Sierra Club Connecticut’s Stop Project Maple campaign has been extremely busy this summer. Our four state coalition (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York) has given presentations, supported actions and attended events in the states that are threatened by Enbridge’s methane gas expansion work.  

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On the fourth of July, the Windham-Willimantic Branch NAACP, key coalition partners of Stop Project Maple, attended an event where they promoted a proposed “gas to electricity” resolution for Willimantic and got nearly enough signatures to present the resolution to the city.
 

 

The climate crisis requires everyone to do something and we value the work of all our allies. 

 

This summer, members of Stop Project Maple visited Lincoln, Massachusetts where an enlarged Metering and Regulating station will be constructed in a state protected, forested watershed that was purchased by the city of Cambridge to protect their drinking water system. Enbridge sued Cambridge and Lincoln and won a case in federal court that allowed them to use “eminent domain” (AKA land grabbing) to build their gas powered, polluting infrastructure in the protected watershed. Laws that exist to protect our shared environment and resources can be easily tossed aside by judges to satisfy the greed and expansionist aspirations of for profit corporations. 

 

A youth-led group of climate justice activists in Massachusetts decided to occupy trees within the threatened forest. Although Sierra Club Connecticut doesn’t engage in arrestable actions, we were moved and impressed by the dedication of these kids to forests and a just future.

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Stop Project Maple members have given educational presentations this summer for the Town Council of Coventry, and spoke at a Summer of Solidarity teach-in hosted by CT Dissenters in New Haven. The campaign will continue at full speed to build community, create opposition, and alert the public about the dangers of fracked gas expansion generally and the Enbridge AGT expansion specifically. 

 

To get involved with this campaign, please contact me at martha.klein@sierraclub.org.

 

Here’s a fact sheet about our campaign to Stop Project Maple, the proposed expansion of the Enbridge pipeline that runs through 40 of Connecticut’s 169 towns including: Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield, Newtown, Southbury, Oxford, Naugatuck, Prospect, Cheshire, Southington, Berlin, Middletown, Cromwell, Rocky Hill, Glastonbury, Hebron, Andover, Coventry, Mansfield, Chaplin, Eastford, Pomfret, Putnam, and Thompson. Major spurs run through (central spur) Cheshire, Wallingford, North Haven, New Haven, North Branford, Branford and Guilford, and (New London spur) Coventry, Columbia, Lebanon, Windham, Franklin, Norwich, Preston, North Stonington, Stonington, Montville, and Waterford. Compressor stations are in Oxford, Coventry and Chaplin, and metering stations are in Farmington, Glastonbury, Middletown, New London (Salem Pike), Montville, Willimantic, Pomfret, Putnam, Guilford, and Norwich (Oakland Heights). 

 

Martha Klein is Lead Volunteer of Sierra Club Connecticut’s Beyond Gas campaign. 

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