Thursday, about 35 activists again shut down FERC’s offices in a campaign led by Veterans for Peace and the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, to coincide with the U.N. Day of Observance on War and the Environment, in a protest that included a silent vigil and a “die-in.”
Today #FERCblockade once again closed @FERC‘s road… for the 5th time this week! #FERCdoesntwork so shut it down! pic.twitter.com/FuNPLrIYHg
— Popular Resistance (@PopResistance) November 7, 2014
“The Pentagon is the single biggest consumer of fossil fuels in the entire world,” said Army veteran and VFP and NCNR member Ellen Barfield.
“So protesting climate change and extreme energy recovery at drilling sites and so-called regulatory agencies is not enough. War, even just training for it, is of course massively destructive and wasteful. War is bad for the environment. Today, the 6th of November, is the United Nations day to acknowledge that fact every year and to call for the prevention of what it calls the exploitation of the environment in war. Sadly though, UN admonitions have little effect on U.S. foreign policy. The very fracked gas Beyond Extreme Energy activists are protesting this week is being used as an economic weapon by the Obama administration, threatening Russian gas exports to Europe through Ukrainian pipelines.”
Finally, on Friday, the protestors concluded with a blockade while families from Pennsylvania with talk about the impact fracking has had on their homes and communities.
A powerful morning at @FERC as activist hold silent blockades of the street and entrances #FERCdoesntwork pic.twitter.com/7vTYzI4xcV — Stop the FrackAttack (@stopfrackattack) November 6, 2014
The final protest included sit-ins, human carpets, banners, blockadia and an art prop created by the People’s Puppets representing towns affected by the projects FERC has approved.
In addition to the blockades, protests and sit-ins at FERC headquarters, protests have taken place at Cove Point where FERC approved Maryland’s Dominion Cove Point natural gas export facility located close to residential communities, at the Justice Department and the Department of Transportation, and at the headquarters of National Public Radio (NPR) to protest its ads from the oil and gas industries.
“In exchange for an undisclosed sum of money, NPR hosts like Steve Inskeep, Audie Cornish and Melissa Block routinely read misleading and outright false statements that encourage listeners to ‘think about’ the benefits of fracked gas,” explained Hudson. “Not only are these ads offensive and inappropriate on public radio, they take up valuable air time at a moment that NPR has decided to cut it’s energy and environment reporting staff by 80 percent.”
“Just as the media have rejected money from the tobacco industry … so should they reject these donations from fossil fuels,” said Josh Fox, director of Gasland.
While the Week of Action may be over, environmental groups aren’t planning to let up. On Monday, a group called Stopping Exports and Extraction Destruction (SEED) will hold a peaceful protest near the Cove Point facility.
Watch this video by Robert Brune of DC Media Group of the first day of actions at FERC headquarters:
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