Leverett Peace Pagoda monks to walk path of proposed pipeline

By RICHIE DAVIS
Recorder Staff

Monday, January 4, 2016
(Published in print: Tuesday, January 5, 2016)

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:

www.hattienestel.com/MLK-Walk.php

You can reach Richie Davis at: rdavis@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 269.