Eco-Terrorists Sing And Chant After Sabotaging Oil Pipeline
Four environmental activists were arrested on Monday after allegedly breaking into a pipeline facility in northern Minnesota and turning off one of the emergency shut-off valves.
The four individuals in the video identify themselves as the “Four Necessity Valve Turners,” activists who believe property damage against fossil fuel companies is justifiable for the sake of environmentalism. Their target on Monday was against Enbridge, an energy company that is currently working to replace its Line 3 crude oil pipeline in Minnesota.
“I believe every life is sacred. This is an act of grief for the state of violence the world is in. This is an act of celebration for the beauty of the earth,” Allyson Polman, one of the alleged activists, said in a prepared statement on the organization’s website.
It’s still not immediately clear what the Four Necessity Valve Turners succeeded in doing. The group allegedly used bolt cutters to break into the Enbridge pipeline facility in Itasca County, Minnesota and proceeded to tamper with equipment. While they claim to have turned off Enbridge’s Line 4 for 45 minutes, the company declined to confirm this to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Here's the banner that #4Necessity #ValveTurners have installed on the Enbridge valve site in Minnesota. THE TIME IS NOW FOR UNPRECEDENTED AND URGENT ACTION. #ActOnClimate pic.twitter.com/qokx28jnHm
— 4necessity (@4necessity) February 4, 2019
Once it appeared that they successfully turned off one of the valves, the activists are seen in the video celebrating by singing in unison, reading from a songbook they brought with them.
A spokesman for Enbridge lambasted the protesters’ actions.
“The actions taken to trespass on our facility and tamper with energy infrastructure were reckless and dangerous,” said company spokesman Michael Barnes in a statement to TheDCNF. “The people involved claimed to be protecting the environment, but they did the opposite. Their actions put themselves, first responders, neighboring communities and landowners at risk.”
Barnes said Enbridge’s system was not impacted by the attempted sabotage, and he added that the company supports “the prosecution of all those involved.”
This is not the first time Enbridge, an energy transportation company, has been targeted by environmental terrorism. The company has faced a number of protests since regulators approved its plan to build a replacement for Line 3, one of six different pipelines the company operates across Minnesota. Enbridge is expected to begin building the $2.6 billion Line 3 this spring and will have the new line running by the end of 2019.
When reached out for comment, a spokesman for Four Necessity Valve Turners who simply identified himself as “Righty Tighty” claimed that the activists successfully turned off Line4 and also Line 4.
#ValveTurner Allyson Polman operates the manual override for Enbridge #Line4 at a valve station in Itasca County, MN. Allyson and her companions are now in police custody, but not before shutting down #Line3 & #Line4 this afternoon. #StopLine3 #4necessity #ActOnClimate pic.twitter.com/ptL5hUr6BM
— 4necessity (@4necessity) February 4, 2019
When asked why the activists would resort to illegal action, Righty Tighty forwarded the following statement: “The group acts in solidarity with the most vulnerable worldwide who suffer the greatest impact from climate change. The Four Necessity Valve Turners believe it is time to take personal responsibility for preventing the dangerous expansion of the oil industry because governments and regulators have failed to do so.”
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