Earth Ministry / Washington Interfaith Power & Light

Earth Ministry/WA IPL

For a Just and Sustainable World

A Fossil Fuel Free Future

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This week started with the joyful news that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (WV, VA, NC) was canceled, a federal judge ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline emptied until a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is completed, and the Keystone XL pipeline was dealt a major blow in a ruling by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Canadian Supreme Court rejected an appeal by several British Columbia First Nations on the government approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. As a member of the Stand Up to Oil coalition, Earth Ministry/WAIPL will continue to do what we can to show stateside support for First Nations efforts to halt this dirty and dangerous pipeline.

Statements on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline from our partners in the Interfaith Power & Light network:

A Win for the People and Planet: Atlantic Coast Pipeline Cancelled!

by Susannah Tuttle, NC Interfaith Power & Light Director

“We prayed and we organized. We amplified the voices of directly impacted communities and we met with elected officials and high level decision makers. We held press conferences and wrote letters. We widely distributed our Governing Board’s published statement condemning the construction of pipelines such as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

And It Worked!

The announcement of the cancellation of the toxic $8 billion, 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a victory beyond measure. It is a win for the people, a win for the planet, a win for the entirety of God’s Creation. Entrusted with the stewardship of this creation (Genesis 1:28-30), we can do no other than continue making decisions that keep each other and our planet healthy.

It is now time for Duke Energy to enact the values of their 2020 Climate Report by investing in renewable energy, battery storage, energy efficiency programs and grid projects in order to fully commit to achieving a net zero carbon future.

Now is also a time of great opportunity for North Carolina. The 2020 Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan is the state’s most comprehensive effort to date, based on science and stakeholder input, to address North Carolina’s vulnerability to climate change.”

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From Joelle Novey at Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA):

Both IPL-DMV and VAIPL have been working with Virginia congregations to pull together over the last 3 years to speak out against fossil fuel infrastructure in the Commonwealth.

Here’s IPL-DMV’s post with some photos from our pipeline work with Northern Virginia congregations:
 
Our work on this began three years ago when we invited pastors in the Virginia regions being threatened by two proposed pipelines to brief our Northern Virginia faith communities on a conference call about what these pipelines would mean for their communities. It was a powerful way to begin, by inviting our congregations to stand in solidarity with faith communities elsewhere in Virginia:

 

Earth Ministry/WAIPL works within the unceded territories of Northwest Native nations. Our office is on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People past and present. Land acknowledgement is one way to resist erasure of Indigenous histories as well as to honor tribes and the land itself.