THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2011

Va Verde protested in New York City

Environmentalist demonstrated in front of the Corps of Engineers office
A group of Puerto Ricans and New Yorkers rallied on Thursday outside the Corps of Engineers office in June 10, 2011 by Inter News Wire Service Manhattan urging them to deny permission to build the proposed Va Verde gas pipeline on the island. The demonstration began at noon as the participants began chanting slogans like No to the pipeline, route of death and No more fracking, no to Va Verde. The protesters from New York stressed the term fracking, denoting the practice of extracting natural gas, which has been widely repudiated by Americans after the discovery of new deposits in U.S. soil. According to one protester, Denise Katzman from SANE Energy Project, all natural gas extractions use hydraulic fracturing that has threatened health and destroyed the environment in many parts of the world by ruining the water supply. Those who control the energy industry do not care about peoples health because for them, accidents are part of doing business, Katzman told local media such as New York 1 News. Among the group of prominent environmental and Latino community leaders from New York and Puerto Rico were Sierra Club President Orlando Negrn and Casa Pueblo spokesman Arturo Massol Dey, who will also take part in the activities before and during the Puerto Rican Day Parade to be held Sunday in New York. Massol Dey has discussed the controversial Va Verde with several groups and media, such as Democracy Now, New York 1 News, and New York Daily News. One activist from East Harlem Preservation, Marina Ortz, described the pipeline as an abomination and an insult to our beautiful island; we do not want it there. The Puerto Rican leader of the Lafayette Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn attended the protest, he said, because of the historic social commitment that guides his congregation. We are aware of the 30,000 who marched against the pipeline and of the injustices committed as the bombing in Vieques. We have a ministry of social justice and we know this is a complicated issue that needs broad support, so we are calling on everyone, regardless of race or political views, to support the fight against the pipeline, said the church leader.