Nuns from Marion County in Kentucky are part of the grassroots campaign against the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline, a 1,100-mile pipeline that would carry liquefied natural gas. The foot soldiers in this campaign are the Sisters of Loretto.
According to the two energy companies running the project – “The proposed pipeline will transport natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica shale producing areas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the developing petrochemical market in the Northeast U.S., as well as the rapidly expanding petrochemical and export complex on the U.S. Gulf Coast.”
The companies stress how the pipeline will help local communities and provide jobs.
The nuns and having none of it. “This isn’t about fighting big corporations, it is about fighting for our heritage,” said one of the nuns.
When a pipeline representative came knocking to survey the land owned by the nuns, the sisters said no.
The nuns are worried about the dangers and the pollution.
A Bluegrass Pipeline spokesperson says they have secured permission for more than 90 percent of the route. They say they will use eminent domain – the seizure of land “in the public interest” – as a last resort after other options are exhausted.
Video story by James West of Climate Desk.
Meet the singing anti-fracking nuns
The Bluegrass Pipeline Project company promotional trailer
