Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline on farmland & near homes

From the News Broadcast of Anne Shannon, WGAL News 8, Lancaster, PA, March 26, 2019

RAPHO TWP., Pa. — Some property owners in Lancaster County who live along the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline are concerned after getting a letter that says their properties may be part of legal action.

The letter from a law office is a formal notice that attorneys plan to file a mechanic’s lien against the properties. A subcontractor that helped build the pipeline didn’t get paid for more than $1 million worth of work, and the mechanics’ lien law allows the company to have possession of a portion of the properties where the work was done until the debt is paid.

Steven Miller, of Rapho Township, is one of the property owners who received the letter. He said he hasn’t been a fan of the pipeline since the beginning, and this situation is even more frustrating.

Miller said he believes the letter is just the first step in what could be a very long process.

“Wait it out and see what happens. Nothing more I can do about it,” he said.

Officials with Williams, the pipeline developer, sent WGAL a statement that reads, in part: “…Williams did provide adequate advance payment…so that timely subcontractor compensation could be made.”

Williams added, “…subcontractors do not have any right or legal ability to lien these properties.”

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More property owners along pipeline notified of possible liens

Update News Broadcast From ABC News 27, Lancaster, PA, April 19, 2019

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – There are more headaches for people living along the route of a natural gas pipeline.

Letters threatening liens went out to about 250 property owners along the path of the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. A subcontractor, Ohio Machinery, claims it’s owed more than $4 million.

Similar letters were sent last month on behalf of a Michigan construction company. Williams Partners, the pipeline owner, says that matter has been resolved.

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline in red color

The pipeline’s route includes parts of Lebanon and Lancaster counties.

https://www.abc27.com/news/local/lancaster/more-property-owners-along-pipeline-notified-of-possible-liens/1939411648

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline in Lancaster County PA

From an Article by Ad Crable, Lancaster OnLine, October 4, 2018

Natural gas will begin flowing through the controversial Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline underneath Lancaster County on Saturday, according to the pipeline builder.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday morning gave Oklahoma-based Williams Partners the green light, saying the company has “adequately stabilized the areas disturbed by construction and that restoration is proceeding satisfactorily.”

Williams had originally asked to put the pipeline in service by Sept. 10, but flooding damage along the rights of way in August delayed that startup date.

Williams said it will begin full service on Saturday, moving natural gas collected from Marcellus Shale wells in northeastern Pennsylvania through the 42-inch pipeline — the industry’s largest — to markets as far south as Alabama. Some of the gas will be exported overseas as well.

The pipeline goes through 37 miles of western Lancaster County.

“This project makes the largest-volume pipeline system in the country even larger, further executing on our strategy to connect premier natural gas supply areas with the best markets in the country,” Alan Armstrong, Williams’ president and chief executive officer said in a press release.

“The project is significant for Pennsylvania and natural gas-consuming markets all along the East Coast, alleviating infrastructure bottlenecks and providing millions of consumers direct access to one of the most abundant, cost-effective natural gas supply sources in the country.”

Gene Barr, president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry added, “Atlantic Sunrise has been a tremendous economic boom that will no doubt yield benefits, both economic and environmental, for the commonwealth for decades to come.”

But Lancaster County was the focal point for the strongest opposition to the pipeline, with dozens of arrests during protests and work blockages.

Lancaster Against Pipelines co-founder Mark Clatterbuck of Martic Township issued this statement in reaction to the pipeline opening: “From start to finish, Williams has shown nothing but arrogance and contempt toward our community while forcing the ASP through Lancaster County.

“That continued this past Monday, as we watched in horror as pipeliners for Williams tore down a giant cross and prayer labyrinth on land owned by the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. Site supervisors mocked us with their grins as one of the Sisters sat weeping at the outdoor chapel, bulldozers drowning out her quiet sobs.

“The ASP has been a huge wake-up call for Lancaster County. As FERC gives final approval for this dangerous pipeline, grassroots efforts are just beginning to dismantle the system that allows pipelines to keep terrorizing our communities and environment. Local resistance is springing up all over Pennsylvania, which is the industry’s greatest fear.”

The $3 billion project includes 198 miles of new pipeline, almost all in Pennsylvania, two new compressor stations and compressor station modifications in five states.

FERC had authorized construction of the project in February 2017.

Protest rally set in support of Sisters Chapel

RE: Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline in South Central Pennsylvania

On Monday, twenty-three courageous members of our movement were arrested in front of an excavator on land belonging to the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in West Hempfield Township, in Lancaster County, PA. Those arrested ranged in age from 16 to 86, and included three pastors. (They are now the “Chapel 23.”)

Their love of this land, their willing sacrifice, and their inspiring poise declared that our work is driven by something deeper than Williams’s greed and gasoline. The arrested have touched our hearts, taught us the power of peaceful resistance, and strengthened our resolve more than ever.

An incredible outpouring of unity and support continues today as the Chapel 23 recover. Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed our live feed videos online, with 100,000 viewing our video of the arrests; our Facebook page received more than 500 new followers; the events were reported by _NBC_, _Democracy Now_, and _Al Jazeera, _ as well as most local media outlets and practically every Catholic publication there is.

And we’re just getting started! In the days ahead, we’ll look back on the Chapel 23 as a turning point in our movement. Which is precisely Williams’ worst fear.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_SO, WHAT’S NEXT?_. COME OUT THIS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, FOR A DAY OF CELEBRATION AND ACTION!

AT 10:30 AM, WE’LL MEET AGAIN AT THE SISTERS’ CHAPEL AT 3939 LAUREL RUN IN COLUMBIA, PA 17512. First, we’ll celebrate that site of Sacred Resistance with a spirited rally. Second, we’ve planned another creative Mass Action to halt pipeline construction for another day in Lancaster County.

Come ready to sing, to celebrate the power of communities rising, and to shut down some heavy equipment. There will be plenty of roles to play across the full range of risks levels, most being entirely non-arrestable.

Note: Immediately _preceding_ LAP’s 10:30 gathering, the Lancaster Friends Quaker Meeting will be hosting a service of quiet reflection at the Chapel at 9:30 AM. All who wish to attend are welcome!

“WE REALLY APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT WE’VE GOTTEN,” SISTER BERNICE, WHO WAS WITH US ON MONDAY, TOLD THE _CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE._ “WHEN PEOPLE PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE FOR YOU, IT’S MEANINGFUL.”

The major victory of Monday was that our courage exposed the radical injustice of corporate tyranny, whereby the current system gives communities no legal avenue for protecting our land, water, and homes against even the most appalling corporate harms.

Our actions announced that we’re no longer willing to accept this system of legalized endangerment. We can no longer look the other way, or passively accept that poisoned water and condemned farmland is simply “the way it is.”

So we’ll continue to challenge this system, head on, with a relentless campaign of joyful Civil Disobedience. Our goal? To force our elected officials, law enforcement, and local judges to side with us — the people — by refusing to participate in the raw exploitation of their own communities.

We’re not just stopping a pipeline. We’re breaking a system that’s killing us.

>>> Lancaster Against Pipelines

See also: http://www.wearelancastercounty.org/

Protesting pipeline near nuns' chapel

From an Article by Scott Blanchard, York Daily Record, October 16, 2017

About 26 people who were protesting the construction of a planned natural gas pipeline in Lancaster County were arrested on Monday.

A group of people protested construction Monday at the site of a planned natural gas pipeline in Lancaster County, on land owned by the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, a religious community.

The pipeline — Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Company is building a 186-mile pipeline to carry natural gas from the Marcellus Shale area of northeastern Pennsylvania to the Transcontinental Pipeline, which covers the East Coast.

The nuns — A Roman Catholic order of nuns, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, sued to try to stop pipeline construction, telling a federal court that the project will excessively damage God’s creation, the Earth. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Schmehl in Reading ruled in late September that his court lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the suit. The nuns, who had allowed supporters to build a chapel in the pipeline’s path, said publicly they would appeal the court case.

The sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ church allowed opponents of the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline to construct a simple chapel in its path.

The protest — The group Lancaster Against Pipelines said in a news release that they planned a peaceful protest at the construction site for early Monday morning. About 70 people showed up and, at around midday, they surrounded an excavator and began singing songs.

Police soon arrived and gave the protesters until 12:45 p.m. to leave. Just after the deadline passed, one protester told others that they’d have to decide whether to stay or risk arrest.

Just before 1 p.m., police began arresting protesters one by one. About 26 stood in front of the equipment, refusing to leave, and were then taken away.

>>>>>>>>>

Photos: Protesting construction of pipeline near nuns’ chapel — A group has gathered to protest the construction of the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline at the site of a chapel that was built near its path in Columbia, Lancaster County. Sean Heisey, York Daily Record

Land Ethic of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ

This is a mass call for action to every one of you who has committed to stopping the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. Williams, the builder, has told the Sisters that they will begin construction on Monday. We will be there, together.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 7 AM at 3939 LAUREL RUN, COLUMBIA, PA 17512

Over the past four years we have prepared for this. We have exhausted every legal, regulatory and political means possible. Our legislators, courts and and regulators have instead sold out our health and home to Williams’ industrial invasion. They have given us no choice but to put ourselves between Williams and our futures.

Please read our statement below for more details about the Sister’s lawsuit, Judge Schmehl’s allowance of US Marshals, and our plans for Monday.

ON MONDAY, SOME MAY CHOOSE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, RISKING ARREST; OTHERS MAY STAND ON PUBLIC OR PRIVATE LAND OUT OF THE RIGHT OF WAY. OUR SEASONED LEGAL TEAM WILL BE ON HAND TO HELP US DECIDE WHAT RISK LEVEL, IF ANY, IS BEST FOR US. WHATEVER YOUR INTENTIONS, WE HOPE YOU WILL COME STAND WITH US, UNITED.

Here we go! We are right. We are ready. Together we can stop this pipeline.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CALL TO ACTION FOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 16 @ 7 AM

//////. LANCASTER AGAINST PIPELINES: STATEMENT //////.

Monday, October 16, 2017, 7:00 AM, at 3939 Laurel Run, Columbia PA 17512

Outdoor Chapel, Adorers of the Blood of Christ

THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW. WILLIAMS HAS INDICATED THEIR INTENTION TO BEGIN WORK ON THE PROPERTY OF THE ADORERS OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST THIS COMING MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017.

Whatever you have planned for the day, we urge you to set those plans aside and gather with your friends and neighbors to stand in solidarity with the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in challenging Transco/Williams’ plans to violate our religious rights, community rights, property rights, and rights to clean air and water.

Williams has indicated their plans to begin construction on the Adorers’ property beginning Monday, October 16. The lawsuit that the Sisters have filed against Transco and FERC, alleging a violation of their Religious Freedom, is still winding its way through the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. If the Court were to rule in favor of the Sisters, the pipeline could face a devastating setback. For this reason, Williams is rushing to complete work on the property before the Court has a chance to stop them.

ACCORDING TO A COURT ORDER BY DISTRICT JUDGE JEFFREY SCHMEHL OF READING, PA, TRANSCO/WILLIAMS HAS BEEN GIVEN THE AUTHORITY TO SEIZE THE ADORERS’ LAND AGAINST THEIR WILL, WITH THE AUTHORITY TO ENFORCE THIS SEIZURE USING US MARSHALS.

Just as Energy Transfer Partners ran bulldozers through ancestral Lakota lands last year, while the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe remained in active litigation against the company on religious principle, so Transco/Williams is poised to break earth on the Sisters’ land, long before they’d planned to do so, in a desperate—and grossly immoral—ploy to preempt a potentially devastating Circuit Court ruling in favor of the Sisters.

WE CALL ON PEOPLE OF GOODWILL ALL ACROSS LANCASTER—AS WELL AS THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA AND THE SURROUNDING REGION—TO JOIN US ON MONDAY MORNING TO DEMAND JUSTICE, TO CALL FOR MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY, AND TO STAND IN FIERCE DEFENSE OF OUR SACRED EARTH.

On October 12th, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Sisters’ request that pipeline construction be prohibited through their land until their Religious Freedom challenge against Williams and FERC is settled.

AGAIN, TO BE CLEAR: DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE SISTERS’ CASE UNDER THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT WILL, INDEED, MOVE FORWARD, THE CIRCUIT COURT INEXPLICABLY RULED TO ALLOW CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN ANYWAY.

This is simply the latest in a long string of court-ordered rulings that legalize corporate exploitation of local communities and the natural environment, leaving us—as people of conscience—with no other option than a massive mobilization of civil defiance. The _status quo_ is not merely unacceptable; it’s suicidal, because the very building blocks of life—water, land, and air—are fatally imperiled.

BEGINNING AT 7:00 AM, WE WILL HOLD A PRAYERFUL, SONGFUL VIGIL AT THE VERY EDGE OF WILLIAMS’ DESECRATION CORRIDOR, WHICH THEY CALL THEIR “RIGHT-OF-WAY.” THOSE OUTSIDE THE EASEMENT HAVE A CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHT TO BOLDLY STAND, RAISE THEIR VOICES AND BANNERS, AND BEAR WITNESS WITHOUT FEAR OF ARREST.

THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO PLACE THEMSELVES IN THE PIPELINE EASEMENT SHOULD BE PREPARED TO FACE ARREST BY US MARSHALS WHO, DESPITE THEIR DUTY TO SERVE AND PROTECT THE CITIZENS OF THIS NATION, WILL BE SERVING, INSTEAD, THE FINANCIAL INTERESTS OF A PRIVATE, FOR-PROFIT, OUT-OF-STATE, BILLIONAIRE-RUN, FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY. AS WE DEFEND OUR LAND AND WATER, FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS WILL BE DEFENDING THE PRIVATE COMPANY PUTTING OUR LAND AND WATER AT RISK.

We need friends and allies to participate in every aspect, and risk level, of this action: banner holders, picture takers, scripture readers, hymn leaders, legal observers, medics, and easement defiers.

TOGETHER, LET’S DARE TO EXPOSE THE MORAL BANKRUPTCY ON FULL DISPLAY RIGHT HERE IN LANCASTER COUNTY.

It’s a perverse coincidence that Transco’s bulldozers sit poised to gut the chapel of the Adorers just as these Sisters prepare to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of five Adorers who willingly faced mortal danger defending the rights of their brothers and sisters in Liberia.

DEFENDING JUSTICE IS NOT CHEAP. BUT CONCEDING IT IS INTOLERABLE.

Lancaster Against Pipelines

Contact: http://www.wearelancastercounty.org/

Outdoor Chapel in Lancaster County, PA

From an Article by Amanda Watts and Paige Levin, CNN, July 8, 2017

An open-air chapel set up by Catholic nuns to block construction of a natural gas pipeline in Pennsylvania will be dedicated Sunday on a spot directly in the pipeline’s proposed path.

The ceremony, hosted by grass-roots opposition group Lancaster Against Pipelines, is called “Stand With the Sisters” and is in support of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, a Catholic order of women in opposition to the pipeline. The Adorers own the land that the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline would cross.

“It’s not about money, it’s about principle. And the nuns have a land ethic that says this Earth is a sanctuary and we regard it as sacred, and we’re going to work to protect it,” Mark Clatterbuck of the Lancaster Against Pipelines group told CNN affiliate WGAL-TV.
Though the Adorers have resisted the pipeline project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ruled that Williams Partners, the Oklahoma-based company planning to build the pipeline, has the right to construct, maintain and operate it on the private land via eminent domain.

Eminent domain has not yet gone into effect, so the nuns, backed by Lancaster Against Pipelines, are taking action to stall construction.

Proponents of the pipeline filed an emergency order Thursday to expedite seizure of the Adorers’ land, WGAL reported. Protester Ann Neumann said 20 members of the Adorers’ order live on the proposed pipeline site.

A judge scheduled a court hearing for July 17th, according to court papers.

In a statement, Williams said the company respects the right to protest peacefully. “With the exception of the width of the construction right-of-way, this structure (the open-air chapel) can be placed anywhere else on the property without issue,” the company wrote.

Neumann said hundreds of people have voiced support for the sisters. “We’re expecting a large crowd,” she said of Sunday’s ceremony in Columbia, Pennsylvania. “What we’re hoping to get is a community joining together to voice opposition to this project that is incredibly difficult to stop.”

Pipeline is ‘A violation of their faith’

The pipeline would bisect the Adorers’ property, but more importantly, supporters say, it defies their land ethic. “They see the pipeline as a violation of their faith,” Neumann said.

The nuns spent the past week putting together the “bare-bones” outdoor structure, with benches in front of a makeshift altar. It is open to the public and welcomes members of all faiths, Neumann said.

The ceremony will include presentations by several Adorers and singing by members of another religious order from Kentucky.

It will culminate in a reading of the Adorers’ land ethic, which guides the sisters to “revere Earth as a sanctuary where all life is protected.”

Williams Pipeline plans

According to the application filed by Williams, it wants to lay 183 miles of pipeline across Pennsylvania, which would extend the Transco pipeline system currently running 10,200 miles from Texas to New York. Bordering states are also part of the $3 billion expansion of the existing Transco natural gas pipeline.

Neumann told CNN that residents have known about the proposed pipeline for about three years but feel they have been kept in the dark. That’s why the project’s opponents created Lancaster Against Pipelines, she said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the pipeline earlier this year, according to a statement from Williams.

“Once complete, it will create a crucial connection between Pennsylvania and consuming markets all along the East Coast, delivering enough natural gas to fuel more than 7 million homes,” the company said in a statement. “In the process, it will deliver economic growth, jobs and increased access to affordable, clean-burning energy.”

See also: “Natural Gas Building Boom Fuels Climate Worries, Enrages Landowners”
(From Kristen Lombardi & Jamie Smith Hopkins, NPR, July 17, 2017)