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2016 People’s Hearing

On December 2, We The People held hearings to investigate the abuses of power and law being inflicted by FERC in communities across America.

The People’s Hearing was held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on December 2, 2016. 63 representatives from 15 states and the District of Columbia came to testify to the abuses of power and law inflicted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Over 150 people were in attendance of the hearing including reporters and congressional staff members.

We thank the legislators who sent representatives to join us:

  • Congressman Frank Pallone (Democrat from NJ, Ranking member on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce),
  • Congressman Morgan Griffith (Republican from Virginia),
  • Senator Maria Cantwell (Democrat from Washington, Ranking member on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources)
  • Senator Bob Casey (Democrat from Pennsylvania).

Below is a list of all who testified grouped into their respective panels, their battle or organization, and which states they represent.
**To view a video of testimony, click on the panel title.
**To view a pdf of individual testimony, click on a testifier’s name.

Click here to read the Delaware Riverkeeper’s blog post about the day.

Highlights from the day
Introduction by Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper.

Private Property Taken for Corporate Gain:
William Limpert, Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Western Virginia
David Reilly, Sierra Club Niagara, Western NY
Bruce Baxter, Constitution Pipeline
Claude Bowie, Fair Compensation for Underground Storage, Mississippi
Jacqueline Evans, HALT Founding Member, New Jersey and Pennsylvania

People’s Rights & State’s Rights Abused:
Tom Michelenko, New Jersey
Meg Holleran, North Harford Maple, Pennsylvania
Nancy Vann, Reynolds Hills, Inc., New York
Ryan Talbott, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Pennsylvania and Oregon
Suzannah Glidden, Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (SAPE), New York

Conflicts and Self-Dealing:
Susan Meacham, Holland Township, CCAP (Concerned Citizens Against Pipelines)
Susan Van Dolsen, Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion, New York
Karen Feridun, Berks Gas Truth, Pennsylvania
Dave Pringle, Clean Water Action, New Jersey

Ignoring Facts, Science & Law:
Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Delaware
Spencer Phillips, Key-Log Economics, Virginia
Paul Blanch, AIM, Nuclear Expert, New York
Amy Rosmarin, Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (SAPE), New York
Donny Williams, We Are Cove Point, Maryland
David Sligh, Wild Virginia, Virginia
Belinda Blazic, Garden State Expansion Project, New Jersey
Kathy Harget, Green America, Washington, DC
Courtney Williams, Resist AIM, New York

Future Generations Ignored:
Ted Glick, Beyond Extreme Energy, Washington, DC
Glen Besa, Sierra Club Virginia, Virginia
Cathy Strickler, Climate Action Alliance of the Valley, Virginia

Public Voice Stripped:
Chad Oba, Friends of Buckingham, Virginia
Renee Walker, Fulton County Common Sense Energy Coalition, Ohio
Russell Chisholm, Preserve Giles County , Virginia
Michelle Keith, South Coast Neighbors United, Massachusetts
Chris Gauthier, Spectra Energy Access NorthEast Project, Massachusetts
Lakshmi Fjord, Friends of Buckingham, Virginia

Taking Public Treasures:
Jane Winn, Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT), Massachusetts
Patrick Robbins, Sane Energy Project, New York
Ernie Reed, Friends of Nelson and Wild Virginia, Virginia
Jerolyn Deplazes, Preserve Newport Historic Properties, Virginia (testimony read on behalf by Russell Chisholm)
Irene Leech, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Virginia

False Claims of Need:
Wendy Graca, South Coast Neighbors United, Massachusetts
Ivy Main, Sierra Club Virginia, Virginia
April Keating, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance, West Virginia
Patty Cronheim, ReThink Energy NJ, New Jersey

Bias and Abuse in the Process:
Richard Shingles, Preserve Giles County, Virginia
Lea Harper, FreshWater Accountability Project, Ohio
Paul Gierosky, Coalition to Reroute Nexus (CORN), Ohio
Ellen Cantarow, Journalist, New York
Pramilla Malick, Protect Orange County, New York
Stephanie Scherr, ECHO Action, New Hampshire
David Mucklow, Coalition to Reroute Nexus (CORN), Ohio

Peoples Rights & Voices Undermined:
Carol Davis, Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment , Arizona
Kevin Campbell, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance, West Virginia
James Michel, Resist the Pipeline, Massachusetts
Marla Marcum, Climate Disobedience Center, Resist the Pipeline, Massachusetts
Nancy Wilson, Stop the West Roxbury Pipeline, Resist the Pipeline, Massachusetts
Paul Horn, Stop the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline Coalition (SWRL), Massachusetts
Dr. Elizabeth Athaide-Victor, Neighbors Against Nexus, Ohio
Janet Barrow, Florida

Real People Real Harms:
Terri Meyers, Pennsylvania
Roberta Motherway Bondurant, PreserveRoanoke/BentMountain, Virginia
William Huston, NY Friends of Clean Air and Water, New York (testimony read on behalf by Corinne Bell)
Leslie Garcia, Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community, Maryland
Geri Ann Siwulec, New Jersey
Cara Bottorff, Key-Log Economics

Closing remarks by Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper.

To download the program from the day for sharing: Peoples Hearing Program

Basics and Background:
Every day there is a new example of how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is abusing its power and the law in its biased reviews of fracked gas pipelines and its disregard of the rights of people, states and regulatory agencies:

  • Aggressive use of the power of eminent domain;
  • Stripping states of their legal authority by leap frogging over it;
  • Creating legal loopholes that put people in legal limbo, unable to challenge pipelines in court before FERC sends them in to construction;
  • False public hearings that divide and conquer communities;
  • Commissioners who approve projects that will benefit them personally;
  • Supporting pipeline and consultant self-dealing;
  • Never saying no;
  • Never forcing compliance with community protection laws as projects proceed through construction;
  • And on and on and on …..

Communities from over 35 states and the District of Columbia abused by FERC have demanded that Congress investigate by holding congressional hearings.

While some members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce expressed support for our request through statements to the press, it was important to bring out into the open the breadth of abuses and experiences. And so the People’s Hearing was organized.

We invited elected and newly elected members of Congress and the press to come hear about the abuses FERC is heaping on our communities

Press Coverage of the People’s Hearing:

Organizers of the People’s Hearing include:
Delaware Riverkeeper Network ~ Clean Water Action ~ Berks Gas Truth,
Beyond Extreme Energy ~ Earthworks ~ Food & Water Watch

Sponsors:

Catskill Mountainkeeper ~ People, Not Pipelines ~ Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion
Earth Guardians ~ Freshwater Accountability Project
Advocates for Springfield, NY ~ Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT)
Big Bend Conservation Alliance ~ Franciscan Response to Fracking ~ OVEC
Concerned Citizens for a Safe Environment ~ Sane Energy Project
North Jersey Pipeline Walkers ~ We Are Cove Point
Halt the Harm ~ South Coast Neighbors United
Sierra Club ~ Responsible Drilling Alliance ~ NJ Sierra
Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) ~ Waterkeepers Chesapeake
Gas Free Seneca ~ Seneca Lake Guardian
Complete it Cuomo ~ New Mexico River Healers
Green America ~ Virginia River Healers
SAPE ~ Ban the Transport of Fracked Gas
Climate Mama ~ Safe Energy Rights Group (SEnRG)
Sourland Conservancy ~ Resist the Pipeline
Stop the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline
Sustainable Medina County ~ WV Chapter of Sierra Club
Interfaith Moral Action on Climate ~ Lancaster Against Pipelines
Coalition for Responsibile Siting of LNG Facilities
No Fracked Gas in Mass ~ Protecting Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR)
FrackFreeNC Alliance ~ NC Alliance to Stop the ACP
Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance ~ Coalition to Reroute Nexus (CoRN)
Preserve Roanoke/ Bent Mountain ~ Sierra Cub Niagara
NY Friends of Clean Air and Water ~ Friends of Water