EF!ers lock down / photo by Daniel Helmer
In a strong statement of opposition, two activists locked their necks to the front doors of the building that hosts the offices of America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) while a crowd of supporters held signs and cheered around them. This action was taken by Chesapeake Earth First! as part of the Rise Together mobilization, a series of actions and events against extreme energy perpetrators from August 16-24.
The activists locked to the doors wore shirts saying “DC says no to LNG exports” and “Maryland says no to LNG exports,” representing the places they live and their opposition to the Cove Point liquid natural gas (LNG) export facility and liquefaction plant proposed to be built by Dominion Energy in Southern Maryland. The front doors were successfully blocked for two and a half hours. Eventually, the blockaders were cut out by the police, processed on site, and issued a misdemeanor charge and a $50 ticket.
ANGA is a strong supporter of the planned Cove Point project. One of ANGA’s members, Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation, signed a 20-year agreement to supply the Cove Point facility with fracked gas from across the northeastern US.
“ANGA is the problem, smoothing the way for the gas industry to run ramshod over the health and well-being of the rest of us,” said Donny Williams, one of the activists blocking the doors. “Fracking cannot be performed without the toxic mix of chemicals it uses eventually finding their way to the water table. Our politicians and decision-makers know this, but ANGA exists to help them turn a blind eye.”
“The proposed Cove Point project would be destructive to the entire region, from Cove Point itself in Calvert County, through the compressor stations that would feed it, and all the way through to the Marcellus Shale that would be fracked more heavily once the price of natural gas rises due to exports,” added Jesse Schulz, the other Chesapeake EF! activist attached to ANGA’s doors.
Chesapeake Earth First! is a local faction of a global no-compromise environmental movement. Working throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, Chesapeake Earth First! has been primarily focusing on stopping natural gas and coal exports from the mid-Atlantic. Increasingly, exports are the component that is funding horrendous energy extraction practices like mountaintop removal coal mining and widespread fracking.
More than 30 groups from around the US and the world are involved in the Rise Together mobilization. Halfway through its time period, Rise Together events have included blocking coal trains in the Northern Rockies, conducting a sit-in in a US congressman’s office in Rhode Island and holding a camp in Pennsylvania to teach skills to better organize against fracking where it happens.
For more information, visit risetogether.us.