a tar-like heavy oil mixed with clay beneath the boreal forest in Alberta and Saskatchewan, represent the third largest reserve of crude oil in the world after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Woman, Daughter Who Protested In Trees On Planned Pipeline Land Come Down

May 8, 2018 Staff, Wsls.com , ,
ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. - After more than a month sitting in trees protesting the Mountain Valley pipeline, Theresa "Red" Terry and her daughter, Minor, finally came down Saturday. It happened a day after a federal judge decided on fines and set a deadline, ordering them to come down. "Walked down the ladder right behind me, knowing that I smelled like I'd been up there a while. That's incredible, and he didn't fall," Terry, 61, said, joking after more than a month making a serious statement. She and her daughter had been up in trees protesting the construction of the Mountain Valley pipeline since April 2 until a dramatic change of events Friday. A judge ruled if they didn't come down by Saturday night, they'd face fines of $1,000 a day. And if they stayed past Thursday, U.S. marshals could arrest them using "reasonable force."

State Court Declares Bayou Bridge Pipeline’s Coastal Use Permit Illegal

May 7, 2018 By Pastor Harry Joseph, 5th District H.E.L.P. Association, Genevieve Butler, Dustin Renaud, Gulf Restoration Network,  Dean Wilson, Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Cherri Foytlin, Bold Louisiana, Elizabeth Livingston de Calderon, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, for Popular Resistance ,
Louisiana’s 23rd Judicial District Court has ruled that the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources(DNR) violated the Coastal Use Guidelines when it issued Bayou Bridge Pipeline, LLC a Coastal Use Permit, allowing the company to construct and operate a crude oil pipeline through Louisiana’s Coastal Zone. The court ruled in favor of the Petitioners in the case, Pastor Harry Joseph, Genevieve Butler, H.E.L.P. association, the Gulf Restoration Network, the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, and Bold Louisiana, who argued that the DNR illegally failed to apply critical regulations under the Coastal Use Guidelines and failed to meet the agency’s duty as public trustee over the natural resources of the state. The Petitioners are represented by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic.

Enbridge Fined For Failing To Fully Inspect Pipelines After Kalamazoo Oil Spill

May 5, 2018 David Hasemyer, Insideclimatenews.org , ,
The Canadian oil pipeline company responsible for one of the largest inland oil spills on record has agreed to pay a $1.8 million fine for failing to thoroughly inspect its pipelines for weaknesses as required under a 2016 agreement. Federal officials say Enbridge, Inc., did not carry out timely and thorough inspections on one of its pipeline systems, as it had agreed to do as part of a consent decree reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice. The 2016 settlement stemmed from a massive 2010 oil spill into Michigan's Kalamazoo River. The spill required years and more than a billion dollars to clean up, and it highlighted the hazards of pumping heavy tar sands oil through pipelines. More than 1 million gallons of tar sands oil spilled into the Kalamazoo River near the town of Marshall when a 6-foot rupture opened in Enbridge pipeline 6B.

Local Doctors Turned Away From Pipeline Protesters

May 1, 2018 Chris Suarez, Dailyprogress.com , ,
Two Charlottesville doctors seeking to help a 61-year-old woman who has spent four weeks perched in a tree to halt construction of the Mountain View Pipeline say Roanoke County authorities did not permit them to provide her with medical supplies on Saturday. With a hearing in federal court scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, the family of Theresa “Red” Terry and her daughter, Theresa Minor Terry, 30, are anxiously waiting for a resolution to the ongoing standoff on property that’s been owned by their family for seven generations. In an interview Monday, Dr. Greg Gelburd, of Downtown Family Health Care, said he and Dr. Paige Perriello, with Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville, visited Bent Mountain in Roanoke County over the weekend to assess the mother and daughter’s medical condition.  

The Tree Sitters: Activists Have Halted Pipeline Construction

April 30, 2018 Mason Adams, Blueridgeoutdoors.com , , ,
You can find Red by the campfire smoke and bright yellow crime-scene tape. Red is a 61-year-old Virginia mountain woman who since April 2 has been living in a tree inside the white-and-blue-taped corridor marked out for the interstate Mountain Valley Pipeline. She and her 30-year-old daughter Minor, who is stationed in another tree not far away, are defending their land against what they see as a looming environmental catastrophe. To get to Red’s tree sit, you’ve got to cross wooden boards that cross Bottom Creek numerous times. Water flows all around you, supporting wetland vegetation like skunk cabbage across the property, where the Terry family has lived for seven generations. A judge ruled on Jan. 31, however, that the company may use eminent domain to take land along the pipeline’s 303-mile route from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia.

A Young Tree Sitter Starves In A Tent 50 Feet High To Stop A Pipeline

April 27, 2018 Staff, Itsgoingdown.org , ,
When a young girl got up in a monopod tent with limited food to prevent construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) back in March, she had no idea the movement her action would spark. A 61 year-old woman, “Red” Terry, would soon join the effort by climbing her own tree and making national news as police denied her food and water. Last Saturday, “Red” Terry told Police at the base of her maple tree that she was running out of food. Law enforcement looked back up at the 61-year old woman in her treehouse and said they would give her what she needed. They gave her stale cookies and a sandwich. Then law enforcement taped a piece of paper to her tree saying, “You should vacate immediately. I am posting a copy of the order on this tree.”

For 15 Years, Energy Transfer Partners Pipelines Leaked An Average Of Once Every 11 Days

April 27, 2018 By Sharon Kelly, Desmogblog.com , ,
5,475 days, 527 pipeline spills: that's the math presented in a new report from environmental groups Greenpeace USA and the Waterkeeper Alliance examining pipelines involving Dakota Access builder Energy Transfer Partners (ETP). It's based on public data from 2002 to 2017. All told, those leaks released 3.6 million gallons of hazardous liquids, including 2.8 million gallons of crude oil, according to data collected from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). That doesn't include an additional 2.4 million gallons of “drilling fluids, sediment, and industrial waste” leaked during ETP's construction of two pipelines in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. Also left out: air pollution and leaks from natural gas pipelines, which were beyond the scope of the new report but which play a significant role in climate change and can cause explosions.

Environmental Justice As Liberation: No Consent, No Pipeline, No Kinder Morgan.

April 27, 2018 Douglas, Thesouthlawn.org , ,
Kinder Morgan, a Texas-based energy giant, seeks to build a pipeline from Northern Alberta through British Columbia to the densely populated suburb of Metro Vancouver where it would be loaded onto tankers and sent through the region’s coastal waters. To say that there is opposition to their plans would be an understatement: the pipeline project is opposed by the province of British Columbia, the state of Washington, the city of Vancouver and 21 others, 250,000 petition signers, more than 24,000 who have vowed to do “whatever it takes” to stop it, and 107 of the 140 Nations, Tribes, and Bands along the route. As such, the forces of the fossil fuel industry are bearing down on British Columbia as an eight-year campaign to stop the pipeline comes to a head.

State Appeals Court Rules Valve Turners Can Proceed With Necessity Defense For Pipeline Protest

April 25, 2018 By Jessica Corbett, Commondreams.org , ,
In a victory for activists who shut down a tar sands pipeline as part of a multi-state protest in 2016, a Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the "valve turners" can present a defense that their action was necessary because of the threat that fossil fuel production poses to the planet. On Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 decision (pdf) upholding a district judge's October ruling that Annette Klapstein, Emily Nesbitt Johnston, Steven Liptay, and Benjamin Joldersma can present a "necessity defense" for participating in the #ShutItDown action, which temporarily disabled all tar sands pipelines crossing the U.S.-Canada border. State prosecuters had challenged last year's ruling, claiming that such a defense would jeopardize the likelihood of a successful prosecution and "unnecessarily confuse the jury."
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