Name: Yet Another State Quietly Moves To Criminalize Fossil Fuel Protests Amid Coronavirus
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Yet Another State Quietly Moves To Criminalize Fossil Fuel Protests Amid Coronavirus

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×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Environment. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×lawmakers this week advanced legislation to add new criminal penalties to nonviolent against pipelines and other fossil fuel projects, setting a course to become the fourth state to enact such measures amid the chaos of the pandemic. The bill would designate virtually any oil, gas or coal equipment or facilities in the state as “critical infrastructure” and severely prohibit where aerial drones that watchdog groups to track pollution can fly. The legislation would make any action that “interrupts or interferes” with pipelines, storage depots or refineries a Class C felony, punishable with and up to $15,000 in fines. AdvertisementKentucky, South Dakota and West Virginia in March, just as states started implementing lockdowns to contain the outbreak of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus. The Alabama Senate passed the bill on March 12, just before state officials, alarmed at the spread of the virus, postponed legislative hearings for a month. When the capitol reopened in Montgomery on May 4, state remained in their home districts, but enough Republican lawmakers returned to restart work on the legislation. On Monday, the House version of the bill was introduced and referred to the committee that oversees utilities and infrastructure. On Thursday, lawmakers , pledging to work instead on budgets, bond issues for school and college funding, and local bills until the next legislative session.State Sen. Cam Ward, the lead Republican championing the measure, told HuffPost the bill “will not be voted on this session due to the COVID-19 delay in our session.” AdvertisementBut this is “a high-priority bill,” said Michael Hansen, executive director of Gasp, a clean-air advocacy group based in Birmingham. “So the moment they get a chance, they will pass it,” he said. Ward declined to comment on why the legislation was necessary in Alabama. Alabama has no major pipelines in the works. But the danger such projects pose was made clear in 2016, when the Colonial Pipeline Co. — which boasts the nation’s largest refined-product pipeline system — spilled 11,800 barrels of gasoline in Alabama’s rural Shelby County.A month later, the same pipeline exploded, killing . In 2018, the Georgia-based firm $3.3 million in state fines but faced at least over alleged contamination of land, which was dismissed only in January.AdvertisementAdvertisement“It would throw a wet blanket on any sort of protest or civil disobedience.”- Michael Hansen, executive director of GaspAdvertisementSee GallerySuggest a correctionNewsletter Sign UpWake up to the day's most important news.Successfully Subscribed!Realness delivered to your inbox

×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Environment. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×lawmakers this week advanced legislation to add new criminal penalties to nonviolent against pipelines and other fossil fuel projects, setting a course to become the fourth state to enact such measures amid the chaos of the pandemic. The bill would designate virtually any oil, gas or coal equipment or facilities in the state as “critical infrastructure” and severely prohibit where aerial drones that watchdog groups to track pollution can fly. The legislation would make any action that “interrupts or...

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AlexCKaufman

Alexander C. Kaufman

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Yet Another State Quietly Moves To Criminalize Fossil Fuel Protests Amid Coronavirus

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