Over a hundred concerned West Virginia and Maryland residents will join hands over the Potomac River on Saturday and call on Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to stop TransCanada from building a fracked-gas pipeline underneath the Potomac River just west of Hancock, Maryland.
A group of elected leaders, environmental and social justice advocates, landowners and concerned citizens will stand hand-in hand to span the James Rumsey Bridge over the Potomac River. The James Rumsey Bridge connects Sharpsburg, Maryland and Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
By connecting the Maryland side of the river to West Virginia, the group will show that they stand as a united front in protesting this pipeline.
The Hands Across the Potomac show of solidarity between West Virginia and Maryland residents opposing the Potomac Pipeline for fracked gas will take place on Saturday, October 14th, 2017 at noon at the James Rumsey Bridge.
Speakers include Maryland Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins (D-20), Gerald Stansbury, president of the Maryland NAACP, Sammi Brown of West Virginia Working Families, Mary Mattlage of Eastern Panhandle Protectors, Josh Tulkin, director of the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter, Brooke Harper, the Maryland & DC Policy Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Potomac Riverkeeper Brent Walls, and West Virginia landowners Patricia Kesecker and Jessica Ward.
The pipeline is being proposed by TransCanada, the company that is also pushing the Keystone XL Pipeline. The proposed new pipeline would ship fracked gas from Pennsylvania to West Virginia, passing through the town of Hancock, Maryland and underneath a three-mile stretch of the Potomac River.
“This pipeline would not benefit Marylanders in any way, yet it would pose a grave threat to their drinking water and deepen dependence on dirty fossil fuels for years to come,” the groups said in a statement. “Over the past few months, a growing coalition of legislators, environmental activists. and concerned landowners has been speaking out against the pipeline. From paddling against the pipeline, to a months-long encampment in the spirit of Standing Rock, the coalition are building a growing movement and drawn national attention to the harms that this project could cause.”