1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:06,640 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. Hello and welcome to Cool People Who 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:08,879 Speaker 1: Did Cool Stuff. You're a weekly reminder that where there's 3 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:12,000 Speaker 1: people doing bad stuff, there's people who try to stop 4 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: people from doing bad stuff by doing cool things. I'm 5 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,959 Speaker 1: your host, Margaret Kildoy. This week, I'm going to do 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: something a little bit different than usual. I'm going to 7 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: talk about a social movement that is maybe not even 8 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: in the past tense, a social movement I just a 9 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: few weeks ago attended a court case related to I'm 10 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: also doing it without a guest, without a producer. Well, 11 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: actually I have several amazing producers, including Sophie and Ian 12 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:42,239 Speaker 1: and of course Rory are audio engineer, Hi Rory, and 13 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: our theme music was written for us by one woman. 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: But no one else is on the call. It's just 15 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,959 Speaker 1: me and you, dear listener. The last time I did 16 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: this sort of scripted episode, best as I can recall, 17 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: was last autumn, when I went down for a day 18 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: to talk to folks during Hurricane Helene relief in western 19 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: North Carolin. This episode comes from a similar place. I 20 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: drove down to southwest Virginia to observe the final criminal 21 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: trials for protesters who worked for six years or ten years, 22 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: depending on how you count it to stop a natural 23 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: gas pipeline called the Mountain Valley Pipeline owned by a 24 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: company called Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, built by a company 25 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: called Equatrans Midwest Stream Core not Core Corp. I'm just 26 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: used to seeing Corp and thinking Core because of the Marines. 27 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: That's unrelated. I've done my usual research for this episode, 28 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: but for an awful lot of it, my sources are 29 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: just my own conversations with activists. This probably means my 30 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: own usual biases will be compounded and more of what 31 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: I say will be harder to prove accurate. On the 32 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: other hand, I think it helps me weave a better narrative, 33 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: one that is more accurate to the actual shape of 34 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: the movement. It's taken me a long time to accept 35 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: that sometimes I'm a journalist now instead of a participant 36 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: in this or that movement. But being a journalist is 37 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: also kind of fun going somewhere and meeting amazing, passionate 38 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: people who accomplished something unimaginable together, then trying my hardest 39 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: to do their story justice while trying to remain as 40 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: accurate to the facts as I can. It's fun. The 41 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: shortest version of the story might go something like this. 42 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: A company wanted to move fract gas through West Virginia 43 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: into regular Virginia. Damn the consequences. An awful lot of 44 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: people from all walks of life said the fuck you will, 45 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: and they said it collectively. By twenty eighteen, they began 46 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 1: to use direct action to stop construction of the pipeline, 47 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,639 Speaker 1: using tree sts and tripods and lock boxes and all 48 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: the various nonviolent direct action skills honed by eco defenders 49 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: over the past forty years or so to slow down 50 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: and stop construction on the pipeline, while environmental lawyers and 51 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: public groups worked in the courts to prove just how untenable, 52 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: ill advised, and undesired this pipeline was. After years of 53 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: work in courtrooms and on remote mountaintops, they even won. 54 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: For a while, work stopped and the MVP project seemed 55 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: dead in its tracks. But the story of the Mountain 56 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: View Pipeline is the story of the discrepancy between how 57 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: people assume that democratic government should work and how it 58 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: actually works within capitalist society. Before direct action got involved, 59 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: endless well reasoned arguments were offered against the project from 60 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: all corners, at least one local I talked to who 61 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: was involved in the fight from the beginning started off 62 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: believing that his government worked for him. People filed complaints 63 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: and made arguments against the project during public commenting periods. 64 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: Disillusionment set in as the regulating bodies proved that they 65 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: weren't asking for public comments so that they could decide 66 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: whether or not the project should go forward, but to 67 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: get their own legal arguments in order in order to 68 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: make sure that the project could go forward. Then, of course, 69 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: years later, the pipeline seemed defeated in both the woods 70 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: and the courts, but the fossil fuel industry has never 71 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: been afraid of moving or demolishing mountains, both literally and figuratively. 72 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: The Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Joe Mansion, spent years 73 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,159 Speaker 1: trying to hold climate change legislation hostage to get the 74 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: MVP project to bypass environmental regulation, and in twenty twenty three, 75 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: under Joe Biden, he succeeded. It took a minor constitutional 76 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: crisis and a transparent rejection of democratic and legislative process 77 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: to get the MVP completed. The anti pipeline activists not 78 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,679 Speaker 1: ones to give up easily or at all went down fighting, 79 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: with lockdowns and walk ons happening for months. In the end, 80 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, the pipeline was completed. These days, 81 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: it pipes fracked natural gas across the Appalachians, deepening this 82 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:20,600 Speaker 1: country's reliance on the fossil fuel infrastructure that seems poised 83 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: to doom us all. The pipeline was, by most reasonable assessments, 84 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 1: and for most people in the area and world, a 85 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: bad idea. From the simplest and most localized perspective, it's 86 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,919 Speaker 1: a three hundred and three mile long scar cut across 87 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: forests and mountains, rivers and streams. It's worse than that, 88 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 1: though activists refer to it as a ticking time bomb, 89 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: and they're not wrong to say that long delays in 90 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: the construction have left sections of the pipe exposed to 91 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: the elements. Even pipeline executives testified that this was disastrous 92 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: to the safety of the peipe. Robert Cooper was the 93 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 1: senior vice president for engineering and construction of the MVP, 94 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: and in court he testified about the protective coding on 95 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:14,239 Speaker 1: all the pipes themselves. Quote, as it sits in the sun, 96 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: it ages or oxidizes and actually becomes thinner prior to 97 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: it becoming too thin to use. You have to protect 98 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:25,279 Speaker 1: it from the sun. He testified to that in twenty eighteen, 99 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: and some of the pipe didn't go into the ground 100 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: until twenty twenty four. The thing is, gas pipelines explode 101 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: all of the time. In August twenty nineteen, a sixty 102 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: year old pipeline exploded in Kentucky and killed one person 103 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: and drove seventy five people from their homes. The explosion 104 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: was caused by the degradation of the protective coating on 105 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: the pipe, which wasn't helped by the fact that Enbridge, 106 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: the owner of that particular pipe, was apparently responsible for 107 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: its own integrity assessments. But don't worry. Enbridge released a 108 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: statement to say, to quote the Kentucky news site WLKY quote, 109 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: it was deeply sorry and it has worked diligently to 110 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: improve the safety of its pipelines. In August twenty twenty one, 111 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: a natural gas pipeline owned by Kinder Morgan exploded in Arizona. 112 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: To quote the National Transportation Safety Board's report, the rupture 113 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: resulted in the release of natural gas vapor that ignited 114 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: and exploded. The explosion and gas fed fire destroyed a 115 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: farmhouse four hundred fifty one feet away, killing two of 116 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 1: the three occupants and seriously injuring the other. And then 117 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: when the Safety Board investigated, they said contributing to the 118 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: rupture was Kinder Morgan's failure to record the correct coating 119 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: type used for this segment of the pipeline, leading to 120 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: a risk assessment that did not fully identify the risk 121 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: of stress corrosion cracking. The list of pipeline accidents in 122 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: the United States on Wikipedias spanned six different pages. Between 123 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four and twenty thirteen, there were at least 124 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: nine hundred and forty one serious incidents across the US, 125 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 1: killing three hundred and sixty three people and leaking uncountable 126 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: quantities of gas and oil into the environment. A Wall 127 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: Street Journal article, you Know that notorious lefty rag points 128 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: out that leaks are chronically under reported by and two 129 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: federal agencies, and most are only detected by folks on 130 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: the ground. Not only is there no reason to suspect 131 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: that the MVP was built any better than any of 132 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: these other pipelines, but we know that large lengths of 133 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: pipe were left exposed to the elements. Locals report pipelines 134 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: just left in standing water on their property for years. 135 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: We also know that the regulatory agency pH MSA, the 136 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: Pipelines and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, has already cited Equitrands 137 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:02,320 Speaker 1: for building below specification. From everyone I've talked to, the 138 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: Appalachian Mountains are a particularly perilous place to bury pipelines 139 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,359 Speaker 1: due to the shifting of the ancient mountains, and Equatrand's 140 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: own environmental impact report admits that the majority of the 141 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: pipeline is in landslide prone regions. And of course it 142 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: is frankly reprehensible to expand fossil fuel infrastructure as the 143 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: reality of climate change has set in. It's not like 144 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 1: loading fuel into a house that might catch fire. It's 145 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: like loading fuel into a house that's already burning, but 146 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:38,359 Speaker 1: you know what else is burning hot. The Sweet deals 147 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: on products and services that support this very podcast, and 148 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: we're back. People in Central Apalachia are pretty used to 149 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: being extracted from and cast aside by the state and capitalism. 150 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: Not all of them would frame it with those words. 151 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: Some would. This has always been a place the rest 152 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 1: of the country forgets about. I am willing to bet 153 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,720 Speaker 1: the majority of listeners couldn't name a single city in 154 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:16,439 Speaker 1: West Virginia. Charleston, the capital, is about half the size 155 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:21,319 Speaker 1: of tiny little Asheville, North Carolina, for comparison. I grew 156 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,040 Speaker 1: up visiting West Virginia as a kid, but the first 157 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: time I really spent time there was almost fifteen years ago, 158 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: working a little bit with folks fighting mountaintop removal coal mining. 159 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: While I was there, I realized just how extracted from 160 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: this region is. Almost No one cares about the people here, 161 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: certainly not the politicians. In the coal fields, people's houses 162 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: are covered in coal dust. Entire towns are regularly wiped 163 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 1: off the map as coal companies buy up the property 164 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 1: and just demolish it. The labor wars raged here for 165 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: generations for a hundred years. There's still some fight in people, 166 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,959 Speaker 1: as the fight against this pipeline proves, but by and 167 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: large the unions were broken by the companies in the 168 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. Workers were replaced with dynamite and companies just 169 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:16,679 Speaker 1: started leveling entire mountains. The working class was driven from 170 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: the area or driven into poverty. Industrial accidents are somehow 171 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,560 Speaker 1: routine in the area, and I met person after person 172 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: with stories about sludge pouring through the valleys, killing and 173 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: ruining as it went out. West more Land is public 174 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,079 Speaker 1: land on the east coast. Most of it is privately 175 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: owned for the MVP. Landowners were offered easements, but if 176 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:47,239 Speaker 1: they didn't sign, the land was eminent domained away from them. 177 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: It's like mugging someone with a gun and then asking 178 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: to borrow their wallet. If there's a place where companies 179 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: thought that they could get away with just fucking everyone over, 180 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:01,959 Speaker 1: with building a time bomb under everyone's land, it's Central Appalacha. 181 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: It turned out, though, that Appalachia knows how to throw down. 182 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: The fight against the MVP was one of the most 183 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: engaging and long lasting non violent direct action campaigns in 184 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,959 Speaker 1: US history. Its tree SATs were the longest lasting east 185 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: of the Mississippi. The pipeline was supposed to cost three 186 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,680 Speaker 1: billion dollars and take a year to build. Instead, it 187 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: took six and a half years and cost at least 188 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,679 Speaker 1: six point six billion dollars, and the fight against it 189 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 1: brought people together from across cultural, political and class lines. 190 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,280 Speaker 1: One of the people I sat down to talk to 191 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: was there from the beginning because he lives in the area. 192 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: He says it started in twenty fourteen or so when 193 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: folks started getting letters and visits talking about easements and 194 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: eminent domain. He wasn't an activist at that point, near 195 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,319 Speaker 1: as I can tell, nor was he one of the 196 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: landowners whose property was at stake. He was just fight 197 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 1: waiting for his community. Folks who were getting those letters 198 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: started comparing notes on Facebook and elsewhere, and soon enough 199 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 1: folks got together. This was old school organizing. They built 200 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,840 Speaker 1: phone trees, they went neighbor to neighbor. It was a 201 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: mix of people right from the jump, including environmentalists with 202 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,720 Speaker 1: deep roots in the area. This is, as I mentioned, 203 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:24,959 Speaker 1: the part of the country where companies like to destroy 204 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: unions and blow up entire mountains, landowners and concern neighbors. 205 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: That very first meeting, they thought they might get a 206 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: dozen or so people at the local community center, but 207 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 1: one man I talked to remembers just getting up over 208 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: and over again to get more chairs. As people poured in. 209 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,959 Speaker 1: They weren't overall people with strong political allegiances in any direction, 210 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,559 Speaker 1: but one by one people stood up and spoke earnestly, 211 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: forcefully about how they needed to build solidarity with one 212 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: another and fight this pipeline to save their communities. It 213 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: was really early on that people realized this pipeline would 214 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: affect everyone in the watershed. Die tracing in the area 215 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 1: revealed that anything spilled in one area would wind up 216 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: bubbling out of the earth seven miles downstream. The people 217 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: who started the campaign started out working within the system. 218 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: They worked with environmental lawyers, and they spoke with regulatory agencies. 219 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: They filed public comments and went to public comment meetings. 220 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 1: They fought against the permitting of the pipeline. I'm sure 221 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: some of them came in cynical, but not the man 222 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: I talked to. He thought, because he had no reason 223 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: to think otherwise, that the democratic process and regulatory agencies 224 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: existed to serve the public, to serve the community. He 225 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,400 Speaker 1: thought that if enough people spoke clearly enough, with enough 226 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: facts on their side, that the government would listen. The 227 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: main governmental order organization they were speaking to and hoping 228 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: to get justice from was FERK, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 229 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: But soon enough they realized that all of their public 230 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: comments weren't stopping the pipeline. They were working as what 231 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: I guess you might compare to bug reports. The activists 232 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: were having their words used against them as Ferk worked 233 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: hand in hand with MVP to guide them through the 234 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 1: permitting process, all the public comments working to help highlight 235 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: which of their arguments they needed to shore up. To 236 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: be clear, the year's long work in public comments did 237 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: absolutely have a purpose. The activist attorneys working in the 238 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: courts to stop the case expressed their gratitude because all 239 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,040 Speaker 1: of that work with commenting and fighting for permits helped 240 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: them build their case. But the Department of Environmental Quality 241 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: eventually gave MVP their permits, and by twenty eighteen, construction 242 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: was slated to start. Actually, construction was slated to both 243 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: start and finish in twenty eighteen, but when construction started, 244 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 1: the direct action campaign against the pipeline kicked off. To 245 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: be clear, something like that takes preparation. Movement elders started 246 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: holding Direct Action one oh one trainings as far back 247 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: as twenty sixteen, teaching skills like liaisoning with police, how 248 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: to do soft blockades, all kinds of skills for what 249 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: is worth. These are the sorts of trainings it's worth 250 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: going to, even if you don't have an immediate plan 251 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 1: to use the skills you learn. There there are a 252 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: lot of ways to do activism and nonviolent direct action 253 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: and blockading and such isn't the only one, but it's 254 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: one that's worth knowing about. Something that comes up again 255 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: and again in environmental campaigns is that companies will usually 256 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: start work before everything is sorted in court. It's easy 257 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: to clear cut a forest or bury a pipeline and 258 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: then say, well, looks like the courts wouldn't have let 259 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,280 Speaker 1: us do that in the end, but we already did it, so, 260 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: oh well, that's where direct action comes in. Ferk The 261 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:11,400 Speaker 1: Energy Commission issued a tolling order to let pipeline construction 262 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,440 Speaker 1: start in twenty eighteen, despite the fact that there were 263 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: all sorts of appeals and lawsuits working their way through 264 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:20,360 Speaker 1: the courts at the time, and in fact courts would 265 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: eventually declare the whole thing illegal time and time again. 266 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: So MVP started work, so people started stopping them. Maybe 267 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:32,919 Speaker 1: The first action was a tree set that went up 268 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: in January twenty eighteen up on Peters Mountain, a mountain 269 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: which divides Regular Virginia from West Virginia. The Appalachian Trail 270 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: runs along the ridge, so the pipeline was planned to 271 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:49,160 Speaker 1: be and eventually built, bored through the mountain to run 272 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: under the famous trail this first tree set. Look. I 273 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:58,120 Speaker 1: love Appalachia, but if you live out west, it's hard 274 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: to be impressed by the name nature here out east. 275 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: The mountains here are absolutely ancient, so they've been worn 276 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:09,200 Speaker 1: down over millions of years. They aren't the towering young 277 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:13,120 Speaker 1: peaks we have out west, and colonizers have been here 278 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,879 Speaker 1: for hundreds of years longer, so old growth is remarkably 279 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: rare on the ground. Which is to say, if you 280 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: look at photos of this first tree set, which you 281 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:26,200 Speaker 1: should do, it sort of seems like a little thing, 282 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:29,440 Speaker 1: not the epic redwoods and dug firs people have sat 283 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: in out west. The sit looks to me from a 284 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:35,719 Speaker 1: photo to be maybe thirty feet in the air in 285 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,440 Speaker 1: what I'm guessing is an oak. That little tree set 286 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: stopped the construction in its tracks, a one hundred and 287 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: twenty five foot wide swath of destruction stopped completely by sitters, 288 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,320 Speaker 1: high on a steep mountain, a four hour hike from 289 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:57,680 Speaker 1: the nearest road in the dead of winter. I am 290 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 1: not alone in my admiration of these four. Local news 291 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:03,880 Speaker 1: from the time is full of farmers and other locals 292 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,360 Speaker 1: admiring their bravery, but do you know what else those 293 00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: people might have admired. They might have admired the amazing 294 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: deals that we offer here on all of our advertisers. Actually, 295 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:16,400 Speaker 1: it's funny. I don't think any of our ads are 296 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,200 Speaker 1: really even offering you discounts, but they are offering to 297 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 1: talk at you. So that's something, right? Does it fill 298 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: the void? Who knows? And we're back soon after, while 299 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: the tree sit was still standing, a monopod went up 300 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: a tree sit. You can probably sort of imagine what 301 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,440 Speaker 1: a tree set is. It's a platform, maybe a four 302 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: by eight sheet of plywood, for example, Suspend it high 303 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:58,400 Speaker 1: up in a tree. You sit on that platform, tree sit. 304 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: It keeps me people from cutting down that tree. Especially 305 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: in the winter. You're likely to string up tarps and 306 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:07,920 Speaker 1: other shelter over the platform to keep the weather off 307 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: of you. To explain a monopod, I should probably explain 308 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: a tripod. A tripod as well. It's a big, tall 309 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: thing built out of three poles. You can PLoP one 310 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,159 Speaker 1: down in a roadway and have someone climb up to 311 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 1: where the three poles meet, and suddenly it is much 312 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: harder to drive down that road. But aerial protest technology 313 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,720 Speaker 1: developed fast a while back, and there are now bipods 314 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:39,120 Speaker 1: and monopods too. Essentially, the role of the extra poles 315 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 1: is taken up by rope. By making particularly precarious structures, 316 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: protesters are able to more effectively stop traffic and logging 317 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,879 Speaker 1: and such. So folks set up a monopod made out 318 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,959 Speaker 1: of a felled tree right on the Forest Service Road, 319 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: tied to the Forest Service gate, so is better to 320 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,480 Speaker 1: stop traffic, and in particular, as I under stand it, 321 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,720 Speaker 1: to stop traffic and therefore police from reaching the tree sit. 322 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 1: You can and should look up pictures of all of 323 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: these protests to get a sense of what they looked like. 324 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: It's really hard to describe a monopod by description. They're 325 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: very logical once you look at a picture of them, 326 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: and you can look up photos on the social media 327 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: of Appalachians against Pipelines is a really good source for that. 328 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,720 Speaker 1: I looked at lots of their Facebook. I literally read 329 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:31,919 Speaker 1: through and scrolled through their entire many years of Facebook, 330 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,119 Speaker 1: but there's photos there. The cops laid siege to the 331 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,120 Speaker 1: monopod and tried to starve the sitter out. They set 332 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,479 Speaker 1: up noise machines to irritate the sitter they shone lights, 333 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: They tried to drive the sitter to sleeplessness and madness. 334 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:50,560 Speaker 1: It seems there's a precedent here that's worth noting. In 335 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: two thousand and one, during protests to stop cutting in 336 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: Mount Hood National Forests in Oregon, a forest defender named 337 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:01,199 Speaker 1: Trey Arrow climbed into one of the trees without a platform, 338 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: an informal tree set. The cops shone lights, blasted music, 339 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 1: and just kept him from sleeping. After a forty five 340 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: hours stand off, Trey Arrow fell sixty feet to the ground, 341 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: fracturing his pelvis, breaking his ribs, and collapsing one of 342 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:23,360 Speaker 1: his lungs. He survived. Trying to keep someone from sleeping 343 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: while they are perched thirty feet in the air is, 344 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: from my point of view, a fundamentally violent act. But 345 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:34,120 Speaker 1: this sitter, the one we've moved back over to Virginia, 346 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,680 Speaker 1: this sitter had a platform and presumably a harness. When 347 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: the police laid siege to the monopod, they closed the 348 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: roads to keep people from driving up to support the activists. 349 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: A local, a self described mountain person named Jamie Hale, 350 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 1: grew up hunting and fishing in the area, so he 351 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 1: blazed a new trail. Literally, he forged a new hiking 352 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: trail in the area and mark marked it with tape 353 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: so that others could follow the hail trail he called it. 354 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:06,919 Speaker 1: I told most of the people I interviewed that I 355 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,920 Speaker 1: was foregoing names since there was still so much ongoing 356 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: with the campaign, but he said more or less, well, 357 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: I'm Jamie Hale, and it was the hail trail with pride. 358 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:21,879 Speaker 1: He told me that after he blazed that two mile trail, 359 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 1: folks started setting up a camp up there on the 360 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 1: steep mountain side, just outside the police cordon. Slanty camp 361 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,800 Speaker 1: they called it because it was well slanty. Sit down 362 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: on a chair and at some point you'll fall over 363 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,120 Speaker 1: or write a passage wherever you slept in your tent, 364 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: you woke up at the bottom of it. Jamie described 365 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 1: how everyone marched up and down that trail for months, 366 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,400 Speaker 1: including a local news anchor who walked it all in heels, 367 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:54,879 Speaker 1: impressing everyone. Public perception of protesters is it's sort of paradoxical. 368 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: People act like protesters are at the same time know 369 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: nothing Nimbi type not in my backyard types, only concerned 370 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: about their own property values, and at the same time 371 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,400 Speaker 1: they're somehow also out of state outside agitators who don't 372 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: actually care about the region and are just addicted to 373 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:18,439 Speaker 1: the self righteousness of activism. I didn't join the MVP protests, 374 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,159 Speaker 1: much to my regret. I only met some of the 375 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: activists when I came down as a journalist to cover 376 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: the last criminal trial the campaign at the end of February. 377 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: You can hear my coverage or that particular trial in 378 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:32,200 Speaker 1: those particular cases over on. It could happen here from 379 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 1: March fourth, twenty twenty five. But the activists I met, 380 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: they made sense to me. Mountain people, hippies, and punks 381 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: were the three words I heard used to describe the 382 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 1: sorts of folks there, and to be honest, most people 383 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,959 Speaker 1: I met were some combination of all three of those things. 384 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:55,719 Speaker 1: These weren't distinct camps or distinct identities, as best as 385 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: I could tell, just some adjectives that got thrown around. 386 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: I asked people what they wanted to have conveyed through 387 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: media coverage, and a few things came up. The fact 388 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,040 Speaker 1: that a lot of the young queer punks and hippies, 389 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: the college kids, and the activist types, a lot of 390 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: them were from the area, or from comparable areas. They 391 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,159 Speaker 1: weren't specifically an outside force, and they sure as hell 392 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 1: weren't there to teach the locals how to fight. They 393 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,440 Speaker 1: were there to support the fight. Or again, they were 394 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,399 Speaker 1: from there in the first place. Plenty of the locals, 395 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: landowners and otherwise had been part of land defense campaigns 396 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:40,040 Speaker 1: before as well. Like I said, Appalachia is a region 397 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: with a long history of extraction and a long history 398 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: of resistance. All of us, of course, have skin in 399 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: the game when it comes to stopping climate change. But 400 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 1: the outside agitator claims against the MVP protesters is particularly 401 00:25:56,040 --> 00:26:00,640 Speaker 1: and wildly misguided. While some folks have laudably come from 402 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,639 Speaker 1: very far away to support the fight, most of the 403 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: cars in the parking lot at the court were Virginia 404 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 1: and West Virginia. I bet there were some North Carolina 405 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:17,199 Speaker 1: and Ohio around, maybe Maryland. Meanwhile, the representatives for MVP 406 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,479 Speaker 1: who arrived for the trial their truck had Oklahoma plates. 407 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,199 Speaker 1: For all of the big talk about bringing jobs to 408 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: the region, it instead brought outside labor. Almost all of 409 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:34,400 Speaker 1: the money for the project left the region immediately. Appalachia 410 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: is a place that value is extracted from, not a 411 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: place where value is brought. The other thing the activist 412 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: I met wanted to stress was that their respect and 413 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,439 Speaker 1: learning went both directions, between the older local folks and 414 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:51,919 Speaker 1: the younger activists. I can't speak to it happening in 415 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: this case in particular, but environmental activism often shows people 416 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: who grew up urban or suburban just how wonderful rural 417 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: life can be. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself. I 418 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: became a tree sitter years ago. The first time I 419 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,879 Speaker 1: spent in West Virginia was looking at mountaintop removal sites. 420 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: And now I live here, and I spend my days 421 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,720 Speaker 1: looking at trees and mountains and talking to my neighbors 422 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,880 Speaker 1: about trees and mountains. When I say cultural exposure went 423 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:24,159 Speaker 1: both ways, I mean both ways. I talked to Jamie 424 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,159 Speaker 1: Hale and some other folks about what the multiculturalism of 425 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,520 Speaker 1: the movement looked like. He told me that divide and 426 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:34,920 Speaker 1: conquers the enemy's oldest and strongest strategy, that it's better 427 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:38,399 Speaker 1: to be accepting and loving. He told me that he 428 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: grew up hunting and trapping in a place that was 429 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: ninety five percent white, and he hadn't met too many 430 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,119 Speaker 1: queer folks before the pipeline fight started. The first meeting 431 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: he went to. The pronoun part of the introductions made 432 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: no sense to him, seemed weird to him. Soon enough, 433 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,960 Speaker 1: he learned how important pronouns were to people's sense of self, 434 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 1: and it was no problem for him to accept them. 435 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,320 Speaker 1: He and other folks like him, of course, have been 436 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:07,199 Speaker 1: an integral part of the movement since the beginning, had 437 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,400 Speaker 1: at least as much to offer to folks who came 438 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: from a more activist background, because yeah, we're stronger together. 439 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,640 Speaker 1: People I talked to were very aware of how as 440 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:24,159 Speaker 1: people living in Central Appalachia, the world doesn't give a 441 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: shit about them, how people who should know better say 442 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: things like, well, those people vote a certain way, so 443 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:36,399 Speaker 1: they deserve whatever happens to them. The movement was ideologically 444 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: diverse as well, because it wasn't really built along ideological lines. 445 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 1: You weren't going to find any maga hats, but there 446 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: were liberals, progressives, anarchists, and dependents. Whoever decided to do 447 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 1: an action, the movement agreed to honor their messaging around 448 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: that action. People weren't afraid to tie their struggle against 449 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,760 Speaker 1: the pipeline to larger issues and decolonization. And land back 450 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 1: were on people's minds and in their messaging. So yeah, 451 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen, the direct action campaign kicked off, and 452 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:13,320 Speaker 1: it kicked off strong. The monopod lasted fifty four days 453 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:17,880 Speaker 1: despite the twenty four hour siege. Then hours before the 454 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: monopod sitter came down, a skypod went up just up 455 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: the road, like zero point two miles away. So the 456 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: monopod sitter came down and the road was still completely 457 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: blocked by protesters. One person telling me the story, whose 458 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 1: name I forgot to write down, ironically enough, said quote, 459 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 1: I am willing to go on record here to say 460 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:44,240 Speaker 1: that that was very, very funny. A skypod is well, okay, 461 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,920 Speaker 1: so it's a monopod without the mono, a platform suspended 462 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:52,160 Speaker 1: over a roadway, tied into things nearby, usually trees. The 463 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:56,600 Speaker 1: skypod lasted nine days. The tree sit, the one that 464 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:01,040 Speaker 1: started it all further into the wilderness, lasted ninety six days. 465 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,440 Speaker 1: And of course, just like to understand it strategically, part 466 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:06,400 Speaker 1: of the reason that that trise it lasted so long 467 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 1: is because these other sits were set up ahead of it, 468 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: so then the treset couldn't be evicted because he had 469 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:15,320 Speaker 1: these other you know this layered sense of security like 470 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: old castles. You all spend all of your time reading 471 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: about old castles, right, that's not just me multiple layers 472 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:28,719 Speaker 1: of defense, it's very effective. And meanwhile, crucially activists were 473 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: working in the courts. Speaking of layered methods of defense, well, actually, 474 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,360 Speaker 1: I guess in this comparison, the court would be the offense, 475 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: and the tree sits and such are the defense. Anyway, 476 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: the tree sits, the blockades, those are the sexiest actions 477 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: in a campaign like this, and often the ones with 478 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: the most personal risk, but they're just part of a campaign. 479 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,160 Speaker 1: The legal team, while work was stopped on the mountain, 480 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 1: got the National Forest permits for the pipeline revoked. It 481 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: would take an entire season of this show to track 482 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: all the ins and out both of every action that 483 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: happened and every time that permits were revoked and reinstated. 484 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: So don't consider this a blow by blow, but instead 485 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: the best overview of the campaign that have been able 486 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,520 Speaker 1: to cobble together from interviews, press releases, and news reports 487 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 1: over the ten years of the campaign. MVP was dead 488 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,479 Speaker 1: set on building every mile they could, even when they 489 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,640 Speaker 1: were not allowed to build the entire thing. They were 490 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:33,080 Speaker 1: counting on the state in the end having their backs. 491 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 1: Considering we watched both presidential candidates in twenty twenty four 492 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:42,719 Speaker 1: run on drill baby drill platforms, I can understand their confidence. 493 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 1: So despite permits being revoked for miles of the pipeline, 494 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: the construction crew started digging and blasting and felling and 495 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: drilling everywhere else they could. But people kept fighting. How 496 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: they kept fighting? What exactly it looked like. We're going 497 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 1: to talk about that on Wednesday. That's my cliffhanger. Ye 498 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:09,320 Speaker 1: cliffhanger time. You certainly can't go and read about this 499 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: campaign elsewhere. You have to wait till Wednesday. But do 500 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: you know what you don't have to wait till Wednesday 501 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: to do? Well, I'm currently kickstarting a book, unless you're 502 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: listening to this in the future, in which case I've 503 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 1: already kickstarted a book. But well, maybe I'll be kickstarting 504 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:24,320 Speaker 1: a different book at that point. That seems to be 505 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,840 Speaker 1: something I do a lot. Anyway, I am currently kickstarting 506 00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: a book called The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice. It 507 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 1: is the third book in the Danielle Kaine series, which 508 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: is about punk rock travelers going around and fighting demons 509 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 1: running for Magic Feds. And book three is actually kind 510 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: of standalone. It's kind of a prequel, but also as 511 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: part of the kickstarter, I'm doing audiobooks for the first 512 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,760 Speaker 1: two books, and you can also hear me read both 513 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 1: of those books. I read the first book, The Lamb 514 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,760 Speaker 1: Will Slaughter the Lion to Robert Evans on Coolson Media 515 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,320 Speaker 1: Book Club a couple of years ago, and I'm actually 516 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,280 Speaker 1: right now the process of reading Robert Evans The second book, 517 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,560 Speaker 1: The Barrel Will Send what it may, so you can 518 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 1: check that out on Sundays on this feed or that 519 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 1: it could happen here feed, or just search for it anyway. 520 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 1: I hope all of you are doing as well as 521 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: you can, and I will talk to you on Wednesday. 522 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a production of 523 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:26,720 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. A more podcasts on cool Zone Media, 524 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: visit our website Foolzonemedia dot com, or check us out 525 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 526 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 1: your podcasts.