A group of people associated with The FANG Collective carried out an action at the international headquarters of State Street Corporation in downtown Boston on Friday. Two members of the group locked-down to two doors at the main entrance of the building using bicycle locks while others swarmed inside urging the companies to end its investments in the fracked-gas industry.
Galen Shireman-Grabowski and Jay Gustaferro of Gloucester, MA were extracted from their lock down by security and police and placed under arrest.
State Street Corporation is Boston’s oldest financial institution and has $28 trillion in assets. State Street is one of the largest institutional shareholders of a multitude of companies involved in fracking, fracked-gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. Among their top holdings is Spectra Energy, whose pipeline expansions projects have come under intense scrutiny across the Northeast.
“State Street Corporation with it’s holding in companies like Spectra Energy, Anadarko and Dominion, is fueling the climate crisis and impacting communities that are being inundated with fracked-gas infrastructure across the country,” Said Shireman-Grabowski who traveled from Vermont for the action.
State Street Corporation has faced protests over the past year from activists resisting Spectra’s “AIM” pipeline expansions project, Dominion’s Cove LNG facility in Maryland and Kinder Morgan’s “NED” project. On Wednesday Kinder Morgan declared that they were indefinitely delaying the NED pipeline project that would have cut across Massachusetts.
Activists held signs that listed a number of the fracked-gas companies that State Street has holdings in that read “State Street We See You.” Another banner deployed on the site read “State Street Divest: No More Pipelines.”
“State Street Corporation is locking our world into a climate crisis and they can no longer hide from public scrutiny. We are watching them, and we will hold them accountable,” said Gustaferro.
[from a press release]
]]>[Update: All 4 activists were booked at the Waltham, MA Police Station and are being transferred to the Waltham District Court at 38 Linden St. All have been released.]
On Wednesday a group of residents from the Boston area launched a sit-in at National Grid’s North American Headquarters. Activists cited concerns about National Grid’s practice of utility shut-offs, past and proposed rate hikes, and the company’s support of Spectra Energy and Kinder Morgan’s proposed fracked-gas pipeline projects.
The activists deployed a report card-style banner in National Grid’s lobby with “subjects” and bright red Fs indicating failing grades. Alongside these grades were required action the activists would like to see the company take. Highest on the list banner was National Grid’s practice of utility-shut offs.
“Utility shut-offs disproportionately impact the most vulnerable members of society; elders and those with disabilities, low-income communities, and people of color,” said protester Carly Toomey. “Rate hikes and shut-offs fuel displacement in areas already reeling from gentrification.”
The FANG Collective, who supported the action, has been fighting Spectra Energy’s fracked gas pipelines in the region for two years. National Grid is a 20 percent stakeholder in Spectra’s proposed Access Northeast pipeline, a $5 billion project that would be paid for by a ratepayer tariff on National Grid consumers.
The activists pointed to the fact that the shift to fracked-gas as an energy source requires the construction of infrastructure like power plants and liquefaction facilities in low-income communities and communities of color. Proposed facilities are planned for Salem and Brockton, MA, Providence and Burrillville, RI, and Bridgeport, CT, among others.
“We demand National Grid drop their support for fracked-gas infrastructure and instead fund local green jobs, especially for women and people of color,” said Jonathan Barry who participated in the sit-in. “These investments would contribute to healthy communities as opposed to displacement and climate change.”
[From a press release]
]]>The demonstration was organized by FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas).
The demonstrators called for an end to fracked-gas infrastructure and a transition to renewable energy. Two protesters were able to gain access to the Spectra / Kinder Morgan presentation, briefly disrupting the event before being invited to leave. Banners were deployed from a parking garage connected to the Revere Hotel. The banners read “fracked-gas kills” and “Spectra’s toxins are trespassing on our bodies.”
Spectra Energy has proposed three fracked gas pipeline expansions, including the one in Burrillville, RI. Kinder Morgan has proposed a new pipeline from New York to Dracut, MA, which would bring up to 2.2 billion cubic feet/day of fracked gas capacity. According to FANG, this is “an expansion that far exceeds projected market needs for the region.” FANG also maintains that, “These pipelines connect with approved LNG export terminals in Nova Scotia and would be partially funded by Northeast ratepayers.”
After leaving the Revere Hotel the protesters moved on to protest outside State Street Bank, one of the top shareholders of Spectra Energy, Kinder Morgan and, “almost every other fracked-gas company,” says FANG. FANG has conducted two actions at the bank over the past year and the bank has begun to divest from Spectra, selling off about 7 percent of their shares.
This was the most recent action against fracked methane in New England. Across the world, awareness is growing that fossil fuels are killing the world and resistance against fracked methane is growing.
In Rhode Island, Governor Gina Raimondo has publicly supported expanding fracked methane infrastructure.
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