WARNING: This is a US Foreign Trade Zone

From an Article by Ted Auch, PhD, Great Lakes Program Coordinator and Shannon Smith, Manager of Communications & Development, FracTracker Alliance, July 9, 2020

The oil and gas industry continues to use rhetoric focusing on national security and energy independence in order to advocate for legislation to criminalize climate activists. Backlash against protestors and environmental stewards has only increased since the onset of COVID-19, suggesting that industry proponents are exploiting this public health crisis to further their own dangerous and controversial policies.

Industry actors contributing to the wave of anti-protest bills include American Petroleum Institute (API), IHS Markit, The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and most effectively, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), by way of its primary financial backer, Koch Industries (Fang, 2014, Shelor, 2017).

ALEC is the source of the model legislation “Critical Infrastructure Protection Act” of 2017, intended to make it a felony to “impede,” “inhibit,” “impair,” or “interrupt” critical infrastructure operation and/or construction. Close approximations – if not exact replicas – of this legislative template have been passed in 11 hydrocarbon rich and/or pathway states, and 8 more are being debated in 4 additional states.

The “critical infrastructure” designation in ALEC’s “Critical Infrastructure Protection Act” is extremely broad, including over 70 pieces of infrastructure, from wastewater treatment and well pads, to ports and pipelines. However, along with the 259 Foreign Trade Zones (FTZ) supervised by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), security is of such importance because over 50% of this infrastructure is related to oil and gas. According to our analysis, there are more than 8,000 unique pieces of infrastructure that fall under this designation, with over 10% in the Marcellus/Utica states of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Regarding FTZ, the US Department of Homeland Security doesn’t attempt to hide their genuine nature, boldly proclaiming them “… the United States’ version of what are known internationally as free-trade zones … to serve adequately ‘the public interest’.” If there remains any confusion as to who these zones are geared toward, the US Department of Commerce’s International Administration (ITA) makes the link between FTZ and the fossil fuel industry explicit in its FTZ FAQ page, stating “The largest industry currently using zone procedures is the petroleum refining industry.”

Much of the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries’ efforts stem from the mass resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Native American tribes and environmental groups spent months protesting the environmentally risky $3.78 billion dollar project, which began production in June 2017, after Donald Trump signed an executive order to expedite construction during his first week in office.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe also sued the US government in a campaign effort to protect their tribal lands. The world watched as Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company building the pipeline, destroyed Native artifacts and sacred sites, and as police deployed tear gas and sprayed protesters with water in temperatures below freezing.

ETP’s bottom line and reputation were damaged during the fight against DAPL. Besides increasingly militarized law enforcement, the oil and gas industry has retaliated by criminalizing similar types of protests against fossil fuel infrastructure. However, the tireless work of Native Americans and environmental advocates has resulted in a recent victory in March 2020, when a federal judge ordered a halt to the pipeline’s production and an extensive new environmental review of DAPL.

Just days ago, on July 6, 2020, a federal judge ruled that DAPL must shut down until further environmental review can assess potential hazards to the landscape and water quality of the Tribe’s water source. This is certainly a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other environmental defenders, but the decision is subject to appeal.

Since the DAPL conflict began, the industry has been hastily coordinating state-level legislation in anticipation of resistance to other notable national gas transmission pipelines, more locally concerning projects like Class II Oil and Gas Waste Injection Wells, and miles of gas gathering pipelines that transport increasing streams of waste – as well as oil and gas – to coastal processing sites.

The following “critical infrastructure” bill has already been enacted:

STATE: West Virginia, BILL: HB 4615, TITLE: New Penalties For Protests Near Gas And Oil Pipelines, DATE PASSED: 3/25/20

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See also: Stopping a massive fracked-gas pipeline takes a village > Appalachian Voices, Jessica Sims, November 20, 2020

As of this evening, the people who have been occupying several tree-sits in the path of construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Montgomery County, Va., over the past 2-1/2 years remain on site. A county judge had issued an order last week that they come down, and on Thursday had found them in contempt of court and subject to fines. These individuals have occupied the tree-sits now for 808 continuous days in a testament to their commitment to protecting the planet from the dangers of fossil fuel. While the outcome of their herculean efforts is yet unknown, the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline continues unabated by thousands of people across West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and beyond. (Appalachian Voices does not fund, sponsor or engage in activities such as tree-sits and pipeline blockades.)

Galileo Galilei (1564 — 1662) could see beyond the horizon

Essay by Peter Dykstra, Editor, Environmental Health News, May 2, 2020

Make no mistake, Americans didn’t invent this form of persecution. If you don’t believe me, ask Galileo. But when it comes to war, peace, racial equality, gender equality, marriage equality, pollution, climate change, and many more issues, damn, we’re good at it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. got red-baited, wiretapped, spied upon, and, of course, murdered before his complete vindication.

Nearly six decades after the publication of her book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson still has the distinction of being accused of mass murder for inspiring the ban on the pesticide DDT. Linked to the endangerment of bird species ranging from peregrine falcons to ruby-throated hummingbirds, DDT rose to international fame as a mosquito killer during World War II.

Back in the early 1960′s, the chemical industry led the assault on Carson, led by a young public relations executive named E. Bruce Harrison.

From his perch at the Chemical Manufacturers Association, Harrison steered a whisper campaign that suggested Carson was a Communist and a lesbian — twin kisses of death in early 1960′s American culture. Carson soon succumbed to breast cancer. The U.S. banned DDT in 1972. The bald eagle and others recovered, but attacks on the late Rachel Carson continued. In 2010, noted publisher and former Presidential candidate Steve Forbes charged that the mild-mannered Carson was a mass murderer who helped birth “environmental barbarism.” His reasoning was that DDT had helped curb malaria’s death toll in the developing world.

Today, Rachel Carson has a bridge named after her in Pittsburgh. Bruce Harrison went on to a lucrative career in anti-environmental public relations. He was a founder of the original climate-denying lobby group, the Global Climate Coalition. For his labors, he was elected to the National Capital Public Relations Hall of Fame in 1999.

Hanoi Jane and Ralph Nader are well known cases of dissent

Jane Fonda was part of a Hollywood acting dynasty, with her dad Henry and brother Peter. She was also an outspoken activist on women’s and Native American issues, and, perhaps most notably, for her opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1972, she visited North Vietnam and the men who were fighting, killing, and imprisoning U.S. troops. One photograph, with Fonda astride an NVA anti-aircraft gun, has lived forever.

Fonda has apologized for the North Vietnam visit repeatedly, but with little apparent impact. Despite an exemplary life of supporting subsequent causes, notably fighting teen pregnancy and advocating for action on climate change, she’s still known to millions of Americans only as Hanoi Jane. No American before or since has developed such an immunity to Christian forgiveness.

Of course, Fonda was right about the lies and amorality of American leadership’s lies over Vietnam. But to millions, she’s still Hanoi Jane.

Ralph Nader was a crusading young attorney, bent on haranguing major American companies to stop killing so many of their workers and customers. His 1965 book “Unsafe at Any Speed” was a devastating indictment of the Chevrolet Corvair, which he argued was the deadliest American car on the road.

Nader also headed a successful effort to make seat belt use mandatory. Nader led the charge against the Big Three automakers’ “planned obsolescence” — the business strategy of building less reliable cars to force consumers into a cycle of buying replacement vehicles every few years. Ralph Nader the gadfly saved an incalculable number of lives.

Alas, forgiveness has its limits. In one of her many apologies, Jane Fonda herself called her Hanoi trip “unforgivable.” And Ralph Nader enraged many of his staunchest admirers with his third-party presidential run in 2000. He tallied more than 2.8 million votes, including 97,000 in Florida, where Bush won by less than 200 — turning a likely Al Gore victory into eight years of George W. Bush.

Climate scientists have been subject to ridicule

And what of Al Gore? He took the lead in climate advocacy as early as 1988, when his congressional hearings prompted some of the first headlines for global warming. But even as climate change hastens its conversion from startling theory to tragic reality, Al Gore is still more punchline than prophet to conservative ideologues, including President Trump.

Let’s not forget climate scientists. Last week, climatologist Mike Mann was elected to the exclusive National Academy of Sciences.

His path there included years of attacks from well-funded political operatives accusing him of only being in it for the money; lawsuits—none successful—intended to muscle a vocal scientist into silence; and a hallucinatory attack likening Mann to a child molester because he works at Penn State, the former workplace of the infamous convicted child-molesting football coach, Jerry Sandusky. Ever the good-natured warrior, Mann is suing back on that one.

Mann is not alone. Other climate scientists endure personal attacks; some have to cope with online harassment, including publication of their home addresses.

Scientists studying endocrine-disrupting chemicals have to dodge incoming rhetorical fire from ideologues or corporate hired guns. Many environmental journalists cope with similar flak or worse. In some cases, activists get it worst of all, with international activists in places like Brazil and Honduras paying with their lives.

In 1633, the Roman Catholic Church wrapped up its persecution of Galileo, commuting his prison sentence to house arrest. In exchange, Galileo agreed to recant his heretic view that the Earth revolved around the sun.

In 1992, the Church finally got around to formally acknowledging that Galileo was right. If there’s a 339-year vindication timetable for the likes of Al Gore and Michael Mann, we’re toast.

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See also: Welcome to Kent State University’s 50th Commemoration of May 4, 1970

On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State students during an anti-war protest, killing four students and wounding nine other students. In keeping with the commitment to honor and remember those tragic events, Kent State is hosting a virtual program to mark the historic 50th Commemoration of May 4, 1970.

Virtual Commemoration Events — The May 4 50th Commemoration includes the virtual noon program on May 4, 2020, the virtual candlelight vigil, special videos, online exhibits, interactive mobile apps and more.

Tree sitters protesting Mountain Valley Pipeline

From an Article by Laurence Hammack, Richmond Times, April 4, 2019

ELLISTON — The 212th day was a lot like the first, which for foes of the Mountain Valley Pipeline was a good thing.

Since Sept. 5, 2018, two people have occupied tree stands in a white pine and a chestnut oak, perched about 50 feet off the ground while supporters camped on the ground sent up food and water in plastic buckets and kept watch over the peaceful protest.

On Thursday, they celebrated another day of blocking tree-cutting for the controversial natural gas pipeline, which is destined to run across this wooded slope in eastern Montgomery County on its way from northern West Virginia to Chatham.

One thing new to the scene was 69-year-old Scott Ziemer, who earlier in the week climbed up the white pine to replace another protester. He joined Phillip Flagg, a millennial who has been living in the oak tree since October.

For Ziemer, Flagg and the protesters who preceded them, the tree-sit is now the longest active blockade of a natural gas pipeline on the East Coast, according to Appalachians Against Pipelines, a group that has helped organize the effort.

A resident of Albemarle County, Ziemer has been an opponent of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a similar project slated near his home. “The more I dug, and the more I learned, the more I realized that it didn’t seem like a good idea,” he said of a pipeline that will increase the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, which generate polluting greenhouse gases.

After fighting the Atlantic Coast project for several years, Ziemer decided to take a more direct role in the opposition to Mountain Valley. “I know it’s a little more risky, dangling off a 50-foot platform,” he said Thursday from his spot on a wooden tree stand. “But I have grandchildren, and I’m thinking about their future as well.”

Over the years, Ziemer has held a number of outdoor occupations that prepared him for his most recent post. He has worked as a carpenter, a builder and facilitator of ropes courses, an arborist, the owner of an outdoor adventure business and most recently as a sailing instructor.

The biggest challenge so far, he said, is confining his 6-foot-4 frame to an 8-by-4-foot structure than moves in the wind a little like a sailboat.

Like Flagg, Ziemer was reluctant to say how long he plans to stay in his tree, or under what conditions he might agree to come down. “I’ll continue my resistance to the pipeline, regardless of what happens,” said Flagg, who stuck his head out of a tarp covering his tree stand for an interview.

Mountain Valley broke ground on the 303-mile pipeline a year ago, but quickly ran into problems controlling erosion and sediment from its linear construction zone.

A lawsuit filed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the State Water Control Board alleges more than 300 violations of regulations. Mountain Valley must also regain two key permits, thrown out last year on challenges from environmental groups, if it is to achieve its goal of completing work by the end of the year.

About a dozen other protesters, who have sat in trees or chained themselves to construction equipment at various points along the pipeline’s route, have come down voluntarily or been removed by police over the past year.

In December, attorneys for Mountain Valley filed a request for a preliminary injunction against the tree-sitters on Yellow Finch Lane in Montgomery County, asking a federal judge for assistance in having them removed by members of the U.S. Marshals Service. Judge Elizabeth Dillon has yet to rule on the request.

“The MVP project team is awaiting a ruling from Judge Dillon regarding the previous hearing and we do not have additional information or plans regarding any persons who may or may not have taken the place of existing opposition,” Mountain Valley spokeswoman Natalie Cox wrote in an email Thursday.

At the last hearing in the case, held in January, Mountain Valley officials testified they had told two people — identified in court records only as “Tree-sitter 1” and “Tree-sitter 2” — that they were blocking the construction easement, which the company had earlier gained access to though an eminent domain filing against landowner Cletus Bohon.

With no ruling from Dillon after more than three months, the protesters are staying put. “By occupying a tree-sit in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline,” Ziemer said, “I am adding my voice to those who are fighting to slow down and stop the burning of fossil fuels, which are the primary cause of climate change.