Construction Zone photo from Carah Ronan

Stop the Gaslighting

What does home mean to you? For me, it’s the peepers singing (very loudly) on spring nights. Or the way I know all the sides of the bowl of mountains that surround my house. Or the way the sun sets at 4:30 in the afternoon on cold December days. Really, think. Close your eyes even. Where is home?

For Carah Ronan, home is Laurel, MT. Home is a place where everyone knows everyone, where the Yellowstone and Clarks Fork rivers converge into a haven for wild animals, and where farming is a way of life.

Unfortunately, her home is now being torn up by the utility company we share, NorthWestern Energy. NorthWestern Energy, the main utility in Montana, is trying to build a new methane gas plant in Laurel, and with that, comes a new pipeline.

The pipeline is going in mere feet from the end of Carah’s driveway, despite massive opposition from the Thiel Road Coalition, a grassroots group of neighbors that came together in response to this threat to their community. Ingrid and I had the honor of speaking with Carah, a member of the coalition, for our May podcast. We hope you’ll give it a listen!
Excavator operating next to farmland
Pastures or pipelines? (Carah Ronan)

You’ll hear from Carah and learn more about Laurel, grassroots organizing, and perhaps above all — the lengths that major corporations will go to to gaslight and silence communities. But wherever we are, we must keep fighting, because as Carah says, “Your community is worth it.”

 

Find Thiel Road Coalition on Instagram here (Facebook linked above).

Stack of pipes
Here’s to hoping these pipes don’t make it in the ground (Carah Ronan)

Here’s to hoping this pipe never makes it in the ground (Carah Ronan)

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