Massachusetts State Police arrest 10 at gas pipeline site in Western Massachusetts
Early Wednesday morning, environmental activists arrived at the site of a natural gas pipeline extension project in Western Massachusetts.
The small group brought signs, yellow tape stamped with the message "resist," traffic cones and a road block to Sandisfield where they declared an access road to the work area of a Kinder Morgan pipeline closed.
The protesters used their props and bodies to block vehicular traffic and, shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police were called to the scene by private security officers.
Troopers responded and asked the group to disperse. They declined and 10 were arrested on trespassing charges. Those arrested include:
- Irvine Sobleman, 67, of Northampton
- Ellen M. Graves, 76, of West Springfield
- Patricia P. Wieland, 73, of Northampton
- Harriet A. Nestel, 78, of Athol
- Amanda L. Nash, 58, of Gloucester
- Erik W. Burcroff, 57, of Plainfield
- Priscilla Lynch, 65, of Conway
- Mary E. Kehler, 70, of Colrain
- Bonner J. McAllister, 68, of Monterey
- Sherrill Hogen, 78, of Charlemont
The action, organized by a group known as the Sugar Shack Alliance, is in protest of Kinder Morgan extending a pipeline through the Berkshires.
The pipeline proposal, referred to by Kinder Morgan as the "Connecticut Expansion Project," would stretch for several miles under Otis State Park in the Berkshires.
The proposed pipeline has been contested by local residents. In 1981, a Kinder Morgan pipeline exploded leading to the evacuation of part of the town.
The site of Wednesday's demonstration has seen several protests since the pipeline plan was announced. Just under two dozen were arrested at the site in late July.
Twenty two people were arrested at a protest of the Kinder Morgan pipeline extension in Sandisfield on Saturday.
Police
say 98-year-old Northampton peace activist Frances Crowe and seven
other protesters were trespassing by participating in a weekend protest
of a natural gas pipeline being constructed in the woods of Berkshire
County.
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