A small victory! As much as Kinder Morgan
wishes to turn Milford, PA into a nineteenth century company town,
residents still can't be guilty of trespass on public land. In a victory
for Pike County's rural heritage, I was found not guilty today of trespassing for my March 4th parking job blockade of the Tennessee Pipeline access road in the Delaware State Forest.
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The
Tennessee Pipeline Northeast Upgrade Project currently under
construction will serve as the main artery to transport Marcellus Shale
gas obtained through hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" out of
northeast Pennsylvania.
When complete, it will give incentive for
thousands more fracked wells to be drilled throughout our region, each
requiring millions of gallons of water, thousands of gallons of toxic
chemicals, tons of dangerous silica sand, five acres of cleared land for
well pads, gathering lines, staging areas, and access roads, compressor
stations, dehydrator stations, and waste disposal of toxic liquids and
solids.
Kinder Morgan is the third largest energy company in the
country after Chevron and Exxon, founded by Richard Kinder, Texas oil and gas tycoon and former
president of Enron.
Rifle Range Road in the Delaware State Forest
leads to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline right of way. It is being used for
tree clearing and dredging of the headwater wetlands for Pinchot Brook,
named for former Pennsylvania governor Gifford Pinchot, father of the
American Conservation movement, first head of the Department of
Forestry.
The Pinchot family made their homestead in Milford
where Gifford founded the Yale School of Forestry and staged his
opposition to the Big Timber industry for chopping trees faster than
they could regenerate. The Pinchot Brook wetland is designated core
habitat for endangered species and the Pike County Natural Heritage
Inventory recommends that no trees be cleared within 328 feet to filter
runoff.
Just beyond Pinchot Brook, the pipeline right of way
carves through Dimmick Meadow Brook's headwater wetland, which is also
designated core habitat for endangered species under Pennsylvania law
and will also be dredged. Dimmick Meadow Brook originates in the Milford
Experimental Forest, a pilot reforestation project started by Gifford
Pinchot and stewarded by Yale Forestry School students.
Both
Pinchot and Dimmick Meadow Brook wetlands host species of concern
including Halloween pennant and band-winged meadowhawk, dragonfly
species found in a variety of wetland habitats. Mulberry wing is also a
butterfly species found, along with Tussock sedge, the host plant for
this species. A population of marsh bedstraw, a plant species of
concern, is also present as invasive phragmite grasses encroach,
originating from the original Tennessee Pipeline right of way
constructed in the 1950s.
The Delaware State Forest is a valuable
economic engine for Pike County's tourism and recreation industries
that can sustain our way of life here as long as we remain stewards of
the land and prevent the industrialization of our landscape. In fact
Article 1 Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution entitles us to
that right.
"Article 1 Section 27 Natural Resources and the
Public Estate - The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to
the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values
of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the
common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As
trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and
maintain them for the benefit of all the people."
Prior to 7AM, I
parked myself in front of the forest gate, delaying tree crew access for
nearly five hours until state police arrived, at which point I complied
with the officers' order to move my car.
Judge Fischer found
that I can't be charged for trespass in a state forest because it's
public land. Kinder Morgan brought their expensive Philadelphia lawyer
from Saul Ewing partners and four office staff while I was by myself
with a simple Google Map of the area as my defense.
While parked
in the forest, I discovered that both the Lehigh Valley and Port Jervis,
NY country stations have great reception and promptly blasted Jason
Aldean's "Dirt Road Anthem" for the pipeliners to enjoy on their
arrival. I have great respect for the men who work hard and follow
pipeline projects across the country to feed their families. All of them
were paid for the day's work during the delay.
I've labored away
at many jobs myself and I hope that working people will organize to
shift our economy so that temporary pipeline projects to supply finite
energy are retired in favor of permanent, family sustaining jobs that
don't require us to destroy our health, our communities' health, or our
environment.
After the hearing, I went back to the forest gate
where I sighted an otter on the pipeline access road who must be
enjoying the stocked trout in nearby Lily Pond. We commiserated over the
audacity of humans to destroy the natural resources that sustain us. I
think Gifford Pinchot would agree.