People Over Pipelines

That’s right folks– this past week saw people power successfully stop not one, not two, but three pipelines around the world. Each has their own group of impressive people behind them, their own story, their own way of stopping the fossil fuel industry in their tracks for the moment. And for the most part, they aren’t unmitigated victories, yet they remain inspiring!

A little more about #StopCambo: This campaign was launched to stop Shell from developing the Cambo oil field off the coast of Scotland. It received a ton of attention during the COP26 talks in Glasgow, and also when the young and tenacious Laura MacDonald confronted the Shell CEO at a TED Talk. After months of sustained criticism, Shell backed out of developing the oil field, claiming it no longer made economic sense at the moment. Unfortunately, another oil and gas company could still take Shell’s place and still develop Cambo, but this definitely takes the wind out of the sails for this project (in a good way!). 

Okay, onto #StopMVP: MVP stands for Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is supposed to carry natural gas and run north-south through West Virginia and Virginia. It’s a little over 90% complete, but has faced years of staunch opposition from across Virginia and West Virginia. Thus far, said opposition has only resulted in delays, but recently, the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board denied a permit to build a compressor station (“key infrastructure”) on the pipeline due to concerns about adding more pollution to already polluted communities. In other words, it was motivated over concerns about environmental justice, as we talked about last week! Anyways, another step forward for the climate movement!

Finally, the Jordan Cove Energy Project was supposed to be centered around a natural gas pipeline in Oregon and California. After landowners, environmental groups, tribes, and the State of Oregon successfully convinced a federal court to ask Pembina, the oil and gas company, for “updated briefs,” Pembina pulled out of the project. As one person closely involved in the campaign said, this victory “shows that when our communities come together to stand up for our homes, we can win.”

So, to keep building off of the successes of these campaigns, here are some other anti-fossil-fuel actions you can get involved in this week:

• Learn about the ongoing campaign to protect Wet’suwet’en territory in BC, Canada here and sign a petition to call for solidarity with the land protectors. 
• Remember Enbridge Line 3 in MN? Well there’s an Enbridge Line 5 in Michigan that can still be stopped: sign a petition here, and another one here! 
• Sign up as a volunteer for Food & Water Watch to help get others out to important elections or rallies. 

Thanks for following along!