![]() But depending on career politicians to make difficult decisions in the name of environmental justice does not feel nearly as sustainable as the model implemented in Memphis. That this is the case is an indictment of the current administration but also a testament to the power of communities, regardless of socioeconomic or political status.Īt present, projects like the Line 3, Line 5, Dakota Access, and Jordan Cove pipelines are, theoretically, one stroke of the president’s pen away from cancellation. to attain some semblance of environmental justice. Local and regional rejections of extractive energy production, particularly those of the fossil fuel variety, may currently be the best opportunity for communities within the U.S. The Memphis victory, like the ACP victory, presents a possibility. It’s the same one being employed by Line 3 water protectors and allies in Minnesota. It is the same approach that was taken by Black and Native communities throughout Virginia and North Carolina as Duke and Dominion Energy pulled strings within the state governments to try and force through the Atlantic Coast pipeline. Local, community-driven resistance has been one of the most effective ways to highlight and counter the cold ruthlessness of extractive outfits. “For the past 50 years, this specific community in Memphis has received whatever the rest of Memphis and Shelby County would dare not accept in other places.” “This community is standing up and saying no more, we’ve had enough,” Robinson told ABC News. In partnership with the Memphis-based environmental group Protect Our Aquifer, the communities filed lawsuits against Plains All American, pressured and petitioned Tennessee state agencies to rescind the pipeline’s permits, and advocated for their rights to live on unpolluted lands, until they organized their way into the national spotlight. But a group of citizens-Sanford names “Justin Pearson, Kizzy Jones, Kathy Robinson, and others who launched Memphis Community Against Pollution”-took a stand. A land agent working for the company reportedly even went as far as to admit that Plains All American constructed the route because the company believed it offered, “the point of least resistance.” In other words: Rich white political donors do not live there, making it the ideal location for an underground pipeline. In a statement, a spokesperson for Plains All American wrote that the decision was the result of “lower US oil production resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.” But as Otis Sanford argued at Local 24 News, the pipeline also failed because the communities affected came together and said no.īyhalia Connection’s developers believed, based on decades of industry practice, that they could get away with slating an oil pipeline to run through several Black neighborhoods in southwest Memphis. "These are the risks we face on a daily basis and which call for a change in the energy model," notes Gustavo Ampugnani, executive director of Greenpeace Mexico.On Monday, oil pipeline company Plains All American announced that it will be shelving its plan to construct the Byhalia Connection pipeline, a project also sponsored by Valero that was slated to cut through Memphis on its way to Byhalia, Mississippi, where its oil would then be exported. ![]() The state oil company then began to close the interconnection valves in the pipeline, extinguishing the fire and the gas emanation to. The incident was dealt with security protocols that were activated, the company said in a statement. The Mexican enterprise has not revealed the impact of the fire on marine life and only referred that the leak on a 12-inch diameter pipeline did not cause an oil spill.Įnvironmentalists say this is one of the many examples of the tragic consequences of the fossil fuel paradigm. Pemex reported a leak at 5:15 am on June 2 in the submarine pipeline. Pemex said that there were no deaths or injuries and that the pipeline's connection valves were closed to control the gas leak. The facility's three firefighting vessels were only able to extinguish the fire five hours after the accident using nitrogen. The company was able to resume normal operations and will investigate the incident. The gas leak occurred at 5:15 am and caused a fire 150 meters from the Ku-Maloob-Zaap platform located off the coast of the Bay of Campeche. Pemex said in a statement that workers cut off gas to the pipeline and extinguished the fire around 10:45 a.m. The accident took place at a natural gas operation owned by Pemex, the Mexican state-owned oil and gas company. A leak on an underwater pipeline located near an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico sparked a massive "eye of fire" on the ocean's surface. ![]()
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