Blog moved to ErikMcGregor.com : October 2016

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Four arrested at TD Bank New Jersey Headquarters as activists protest TD Bank’s Support for Dakota Access Oil Pipeline

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - Shortly before noon, activists with Food & Water Watch, NJ Industrial Union Council and the Green Party of NJ entered the corporate headquarters of TD Bank in Mount Laurel for a demonstration calling on CEO Mike Pedersen to withdraw the bank’s financial support of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Activists were arrested as they sat in prayer for the hundreds of tribes and thousands of water protectors who have been resisting pipeline construction.

The $3.8 billion, 1,100 mile Dakota Access Pipeline would send 570,000 barrels of fracked oil per day from the Bakken shale fields of North Dakota to Peoria, Illinois. The risk of a pipeline spill into the Missouri River threatens the drinking water source for the Standing Rock Sioux and 8 million people living downstream.

“Not only does this pipeline break the sacred laws of nature, by backing the project without the prior and informed consent of the Sioux Nation, TD Bank violates it’s own code of corporate responsibility, and the US Government breaks federal law. The land where the Dakota Access Pipeline would cut under the Missouri River is Lakotah land, belonging to the Great Sioux Nation as stipulated by Article VI of the U. S. Constitution.” - Dr. Margo Simmons, Cherokee/Shawnee/Lakotah/African-American and Green Party of NJ Member.

For months now, a national spotlight has been shining on the aggressive response from law enforcement and their treatment of largely Native American peaceful protesters at Standing Rock. On September 3rd The Standing Rock Sioux Nation identified a location near Cannonball, North Dakota as a recently discovered ancient burial site and made a court filing with the US Government to protect it on September 3. Within hours, employees of Energy Transfer Partners showed up – flanked by private security and guard dogs – and bulldozed the site. As peaceful water protectors gathered at the site, attack dogs were unleashed, injuring six, and an additional 30 protesters, including children, were sprayed with pepper spray. In all, more than 260 people have reportedly been arrested since the protests began in Morton County — over 100 this weekend alone.

“We are here to show our respect for indigenous rights, both human as well as the rights of land and water. We denounce the actions of TD Bank and others who continue to fund the pipeline because it is not only unnecessary, but an insult to our humanity.” Carol Gay, President, NJ Industrial Union Council

In August, TD Bank signed on to a $2.5 billion loan to fund the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Since less than half of this money has been distributed so far, TD and other banks still have time to cut the line of credit for the project.

By continuing to fund DAPL, TD Bank is putting their own profits before the safety and well-being of millions of people.

Today's action targeting TD Bank was done in solidarity with the hundreds of tribes and thousands of water protectors taking peaceful, non-violent direct action to stop the Dakota Access pipeline.

#arrests #CivilDisobedience #climateaction #ClimateChange #climatejustice #DakotaAccess #DakotaAccessPipeline #DefendTheSacred #demonstration #FossilFree #indigenous #IndigenousRights #KeepItIntheGround #MountLaurel #NewJersey #NoDAPL #PeacefulProtest #PeacefulResistance #Protest #StandingRock #StandWithStandingRock #TDbank #TDdivest #WaterDefenders #WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors ‪#‎weareallconnected

PLEASE

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Fifteen arrests outside Senator Charles Schumer’s office in Manhattan as activists urge him to stop the Spectra AIM Pipeline

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<

New York City - People from all over the state are rising up to demand action from Senator Charles Schumer to stop the construction of a high pressure, fracked-gas pipeline that poses a major threat to more than 20 million people. New Yorkers rallied to demand action from Senator Charles Schumer to stop the construction of a high pressure, fracked-gas pipeline that poses a major threat to more than 20 million people. Two hundred and fifty people gathered outside Senator Schumer’s offices in Manhattan and heard from health professionals, indigenous leaders and residents of the Hudson Valley where the pipeline is being built. Fifteen people were arrested after refusing to leave unless Senator Schumer took action in an act of non-violent civil disobedience. Allied organizations held solidarity actions calling for a halt to Spectra’s AIM pipeline at Senator Schumer’s offices in Peekskill, Rochester, Binghamton, Albany, Long Island, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Washington DC. Groups in Massachusetts, where the pipeline is also being built, gathered to pressure Senators Markey and Warren. No arrests reported in other locations.

Several groups read a statement from Courtney Williams, a Peekskill resident whose home and children’s school is in the blast radius of the pipeline. “Senator Schumer, I speak on behalf of the HUNDREDS of people at every one of your offices in New York and the millions threatened by this pipeline: You must stop making excuses for your inaction. Spectra's AIM Pipeline is a man-made and entirely avoidable disaster in the making and YOU have the power to stop it!” Leigha Eyster, a born-and-raised resident of Yorktown Heights where another section of the pipeline is being built, was present at the rally as well: “I’m here to take a stand against the AIM Pipeline project. It’s a great risk to my community and to New York City as well. We’re here because we need Senator Schumer to act. We need him to go to FERC Commissioner Norman Bay, we need him to go to President Obama, and we need to see action, not just words.”

Spectra Energy’s AIM project is a 42” gas pipeline that is only 105 feet from Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant’s safety infrastructure and 400 feet from an elementary school. Pipelines are prone to accidents. According to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), there were roughly six pipeline incidents every week in the United States in 2015, and the number of pipeline incidents is increasing with newer pipelines. Spectra’s AIM Pipeline poses a serious threat to public health and safety, not only to those who live in the immediate area, but to all New Yorkers. Disaster preparedness and public health experts warn that any plans to address a developing problem with the pipeline or to safely evacuate at risk populations would always be entirely inadequate. There is simply no safe way to put this pipeline into operation.

Furthermore, this project locks us into more fossil fuel use at a time when we must move toward renewable energy for the sake of our climate. We appreciate that Senator Schumer has filed his opposition to this project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). But FERC still has not halted construction. Senator Charles Schumer has the power to STOP the pipeline and must take bold action to do so and to protect New Yorkers. Resist Spectra and allies from across the state are demanding that Senator Schumer go to President Obama, go to his colleagues in the Senate, and hold a public press conference with Senators in other impacted states to demand that FERC issue a “stop work” order.

#Activism #AIMpipeline #AnotherGulf #arrests #ChuckSchumer #CivilDisobedience #ClimateChange #climatejustice #demonstration #FossilFree #Fracking #KeepItIntheGround #Methane #NewYork #NoDAPL #NoPipelines #NothingAlgonquinAboutIt #PeacefulProtest #PeacefulResistance #rally #ResistAIMpipeline #ResistSpectra #SenatorSchumer #‎Solidarity #SpeakUpChuck #SpectraEnergy #SpectraPipeline #StopAIMpipeline #StopSpectra #‎weareallconnected‬ #WeSayNo

PLEASE

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Spectra Energy's Atlantic Bridge Project Public Comment Hearing

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<

The second part of Spectra Energy's illegally segmented Spectra Pipeline is up on the docket. #1 = AIM #2 = Atlantic Bridge and #3 = Access Northeast. Spectra Energy is pretending these are 3 different project to avoid any responsibility for cumulative impacts.

The Atlantic Bridge project is the second of Spectra's impermissibly segmented gas expansion projects on the Algonquin line that runs from Ramapo, NJ to Boston. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is holding a public legislative hearing to receive comments tomorrow night, Oct. 19 at 6:00 p.m. at the Yorktown Community Cultural Center, 1974 Commerce St. in Yorktown Heights, NY 10598. The Atlantic Bridge expansion will carry fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale to New England and on to Canada for export.

New York residents as well as advocacy gruops will ask NYS DEC to reject the permits for the Atlantic Bridge project. The comments can be made either verbally at the hearing or in writing by October 28.

Main reasons given to oppose the Atlantic Bridge project:

-This project which will cause further damage to the NYC watershed, "the largest unfiltered water supply in the nation." The DEC is responsible for protecting the water supply for the 8 million residents of New York City and over one million people in Ulster, Orange, Putnam and Westchester. http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/25599.html

-Spectra has intentionally broken the massive expansion into three separate projects to avoid a full review of cumulative impacts.

-The Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healy, commissioned a study that determined that the Spectra gas pipeline expansions are not needed to meet demand for electricity and the demand can be met "more cheaply and cleanly through energy efficiency and demand response." http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/energy-utilities/reros-infographic.pdf

-The continued expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure undermines New York State Public Service Commission's recent Clean Energy Standard that aims to have New York generate 50% of electricity from renewable energy by 2030.

-The massive buildout of gas infrastructure contributes significantly to climate change due to fugitive methane emissions all along the pipeline system. Methane is not regulated in NY State and it is 86 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2.

#Activism #ActOnClimate #AIM #AIMpipeline #AtlanticBridge #CFOW #ClimateChange #climatejustice #DEC #FERC #FossilFree #Fracking #hearing #KeepItIntheGround #Methane #NewYork #NoPipelines #PublicInput #ResistSpectra #ResistAIMpipeline #SaneEnergyProject #SaneSolutions #SAPE #SEnRG #‎Solidarity #StopAIMpipeline #StopSpectra ‪#‎weareallconnected‬ #WeSayNo #YOUAREHERE

PLEASE

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

NY Activists send a loud message to Senator Chuck Schumer: Stop AIM Pipeline

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<

The League of Conservation Voters is gathering in New York City for "Climate Victory 2016", LCV’s 14th Annual Dinner. The event features special guest Senator Chuck Schumer and honors the Hip Hop Caucus, Rev. Yearwood.

New York residents and advocates are calling on Senator Charles Schumer to use his influence to stop the pipeline once and for all, and will soon be following today’s action with an action at his office.

The grassroots climate activist community does not think that Senator Schumer is stepping up to help fight the Spectra pipeline as much as he needs to. So, the grassroots climate activist community greeted him and the LCV guests as they arrived to the Hilton Midtown Hotel in Manhattan to get their message across by joining their voices to the call to #StopSpectra.

The Spectra Energy AIM Pipeline is a 42-inch diameter, high pressure, fracked-methane gas pipeline going under the Hudson River alongside the aging and failing Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. Spectra Energy’s proposed AIM Pipeline would bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania to New England, despite a report from the Massachusetts Attorney General that shows no need for this gas. In New York, if completed, the AIM Pipeline would carry gas through residential communities and within 105 feet of critical safety facilities at Indian Point, endangering 20 million people in its blast radius.

#Activism #AIMpipeline #CharlesSchumer #ChuckSchumer #ClimateChange #climatejustice #demonstration #FERC #FossilFree #Fracking #Hilton #HiltonMidtown #KeepItIntheGround #Methane #NewYork #NoPipelines #PeacefulProtest #PeacefulResistance #Protest #rally #ResistAIMpipeline #ResistSpectra #SenatorSchumer #‎Solidarity #SpeakUpChuck #SpectraEnergy #SpectraPipeline #StopAIMpipeline #StopSpectra ‪#‎weareallconnected‬ #WeSayNo #WindPower #YOUAREHERE

PLEASE

Sunday, October 16, 2016

HONK NYC for More Gardens! 2016 Lower East Side festival

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<

HONK NYC for More Gardens! 2016 festival is the third annual collaboration between More Gardens! and HONK NYC in support of all that is green & beautiful in New York. Celebrating the rich history of public space, the alchemy of gardeners, the shared experience of neighborhood and community.

SCHEDULE:

12 noon to 2pm: Children's Magical Garden

A kid's craft workshop with Calling All Parties, followed by a tour of the gardens led by Aresh Javadi, and visiting artists, Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band (founders of the original HONK! Festival in Somerville, MA) and La Fanfare Invisible from Paris.

2pm - 4pm: La Plaza Cultural Community Garden

A feast of percussion! Featuring Ricardo Torres and Sambata, The Lower Eastside Girls Club's Seriously Noisy Marching Band, and a workshop at 3pm by Scott Kettner of Maracatu New York.

3pm - 6pm: Tompkins Square Park

Featuring performances by:

Environmental Encroachment (Chicago)

Kings County Pipes & Drums - Brooklyn's very own.

Kenny Wollesen & The Tigers

Le Pompier Poney Club (Marseille, FR) - making their NYC debut.

Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band

plus more surprises!

There are still endangered community gardens in New York City, like the Children’s Magical Garden, where members are currently struggling to save their garden from development. For over a decade, marching bands like Rude Mechanical Orchestra and the Hungry March Band have been a part of the call to action to save these urban treasures and reclaim public space. This year HONK! NYC returns to commemorate the loss of Esperanza Community Garden 15 years ago, celebrate the existence of our secure garden spaces, and once again sound the alarm for those gardens that are fighting for survival.

HONK NYC! is an annual extravaganza of street bands and spectacle. For one fantastic week each October, HONK NYC! presents over a dozen free and ticketed performances in schools, clubs, parks, gardens, galleries and other public spaces across metropolitan New York. Fun, revelry, audience participation and inclusion are the hallmarks of HONK NYC! events. The festival brings together musicians and performers from around the globe who share a passion and dedication for playing and preserving the grassroots tradition of brass and percussion music. HONK NYC! is a spin-off from the decade-strong, Boston-area HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands, the founding fest of a now multi-city network of HONK!s in the U.S., Brazil and Australia.

#2016 #Art #ChildrensMagicalGarden #CommunityGardens #dance #EastVillage #ENSMB #EnvironmentalEncroachment #HONK #HONK2016 #honkfest #HONKNYC #LaFanfareInvisible #LaPlazaCultural #LePompierPoneyClub #LES #LESgirlsclub #LowerEastSide #Maracatu #MoreGardens #Music #NewYork #NYC #Performance #TompkinsSquare

PLEASE

Saturday, October 15, 2016

HONK NYC takes over Harlem!

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<

HONK NYC TAKES OVER HARLEM AGAIN! a raucous night of kick-ass brass, sexy samba and hip shaking latin boogaloo to get those hips shaking. At the infamous Shrine World Music Venue.

Lineup:

8:15 - 9:00 - Environmental Encroachment (Chicago)

9:15 - 10:00 - Paprikata Samba (Samba)

10:15 - 11:00 - Le Pompier Poney Club (Marseille, France)

11:15 - 12am - Spanglish Fly (Latin Boogaloo)

#2016 #Art #dance #EnvironmentalEncroachment #Harlem #HONK #HONK2016 #honkfest #HONKNYC #LePompierPoneyClub #Music #NewYork #NYC #PaprikataSamba #Performance #ShrineWorldMusicVenue #SpanglishFly

PLEASE

Monday, October 10, 2016

Four Protesters crawl and lock inside Spectra Pipeline to stop construction

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<

Verplanck, NY – Early this morning, four water protectors crawled inside lengths of pipeline along the Hudson River to stop Spectra Energy from dragging its 42-inch diameter, high pressure, fracked-methane gas pipeline under the Hudson River alongside the aging and failing Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. Spectra Energy’s proposed AIM Pipeline would bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania to New England, despite a report from the Massachusetts Attorney General that shows no need for this gas. In New York, if completed, the AIM Pipeline would carry gas through residential communities and within 105 feet of critical safety facilities at Indian Point, endangering 20 million people in its blast radius. The water protectors also took this action in solidarity with the Standing Rock Tribe water protectors, and their allies, standing up against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Enbridge, which recently announced that it will purchase Spectra energy, is also a $1.5 billion investor in Dakota Access.

The protectors have been inside the pipeline for more than seven hours and continue to sustain the occupation. Two support people were also arrested on site and charged with criminal trespass; a third support person was arrested on public property merely on suspicion of illegal activity by association.

Today’s action is the latest in an ongoing effort to stop Spectra Energy from constructing their Algonquin Incremental Market Expansion project. On August 3rd, both New York Senators wrote to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), calling for an immediate halt to construction of the pipeline; FERC denied the Senators’ request. On February 29, 2016, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo called for an immediate halt to construction while the state conducts an independent risk assessment, although this review was later revealed to be potentially compromised by gas lobbyists close to Cuomo. FERC also denied the Governor’s request. Without further support from elected officials, residents and advocates took matters into their own hands today to directly stop construction.

FERC has the legal authority to issue a stop work order, yet continues to ignore elected officials' repeated calls to protect public safety. Two weeks ago, more than 180 organizations representing communities across America called on leaders in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold congressional hearings into FERC’s extensive history of bias and abuse, a proposal that has already received positive feedback from Committee Democrats.

This is the zero hour for the pipeline – Spectra Energy wants to run gas through the pipeline by November 1, which means that it has to be stopped now. Residents and advocates are calling on Senator Charles Schumer to use his influence to stop the pipeline once and for all, and will soon be following today’s action with an action at his office.

Four Water Protectors:

Rebecca Berlin, born and raised in Yorktown where the AIM pipeline would connect to the rest of Spectra’s planned pipeline buildout, was one of the protectors who crawled inside the pipe. “Pipelines carrying filthy fossil fuels are putting communities at risk all over the United States - from North Dakota to New York and elsewhere,” she said. “The AIM pipeline must be stopped. Spectra is endangering the community I've lived in my entire life. Spectra is putting our wetlands, our children and our lives in danger in order to make profit from selling Liquid Natural Gas, a finite resource and fossil fuel, overseas. We cannot continue to consume so much of earth's natural resources at the expense of our communities’ well-being. I want to stop Spectra because my community’s health, safety, and wildlife is more important than profit.”

Mackenzie Wilkins said: “Spectra's AIM Pipeline, like the Dakota Access Pipeline, and like all oil and gas lines, is a huge health and safety risk to the communities it passes through. If completed, the line would pass within 150 feet of schools, homes, and the Indian Point nuclear power plant and would lock us into decades more of fracking, water and air contamination, and climate destabilizing methane emissions. I am taking action to support communities along Spectra's Pipeline that are fighting for a more just, sane, and sustainable world.”

Dave Publow said: “There is no reasonable argument for installing a gargantuan gas pipeline--in effect a perpetual pipe bomb--next to a decrepit nuclear power plant. Yet this is what Texas-based Spectra Energy and international Enbridge are doing – neither of these companies have any connection to our community. Also, we have no functioning regulatory structure that places the safety of our community first. FERC is a rubber stamp machine long removed from accountability. The state permitting process is now based on legal trickery and insider deals. And since the system has failed us, we will have to do this ourselves.”

Janet Gonzalez, a Westchester County resident said: "I'm taking action against Spectra because our country is heading into an energy crisis. We imperil our future by depending on a depleting finite resource. Fracked gas, tar sands, and deep water drilling are the bottom of the resource pyramid. We must transition to a post carbon world with renewables. Otherwise, we risk cooking the planet."

Two arrested support people:

Judy Allen: “Putting a 42” pipeline of fracked gas next to a nuclear plant that is a mile from the junction of two earthquake faults in the Hudson River is criminally insane.”

JK Capepa: “Honored to be in solidarity on this Indigenous Peoples' Day with those at Standing Rock and against a company that uses the name Algonquin to continue catastrophic climate change.”

#Activism #ActOnClimate #AIMpipeline #CatskillMountainkeeper, #CivilDisobedience #ClimateChange #climatejustice #Cuomo #EnergyDemocracy #energyefficiency #FERC #FossilFree #Fracking #HardLock #IndianPoint #IndigenousDay #KeepItIntheGround #Methane #NewYork #NoDAPL #NoPipelines #PeacefulProtest #PeacefulResistance #ResistAIMpipeline #ResistSpectra #SaneEnergyProject #SAPE #SEnRG #‎Solidarity #StopAIMpipeline #StopSpectra #WaterProtectors ‪#‎weareallconnected‬ #WeSayNo #YOUAREHERE

PLEASE

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Activist groups protest Wells Fargo unfair practices

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<

A concerned group of New York-based citizens, professionals, activists, artists and groups such as Occu-Evolve, Alternative Banking Group, the Green Party, Revolution Is Sexy, Picture the Homeless, etc., are staging a protest vs Wells Fargo's corporate headquarters for crimes against the American public.

From setting up bogus accounts, to illegally repossessing 413 American solider's cars, to firing 5,300 employees coerced to engaging in fraud against bank customers, the list of fraud and crime is endless -- and this is RETAIL banking, allegedly the boring side of the bank industry. Needless to say, if something can be 'gamed' and 'rigged,' it will.

In the group's opinion, the CEO of Wells Fargo John Stumpf should NOT be allowed to walk into the bank's headquarters with ease, he needs to hear the public's OUTRAGE and get scared that they are outside his company's doors.

#2016 #Art #BigBanks #CorporateGreed #demonstration #NewYork #NYC #Protest #RebelFriends #RevolutionIsSexy #TooBigToFail #UnfairPractices #WellsFargo

PLEASE