In response to a reported 3,500 barrels of oil spilling from the Keystone pipeline this week in North Dakota, Sushma Raman, Interim Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, said:
“We know fossil fuels are unhealthy at every stage of their life-cycle. There is no failsafe way to transport oil and gas, and the risks unfairly fall on the people who live near the route, while the company reaps the benefits. The Keystone spill – the latest in a long history of spills – shows exactly why we need to protect protest, free speech, and the right to speak up against harm. Everyday people, public watchdogs, and advocacy groups have a right to raise their voices and criticize a corporation when their health and livelihoods are on the line.
“Yet this type of ordinary advocacy is exactly what is under attack in the more than $660M jury verdict against Greenpeace entities in a lawsuit brought by pipeline company Energy Transfer. Oil companies know that protest works – which is why they’re trying to make the stakes so high no one will be willing to take the risk,” Raman said.
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.