On May 15, there was a rally on the Greenfield town common to protest plans for a fracked gas pipeline that would cross the valley. Massachusetts state Representative Denise Andrews of Orange, near Greenfield, told the Greenfield Recorder newspaper she is ready to risk arrest for civil disobedience to stop the pipeline. “The priority ought to be conservation, reduction, efficiency, renewables, and then the more challenging energy resources,” she said.

Andrews was arrested with dozens of other people in 2012 for non-violent civil disobedience protesting the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

The proposed pipeline would be in the Massachusetts towns of Athol, Ashfield, Conway, Deerfield, Erving, Montague, Northfield, Orange, Royalston, Shelburne, Warwick.

According to www.FoodAndWaterWatch.org/water/fracking, "Fracking threatens the air we breathe, the water we drink, the communities we love and the climate on which we all depend. That’s why over 250 communities in the U.S. have passed resolutions to stop fracking, and why Vermont, France and Bulgaria have stopped it."

These photos show the May 15 Greenfield rally. To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image."

photos “copyright © 2014 by Rene Theberge”

Last month, more than 100 people attended a meeting in Athol, near Greenfield, to stop the fracked gas pipeline. The Athol Conservation Commission then voted to ban the gas pipeline from its planned route across town property. But the pipeline company has not given up.

The Greenfield rally was organized by Susan Theberge of www.ClimateActionNowMA.org. She can be reached at susantheberge@comcast.net or care of:

ClimateActionNowMa.org
1981 Memorial Drive
#124
Chicopee, MA 01020