Actions to Stop Racial Injustice and Fracked Gas
Martha Klein
Sierra Club Connecticut and allies from the Movement for Black Lives, Unidad Latina en Accion, and other environmental and justice groups held a very successful Car Caravan to Stop Racial Injustice and Fracked Gas on June 26 in Hartford. The caravan included 30 cars which beeped and circled Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) headquarters repeatedly before heading to the governor’s residence where the action ended. To comply with pandemic regulations, everyone wore masks and respected social distancing.
At the same time, we held a virtual rally so that speakers could address the powerful connection between the twin evils of racial injustice and environmental exploitation. You can listen to the rally here: Stop the Fracked Gas Power Plant!
Photo 1: Car Caravan to Stop Racial Injustice and Fracked Gas
Photo credit: Sandy Tosi
The next step in stopping the Killingly Energy Center (KEC) fracked gas plant is to oppose the wastewater permit and to oppose the upcoming gas pipeline permit. There will be a public hearing on the wastewater permit on September 24, likely via Zoom and possibly also in Killingly. Information will be in the September Quinnehtukqut.
Add Your Voice - Sign Our Petitions!
Please sign both of these petitions to insure that Governor Lamont continues to hear the message that it is his responsibility to undo state approval of an unneeded, expensive, and polluting fracked gas plant.
Wastewater alert: Urge Commissioner Of DEEP To Reject Killingly Permit
Eversource pipeline alert: Connecticut! Stop Building Dirty Power Plants
Sierra Club Connecticut and the national organization are committed to undoing centuries of racial and social injustice, which includes discrimination and oppression in the environmental movement. The fracked gas project we oppose at this time is in Killingly, which meets the criteria for an environmental justice community based on income levels.
The increased use of fossil fuels in Connecticut harms everyone, but harms low income and people of color disproportionately.
Energy prices in Connecticut have increased as our electricity grid has become powered almost exclusively by fracked gas and nuclear. Low-income families pay up to a third of their income on energy bills, and Eversource has doubled shut-offs for non-payment in the last two years. Adding fracked gas power plants worsens air pollution, especially in low income and communities of color where power plants are built, such as Bridgeport. Everyone in Connecticut has access to the electricity we share, but the pollution burden is borne by those residents already suffering higher rates of pollution-related illness and environmental harm. Stopping the expansion of fossil fuels and converting to efficiencies and renewable energy is necessary to remove the dual burden of environmental pollution and higher expense from communities most adversely affected by Connecticut’s energy policy.
Martha Klein is a member of the Sierra Club Connecticut Executive Committee, Communications Committee, and leader of our Beyond Gas Committee.
Photo 1: Protesting fracking
Photo credit: Sandy Tosi