[sustainable_tompkins-l] *BREAKING: 4 ACTIVISTS INSIDE SPECTRA PIPELINE in Westchester County

[Maura Stephens]

Today, Indigenous Peoples' Day, marks the beginning of an occupation at 11th 
St. at St. Patrick's Church in Verplank, NY. Four people are inside the Spectra 
Energy "AIM" pipeline right along the Hudson River right now, locked down. They 
are fighting what is probably the most insane fossil fuel project in North 
America, as the pipeline goes under the mighty and still-recovering Hudson 
River and within a few yards of the ancient Indian Point nuclear power plant, 
crossing the train lines running explosive bitumen from the Canadian tar sands 
-- all within the Ramapo seismic fault line! This is in an area inhabited by 
more than 10 million people.

Early this morning, several people were arrested for "criminal trespass" simply 
for being support persons on *public property*. Keep POSTED on the 
ResistSpectra FB Page and Twitter for UPDATES. See below for release and LINKS 
and photos.

Large numbers of people who live and work in the path of the insane Spectra AIM 
pipeline plan to go to Senator Charles Schumer's office on October 26 to insist 
that he get loud and PUSH FERC to STOP SPECTRA.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 10, 2016

PRESS CONTACT:
Nancy Vann, 646-831-5811
resist...@gmail.com

Four Water Protectors Crawl Inside Pipe to Stop Construction of Spectra 
Energy’s AIM Pipeline, More Climb On Top of Pipe
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, defenders take action along the Hudson to halt 
plans to pull AIM pipeline under the river

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.

Updates will be ongoing on ResistSpectra's Facebook Page: 
http://www.facebook.com/resistaim

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.”

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.

[sustainable_tompkins-l] 10/13: How Secure is Our Food Supply in the Face of Climate Change?

[Sandra J. Repp]

How Secure is Our Food Supply in the Face of Climate Change?
Thursday, October 13, 6-8:30 pm
at First Presbyterian Church, 315 N. Cayuga St, Ithaca NY

Free & open to all; Free dinner provided!  This community forum will start at 6 
PM with an Ethiopian Dinner prepared by Addisu Gebre who is involved with the 
Cooperative Extension Food Entrepreneur Network.  At 6:30 PM, keynote speaker 
Mike Hoffman, Director of the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions, 
will speak on the implications of climate on food production and what is likely 
to change.  Evidence is all around us that it is getting warmer and that there 
are more extreme precipitation events having an impact on production.  These 
anticipated changes and greater variability in the weather will make it more 
challenging for those who grow our food, locally to globally.  After the 
presentation, the audience will be invited to brainstorm ideas for increasing 
food security in our community given the climate change trends.

Please pre-register 
HERE
 so we know how many people to expect or contact Holly Payne  
ho...@greenstar.coop or (607) 
229-3540   
www.hotpotatopress.org
For more information, contact Monika Roth at CCE-Tompkins, 
m...@cornell.edu or (607) 
272-2292
Feel free to "like" this event on FaceBook and invite your friends, right 
here!

The event is co-sponsored by Greenstar Community Projects and Cornell 
Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.


For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please 
visit:  http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
If you have questions about this list please contact the list manager, Tom 
Shelley, at t...@cornell.edu.