Occupy the Pipeline Shuts Down Spectra Construction in NYC Favorite 

As part of a nationwide day of action against fossil fuel pipelines from Pennsylvania to Texas, several hundred New Yorkers succeeded Monday in halting construction of a radioactive pipeline threatening the West Village--after unrelenting daily vigils at the Spectra pipeline site over the past several weeks.

Concerns over fracking have received high profile attention in recent months, attracting stars such as Scarlett Johansson and Sean Lennon, who will be presenting the film Gasland at the International Film Center in Manhattan this Thursday the 18th.

Since the Texas gas company, Spectra, received federal approval to crack into the New York City waterfront this summer, construction has persisted day and night, rain or shine. Yet a simple call for civil disobedience by Occupy the Pipeline was enough to halt construction: at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, the company locked its gates and sent workers home for the rest of the day.

Wednesday, September 12th, had marked the first economic losses for Spectra as a result of civil disobedience at the site.

Despite a rush-hour downpour, a hundred West Village residents and their supporters gathered under the cover of the High Line Park–directly beneath which the Spectra Pipeline will run. They painted themselves like skeletons and shook glow sticks to highlight the risk of radon leaks accompanying exposure to fracked gas (in recognition of the Surgeon General's declaration of “Radon Week”). The scene was less sombre than humorous, as all boogied across the West Side Highway to the tune of a New Orleans jazz-funeral sax. Finally, they bound themselves together with "Caution" tape in order to illustrate their common fight against the dirty fossil fuel pipelines tearing across the planet--from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, and from the Midwest to the West Village.

George Pingeon, 27, a protester form Occupy the Pipeline, chained himself to a backhoe in order to delay the pipeline construction. Pingeon remained locked to the backhoe for an hour before police arrived and collared him. A month earlier, police arrested six pipeline protesters after they chained themselves to Spectra’s construction equipment on the Gransevoort Pier.