Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Activists protest UBS Bank partake in Puerto Rico debt crisis


>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<



New York, NY - Activist and advocacy groups such as the Hedge Clippers, Vamos4PR, New York Communities for Change, Make the Road NY, Organize Now, and members of the Puerto Rican community in New York City held a demonstration outside UBS Bank Headquarters in midtown Manhattan as part of the Multi-City protests against banks behind debt crisis and against the First Promesa Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

UBS and Citigroup among Wall Street firms that made millions just in fees alone after making Puerto Rico borrow more to pay for existing debt.

On International Vulture Awareness Week, Hedge Clippers is sounding the alarm on vulture funds and banks already on the hunt to try to use the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) for their own benefit.  Many of these investors are convening in San Juan on Wednesday, during the first Promesa Conference to strategize on how they would bank on the law signed by President Obama to restructure Puerto Rico’s debt.  

The chairman of the First Promesa Conference, Mr. Francisco J. Rodriguez-Castro, is a former official at UBS, one of many Wall Street firms on the list of Puerto Rico’s biggest predators according to a new report to be released Wednesday by ReFund America Project.

#2016 #austerity #Colonialism #CorporateGreed #DebtCrisis #EconomicInequality #FeedThePoor #HedgeClippers #HedgeFunds #MakeTheRoadNY #manhattan #neocolonialism #NewYork #NotForSale #NYC #NYCC #PRcall2action #PROMESA #PuertoRico #TaxShelter #TaxTheRich #UBS #UBSbank #VultureCapitalism

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK
Eight Immigration Activists arrested at Trump Tower shutdown 

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<




In the middle of the anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, immigrant communities highlight the hypocrisy of Donald Trump by reminding the country that undocumented workers were hired to build the Trump Tower over 35 years ago.

Over a hundred members of immigrant communities and allies held a public demonstration outside the Trump Tower in Manhattan to confront Donald Trump and reclaim dignity. A total of eight demonstrators were arrested after shutting down Trump Tower by chaining themselves to the doors and blocking the revolving doors at the Fifth Avenue entrance.

#2016 #Activism #arrests #BuiltByUs #CrushTrump #DonaldTrump #DumpTrump #HardLock #HechoPorInmigrantes #humanrights #immigration #LoveTrumpsHate #manhattan #MovimientoCosecha #NewYork #NoHumanIsIlegal #NYC #NYPD #Protest #rally #ReclaimDignity #revolution #‎Solidarity #trump #TrumpTower #undocumented

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK

Monday, August 29, 2016

Spectra Pipeline Interfaith Vigil 
(for Senator Schumer)


Senator Charles Schumer spoke out in May against Spectra Energy's dangerous and irresponsible construction of the Algonquin Incremental Market Expansion pipeline through Rockland, Westchester, and Putnam Counties. This 42" pipeline will carry high-pressure fracked gas within 105 feet of critical safety infrastructure at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. Spectra Energy is working around-the-clock to drill and pull the pipe under our beautiful Hudson River, to be operational by November 1. 

Spectra's plans threaten our homes — at their best, sites of comfort, strength, and love. Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to halt construction of the pipeline, and FERC is ignoring them. As a politician poised to lead after November's election, and a friend of the FERC Chairman Norman Bay, we trust Senator Schumer can do more to defend his home and ours. We cannot rest until this construction stops. 

In gratitude for his statement, and with expectation of further action, people of all faiths and none gathered together for an interfaith prayer vigil outside of Sen. Schumer's apartment building. 

#Activism #ActOnClimate #AIMpipeline #Brooklyn #ChuckSchumer #ClimateChange #climatejustice #EnergyDemocracy #FERC #FossilFree #Fracking #KeepItIntheGround #Methane #NewYork #NoPipelines #ResistAIM #ResistAIMpipeline #SaneEnergyProject #SaneSolutions #SAPE #SenatorSchumer #SEnRG #‎Solidarity #SpeakUpChuck #SpectraEnergy #SpectraPipeline #StopAIMpipeline #StopSpectra #TakeActionChuck #Vigil ‪#‎weareallconnected‬ #WeSayNo #YOUAREHERE

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK
Eight activists arrested after shutting down National Grid offices in Brooklyn


Brooklyn, NY - A total of eight arrests were reported after concerned New Yorkers blocked the doors of National Grid’s downtown Brooklyn office at noon on Monday, August 29 to protest their support of Spectra Energy’s AIM Pipeline, a high-pressure methane gas pipeline that will bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania to New England. Members of 350Brooklyn.org, 350NYC.org, and ResistAIM  came together to demand that National Grid end their contract agreement with Spectra Energy. The pipeline’s route runs 105 feet from infrastructure critical to the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in New York’s Westchester County. 

Both elected officials and local residents have repeatedly raised concerns about the pipeline’s safety.  This past February, Governor Andrew Cuomo asked the pipeline’s builder, Spectra Energy Corp of Texas, to suspend the project pending an independent safety analysis. “The safety of New Yorkers is the first responsibility of state government," Cuomo said in making the request.  In May, New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has jurisdiction over the pipeline, to halt construction pending such a study. Spectra Energy and FERC have denied the governor’s and the senators’ requests.

The AIM (Algonquin Incremental Market) pipeline is designed solely to deliver natural gas to New England; New York is simply a “pass through” state.  The pipeline will enter New York in Rockland County, pass under the Hudson River, and then cross Westchester County en route to Connecticut. Built in the 1970s, Indian Point Nuclear Power complex remains active and contains decades of spent radioactive nuclear fuel, while over 17 million people live within 50 miles of Indian Point. National Grid, a British multinational, expanded into the United States beginning in 2000 by buying a number of local utilities in New England and New York, including the successor to Brooklyn Union Gas.  It is a major potential customer for the natural gas that the AIM pipeline would transport to New England and so has the power to determine the financial viability of this project. Last week, National Grid withdrew its petition for a 20-year contract on Spectra’s Access Northeast project; however, National Grid is still expected to purchase gas flowing through the AIM Pipeline and so activists in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York are continuing to call on National Grid to cancel the contract.

The AIM pipeline is scheduled to be completed in November 2016, which calls for immediate action. On Monday evening, following the arrests at National Grid, concerned New Yorkers are gathering at the Brooklyn home of Senator Charles Schumer to encourage him to stand with New Yorkers by making a public appearance to denounce the pipeline and calling for a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - more details can be found HERE.

350.org is a national organization working to keep carbon in the ground and to build a new, more equitable low-carbon economy.  Its affiliates like 350NYC and 350Brooklyn work on local issues related to climate change. 

ResistAIM is a coalition of environmental advocates, Westchester residents and concerned New Yorkers that have been taking nonviolent direct action to stop the AIM Pipeline since November 2015.

#350BK #350NYC #Activism #ActOnClimate #AIMpipeline #arrests #Brooklyn #CancelTheContracts #ChuckSchumer #ClimateChange #climatejustice #ConEdison #Cuomo #EnergyDemocracy #FERC #FossilFree #Fracking #KeepItIntheGround #KristenGillibrand #Methane #NatGrid8 #NationalGrid #NewYork #NoPipelines #rally #ResistAIM #ResistAIMpipeline #SaneEnergyProject #SaneSolutions #SAPE #SenatorGillibrand #SenatorSchumer #SEnRG #‎Solidarity #SpeakUpChuck #SpectraEnergy #SpectraPipeline #StopAIMpipeline #StopSpectra #TakeActionChuck ‪#‎weareallconnected‬ #WeSayNo #YOUAREHERE

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Advocates of Brazilian democracy in the eastern United States gather in New York City to demand the reinstatement of president Dilma Rousseff

>>CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS<<


New York, August 25, 2016: Disguised under anti-corruption claims and overshadowed by the Olympic Games, the final stage of Rousseff’s impeachment process is the Senate hearings currently taking place in Brasilia. President Rousseff will address the Senate on Monday, August 29 to defend herself and to denounce the hearings as a parliamentary maneuver. Supporters of the Brazilian democratic regime travel to New York to demand the reinstatement of President Dilma Rousseff to office.

The action in New York is organized by Brazilian Expats for Democracy, a Washington D.C. group, and Defend Democracy in Brazil, of New York City and will gather individuals from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The event this Sunday is a joint initiative of groups throughout the world that demand that impeachment proceedings be terminated and that the vote of fifty-four million Brazilians be honored.

Since May, the interim government has terminated many cultural, educational, health care and social programs under the false pretense of fiscal austerity. However, in order to secure his position at the helm of Brazilian government, illegitimate interim president Temer has approved substantial raises to judges and legislators. This coup is a clear attempt on Brazilian sovereignty. Temer has already privatized major oil wells and has clearly stated his intention of putting Brazil for sale. One third of the 81 Senators deciding DIlma Rousseff’s fate as Brazilian President have been accused of corruption, some of them, including Temer could not even run for office in general elections due to corruption charges.

Artists , politics and academics across the globe have denounced the current scenario in Brazil as a coup and a clear attempt on the well being of Brazilian Nationals. Names like Harry Bellafonte, Bernie Sanders, Noam Chomsky, Oliver Stone, Allan Cumming, Ken Loach, Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, James Green(Brown University), Glenn Greenwald, have echoed their support for president Rousseff and called for her reinstatement in an open letter.

#Activism #BrazilianCoup #CallitaCoup #DefendDemocracyinBrazil #Dilma #EstamosVendo #ForaTemer #GloboGolpe #GolpistasNaCadeia #GolpistasNãoPassarão #MidiaCoup #NewYork #NovelaSádica #NYC #OGolpe #RestoreDemocracy #SenadoVoteNão #‎Solidarity #StoptheCoupInBrazil #TaTendoLuta #TemerOut #VoltaDilma

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK
22nd Annual Nicholas Heyward, Jr. Day of Remembrance


CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS

Honoring the life of Brooklynite, honor student Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr., whose life was stolen by NYPD in September of 1994. Come support and enjoy a day of creativity with the Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Memorial Foundation as we celebrate and honor, what would have been Nicholas's 35th Birthday !

This event is co- sponsored by The Legacy Eric Garner Left Behind.

Music by Masters of Sounds!

Live Performances by Spiritchild and Urban Art Beat, Ty Black, Peace Poets, Aidge and more!

Basketball Games SHOOT HOOPS NOT GUNS ( TEAM NICHOLAS ) vs HOOPS FOR JUSTICE ( SHANTEL & KIMANI ) * Arts & Crafts * Children’s Games * Voter Reg * Toy Guns for Books Exchange

Social Justice Tables by October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Stop Mass Incarceration, Picture The Homeless, NYC Shut It Down, Cop Watch, and others.

#2016 #ACAB #Activism #basketball #BlackLivesMatter #BlueLivesMurder #BrokenWindows #Brooklyn #Copwatch #EndBrokenWindows #‎EndPoliceBrutality‬ #EndPoliceTerror #FTP #GowanusHouses #HoopsForJustice #JailKillerCops #KilledByNYPD #NewYork #NicholasHeywardJr #‎NoJusticeNoPeace #NoRacistPolice #NYC #NYC‬‎ShutItDown #PoliceBrutality ‎#PowerToThePeople #ProsecuteNYPD #racism #SafetyBeyondPolicing #SayTheirNames #ShootHoopsNotGuns #‎Solidarity #stillnojustice #StopMassIncarceration #StylingOnEm #TakeBackOurCommunities ‪#‎ThisStopsToday

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK

Saturday, August 27, 2016

NYC: The 2nd Annual Indonesian Street Festival

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS


The Indonesian Consulate in New York and ISF 2016 Committee invites to participate in this year’s celebration of the 71'st Indonesia's Independence Day. Eat, play and love in this festival as food vendors bring authentic Indonesian cuisines from across the archipelago, various workshops and entertainment as well as door prizes all afternoon for everyone enjoyment. The 2nd Annual Indonesian Street Festival (ISF) 2016 in Manhattan brings the sights, sounds and smells of the largest archipelago on earth. Bali & Beyond will be this year theme.

#Bali #BaliAndBeyond #ErikMcGregor #Indonesia #IndonesianStreetFestival #ISF2016 #manhattan #newyork #NYC #Photography #StreetFair #StreetFestival

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK
Controversial Spectra gas pipeline to go under the Hudson River

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS


Texas based company Spectra Energy prepares to drag its 42-inch diameter, high pressure, fracked-methane gas pipeline under the Hudson River adjacent to Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, while residents and advocacy groups engage on an ongoing effort to stop Spectra Energy from constructing their massive Algonquin Incremental Market Expansion project highlighting the safety and health hazard risks of having a 42-inch diameter, high pressure, fracked-methane gas pipeline adjacent to Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant and through residential areas right outside their homes.

#Activism #AIMpipeline #ChuckSchumer #ClimateChange #Cuomo #FERC #FossilFree #Fracking #Gillibrand #KristenGillibrand #Methane #newyork #NoPipelines #ResistAIM #ResistAIMpipeline #RobAstorino #Schumer #SenatorGillibrand #SenatorSchumer #SpeakUpChuck #StateOfEmergency #StopAIMpipeline #SpectraEnergy #SpectraPipeline #StopSpectra #TakeActionChuck #TexasEastern #WeSayNo 

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE

WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK

Friday, August 26, 2016

Three singers arrested as Spectra Pipeline faces opposition

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS


Chorus of singers stand by the waters of the Hudson as workers begin pulling AIM pipeline under the river in Verplanck, NY – Early this morning as Spectra Energy prepared to drag its 42-inch diameter, high pressure, fracked-methane gas pipeline under the Hudson River adjacent to Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, a chorus of more than 30 singers came down 11th Street and sang to the drilling site, three of whom were arrested while blocking the entrance to the site. 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 Nuclear Power Plant. Concerned residents have pointed out that Spectra Energy has already damaged water mains in Cortlandt. On August 11th, Spectra Energy’s blasting damaged water infrastructure and left Cortlandt residents without water during a 90-degree day. “If we can’t trust Spectra Energy with a water main,” asked Peekskill resident Courtney Williams, “Why are we trusting them with the Hudson River?” 

Lack of water isn’t the only water problem Spectra is causing. In Blue Mountain Reservation and other locations across Westchester County, Spectra’s trenches have filled with water. As the pipeline cuts across sensitive wetlands the route looks more like a canal than a pipeline - standing water fills the trenches and Spectra seems not to care, operating equipment submerged. Residents have reached out to the Westchester County Health Department to report the standing water, which can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitos. 

Spectra Energy's planned expansion of the Algonquin Pipeline has faced a series of setbacks in recent weeks, including: the revelation that the Natural Resources Group (NRG) the company hired by FERC to conduct the environmental assessment of AIM, had a financial relationship with Spectra; the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's overturning a ratepayer "pipeline tax" to pay for construction of the pipeline; and theuncertain future of a planned power plant that is supposed to use gas from the pipeline. Just this week, two major backers of Spectra’s overall expansion plan – Eversource and National Grid – withdrew their 20-year purchasing agreements, in what many are calling a major setback for Spectra Energy’s plans to expand its Algonquin Pipeline network. 

Today’s chorus is the latest development in an ongoing effort to stop Spectra Energy from constructing their massive Algonquin Incremental Market Expansion project. On August 3rd, both New York Senators wrote to FERC, calling for an immediate halt to construction of the pipeline; FERC has so far ignored the Senators’ request. Earlier, 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. FERC has the legal authority to issue a stop work order, yet continues to ignore elected officials' calls for protection of public safety. Residents and advocates are calling on Senator Schumer to use his influence to stop the pipeline once and for all, and will be following today’s action with an interfaith vigil at his house in Brooklyn on Monday evening.

#Activism #ActOnClimate #AIM #AIMpipeline #arrests #BeyondExtremeEnergy #BXE #CFOW #CharlesSchumer #ChuckSchumer #cleanenergy #ClimateChange #climatejustice #Cuomo #EnergyDemocracy #energyefficiency #FERC #FossilFree #Fracking #Gillibrand #HudsonRiver #HudsonRiverTrio #KeepItIntheGround #KristenGillibrand #Methane #newyork #NoPipelines #Photography #ResistAIM #ResistAIMpipeline #RobAstorino #SaneEnergyProject #SaneSolutions #SAPE #Schumer #SenatorGillibrand #SenatorSchumer #SEnRG #‎Solidarity #SpeakUpChuck #SpectraPipeline #StateOfEmergency #StopAIMpipeline #StopGasExports #StopSpectra #TakeActionChuck ‪#‎weareallconnected‬ #WeSayNo #YOUAREHERE

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963


PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

NYC: Animal rights groups protest NYBC main donor


CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS



NYCLASS, Animals Battalion and TheirTurn are holding a protest at MetLife Plaza in Midtown New York until MetLife uses its power as the New York Blood Center's largest corporate donor to restore funding for the abandoned chimps, exposing the New York Blood Center's lack of compassion and reckless disregard to the 66 chimpanzees they abandoned. 

People who work in the MetLife building and other buildings in the vicinity are becoming increasingly frustrated at the sight and sound of the animal rights activists in the public plaza where they relax and eat lunch. 

The undeterred protesters will continue their campaign until MetLife stops bankrolling the NY Blood Center and demands that it reinstate funding for the 66 chimps who they abandoned with no food on islands in Liberia. After years of being used for medical experiments, lab chimpanzees in Liberia and Ivory Coast have been abandoned by New York Blood Center, an organization with assets of $450 million. The chimps are in danger of dehydration and starvation and are reliant on humans to survive.

#2016 #AbandonedChimpanzees #Activism #AnimalAbuse #animalcruelty #AnimalRights #AnimalsBattalion #chimpanzee #ErikMcGregor #GovernorPaterson #MetLife #newyork #NewYorkBloodCenter #NYBC #NYBCdoTheRightThing #NYC #NYCLASS #Photography #SaveTheChimps #‎Solidarity #TheirTurn

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963


PLEASE


WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO 
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT OUR WORK

Sunday, August 21, 2016

NYC: Black and Brown communities unite against police terror

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS


Members of the Indigenous, Brown and Latinx community and the Black Lives Matter movement in New York gathered at Marcus Garvey Park on August 21rst to demand an end to police terror, and remember the many brown/indigenous/latinx victims of police brutality in their community while the media has chosen not say a word about them. The groups are demanding justice for Noel Aguilar, Anthony Nuñez, Phil Quinn, Sarah Lee Circle Bear, Melissa Ventura and many more. The community marched throughout Upper Manhattan in their names and demand that the police and state be held accountable for their murders. 

‪#‎ACAB‬ ‪#‎Activism‬ ‪#‎Ayotzinapa‬ ‪#‎BlackandBrownUnity‬ ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ ‪#‎BlueLivesMurder‬ ‪#‎BrokenWindows‬ ‪#‎Copwatch‬ ‪#‎EndPoliceTerror‬ ‪#‎FTP‬ ‪#‎IndigenousLivesMatter‬ ‪#‎JailKillerCops‬ ‪#‎KilledByPolice‬ ‪#‎newyork‬ ‪#‎NoJusticeNoPeace‬ ‪#‎NoRacistPolice‬ ‪#‎NYC‬ ‪#‎NYPD‬ ‪#‎PoliceAccountability‬ ‪#‎PoliceBrutality‬ ‪#‎PoliceKillings‬ ‪#‎ProsecuteNYPD‬ ‪#‎racism‬ ‪#‎SafetyBeyondPolicing‬ ‪#‎SayTheirNames‬ ‪#‎ShutItDownNYC‬ ‪#‎Solidarity‬ ‪#‎stillnojustice‬

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



WE ALL ARE NON PROFITS THAT KEEP DOING OUR WORK 
OUT OF THE KIND DONATIONS FROM PEOPLE THAT APPRECIATE 
AND SUPPORT THE WORK WE DO

Thursday, August 18, 2016

New Yorkers urge Senators to stop AIM Pipeline


CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS


New York, NY – Over 200 people gathered today in front of Senator Charles Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s offices in Manhattan to urge Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, and Governor Cuomo to push harder for a complete halt to construction on the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Pipeline Project. On May 20th the groups convened to thank the Senators for publicly calling for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to halt construction on the project. Since then, FERC has ignored their requests to halt construction in the interest of public safety. Those gathered today said the Senators must act now, and every day as necessary, to force FERC to halt work before the pipeline goes into service in November, going all the way to the White House and President Obama as Commander in Chief of the military. This pipeline poses a unique security risk as it passes a known terrorist target – the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.

Among those present were representatives of numerous organizations that work state-wide, regionally, and nationally, including: Sane Energy Project, Safe Energy Rights Group, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion, and ResistAIM, as well as many angered residents and community members affected by the pipeline construction, and their allies from across the state. The groups are opposed to the project due to concerns about local impacts to health and safety, the regional risk of siting the pipeline next to Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, and global concerns about the fracked methane gas the pipeline will carry contributing to climate change.

This is just the latest development in an ongoing effort to stop Spectra Energy from constructing their massive Algonquin Incremental Market Expansion project only 105 feet from critical safety infrastructure at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. On August 3rd, both New York Senators wrote to FERC, calling for an immediate halt to construction of the pipeline. Earlier, 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. FERC has the legal authority to issue a stop work order, yet continues to ignore elected officials' calls for protection of public safety.

Spectra Energy's planned expansion of the Algonquin Pipeline has faced a series of setbacks in recent weeks from the revelation that the Natural Resources Group (NRG) the company hired by FERC to conduct the environmental assessment of AIM had a financial relationship with Spectra, to the refusal of Massachusetts courts to institute a "pipeline tax" to pay for construction of the pipeline, and the uncertain future of a planned power plant that would use gas from the pipeline.

In addition to actions by the New York elected officials, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Ed Markey have requested rehearings and pressed FERC to address conflicts of interest arising from the third party contractor, NRG, hired to perform the environmental assessment on another part of the AIM pipeline network. Yesterday the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts blocked an effort by Spectra and electric companies to pass the costs of the pipeline construction on to ratepayers, removing a potential $3 billion dollars in "pipeline tax" financing. Rhode Island and Connecticut are also in the pipeline path; Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island and both Senators from Connecticut have so far remained silent on this issue despite objections of their constituents.

FERC is also facing legal pressure to halt construction. The City of Boston, the Town of Dedham, MA, and a coalition of groups from New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts have filed a lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia seeking to overturn FERC's approval of the AIM pipeline. The briefs site a variety of issues, from a faulty risk assessment of siting the pipeline adjacent to the nuclear power plant, to violations of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Spectra Energy’s proposed AIM Pipeline is a high-pressure, 42-inch diameter methane gas pipeline that 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 Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant safety facilities. Just last April, Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern line erupted in a giant explosion due to pipeline corrosion, and New Yorkers fear what an explosion of this magnitude could mean in such close proximity to Indian Point. Over the last several years, communities along the pipeline route, as well as their local elected officials, have risen up against the pipeline, and now they are counting on New York Senators and Governor to escalate their objections and stop this dangerous project.

#Activism #AIM #AIMpipeline #AndrewCuomo #CharlesSchumer #ChuckSchumer #ClimateChange #climatejustice #Cuomo #energyefficiency #FERC #FossilFree #Fracking #GovernorCuomo #KeepItIntheGround #KristenGillibrand #Methane #newyork #NoPipelines #PressConference #ResistAIM #ResistAIMpipeline #SAPE #SenatorGillibrand #SenatorSchumer #SEnRG #‎Solidarity #SpectraEnergy #SpectraPipeline #StopAIMpipeline #StopSpectra ‪#‎weareallconnected‬ #WeSayNo

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963





PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING MY WORK

Monday, August 15, 2016

NYC: Black Lives Matter take the streets for India Beaty

Click here for more photos


India Beaty was shot and killed by Norfolk police on Saturday, March 19, 2016. Norfolk Police were staking out an Ocean View parking lot doing an undercover operation. Police claim that they saw India Beaty who was not involved in their investigation pull a gun on an unarmed man. They shot her without any warning or even announcing themselves. 25-year-old India Beaty had a non-firing replica handgun. She died at the scene where police murdered her. 

India's father McKinley Beaty Sr., and her sister, Kendra Beaty, said they don’t believe India had a gun. “Her automatic reaction would have been to drop and say ‘it’s not real.’ She would not have gone to jail over a toy gun,” her sister said.

#Fact: Virginia is an Open Carry State

Every Monday since January 2015, NYC Shut It Down has taken to the streets of NYC, forcing attention to the ever-growing Black Lives Matter movement and the struggle for Black liberation. Through our weekly ‪#‎PeoplesMonday‬ actions, NYC Shut It Down highlights different cases of police brutality against people of color.

#ACAB #Activism #BlackLivesMatter #BrokenWindows #Copwatch #‎EndPoliceBrutality‬ #EndPoliceTerror #FTP #IndiaBeaty ‪#‎indictamerica‬ #JailKillerCops #KilledByPolice #newyork #‎NoJusticeNoPeace #NoRacistPolice #NYC #PeoplesMonday #PoliceBrutality ‎#PowerToThePeople #ProsecuteNYPD #racism #SafetyBeyondPolicing #SayTheirNames #‎ShutItDownNYC‬ #‎Solidarity #stillnojustice #TakeBackOurCommunities ‪#‎ThisStopsToday

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963



PLEASE SUPPORT MY WORK

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Seven arrests at Jews for Black Lives protest

Click here for more photos


As the Jewish community in NYC approach Tisha b’Av, JFREJ — led by the Jews of Color Caucus — along with hundreds of neighbors and advocacy groups, held an action and vigil in support of Black Lives Matter to demand an end to police violence against People of Color and the passage of the Right To Know Act in the New York City Council. 

Seven members of the Jews of Color Caucus were arrested on a sit-in, blocking traffic in front of the NYPD 9th Precinct in the West Village to mark  the culmination of the Jews4BlackLives month of action. 

In the Three Weeks leading to Tisha b’Av (a Jewish day of mourning) hundreds of members of the Jewish community in New York have turned out to the streets to protest and demand racial justice and police accountability. 

#2016 #Activism #BlackLivesMatter #BradLander #BrokenWindows #EndPoliceTerror #EndWhiteSilence #EndWhiteSupremacy #JailKillerCops #Jews4BlackLives #JFREJ #newyork #NoRacistPolice #NYC #NYPD #PoliceAccountability #PoliceBrutality #ProsecuteNYPD #racism #RightToKnowAct #SafetyBeyondPolicing #SayTheirNames #SHUTITDOWN #‎Solidarity #stillnojustice #TakeBackOurCommunities ‪#‎ThisStopsToday

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963‬



SUPPORT MY PHOTOGRAPHY WORK