This is the 4-page ‘zine we handed out to passersby at FERC during the #RubberStampRebellion actions in May.
Imagine living in a home where the water is unsafe to drink; where children suffer from nosebleeds, rashes, nausea and headaches.
Imagine having your beautiful stand of maple trees – which your family has tapped for years for maple syrup – cut down by strangers guarded by federal marshals with automatic rifles.
Imagine your peaceful, rural community overrun by bulldozers and drilling rigs running day and night, or the city where you and your neighbors have been fighting poisonous chemicals and dirty air now threatened by a fracked-gas power station.
Dangerous, noisy, polluting fracked-gas pipelines, compressor stations, gas storage caverns and export terminals are spreading misery and anxiety across the land.
Your community could be next. And even if you live far away, your energy comes at the expense of another family, another community.
From extraction to transport through pipelines, methane (fracked gas is mostly methane) leaks at every step and helps cook the planet, as methane is 86 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over 20 years.
Approving all this gas infrastructure is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is funded by the companies it’s supposed to regulate and which acts as a rubber stamp for the companies’ interests.
So we’re calling it what it is:
A Rubber Stamp Rebellion.
We are demanding that FERC issue no new permits.
From May 15-22, we’ll demonstrate outside FERC headquarters on 1st Street NE; we’ll visit the D.C. headquarters of several pipeline companies, fracked-gas producers and other major players in the fracked-gas build-out; and we’ll stop by the commissioners’ homes so they will have to confront the damage their decisions have wrought.
For too long, this invisible federal agency has caused community destruction and climate devastation with every permit it issues.
For too long, FERC has rubber-stamped fracked-gas pipelines, compressor stations and export facilities.
For too long, FERC has guided the fracked-gas industry through the permit process and offered advice on handling community opposition.
For too long, FERC has insisted that it can’t take into consideration climate change caused by fracking and other fracked-gas infrastructure.
For too long, FERC has insulated itself from community dissent, sending aides to local hearings while forbidding comment at its monthly public meetings in Washington, DC. Those who speak out are hauled from the room and barred from ever returning.
BXE is calling for an end to the Fracked-gas Expansion Rubber-stamp Commission, an end to the FERC that promotes fracking and fossil fuel infrastructure that makes wealthy corporations more powerful while sacrificing communities, our health and our Earth. BXE calls for a swift, just transition to a renewable-energy economy.
#ResistanceIsEverywhere
“Pipeline developers should be mindful that opposition groups are highly organized and have learned to utilize the regulatory process to maximize the review time required by the regulatory agency. Inattention to these groups and their issues can lead to slowdowns in project development and take a project to a point where it becomes unfeasible to implement.” — Rick Porter, director of Black & Veatch’s Rates and Regulatory Advisory Services
Projects rejected or suspended
Bluegrass Pipeline in KY
Port Ambrose fracked-gas import terminal 19 miles off Long Island’s coast
Jordan Cove fracked-gas export terminal and Pacific Connector pipeline in OR.
Constitution pipeline in NY
Northeast Energy Direct pipeline through PA, NY, MA and NH.
Palmetto pipeline in GA
Projects delayed
Penn East pipeline in PA and NJ
Atlantic Sunrise pipeline in PA
Let FERC Chairman Norman Bay know you want a fast, fair transition to clean energy. Call 202.502.8000 or email customer@ferc.gov
Beyond Extreme Energy 