Bluegrass Defiance: The emergence and growth of a

grassroots resistance movement

Lori GarkovichDept. of Community and Leadership Development

University of Kentucky

Introduction

• In the spring (March/April) of 2013, strangers began to appear along the roads of Kentucky’s Bluegrass counties.

• They were asking to come onto people’s land to do a survey for a “pipeline” that would be coming through the area.

• Gradually a cadre of local people came together to inform themselves and others about what this Bluegrass Pipeline was about.

• They came from all walks of life -- farmers, teachers, professors, state government workers, attorneys, retirees -- and were all ages -- from middle and high school students to those 70 and older.

• What bound them together was the intense desire to protect their land, homes, community and sense of identity.

Organizing the oppositionIt began with neighbors talking to neighbors

• Formation of informal action groups in each county• Establishment of the “google-group”(over 3,000

messages to date)• Research and preparation of informational materials• Creation of web sites, Facebook pages, blogs• Organizing protests and developing speaking points for

people with different backgrounds and interests to use in letters to the editor or presentations (e.g., for a farmer an emphasis on karst and impacts on farming for a luncheon)

• Mobilizing new supporters

The proposed Bluegrass pipeline would transport natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Marcellus and Utica shale producing areas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the expanding petrochemical and export complex on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

What are NGLs?

• This is NOT a natural gas pipeline. Natural gas liquids include ethane, propane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, benzene and other hazardous chemicals. NGLs become an odorless and colorless vapor once they hit the air.

• NGLs are extracted from the natural gas production

stream in natural gas processing plants.

• As the price of natural gas declines, the profitability of fracking depends on being able to sell NGLs

Proposed initial path of the Bluegrass Pipeline

Initially, the pipeline would cross the OhioRiver in Brackin County and travel through13 counties. It would cross the KentuckyRiver several times and make 750 other river and stream crossings.

In Breckinridge County, thepipeline would connect toan existing natural gaspipeline and carry the NGLsto processing facilities inthe gulf.

Expanded area of proposed Bluegrass Pipeline in light of growing opposition

As opposition grew, the proposed pathgrew to potentially include 18 countiesin Kentucky

The opposition’s framing of the issues

• The Williams Company assertion that if property owners did not want to sign an easement, they would exercise “eminent domain” and seize the land for the pipeline.

• The potential dangers of a leak in the “high intensity Karst regions” of Kentucky.

• The violation of the “holy land” of Kentucky, a critical component of the meaning of the landscape

• The safety record of the companies• The relationship between NGLs and fracking.

The threat of eminent domain mobilizedhundreds of persons who had never protested anything in their lives.

•“This has a lot of drama baked in – an active grassroots opposition against a mega-corporation from out of state,” said Sellus Wilder, a Frankfort, Ky., farm owner and line opponent. “People are more possessive of their land around here. That’s bred into our bones. The idea of somebody coming in and throwing their weight around on our land really pisses people off.”

https://www.facebook.com/BGPBlockadeJoined Facebook June 19, 2013

Eminent Domain andPrivate Property Rights

Survey Ribbon Natural spring

for livestock

Despite declaring that the pipeline would not endanger natural areas, survey flags were found in sensitive Karst areas.

Survey Ribbon

Opening to Undergroundstream

Survey flag near opening to an underground stream

Under karst conditions, contamination from a hazardous waste source can beexpected to travel in ground water rapidly and erratically and with less dilution than in most other aquifer conditions. Because of this, sites overlying karst may pose a greater threat to human health and the environment.

Spirited Spat: Pipeline Battle Rages on Kentucky's 'Holy Land'

• Corn-speckled lands owned by a group of Catholic Trappist monks and a convent full of nuns have become a battleground in a fight between Big Energy and the "singing sisters."

• Elizabethtown Williams meeting– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHjT_eXsU94

• Herald Leader video– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znOfOtCFWSA

• Abbey of Gethsemini resists– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPDOJlKy8ZU

"Having a pipeline is going to impact the safety and water of the people,“ Sister Teresa Kotturan said.

"Knowing a pipeline is coming through, is like waiving a red flag to the creatures of the Earth. God created Earth as our land to use not abuse," Sister Venneman said.

“We believe our land is sacred and it should be protected,” said Sister Elicia Ramsey.

A band of women later broke into a chorus of “Amazing Grace” in the middle of Pritchard Community Center, which was followed by a chant advocating stewardship of land they felt was provided by God and denouncing the pipeline.

There seems to be great interest in the fact that the Sisters of Loretto and the Monks of Gethsemani, with their large land holdings, are strongly opposed to the pipeline and are actively working to prevent it from coming to Kentucky. The stance of both communities to care for the land as a sacred trust from God readily connects with local landowners who have also lived on their land for generations and feel their families’ deep roots and connections to the land.

Three counties long known as the Holy Lands of Kentucky, are among nineteen counties targeted for a natural gas liquid (NGL) pipeline running from fracking operations in Pennsylvania to the Gulf Coast where most of it will be exported for making plastic. Those counties are home to three religious communities as well as the Abbey of Gethsemani.

On Tuesday, about 50 religious protesters, including nuns from the Sisters of Loretto and members of Kentucky Baptist, Presbyterian and Unitarian churches traveled to the Kentucky capitol to deliver a 36,250-signature petition against the Bluegrass Pipeline to Gov. Steve Beshear’s office. The religious leaders used Biblical imagery to speak out against the pipeline — a project that David Whitlock, pastor of Lebanon Baptist Church said would mar God’s land.

“I am here because I believe, as the Psalms express, that the whole Earth is full of the steadfast love of God,” Susan Classen, co-member of the Sisters of Loretto said Tuesday. “It matters how we treat the Earth, the land, the water and all inhabitants of the Earth.”

Nuns Hold Anti-Pipeline Protest At The Kentucky State Capitolby Katie Valentine Posted on November 6, 2013 at 2:58 pm 

What’s Wrong with a Little Pipeline Through KY?Sister Claire McGowan OP

“In sum, it seems that the Bluegrass Pipeline would risk much of what makes central Kentucky dear to us: the beauty of our landscape, the abundance of good water, the health of our air, the peaceful quietness of our rural areas, and the general sense of security from unexpected disasters. The benefits are a few temporary construction jobs and some one-time payments to a relatively few landowners. Central Kentuckians need to ask whether we are willing to accept this risk/benefit ratio for the sake of profits for big corporations earned by converting NGL’s into petrochemicals for export to China and India.”

(Sister Claire, a Bardstown resident, is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Peace community at St. Catharine and Executive Director of New Pioneers for a Sustainable Future in Springfield.)

The meaning of the landscape

• Wednesday, October 16, 2013• Save the Bluegrass; Stop the Pipeline • The Bluegrass Pipeline is an existential threat to Central

Kentucky. Because of the porousness of karst limestone bedrock, even the tiniest leak - and all pipelines leak - of the toxic liquids could destroy groundwater supplies and agricultural health throughout the region.

That's the end of the horse industry. The end of the bourbon industry. The end of the tourism industry

Blue in the Bluegrass Liberal Politics from the Heart of Bluegrass Countryhttp://blueinthebluegrass.blogspot.com/

Williams Co. Pipeline Safety Record

• Safety is Priority One?• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=_hMM4AAxWXk

Owner of PA Natural Gas Facility that Exploded Has Lengthy Record of Pipeline Safety Violations http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?p=1305

Pipeline Spin, or Pipeline Fact?An editorial

• I want to put forth some FACTS about the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline. • Fact #1—Since 2003 Willams Co. and their subsidiaries have paid or have

been ordered to pay approximately $311,310,854 in fines. • Fact #2—These fines are a result of six explosions and six instances of leaks,

ruptures, or other negligent acts on their pipelines, since 2003. • Fact #3—These instances have led to the deaths of 2 workers and 114

injuries, as well as an untold number of environmental toxins and hazardous waste released into the surrounding communities.

• Fact #4—This pipeline will not be carrying natural gas underground through our area. It will be carrying volatile gases such as ethane, propane, butane, and other hydrocarbons that will provide no economic benefit to Kentuckians.

• Fact #5—Two of the biggest industries in Kentucky will be directly threatened and affected by this pipeline, those being the horse and bourbon industries. Both of these industries rely heavily on clean water to thrive, water that will be potentially contaminated by leaks, ruptures, and/or explosions.

Linking the BG Pipeline to Fracking

• “Some days it's kind of hard to believe that small groups and communities can make a difference in the way things are going in our world.  If you could use a shot of hope for all of us, take a few minutes to watch this video.

• It's about a small town that pulled together and made a huge difference for themselves and many more well beyond their borders:  Dryden, New York:  The Small Town that Changed the Fracking Game.  

• We've had a taste of this kind of success with our work on the BG pipeline.  Let's celebrate that other groups are succeeding too!”

• "The industry kept saying: 'We have the power; you have none. We are coming. Get out of the way or leave,'" says Joanne Cipolla-Dennis, recalling what happened when the oil and gas industry came to her town of Dryden, NY.

• But Joanne and her neighbors came up with a plan. Watch the true story of people who discovered their shared strength and turned the tables on a powerful industry.

Raising funds for the fight

• Each county group raised their own funds for their own events.

• But shared items (e.g., T-shirts, bumper stickers, yard signs) came from a pooling of funds with an individual taking on responsibility for obtaining the items and then trusting they would be refunded.

• With the formation of Kentuckians United to Restrain Eminent Domain which filed the lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment against the pipeline company’s ability to exercise eminent domain, fund-raising kicked into higher gear

http://newpioneersfsf.org/bluegrass-pipeline

The New Pioneers created the T-shirt that became the immediately recognizable symbol of pipelineopponents.

The phrase is from the Hazardous Materials SafetyDirective for NGLs.

Please support "Down the Line: A True Story about People Versus Pipelines," a film about the #BluegrassPipeline by Sellus Wilder.

He has just begun his kickstartercampaign. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/896127769/down-the-line-a-true-story-of-people-versus-pipeli

Interesting partners of resistance• Similar to the Keystone XL pipeline, the proposed Bluegrass pipeline in

Kentucky has met opposition from an unlikely coalition of environmentalists, religious groups and libertarians defending property rights.

• …it didn’t take long for Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region to become the latest, if improbable, flashpoint in North America’s pipeline wars.

• Driven by a mix of concerns over safety and property rights and bolstered by a dose of environmentalism, the opposition blurs ideological boundaries.

• The clear stakes of the fight — the pipeline offers large rewards to a small niche of the gas and petrochemical industries while offering little to the Kentucky corridor it would cross — helps explain the passionate tenor of opposition, says Deb Nardone, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Natural Gas national campaign,

• Kentucky’s Keystone XL: The Bluegrass Pipeline• February 19, 2014 by Cole Stangler• http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/19/kentucky%E2%80%99s-keystone-xl-the-bluegrass-pipeline/• This post originally appeared in In These Times.

Interesting partners of resistance

• “[Natural gas liquids] are not at all about domestic energy security,” Nardone says. “It’s about what’s going to make the industry money. And that’s what’s started to bring nontraditional allies together, as they realize it’s not in their personal benefit in the long run.”

• Indeed, the more that residents educated themselves about the project, the more the opposition’s ranks swelled. Landowners didn’t need to be experts in the political economy of natural gas liquids — or for that matter, even care about climate change — to conclude the pipeline presented little benefits for their home state.

• “This is private companies doing this,” says Buff Bradley. “It’s not like it’s gonna be something for us. I don’t even want it close to me. I sure don’t want to leave this earth and leave my kids to deal with it either.”

• Kentucky’s Keystone XL: The Bluegrass Pipeline• February 19, 2014 by Cole Stangler• http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/19/kentucky%E2%80%99s-keystone-xl-the-bluegrass-pipeline/• This post originally appeared in In These Times.

Building support

• National MoveOn.org • Kentucky Student Environmental

Coalition– To learn more and get involved,

visit the No Fracking Way hub– http://www.wearepowershift.org/

blogs/bluegrass-pipeline-no-fracking-way

• Herald-Leader Editorial, Toughen rules on for gas pipeline; Add issues of safety, rights to special session, Published: July 23, 2013

• Say no to the Bluegrass Pipeline - Envionment, property rights at risk, By The Kentucky Standard Editorial Board, Thursday, August 15, 2013 at 5:55 pm

Kentucky waterways Alliancehttp://kwalliance.org/

Kentucky Councilof Churches

National CatholicReporter

Building support• In an effort to address the concerns of citizens, and to send a message to

legislators, Williams, and Boardwalk, eleven Kentucky counties on the path of the new construction have passed resolutions related to the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline.

• Scott County  passed a resolution on 7/12/13• Franklin County passed a resolution on  7/25/13, and thereafter passed an

emergency moratorium on road crossings• Marion County passed a resolution on 8/1/13• Anderson County passed a resolution on 8/6/13• Washington County passed a resolution on 8//14/13.  The City of Springfield subsequently passed a resolution

 on 9/10/13, after Bluegrass Pipeline representatives contacted the city about routing the pipeline through a city-owned landfill

• Pendleton County passed a resolution on 8/19/13• Shelby County became the first Kentucky county outside of the original proposed route to pass a resolution, which

occurred on 8/20/13• Woodford County passed a resolution on 8/27/13• Nelson County passed a resolution on 9/3/13, which states that should eminent domain be used, the Nelson

County Fiscal Court reserves the right to deny road crossing permits for the pipeline • Owen County passed a resolution in September, 2013• Larue County passed a resolution on January 14, 2014

Williams and Boardwalk Promotion of the Bluegrass Pipeline

• Jobs• Energy independence• Increased tax revenues• Increased wealth for those signing easements

• Bluegrass Pipeline: American Opportunity– http://bluegrasspipeline.com/project-benefits/

• Bluegrass Pipeline Protecting the Past, the Present, the Future– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsdaVG-kqEc

New energy infrastructure is needed to keep up with North America’s abundant supply of natural gas and its associated liquids. Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP are proposing to develop a pipeline project to transport natural gas liquids from liquids-rich supply areas in the Northeast to demand Centers in the Gulf Coast.

Promoting the benefits of the Bluegrass Pipeline

• “The Bluegrass Pipeline will carry the critical ingredients for making products that are used by many Kentucky businesses, including the state’s robust auto manufacturing sector,” said Williams Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Development Jim Scheel, one of the joint venture partners in the project.

• “That means jobs, and it means Kentucky continues to play a part in making our nation less reliant on foreign sources of energy.

• It also means about $136 million in new tax revenue during just the first ten years.”

• Tthe AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, a slice of organized labor supports the Bluegrass Pipeline: “We support it because it’s work for Kentucky workers,” says Ed Willoughby, director of the Kentucky Laborers Training Fund, which counts 3,000 members. “It provides jobs for Kentucky workers and that’s something we need.”

• “The people that work construction, all of our jobs are temporary,” Willoughby says. “Every project has a beginning, every project has an end. When those projects begin they help those working families, they help their kids go to school, they help the economy around because they’re spending more money and are able to pay their house payments and their car payments.”

Kentucky’s Keystone XL: The Bluegrass Pipeline February 19, 2014 by Cole Stangler This post originally appeared in In These Times.

http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/19/kentucky%E2%80%99s-keystone-xl-the-bluegrass-pipeline/

Show Your Support!

To show your support for energy development in the United States, please fill out the form below and hit “submit”. By doing so, you’ll be adding your name to a list of individuals who support the production of clean-burning, domestic natural gas.

Droege said pipeline developers expect to pay more than $140 million in total easement payments in Ohio and another $50 million in Kentucky along the pipeline’s more than 500-mile route through both states. 

About 6,000 to 7,000 temporary jobs will be created during construction, and aboutanother 30 individuals will be added to the company on a full-time basis to operate the pipeline.

Big stakes for Kentucky gas pipeline Dec. 17, 2013 6:31 AM  http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20131217/NEWS0103/312170010/Big-stakes-Kentucky-gas-pipeline?gcheck=1

Bluegrass Pipeline community grants• The Bluegrass Pipeline team is

committed to being a good neighbor by putting safety, environmental stewardship and community support at the heart of its operations.

• To help achieve this objective, the Bluegrass Pipeline has established a fund to benefit local communities in counties traversed by the pipeline project.

• The mission of the Bluegrass Pipeline Community Grant Program is to identify and help fund projects that directly benefit the surrounding communities.

• Grants up to $25,000 per year will be awarded. Projects should provide community benefits, with specific emphasis for projects impacting:

– First Responders / Emergency & Safety Preparedness

– Youth or Senior Services– Education Programs– Economic Development– Enhancement of open spaces and park

land for recreation– Enrichment of wildlife habitat– Promotion of environmental education– Preservation of wetlands and wildlife

habitat

Bluegrass Pipeline announced it has awarded grants totaling more than $160,000 to 43 organizations in Kentucky and Ohio to fund projects that directly benefit counties affected by the pipeline project.  These grants are in addition to those awarded earlier this year.

The development of counter-frames“But those that use scare tactics to oppose such projects do not want you to hear the truth:that underground pipelines are a safe and effective method for transporting the energyproducts on which the American economy.

The portion of the Bluegrass Pipeline causing concern is a new section that will join an existingpipeline in Western Kentucky. News of this pipeline has been saturated with misleading rhetoric by the same groups who regularly stand in the way of projects that will benefit Kentucky’s economy.

If the Bluegrass Pipeline was an above ground factory, local officials and residents would belining up to cheer the new jobs and investment in the state! But because of the statements of a noisy few, residents now believe that pipelines and the jobs and investment that come with them are not safe.”Opinion: Bluegrass Pipeline a vital part of state’s economic and logistical future By JAMES SCHEEL AND ALLEN KIRKLERepresentatives of Williams& Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP http://www.nelsoncountygazette.com/?p=19458

• Noisy environmentalists• Uninformed persons scared of change• Persons stuck in the past• http://marcellusdrilling.com/

The taint of eco-terrorism

• But now apparently citing water quality and contamination concerns is an “act of terrorism.”

• A Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation deputy director warned a group of Maury County residents that unfounded complaints about water quality could be considered an “act of terrorism.”

• “We take water quality very seriously. Very, very seriously,” said Sherwin Smith, deputy director of TDEC’s Division of Water Resources, according to audio recorded by attendees. “But you need to make sure that when you make water quality complaints you have a basis, because federally, if there’s no water quality issues, that can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism.”

Children Given Lifelong Ban From Talking About Fracking As Water Activists Labeled Terrorists By Government

By: DSWright Wednesday August 7, 2013 10:21 amhttp://news.firedoglake.com/2013/08/07/children-given-lifelong-ban-from-talking-about-fracking-as-water-activists-labeled-terrorists-by-government/

Meme with Wings: Are Western Anti-Fracking Activists Funded by Putin’s Russia?By: Steve Horn Tuesday July 1, 2014 1:08 pmhttp://my.firedoglake.com/stevehorn1022/2014/07/01/meme-with-wings-are-western-anti-fracking-activists-funded-by-putins-russia

At a June 19 speaking event at London’s Chatham House, North Atlantic TreatyOrganization (NATO) secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen claimed the Russian government is covertly working to discredit hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the west from afar.

“I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations — environmental organizations working against shale gas — to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas,” said Rasmussen, the former Prime Minister of Denmark.

Rasmussen’s allegation that western “fracktivists” are or might be funded by the Kremlin is a meme with wings.In a June 2010 email revealed by Wikileaks, private intelligence firm Stratfor (shorthand for Strategic Forecasting, Inc.) speculated that Josh Fox, director of Gasland and Gasland: Part II, might be funded by the Russian government or the coal industry. 

• A spokesman for a company building a pipeline through Kentucky says the proposed route would avoid land owned by a group of Roman Catholic nuns who have been outspoken opponents of the underground line.

• However, a spokesman for the Sisters of Loretto said that the nuns would continue to protest the pipeline and ask questions about its benefit to the communities in which it would be built.

• The Sisters of Loretto had refused to let pipeline surveyors enter their 780-acre property in Marion County and had led community opposition to the pipeline, urging their neighbors to know their rights when dealing with the pipeline's developers.

• Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/09/04/2803895/pipeline-not-to-cross-nuns-land.html#storylink=cpy

Where are we at now?

• The Kentucky Council of Churches say more study needed on Bluegrass Pipeline– http://ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/more-study-needed-

bluegrass-pipeline-Kentucky-council-churches-urges

• March 25, 2014 Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that the Bluegrass Pipeline does not have the legal authority to condemn land to pipe natural gas liquids across Kentucky.

• April 29, 2014 The developers of the Bluegrass Pipeline put the project on indefinite hold, saying they don't have enough customers for the natural gas liquids it would transport.

Where are we at now?

• New easements have begun to be filed in county courthouse – but most appear to have been signed in 2013

• Because many of these report $10 as the “consideration” for the easement rather than the actual value, a letter is being sent to affected counties pointing out the potential fraud re property and sales taxes due on the easements

• In other words, the battle continues.Stop the Bluegrass Pipeline

"We have not yet begun to fight." - John Paul Jones, Revolutionarystopbluegrasspipeline.us