Kinder Morgan Pipeline Hearing November 10, 2015

Kinder Morgan Pipeline Hearing November 10, 2015

Ever since officials at Texas-based gas pipeline company Kinder Morgan decided they wanted to clear-cut, blast, and trench their way through Massachusetts to build new fracked gas pipelines, I’ve been helping people living along the proposed pipeline routes fight back. Now, we need your help making sure our legislators don’t let Kinder Morgan take public lands for their private profit.

Across the state, people are worried about the risks fracked gas pipelines pose to public health and safety and to the more than 100 conservation parcels Kinder Morgan wants to build their pipelines through. Banding together over conference calls and emails, concerned residents like Paula from Pepperell, Cathy from Ashby, Katy from Cummington, Jane from Pittsfield, and Jean from Sandisfield have organized their communities and become some of Kinder Morgan's most powerful opponents. 

 

Meanwhile, Kinder Morgan has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into false advertising and lobbying on Beacon Hill.¹ Company officials even ran a deceitful telephone push poll that misled residents.²  

Luckily, we don’t need hundreds of thousands of dollars to stand up to Kinder Morgan. The Massachusetts Constitution powerfully protects public lands by requiring a 2/3s vote of both chambers of the legislature for them to be taken.

On November 10th, our legislators have their first opportunity to oppose legislation asking them to authorize Kinder Morgan to take public lands for private profit.  Please, click here to urge your representatives to oppose and testify against the bill and to stand with Paula, Cathy, Katy, Jane, Jean, and thousands of people across New England.

Let’s show Kinder Morgan officials that they made a grave miscalculation when they decided the Commonwealth’s protected conservation lands were up for grabs.
Sincerely,

Claire B.W. Miller
Toxics Action Center Campaigns, Lead Organizer

^{1. Eagle Tribune. October 27, 2015. Editorial: Money Talks for Pipeline Company on Beacon Hill. Available at: http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/editorial-money-talks-for-pipeline-company-on-beacon-hill/article_3207b6b4-4178-5329-9361-b80e64f540ac.html}

2 . ^{Commonwealth Magazine. September 1, 2015. "Kinder Morgan's Misinformation Campaign". Available at: http://commonwealthmagazine.org/environment/kinder-morgans-misinformation-campaign/.}

 

 

 

Nov. 10th! Urge your Legislators to Protect Public Lands

We need to make sure Kinder Morgan's efforts to take public lands for  private profit are met with a resounding "NO!" from our elected leaders.  The company is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on misleading advertising and lobbying on Beacon Hill to ensure they're allowed to clearcut, blast, and trench their way through protected conservation parcels.

Kinder Morgan may have money, but we have the Massachusetts Constitution. Eighty-five of the parcels that Kinder Morgan wants to access are protected by Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution, which powerfully protects public lands by requiring a 2/3s vote in both chambers of our legislator to authorize them to be taken.

 

The hearing for the first bill of this kind is scheduled for November 10th.