Leverett Peace Pagoda monks to walk path of proposed pipeline
At first blush, it might seem like environmental
issues, and environmental controversies like the proposed Tennessee Gas
Pipeline project through western Massachusetts, have nothing to do with
the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
But King was a champion of environmental justice,
the principle that all people are entitled to a clean and healthy
environment, free of the effects of materialism and corporate greed.
So the Leverett Peace Pagoda plans to lead a
three day, 34-mile Martin Luther King Walk in opposition of the TGP’s
proposed Northeast Energy Direct project, beginning Jan. 16 from the
Northfield compressor station site.
The walk, endorsed by six environmental
organizations, is “in order that the nurturing sublime natural world be
spared the destructive wrath of exploitation,” says Sister Clare Carter
of the Leverett pagoda, in a written statement. “Everywhere we see how
the unchecked force of greed brings unspeakable suffering to the people
and to the land, the water, and the air. ... We pray for the
transformation of the mining and fossil fuel extraction industry to
responsible, sustainable, collective living.”
The walk will roughly track the route of the
pipeline that would cut through eight Franklin County towns on its way
from upstate New York to Dracut.
Participants plan to gather Jan. 16 at Centennial
House Bed and Breakfast in Northfield before proceeding to the site of a
pipeline compressor station and walk from the Gulf Road site through
Erving and Montague before being shuttled to dinner, an evening program
and a first overnight stay at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in
Greenfield.
The walk will continue on Jan. 17 from the John
W. Olver Transportation Center in Greenfield through Old Deerfield along
Mill Village, Stillwater and Hoosac roads to Conway, where a second
evening is planned at United Congregational Church.
On Jan. 18, Martin Luther King Day, walkers will
be shuttled to Hill Road, from which they will continue through the
center of Ashfield and on to a proposed pipeline construction site in
Plainfield. A closing ceremony and reception is planned at The Village
Congregational Church in Cummington.
Hattie Nestel of North Quabbin Pipeline Action,
who is helping to organize what will be the third pipeline protest walk,
says the walk will be led by Buddhist monks from the pagoda, and that
Carter will be among evening program presenters along with Rosemary
Wessel of No Fracked Gas in Mass., Jim Cutler of Hilltown Community
Rights and Shelburne Falls environmental activist David Arfa.
She said about 20 people have already made arrangements to take part.
Participants are welcome to take part in as
little or as much of the walk as they wish, but are asked to register in
advance with Nestel at 978-790-3074 or hattieshalom@verizon.net
Other endorsing organizations are Sugar Shack Alliance and Traprock Center for Peace and Justice.
Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.’s proposed
415-mile-long, 30-inch-diameter pipeline is expected to carry up to 1.2
billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Marcellus shale
fields in Pennsylvania to Dracut, north of Lowell, passing through eight
Franklin County towns along the way.
On the Web:
You can reach Richie Davis at: rdavis@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 269.
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