Veterans Defend Seneca Lake Against Environmental Enemies "Foreign or Domestic"

Colleen Boland and Sandra Steingraber arrested @ Seneca Lake

On October 27, retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Collen Boland zipped up a fleece jacket emblazoned with her name, rank and rows of decorations, then headed to Crestwood energy’s site on Seneca Lake. There, she linked arms with others defending Seneca Lake from the proposed gas storage project. When a tractor trailer approached, Boland and the others refused to move. Within minutes Sheriff’s deputies showed up and arrested the protesters.

Boland, who was born and raised in Corning, NY, never thought of herself as an activist. She never thought of herself as a tree-hugger. After four years of service in the Army and another thirteen in the Air Force, Boland retired. She took off her uniform and moved on to new things.

But with industrialized drilling and gas storage encroaching on the local landscape, Boland reluctantly polished her boots and dusted off her awards and decorations and prepared to serve in a new way.  In a press conference last week she reflected on her years of military service, and the places she was stationed. One thing they had in common, she said, is water. Children in Schuyler County and Dimock, Pennsylvania, like children in Malaysia and elsewhere, need access to clean water.

Explaining why she wore a “civilianized” version of her Air Force jacket, Boland explained that she was trying to dispel the notion that “the only people standing up to protect our water, our air, and our communities are tree-hugging hippies or out of touch dreamers. Don't get me wrong, I love trees, but I was never quite cool enough to be a hippie —and I'm certainly not dreaming," she said to laughter and applause.

Boland is distressed and offended that people who oppose extreme fossil fuel extraction are being dismissed as “people who don’t belong here.” We do belong here, she declared.

 "I am still serving, still defending. I am defending the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes region that I love against all enemies foreign and domestic. Crestwood is my enemy." Boland isn't the only Veteran defending the lake; Dwain Wilder, a former sailor, spent his Veterans Day in jail for his part in the protest.

Watch the video of the press conference and read an interview with Boland in the Air Force Times.

TransCanada Tosses "T-Word" About

In an effort to halt protest against Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada corporation has taken to labeling protesters as "terrorists". In particular, they are targeting Nebraska citizens who have conducted peaceful, nonviolent protests - going so far as to hold "educational" sessions with local law enforcement on what the foreign corporation perceives as "terrorist threats".

Let me repeat: a foreign corporation, that has used eminent domain to take land from ranchers (in TX and other places) is claiming that US citizens protesting their actions are "terrorists".

The group Bold Nebraska used Freedom of Information requests to obtain documents TransCanada presented local law enforcement in an effort to portray law-abiding US citizens as a "threat".

This is the same foreign corporation that is using intimidation tactics against specific residents who have raised concerns and complaints to their local governments. In particular, TransCanada is targeting Julia Trigg Crawford, in Texas, who has been documenting the construction of Keystone pipeline across her land. On her website, Stand Tall she writes:

“When TransCanada said they had a right to forcibly take part of my family's farm for their Keystone Pipeline project, we knew it was time to stand and fight. TransCanada offered a paltry one-time sum, but as we have maintained, this is absolutely not about the money. This is our family saying no foreign corporation who appears to be building a project for their own financial gain should have more of a right to our land than we do.

 Despite the pending court case, TransCanada began constructing the Keystone XL pipeline on her land. Repeat: Despite a Pending Court Case to determine whether the foreign corporation has the right to claim her land using eminent domain (a right reserved for US government)....

Because Julia has protested in a most lawful way, TransCanada has decided to use intimidation tactics: they pay a worker to film Julia at all times and send a helicopter over her land every few minutes to monitor her. Remember - this is not a government taking this action, but a corporation - and a foreign corporation at that.

Julia writes about the whole fiasco on her blog, with lots of photos.

5000 Protesters in DC - Media focuses on Romney's Olympic Gaffe's instead

photo by Hendrik Voss

 

This weekend a news item on NPR noted that thousands of people formed a human chain around Japan’s Parliament complex to demand that their government abandon nuclear power.

But you’d be hard-pressed to find media coverage about the 5,000 people who came from across the country and around the world to demand that Congress stop hydrofracking. Granted, 5,000 people is a “drop in the bucket” according to Washington DC standards. Still – with all the mainstream press taking photos and interviewing folks, you’d think at least one story might have surfaced in the local news.

Washington Post? Nada – unless you count the hundred-word or so blurb from AP about the protest “going to happen”. The NY Times? Not one peep; the gray lady was probably getting her hair dyed.

photo by Hendrik Voss

People drove, bussed, flew, bicycled and hitchhiked to DC a couple days early to lobby their elected officials (hey! The Oil & Gas folks do it all the time…. But with more cash changing hands). Saturday was devoted to a rally on the west lawn of the US Capitol, with Bill McKibben, Josh Fox, Dish TX mayor Calvin Tillman, and just regular folks living in gasland states sharing the microphone. When that was finished, people marched through the streets of DC - a parade four blocks long of men, women, teachers, artists, carpenters, grandparents, children... all chanting for  clean water and a ban on fracking. Read more here.

PA Homeland Security Director Resigns

Today the PA State Homeland Security Director James F. Powers Jr - under heavy pressure for contracting out the state's intelligence gathering to a group that conducted surveillance on citizens - announced his resignation. You can read the story at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.