As Stop Williams pipeline fight reignites, New Yorkers launch statewide direct action training tour
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 30, 2019
Contact: Lee Ziesche, lee@SaneEnergyProject.org, (954) 415-6228
Lindsay Meiman, lindsay@350.org, (347) 460-9082
As Stop Williams pipeline fight reignites, New Yorkers launch statewide direct action training tour
After Promise to Protect training tour stop in NYC, “Sit, Stand, Sing” will travel to five communities across New York State fighting fracked gas projects
NEW YORK -- Sane Energy Project and 350.org are announcing the launch of the “Sit, Stand, Sing” tour, a statewide direct action training tour to five communities across New York featured on the You Are Here Map, where communities are escalating fights to stop fracked gas infrastructure and build the renewable energy economy that science and justice deem necessary. The tour kicks-off this Sunday, June 2 with the first stop in Springville, New York supporting the fight to stop the Northern Access Pipeline.
“New York State cannot meet its climate goals and build out billions of dollars of fracked gas infrastructure at the same time,” said Lee Ziesche, Community Engagement Coordinator for Sane Energy Project. “We’re at a crossroads right now and while pipeline companies and big corporate utilities want our state to go in the wrong direction, communities are standing up and demanding an end to dangerous fracked projects that threaten our health and climate.”
This comes following the New York City stop of the national Promise to Protect tour. “Sit, Stand, Sing” will stop in the following locations:
June 2: Springville, NY
June 25: Elmira, NY
June 29: Dover, NY
TBD, Oneonta, NY
TBD: Westchester County
The announcement of this tour comes just weeks after a nearly three-year fight to stop the Williams NESE pipeline reached a climax, when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) denied key water quality permits on May 15. Just two days after the denial, Williams re-applied to the NYSDEC, and the Stop Williams coalition is ready and organized to shut it down again.
“While the Trump administration pushes energy dominance, and utilities and fossil fuel companies hold our energy needs hostage, New Yorkers are taking the fight for energy democracy to the next level,” said Cata Romo Fossil Free New York Campaigner with 350.org. “New York has the opportunity to be a model for real climate leadership for the rest of the world. Now, we’re coming together across our state to use every tool we have to stop the build out of wreckless fracked gas, and to build real solutions to the climate crisis.”
Despite banning fracked gas extraction five years ago, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is still allowing fracked gas pipelines and power plants to wreak havoc on communities. Now, New Yorkers are coming together to be trained in nonviolent direct action, committing to take creative resistance to usher in the end of the fossil fuel era while making New York a model for real climate action for the rest of the world.
The tour will begin in Western New York where communities are fighting to stop the proposed 97-mile Northern Access Pipeline which would transport fracked gas from Pennsylvania to Elma, NY where most of it would then be exported to Canada. As the corridor between fracking wells in Pennsylvania and customers in Canada, New England and overseas, New York State has become an important battle ground to stop the fracking industry.
Just days ago, youth leaders from around the world, called for a general Climate Strike on September 20, 2019. This tour will help connect fights across New York State, and train people to escalate campaigns for that key moment.
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For more on the “Sit, Stand, Sing” Tour and the fossil fuel fights involved, explore this media pack.
To view this release online, visit: https://gofossilfree.org/ny/press-release/sit-stand-sing-tour-launch/