Gas Pipeline Treesitter Arrested in PA, Resistance Continues

6 March 2013

Tree sit against Ten­nessee pipeline in PA Mil­ford, PA – Yes­ter­day, local hero and tree-sit­ter Gif­ford Pin­chot was arrest­ed on the ninth day of hold­ing fast in a for­est tree-sit meant to stop tree clear­ing for the Ten­nessee Gas Pipeline. This morn­ing Pin­chot was released from police cus­tody, while work­ers were again turned away from the work site by local pro­test­ers. Last evening at approx­i­mate­ly 6:00 p.m., Gif­ford Pin­chot was appre­hend­ed in the forests of Pike Coun­ty, PA on the ninth day of the tree-sit. He was charged with aggra­vat­ed tres­pass, resist­ing arrest and dis­or­der­ly con­duct, but was released on his own recog­ni­zance this morn­ing. Mean­while, work crews returned to Cum­mins Hill Road to con­tin­ue clear­ing trees along the Ten­nessee Gas Pipeline right of way and were turned away by emo­tion­al pleas and tes­ti­mo­ny from local res­i­dents. Local activists were able to appeal to their com­mon inter­est in a safe, clean envi­ron­ment, and the work­ers walked away from the job of clear­ing one of the final stands of trees for this right of way. The arrest was part of a nine-day tree-sit block­ade and two-week road block­ade. Both actions sup­port­ed a cam­paign oppos­ing the Ten­nessee Gas Pipeline in the Delaware Riv­er Basin. The direct action cam­paign is tak­ing place after near­ly two years of local oppo­si­tion from grass­roots groups and polit­i­cal lead­ers in the courts, in pub­lic hear­ings, and through protest. When asked for a per­son­al state­ment on his expe­ri­ence in the tree stand, his arrest, and future plans, Gif­ford Pin­chot said, “Let this be a les­son to all those resist­ing eco­log­i­cal destruc­tion. The state and their cor­po­rate cohorts will lie, coerce and intim­i­date us. But we must trust in our friends and the for­est. Those are our only true allies in this fight. As these strug­gles con­tin­ue and inten­si­fy, it is impor­tant to remem­ber that we are not alone. We are just one link in a chain of resis­tance to those oppress­ing the earth, and this chain will not be bro­ken until the earth and all her inhab­i­tants are free at last.” For updates: http://www.notennesseepipeline.blogspot.com