In Keene, activists marched to stop a proposed fracked gas pipeline. They won last year when the pipeline was canceled. Now the activists are fighting a plan by the corporation that holds the city monopoly for gas used for heating buildings to switch from propane to fracked gas. Both are fossil fuels that cause climate change. “But fracked gas is full of chemicals that are even worse for people's health,” Terry Clark told the Valley Post in a telephone interview on November 25, 2017. He is a member of the Keene city council.
Earlier this month, Clark was part of a group of local people who sued state regulators to try to get them to reconsider regulators' approval of the plan, which would involve building new fossil fuel infrastructure in Keene.
The world's leading scientists say climate change is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life. Alternatives to fossil fuels include wind, solar, and energy efficiency programs like Efficiency Vermont.
Activists who are working to stop the proposed fossil fuel facility in Keene have a web site at www.ToxicsAction.org. In 2014, they permanently closed a facility in Holyoke that burned about 1,200 tons of coal every day. Details about that victory, and a photo of the activists, are at:
www.valleypost.org/2014/06/14/grassroots-victory
Photos of a 2015 march in Keene against a proposed fracked gas pipeline is at:
That march was organized by Stephanie Scherr. She can be reached at ECHOactionteam@gmail.com or by phone at (603) 562-6025.
More information on the Keene marchers' 2016 victory is at:
www.valleypost.org/2016/04/21/grassroots-victory
In other news from the Valley, on November 22 activists turned in thousands of petition signatures that will allow Massachusetts voters to decide whether to increase the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour. They have a web page at www.facebook.com/RaiseUpMA.
In Vermont, activists who are working to raise that state's minimum wage to $15 an hour have a web site at www.radVT.org. In New Hampshire, people are fighting to raise the state minimum wage; they have a web site at www.radNH.org.
The minimum wage in New Hampshire is $7.25 an hour. In Vermont it's $10; in Massachusetts, $11. The CEO of Walmart makes about $9,000 an hour.
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