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Three of the seven activists arrested for blocking the driveway at FERC headquarters during Beyond Extreme Energy’s #RubberStampRebellion in May are taking their cases to trial.

At the Superior Court of the District of Columbia yesterday, #Sidewalk7 members Claude Guillemard of Baltimore, Ellen Taylor of Washington D.C., and Donald Weightman of Philadelphia said that they would go to trial, set for Dec. 8, for their May 9 blockade at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. BXE and other groups have long criticized the agency for rubber-stamping fracked-gas pipelines, compressor stations and export facilities that it reviews.

“We have been charged with unlawful entry,” Weightman said, “but the real crime is the unlawful entry of methane and carbon dioxide into our air, the unlawful entry of toxic waste into our water, and the unlawful entry of global warming into the future of our world. The real weapon is fracked gas; FERC is the real defendant; we will charge FERC with the commission of a crime.”

The other Sidewalk7 activists – Melinda Tuhus of Connecticut, Clarke Herbert of Virginia and Linda Reik of NY – agreed to perform 32 hours of community service and to stay away from the 800 block of 1st Avenue NE, the area of the FERC offices, for four months. Peter Nightingale of Kingston, RI, says he intends to go to trial as well.

The court actions yesterday was part of the ongoing resistance to fracked-gas infrastructure, including demanding a halt to construction of Spectra’s Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) pipeline.  #StopSpectra activists have declared a “state of emergency” in advance of a noon press conference Thursday outside the Manhattan offices of Sens. Charles Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. The senators wrote a letter to FERC on Aug. 3 calling for construction to stop. In February, Gov. Andrew Cuomo also asked FERC to postpone the pipeline construction.

After the court hearing, New York and BXE activists hand-delivered invitations to the press conference to the senators’ Washington offices.

The pipeline “would bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania to New England, despite a report from the Massachusetts Attorney General that shows no need for this gas,” the letter said. “In NY, if completed, the AIM Pipeline would carry gas through residential communities and within 105 feet of critical Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant safety facilities. Just last April, Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern line erupted into a giant explosion due to pipeline corrosion, and New Yorkers fear what an explosion of this magnitude could mean in such close proximity to Indian Point. Over the last several years, communities along the pipeline route have risen up against the pipeline, and are counting on New York Senators to help stop this dangerous project.”

In June, DeSmog Blog reported  that a FERC employee who was the agency’s project manager for reviewing the then-proposed AIM pipeline had been hired by an engineering company that is one of Spectra’s main contractors. DeSmog Blog reported in May and July that a contractor hired by FERC to conduct an environmental review of a Spectra project was already working on related Spectra pipeline projects. U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey have written to FERC Chairman Norman Bay asking about the “potential conflicts of interest.”

A campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience is also ongoing in West Roxbury, MA, where 165 people have been arrested so far blocking construction of the West Roxbury Lateral pipeline.   Resist the Pipeline is coordinating those actions. In addition, the City Council, mayor, the state representative, state senator and U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch oppose the project.

Boston City Council President Michelle Wu said, “Climate change impacts us all and especially future generations. We need immediate, bold action to transition rapidly away from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy. Building new natural gas infrastructure, such as Spectra Energy’s West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline, is wrong for our communities and wrong for future generations. I applaud the thoughtful, purposeful, nonviolent civil disobedience West Roxbury residents and friends are practicing to accomplish what needs to get done.”

In addition, Massachusetts’ highest court ruled today that the state can’t force residential ratepayers to subsidize the construction of pipelines.  “This is an incredibly important and timely decision,” said David Ismay, lead attorney on the case for Conservation Law Foundation. “Today our highest court affirmed Massachusetts’ commitment to an open energy future by rejecting the Baker Administration’s attempt to subsidize the dying fossil fuel industry. The course of our economy and our energy markets runs counter to the will of multi-billion dollar pipeline companies, and, thanks to today’s decision, the government will no longer be able to unfairly and unlawfully tip the scales.”

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(Press Release, pictures, and videos from our friends who planned and carried out the action in Philly)

Today environmental activists, Indigenous youth, and other concerned citizens disrupted a Politico event sponsored the American Petroleum Institute, the leading American trade group of the fossil fuel industry. The event, “Energy and the Election at the DNC”, featured prominent Democratic lawmakers and energy advisors including, Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA), Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Ed Rendell, former PA Gov., Trevor Houser, Hillary For America Energy Policy Advisor, and Heather Zichal, former Obama climate official.

More than a dozen activists were forcibly removed from the event after openly criticizing the fossil fuel industry and entrenched political leaders. Additionally, activists dropped a 400-sq-foot banner from the building across the street, and picketed the entrance to the event as it began.

Activists expressed deep concern that API-sponsored energy events at the DNC are still acceptable platforms for Democrats to attend, despite the oil and gas industry’s long history of climate denial and “dirty energy money” campaign donations. Over the last decade API has directly donated nearly $150,000 to Democrats, and its member corporations have donated many millions more. Inside the Politico event, advocates demanded the Democratic Party follow through on its climate commitments and take immediate steps to keep fossil fuels in the ground instead of blindly catering to oil and gas industry executives.

"You're killing your constituents!" @Dbirdy just got kicked out of #POLITICOCaucus telling @hickforco #gettheffout pic.twitter.com/0VmmPcITic

— Adam Greenberg (@pragmactivist) July 27, 2016

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Frontline Indigenous youth who were present also expressed deep concern that many of the featured speakers have close ties with the fossil fuel industry that is polluting their air, water and threatening their way of life. Said Krystal Two Bulls of the Oglala Lakota/Northern Cheyenne, “The fossil fuel industry and the politicians who cater to it are responsible for devastating Indigenous communities across the country. For too long, our voices have been the target for silencing for the greed, consumption, and power of the colonial settler society. We’ve come to Philadelphia to be silent no more.”

Sheldon Tenorio of Kewa Pueblo added, “The fossil fuel industry isn’t accountable to communities like mine that are exploited for short term profit and left scarred forever. They can’t ignore our voices, even from fancy luncheon events in skyscrapers.”

“The story of the struggle of Colorado, particularly in my home, Weld County – the most fracked county in the nation – is that we have been trampled by the fossil fuel industry. There’s a chokehold on our state, but also a huge effort to take confront it and fight back. The people are ready and we are taking on the good fight. That’s why we’re here,” Mickey San Miguel said.

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QUOTES

“The story of the struggle of Colorado, particularly in my home, Weld County – the most fracked county in the nation – is that we have been used and trampled by the fossil fuel industry. There’s a chokehold on our state, but also a huge effort to take confront it and fight back. The people are ready and we are taking on the good fight. That’s why we’re here.”

– Mickey San Miguel, Weld County, CO resident impacted by fracking

“The fossil fuel industry and the politicians who cater to it are responsible for devastating Indigenous communities across the country and ravaging our public lands. For too long, our voices have been the target for silencing for the greed, consumption, and power of the colonial settler society. We’ve come to Philadelphia to be silent no more and demand the pillaging of our mother earth stop now.”

– Krystal Two Bulls of the Oglala Lakota/Northern Cheyenne

“How can you commit environmental genocide? Cultural genocide, corporations are

raping our mother. How would you feel if someone raped your mother? With the time that I have, with the ears that are tuned in, I’d like to ask you this: What will you celebrate — will you celebrate the continued genocide of our people, of the land, the natural resources, cultures, and our ways of life, or will you celebrate the gifts of our mother, our languages, our land and our clean water? What will you hand down to your children? What are you handing down to their children?”

– Sheldon Tenorio of the Kewa Pueblo

“It’s time for a culture of accountability. Democrats need to go beyond paying lip service to the climate threat while still supporting the policies that exacerbate it. Gov. Hickenlooper actually sued municipalities in Colorado for banning the extreme and environmentally racist practice of fracking.” He added, “fracking is a profound demonstration of oppression, slow violence and genocide. It has to stop and we will hold any politician and their energy advisors accountable for pushing a poisonous practice that is taking lives, breaking sovereign treaties and pillaging freshwater from those who need it the most. The debate is over, natural gas is not a source of clean energy, and when Democrats push fracking, they themselves are behaving like bonafide climate deniers.”

– Anthony Rogers-Wright, Policy Director at Environmental Action

“The science of fracking is very clear: between toxic chemicals used in extremely high quantities along with the chronic failure of fracked infrastructure, which leads to threats of contamination, it’s clear that fracking can’t be made safe. By polluting the Democratic party with their toxic dollars, the gas frackers are purchasing our energy policy and, thereby, sacrificing communities, and endangering the lives of innocent citizens while poisoning our air, water, food, and climate.”

– David Braun, co-founder of Americans Against Fracking,

“This event is no different than imagining the Democratic Party attending an event on Smoking and Children’s Health sponsored by Big Tobacco companies. Now we better understand why President Obama has leased more than ten million acres of public lands to oil and gas companies and never bothered to analyze the climate impacts. It’s obvious today that people are fed up and demanding our elected officials cut political and fundraising ties with an industry directly responsible for destroying communities and our children’s future.”

– Rebecca Sobel, Senior Campaigner at WildEarth Guardians

“In 2016, it is unacceptable for Democrats to be legitimizing a fossil fuel industry-sponsored energy event. Fossil fuels are the energy of the past – politicians must stop taking oil-drenched donations from the industry and must work to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Support for expansion of fracking and natural gas is completely at odds with the climate targets agreed to in Paris, and with a just transition to clean energy.”

– Collin Rees, Campaigner at Oil Change USA

“We cannot answer the climate crisis without ending the power of Big Oil money in our democracy. Polluter cash has no place at the Democratic National Convention.”

– Lukas Ross, spokesperson at Friends of the Earth Action

For nearly three hours this afternoon, six Beyond Extreme Energy activists blockaded the doors at the Democratic National Committee, calling on the party to stand on the side of people and the planet instead of the fracked-gas industry.

They and a crowd of supporters from BXE, Environmental Action and Greenpeace chanted “Fracking, Drilling, Oil and Gas: None shall pass” and “Hey Democrats, you can’t hide. We can see your corporate side.” They held a large banner with their demands: #StopTPP #BanFracking, #NoDrillingInTheGulf and #NoEminentDomainForPrivateGain.

Before the action, many in the group had delivered the same message to aides of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee. The party platform doesn’t include a ban on fracking or opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership. While the platform opposes offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, it is silent on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The Democratic Party is nothing more than a new form of climate denial: One that admits climate change is real – but refuses to take the actions necessary to stop it,” a letter to Schultz and the DNC said. “These conciliatory nods and appeals for incrementalism only perpetuate environmental racism and sacrifice lives and livelihoods for corporate gain.”

“Incrementalism is killing us,” said Ted Glick, his arms linked to others through sections of PVC pipes in the blockade. “When it comes to the climate crisis, we can’t do it little by little. We are way beyond being able to do that.” Too many Democrats believe fracked gas is a bridge fuel, he said. “It’s a gangplank to hell on Earth,” because of all the leaking methane.

Fracking and its infrastructure “has destroyed my life,” said Maggie Henry, an organic farmer whose family had to abandon their land and home in northwest Pennsylvania, near the border with Ohio. “There is absolutely no recourse” to this industry’s actions, said Henry, who was also part of the blockade.  The fracking industry has “stolen from me the right to grow old and raise my grandchildren on that land.”

Michael Bagdes-Canning, also from northwest Pennsylvania, told of a community of 50 families who have had to rely on donated water since January 2011 after fracking began nearby.

“The Democrats have betrayed us. Some in the labor movement have betrayed us,” said Carol Gay, a blockader from the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council. “It’s shameful that the Democrats are not stepping forward to stop the TPP. It’s nothing but a corporate coup d’etat. … We want the Democrats to stand on the side of the people. We want the Democrats to stand on the side of the planet.”

“We are not against trade,” said Margaret Flowers, also part of the blockade and a Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate from Maryland. “But [the TPP] will keep us from being able to pass laws to protect our families and to protect workers and to protect the environment.” Under the TPP, a corporate tribunal would rule on claims by a company that says regulations reduced anticipated profits.

Nancy Vann, an activist from Peekskill, NY, who was supporting the blockaders, said: The DNC is “objecting to us taking over a little of their land for a few hours when [Spectra is] taking over my land permanently.” She has been fighting Spectra Energy’s Algonquin Incremental Market, or AIM pipeline, which runs through her property and within 105 feet of the aging Indian Point nuclear plant.  Spectra’s right-of-way destroyed wetlands and required the clearing of 300 trees on her property.

After an hour or so of negotiating, the blockaders agreed to release their arms from the PVC pipes if someone from the DNC would come outside to speak with them. That led to a lengthy and often heated discussion with three DNC staffers, including Ian Russell, deputy director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Russell’s statement that “a lot of Democrats share your position” and “would be heartbroken to hear this” were met with derision, outrage and disbelief.

“We are tired of two corporate parties,” Gay said.

The activists said the Democrats lacked the spine to stand up to Republicans in Congress. “The Democrats stab us in the back,” Flowers said. “This is our future. This is our lives. We don’t trust the Democrats. We know who they represent, and it’s not us. It’s industry.”

Anthony Rogers-Wright, a policy and organizing director at Environmental Action, said the Democratic platform’s stance on offshore drilling amounts to racism and genocide. The platform opposes drilling in the Arctic, to protect polar bears, and the Atlantic, to protect clams, he said, “so, why is the Gulf [of Mexico] still treated as a sacrifice zone?” The surrounding states may be red, he said, “but black and brown people are dying there. … We don’t know who to turn to anymore.” The disappearing land is already creating climate migrants, he said. “Our public health is as important as our vote.”

After about a half hour of discussion, Russell asked what message the protesters wanted him to take to Democratic leadership. “Tell them we are angry and willing to risk arrest, and we’ll keep doing it until the Democrats show some backbone” on these issues, said blockader Steve Norris of Asheville, N.C.

The activists were threatened with arrest but declared the day a victory and left shortly after the impromptu meeting with the DNC staff.

Back at FERC

In the morning, at the monthly meeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), BXE activists stood silently outside, large blue dots taped over their mouths.

They were objecting to FERC’s practice of using a blue dot to mark in its files the names of activists who speak out at the agency’s monthly meetings. Those with blue dots are barred from future meetings and instead ushered to an overflow room, where they can watch the proceedings on a TV screen. In this way, FERC commissioners try to avoid listening to complaints about their rubber-stamp approvals of pipelines, compressor stations and export facilities for fracked gas. BXE has organized disruptions at 21 consecutive FERC meetings.

FERC Chairman Norman Bay says that interrupting “does not help your cause.” Use proper channels, he says. Submit comments online on projects. Testify at public hearings. BXE activists and thousands of others have done all that and more – to no avail. FERC approves these projects. Every. Time. Except. Once. (FERC extended a deadline for that one pipeline and fracked-gas liquefaction facility, in Oregon, so that the company could file again.)

Three people spoke out at the FERC meeting today, including Dineen O’Rourke of Sandisfield, in western Massachusetts, who is fighting Kinder Morgan’s Connecticut pipeline expansion project. She called out: “Unless FERC denies permits for fracked gas projects, they’re complicit in the destruction of the planet.” She was quickly ushered from the room. And O’Rourke, along with Adrian Plaisance and Carol Gay, joined the blue dot club.

Media Advisory

Press Contact: Melinda Tuhus, 203-623-2186, melinda.tuhus2@gmail.com

Climate Justice Activists in DC to disrupt DNC with their bodies ahead of Democratic National Convention

Will Use Civil Disobedience to Confront DNC Chair and Call Out the Party’s Harmfully Weak Climate Positions

Where: Office of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz (1114 Longworth H.O.B
Washington, DC 20515) and immediate vicinity

When: Thursday, July 21st, 2016
11:15am-11:30am: Gather at Spirit of Justice Park (corner of C Street SE and S
Capital Street SE)
11:30am-12:00pm: Visit Offices of Debbie Wasserman Shultz
12:00pm-2:00pm: Nonviolent Direct Action

A dozen or more activists with the climate justice network Beyond Extreme Energy will confront the DNC’s weak positions on climate change by using nonviolent direct action to disrupt business as usual in and around the offices of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz in Washington, DC. The activists plan to lock themselves together in order to call out what they classify as climate denial and environmental racism in the party’s platform.

The activists are planning to risk arrest and will make four key demands. These demands are four items the party rejected from their platform– a ban on fracking, a rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an end to the use of eminent domain for private gain, and a halt to oil and gas drilling in the Gulf. Anyone who believes that fracking, the TPP, and the use of eminent domain for private gain are in line with strong climate policy, the group says, is promoting a new form of climate denial. Furthermore, the group says, by including language calling for an end to drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic, but not in the Gulf, the DNC shows it is willing to accept sacrifice zones and to perpetuate environmental racism. .

Beyond Extreme Energy encourages our members and supporters to take action at the Republican National Convention, from July 18-21 in Cleveland, and the Democratic National Convention, from July 25-28 in Philadelphia. Although BXE’s main focus is activities July 22-24, in the days before the Democratic convention, we support nonviolent protest and direct action at both.

Art build for the March for a Clean Energy Revolution in Philadelphia

• On Friday, July 22, and Saturday, July 23, in Philadelphia, an art build is planned for the big March for a Clean Energy Revolution on Sunday. BXE member Kim Fraczak of Sane Energy Project will be leading the art build. To find out how you can take part, contact Kim at kim@sanenergyproject.org. To RSVP on Facebook, click here.

Three gatherings on Saturday, July 23

• Power Shift 2016, a gathering primarily but not only for young people, is being organized by the Energy Action Coalition. Details here:  http://powershift2016.org.
• People’s Summit will come up with an overall people’s platform for the progressive movement. Details here: http://thepeoplesrevolution.org.
• Summit for a Clean Energy Revolution is being put together by the coalition organizing the March for a Clean Energy Revolution. Details here: http://cleanenergymarch.org and registration is here.

The March for a Clean Energy Revolution on Sunday, July 24

BXE is one of more than 600 organizations that have endorsed the March for a Clean Energy Revolution, which gathers at City Hall at noon on Sunday, July 24. Details here: http://cleanenergymarch.org.

The week of the Democratic convention

Finally, BXE members will be participating in numerous nonviolent demonstrations and direct actions planned for July 24 and after. To find out more and/or if you are planning to be in Philadelphia, email BXE at info@beyondextremeenergy.org, and we’ll be in touch.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Resist AIM

PRESS CONTACT: Nancy Vann, 646-831-5811 resistaim@gmail.com

Montrose 9 Assert the “Necessity Defense” at Trial in Cortlandt, NY Nine community members arrested for blocking construction on Spectra Energy’s AIM pipeline expansion – known as the “Montrose 9″ – join the national debate over harms caused by fossil fuel infrastructure

Cortlandt, NY — The “Montrose 9” are nine community members arrested for disorderly conduct for allegedly blocking traffic near the access to a Spectra Energy construction yard used for the expansion of a high-pressure fracked-gas pipeline known as the AIM pipeline. Their trial, which resumed in Cortlandt, NY at 8:30 yesterday morning, has the potential to become a landmark case with national implications involving the “necessity defense.” Defense counsel Martin R. Stolar is a prominent social justice attorney who argues that the defendants’ actions were justified since they were undertaken to stop a greater harm and were carried out only after all other legal and regulatory options had been exhausted. At 3:00 PM yesterday afternoon, the court adjourned until July 15th at 1pm, when the other seven defendants are expected to testify regarding their reasons for taking direct action against the project.

While the necessity defense has been used in other types of cases, it is unusual in environmental litigation. One case occurred in May 2013 in Massachusetts when a small lobster boat managed to blockade a barge containing 40,000 tons of coal near the Brayton Point Power Plant. The charges of obstruction were dismissed and the presiding judge stated that the actions were morally justified. In a recent Seattle case, the “Delta 5” were found guilty of trespass for blocking an oil train but not guilty of obstruction. Jurors in that case cited sympathy for the activists and feeling of gratitude for their personal sacrifice for the good of all.

In questioning the prosecution’s police witnesses, Mr. Stolar also suggested a more traditional reason to dismiss the charges. He established that the defendants were not, in fact, causing the traffic jam on Route 9A as was charged. Rather, the Spectra workers caused the tie up when they obstructed the roadway with their cars. Police testified that once they began directing the workers to move, the congestion began to clear up even before the arrests took place. When asked how he determined that the cars belonged to pipeline workers, one officer replied that “there were a lot of out of state license plates.”

The greater harm to be prevented: Defense witnesses, Cortlandt Councilman Seth Freach and two nuclear experts, testified to the dangers posed by the AIM pipeline. Councilman Freach discussed his own, and the Town Board’s, concerns about public health and safety and described letters that were sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other regulatory agencies expressing those concerns. Among the materials Cortlandt submitted to FERC was a report from an independent study that the Town had commissioned. Councilman Freach

noted that, based on the Board’s thorough evaluation of the project, members had voted unanimously in opposition to the pipeline. Paul Blanch, an engineer with over 50 years of nuclear experience, stated that there were “very significant unaccounted for risks” with the AIM pipeline and “an unacceptable probability” of a serious or catastrophic accident due to the pipeline’s close proximity to the Indian Point nuclear power plant. He also provided details of his efforts opposing the pipeline at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Physicist Paul Moskowitz described the radioactive materials, including lead 210 and polonium 210, that result from decay of the radon in fracked gas. He went on to discuss regulatory filings he’d submitted detailing his concerns about radioactive emissions from the AIM pipeline and their impacts on human health. He testified that FERC’s response to his concerns were “a total fabrication” that “ignored over 50 years of established science.” When asked about what process would be used to deal with these dangerous substances, he responded that since FERC denies the existence of those known radioactive materials in pipelines there is no process in place for dealing with them.

Two defendants explain their actions: Only two of the Montrose 9 defendants were able to testify before court concluded for the day. Both told their own individual stories of why they had stepped up to protest in such a compelling way. Although members of the community have been working through regulatory channels, their efforts have been met with delays and legal maneuvers, leaving them no recourse but to pursue more direct actions. Linda Snider testified that since all of the regulatory agencies had ignored the issues, she felt she needed to stop AIM construction herself. She stated, “I wanted to stop the Spectra trucks and stop them from putting in this pipeline. We’ve just got to stop this.”

Defendant Susan Rutman, a landscape photographer who lives next to the Hudson River, was the final witness for the day. She explained she had sought to stop the work through writing to officials. “My intention was to stop the pipeline, because I knew it would prevent a far greater harm.” she said.

Find out more information about the AIM Pipeline and ongoing resistance here:

Online: http://www.resistaim.wordpress.com
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/resistaim
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/ResistAIM

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Questioning Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Air Policy Director  N. Jonathan Peress  in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing last Tuesday, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming had a few choice words about Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE).

What did the senator find so “troubling?”

Recently, Wyoming has been in the news regarding the negative health impacts of fracking on people in the state. In April, for example, scientists found dangerous levels of chemicals in the groundwater of Pavillion, a town in central Wyoming. The scientists reported that the town’s 230 residents were drinking water that contained levels of benzene 50 times above the allowable limit. The source of this contamination–fracking. Similarly, just last week, the Coming Clean coalition released a report showing how volatile organic compounds from fracking near Pavillion have been absorbed by residents.

But the harm from fracking to residents in his state wasn’t what drew Sen. Barrasso’s ire last Tuesday. Nor was it the questionable connections between the EDF air policy director he was questioning and NRG Energy. Recently, DeSmog Blog published an article revealing how contractors hired by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to review a new Spectra fracked gas pipeline worked for Spectra on a related project, and therefore had a stake in its approval. This contractor was none other than NRG Energy, which, according to EDF’s website, was a former employer of current EDF Air Policy Director N. Jonathan Peress. More specifically, Peress was NRG’s  director of environmental services. Now, he represents EDF in environmental proceedings before FERC. Given the fossil fuel industry’s reliance on incestuous relationships with the government, the private sector, and in this case, the nonprofit sector as well, it’s no wonder that a former employee of NRG now represents an “environmental group” at proceedings before FERC . But Senator Barrasso wasn’t commenting on that either.

Instead, it was Beyond Extreme Energy’s efforts to end the deadly practices of the fracking industry that caused Sen. Barrasso alarm. More specifically, he was disturbed by the group’s willingness to hold the government accountable for its disregard of human life.

Over the last several months, Beyond Extreme Energy has sought to circumvent FERC’s purposeful intransigence to the needs, wants, and rights of the people. This has meant bringing their nonviolent campaign to the homes of the FERC commissioners. In February, for example, members of the group sent Valentine’s Day cards to the commissioners at their homes. Then, in May, the group held dinners and vigils on the sidewalks in front of the commissioners’ houses in Washington, DC.

When pressed by a reporter to respond to Sen. Barrasso’s concern about the safety of the FERC commissioners, and particularly the group’s responsibility in putting the commissioners’ addresses out into the world, BXE responded with the following statement:

“The addresses of the commissioners were easy to find using an online search, so by asking folks to send Valentine’s Day cards to their houses, we were not in fact exposing anything that wasn’t already out there.

“The greatest danger, however, lies in not using every nonviolent means available to stop the permitting, building, and use of fossil fuel infrastructure. Holding potlucks at the commissioners’ homes and sending them Valentine’s Day cards is not dangerous. Approving fracked-gas infrastructure is, however, and puts millions of lives on the line.

“If we lose the fight to stop FERC’s rubber-stamp machine, the physics of climate change will take devastating revenge. The FERC commissioners are responsible for the rubber-stamp machine, and their actions threaten our lives and livelihoods. It is perfectly acceptable, using purely nonviolent means, to defend ourselves. In fact, due to the extreme danger FERC puts us in, anything less than strong, bold, nonviolent action is immoral.”

Just days after Sen. Barrasso made his statement about BXE, the group held another event outside the Washington, DC, home of FERC Chairman Norman Bay. BXE called it “Potlucks, Not Pipelines.”

According to the Facebook page where the event was advertised, the potluck was held “because he (Norman Bay) and the agency he stands at the helm of have ignored the deadly consequences of their corrupt, industry-driven practices for far too long.” It went on to explain the purpose of the event.

“FERC hurts communities across the United States by working for the oil and gas industries that fund them! They rubber stamp fracked gas infrastructure and put millions of lives (present and future) on the line due the horrific consequences of climate pollution. In response to a growing public rebellion against their horrific practices, FERC commissioners have been dismissive. Perhaps their complicity in so much suffering and death has led to denial. We’re hosting a peaceful dinner to talk about this and other issues related to FERC. You’re invited, and so is Norman Bay.”

Pennsylvania organic farmer Maggie Henry talks about the potluck as others enjoy the food she prepared:

Armando Diello from the DC area, who contributed chips and hummus, explains his motivations for attending the potluck:

Greg Yost, a high school math teacher from North Carolina,  talks about FERC, Barrasso, and his need for answers:

You can also watch Steve Norris’s testimony here, and Don Weightman’s testimony here.

Last Thursday, ten members of Beyond Extreme Energy visited the Washington, DC, office of Sen. Barrasso to formally respond to his misguided statements. The group spoke to Sen. Barrasso’s Legislative Director, Bryn Stewart.

Here, Cathy Strickler of Harrisonburg, Virginia reads the letter she wrote to Sen. Barrasso on behalf of Beyond Extreme Energy:

Clarke Herbert, a member of Beyond Extreme Energy from Arlington, VA, told the legislative director why the group goes to the FERC commissioners’ homes.

Maggie Henry, the PA farmer, responds to Sen. Barrasso’s slanderous statements by telling Stewart how fracking has destroyed her life:

Charlie Strickler of Harrisonburg, VA, and Steve Norris of Asheville, NC, explain that BXE comes from a place of deep love:

Bryn Stewart was quite dismissive of the potential negative health harms of fracking and other forms of extreme energy on the people of his state.

Stewart responded to members of BXE, in part, by referencing a number of his friends who have lost jobs to a declining coal industry in Wyoming.

Several days after BXE’s visit to Barrasso’s office, an article appeared in the New York Times called “As Wind Power Lifts Wyoming’s Fortunes, Coal Miners Are Left in the Dust.” The article highlights the devastating effect of a declining industry on working class families in a rapidly changing energy environment.

The article quotes Jillian Balow, the Wyoming superintendent of public instruction. She was speaking before a crowd of hundreds at a public hearing held by the Interior Department to collect input on the current halt to new coal mining on public land. Reading the article, one could imagine the weight of this moment in history present in her voice.

“We have reached the point where the restrictions and regulations for the industry are past our ability to adapt. It has put thousands of hard-working people out of work and is devastating families. Give us a chance.”

This reality presents a challenge to groups like BXE that are seeking to transform the world into a better, more just place. Without working with labor to address challenges like this, the fossil fuel abolition movement will have to climb an even steeper hill.

In her letter to Sen. Barrasso on behalf of Beyond Extreme Energy, Cathy Strickler, equating the work of getting off fossil fuels to a form of surgery,  put it well:

“With Wyoming’s vast majority of jobs connected to fossil fuels, this surgery will not be easy but in good hands can be successful. Right now the fossil fuel lobby continues to break more climate bones. These fractures are difficult and take a very long time to heal. Complications from these fractures are painful and deadly for millions of people.”

Will Beyond Extreme Energy and the movement it’s a part of be able to catalyze this surgery with justice and love for all, including workers in the fossil fuel industry? To facilitate such a drastic shift, isn’t everyone needed, including the workers?

Time will tell, but it grows short. And to tragic consequence.

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Beyond Extreme Energy’s Letter to Senator Barrasso

Dear Senator Barrasso:

As a former member of the American Medical Association Council for Ethics and Judicial Affairs, we are sure that you hold ethics is high esteem.  We do, too; it is a strong value we share with you. Medical ethics would lead one to embrace the best possible health of all citizens which comes with a stable climate, not one that is destroyed by fossil fuels.

As an experienced orthopedic surgeon you are used to fixing that which is broken. Orthopedic surgery is difficult and can only be done by the most skilled, educated, and experienced people. Now we have an energy system that is broken and will require people to fix it that are also skilled, experienced and educated. With Wyoming’s vast majority of jobs connected to fossil fuels, this surgery will not be easy but in good hands can be successful. Right now the fossil fuel lobby continues to break more climate bones. These fractures are difficult and take a very long time to heal. Complications from these fractures are painful and deadly for millions of people.

We call on you to live up to your professional medical ethics and preserve life.

We call on you to understand that BXE is trying to heal the broken bones of our climate and our energy system.

Beyond extreme energy is a group of concerned people – engineers, college professors, nurses, teachers, a farmer, a dentist, and young educated professionals who care enough to be involved and believe that we, as individuals, can make change happen to help people much less fortunate than ourselves.

We call on you to support our efforts and to thoughtfully consider the consequences of your extremely important position in the United States Senate.

Sincerely,

Concerned members of Beyond Extreme Energy