From PennFuture (http://www.pennfuture.org):
With just a few days left in Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania House intends to vote on a bill designed to suppress our First Amendment rights to peaceful protest.
Senate Bill 652, cunningly known as the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, is part of a coordinated, nationwide campaign by the oil and gas industry to shield itself from any accountability for the pipelines, drilling rigs, and other projects they’re putting on your farms, in your backyards, near your schools, or close to your communities.
The goal of SB 652 is straightforward: to frighten Pennsylvanians away from opposing oil and gas projects, even if they will harm our health, land, or families. The bill’s sole existence is fundamentally at odds with the core tenets of our democracy.
SB 652 defines 21 categories of private facilities, including pipeline and gas processing plants, as “critical infrastructure facilities.” The bill would make it a felony of the first or second degree if any person enters onto the property of such a facility with the intent of “impeding or inhibiting” operations. Under current law, it’s considered a summary or misdemeanor offense. The proposed change also makes liable persons who conspired to engage in the prohibited conduct. This means a person who attended a meeting during which a peaceful protest was planned against construction of an oil and gas facility could also be prosecuted for committing a felony – the same grade of offense used to define capital murder.
Please OPPOSE this attack on the rights of Pennsylvanians to stand up for their clean air and clean water. This is an attempt to silence Pennsylvanians who oppose environmental degradation, the potential consequences of natural gas infrastructure, and the reckless behavior of the oil and gas industry.
Tell your State Representative to oppose Senate Bill 652 and remind them why this bill is harmful for our democracy and public participation at https://pennfuture.salsalabs.org/oppose_sb652/index.html.
Leave a Reply