Verplanck, NY – Thursday night, 12 people, known as the HudsonStand12, disrupted construction of Spectra Energy’s high pressure, 42-inch fracked gas pipeline, which the company was attempting to pull underneath the Hudson River from Verplanck, NY to a site in Stony Point, NY.
The 12 people from Mississippi Stand, an Iowan-based group who fought the recent Dakota Access Pipeline under the Des Moines River, and local group Resist Spectra coalesced to stop the company by tactically swarming the work site by running inside to disrupt activities at the construction site and locking to each other around construction equipment.
The HudsonStand12 are being charged with Criminal Trespass and Resisting Arrest. They were arraigned early Friday morning by Judge Daniel McCarthy, the same judge who recently found Resist Spectra's Montrose 9 guilty for blockading Spectra's construction yard in 2015. Judge McCarthy sent the HudsonStand12 to Westchester Correctional Facility in Valhalla, NY. The District Attorney asked for $50,000 bail for each arrestee, and Attorney David Dorfman, professor and supervising attorney of the Pace Criminal Justice Clinic, for the 12 water protectors was able to reduce the bail to $5,000 each. The greater community across the entire Northeast who is affected by the Spectra Pipeline from New Jersey to Massachusettes and beyond came together to raise funds for all 12 water protectors' release. The last to be released was at 5:11am this morning. They will face the judge in court on Monday morning, December 12th and 9:00am at 1 Heady St. Cortlandt Manor, NY.
“ There’s no more time to waste. Spectra Energy’s AIM Pipeline has to be stopped. They have no right to poison our Hudson River and ruin our climate for private profit. All over the country, from North Dakota to New York, we are seeing how ordinary people are stopping the fossil fuel industry, and I hope that today’s action will encourage more people to rise up and defend their homes wherever they are.” S aid Garrett O'Connor of Brooklyn, NY, one of the 12 people arrested.
Spectra Energy’s AIM Pipeline would run within 105 feet of critical Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant safety facilities, putting 20 million people at risk. The pipeline has been opposed by Governor Cuomo, Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand, as well as countless local officials, yet the company has refused to yield to the clear will of the people. This is part of a much larger story—pipeline companies all across the country collude with regulatory agencies like FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) to stifle popular opposition.
Right now, Resist Spectra is calling on everyone to join court support on Monday morning and join their fight to stop the next phase of this illegally segmented pipeline called “Atlantic Bridge”. S ign the Pledge to Resist Now to get involved at tinyurl.com/ResistSpectra. Now is the time!
More information about the AIM Pipeline and local resistance:
Online: http://www.resistaim.com/
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/resistaim
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/ResistAIM
See video here: https://youtu.be/4qR8F71KWmo
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