Feb. 17, 2016 — In a carefully coordinated, rolling cross-country action, Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) and SWRL (Stop the West Roxbury Lateral pipeline) delivered humorous but sharply pointed Valentine’s cards to the homes – and DC residences – of the four commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), reminding them that “pipelines, LNG and fracking are no ‘Love Story’ for frontline communities.” The valentine was hand-delivered today to the homes of Cheryl LaFleur in Wellesley, MA; and Colette Honorable in Little Rock, AR. It will soon be delivered to Chairman Norman Bay in Albuquerque, NM; and Tony Clark in Bismarck, ND.
“The valentine speaks for itself,” said BXE member Don Weightman. “FERC has hardly ever met a fracked gas pipeline project it didn’t approve. And, as the impacts of the climate crisis occur ever more frequently with ever more devastation, the commissioners are resisting calls from the Environmental Protection Agency to take climate change into account when determining which projects to green-light, even though methane is 86 times worse for the climate than CO2.”
“Fracked ‘natural’ gas, which is mostly methane, is not a bridge to a clean energy future, as politicians and fossil fuel CEOs like to claim,” said BXE member Jimmy Betts. “Leaks – huge ones like at Porter Ranch near Los Angeles, and smaller ones all over the country – are devastating to local communities’ health and well-being, not to mention the very real threat of deadly explosions. We need clean energy now!”
As the City of Boston prepares to challenge FERC’s final approval of the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline in federal court, SWRL delivered the valentine to former FERC Chair and current Commissioner Cheryl LeFleur at her home in Wellesley Wednesday evening, decrying that project as unsafe and unnecessary.
Members of BXE also delivered the valentines (and flowers) to the commissioners at their D.C. area residences, and many others sent in their own creations to ask them to love the people and the planet and approve #NoNewPermits.
Beyond Extreme Energy 