Dear Fossil Free Friends,
Dear Fossil Free Friends,
Please read this letter from a front line gas pipeline fighter. What Andy is doing is amazing. Few of us can do what he is doing, but we can all do something.
Read this narrative, share it with others and do what you can. Andy is counting on you.
Marilyn
Thanks again for helping me fight Enbridge Line3, which went operational this past week, and is set to emit 50 coal plants worth of CO2, is a real risk to the headwaters of the Mississippi, and is a treaty violation for oil that will be shipped to Asia.
This is going to a bit of a packed email. Thanks for your patience. I am a bit emotional as I am typing this. I cannot find words to express to you the horror of this moment for every living thing on this planet.
I’ll start by saying please take action of some sort, any sort–petitions, phone calls, boycotts, divestment, protests, or like me this summer, non-violent direct action or civil disobedience.
Consider coming to DC for one day next week (I will be down there every day), peoplevsfossilfuels.org. Now, for my Update:
Enbridge Line3 in Minnesota – My pre-trial hearing is November 10 (via zoom). I will plead not guilty and will defend myself (the first attachment is my ‘trial book’). I will not pay Minnesota any money and will go to jail if necessary. I would ask you to consider calling President Biden, who still has the power to stop the oil from flowing: https://www.stopline3.org/biden. This article is an excellent summary of how President Biden is contributing to the horror of the moment: https://heated.world/p/bidens-silent-climate-betrayal .
Mountain Valley Pipeline – I was arrested in early August in Montgomery County, Virginia along with 9 other people for allegedly halting construction of the pipeline at a site near Christiansburg for a day. It was a very long, hot, hard, and beautiful day. I was arrested very late afternoon and released from the holding jail very late that night. I have retained an attorney also being used by two others—the rest have public defenders. We are all charged with trespass and obstruction, and two were charged with felonies for interfering with a vehicle. Our trial is October 25. We will be fighting the charges on technical grounds. I have become good friends with a West Virginia farmer who can no longer use his spring water after pipeline construction. The second attachment to this email lets you in on the MVP madness.
Enbridge Line3 in Chevy Chase, Maryland – In late August I was arrested with 24 other people in front of Ron Klain’s house. He is Joe Biden’s chief of staff. We were pushing suspension of the Corps of Engineers permits for Line3 construction because they were rushed through during the Trump administration and are deficient. I have pled not guilty to an obstructing traffic charge. The third attachment is the statement I read at my pre-trial hearing.
Chase Bank – I was arrested in Wilmington, Delaware with 14 elders who had walked from Scranton, Pennsylvania to Wilmington to ask President Biden to declare a climate emergency and immediately stop fossil fuel expansion. We were demonstrating in front of the Chase national credit card handling office. Chase is the largest fossil fuel funder, by far, of all US banks. Twelve of us will be defending ourselves as a group, the other three have a pro bono attorney. We have a pre-trial hearing October 15. The fourth attachment is my draft closing statement for the eventual trial.
-andy
