8/6/2019 Vía Verde protested in New York City - Puerto Rico Daily Sun 063011

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THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2011

June 10, 2011 by Inter News Wire Service

Vía Verde protested in New York City

Environmentalist demonstrated in front of the Corps of Engineer’s office

A group of Puerto Ricans and New Yorkers rallied on Thursday outside the Corps of Engineers office in

Manhattan urging them to deny permission to build the proposed Vía Verde gas pipeline on the island.

The demonstration began at noon as the participants began chanting slogans like “No to the pipeline, route of 

death” and “No more ‘fracking,’ no to Vía Verde.”

The protesters from New York stressed the term “fracking,” denoting the

practice of extracting natural gas, which has been widely repudiated by

Americans after the discovery of new deposits in U.S. soil.

According to one protester, Denise Katzman from SANE Energy Project,

“all natural gas extractions use hydraulic fracturing that has threatened

health and destroyed the environment in many parts of the world by ruining

the water supply.

“Those who control the energy industry do not care about people’s health

because for them, accidents are part of doing business,” Katzman told local

media such as New York 1 News.

Among the group of prominent environmental and Latino community

leaders from New York and Puerto Rico were Sierra Club President

Orlando Negrón and Casa Pueblo spokesman Arturo Massol Deyá, who

will also take part in the activities before and during the Puerto Rican Day

Parade to be held Sunday in New York. Massol Deyá has discussed the

controversial Vía Verde with several groups and media, such as

Democracy Now, New York 1 News, and New York Daily News.

One activist from East Harlem Preservation, Marina Ortíz, described the pipeline as “an abomination and an insult

to our beautiful island; we do not want it there.”

The Puerto Rican leader of the Lafayette Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn attended the protest, he said, becauseof the historic social commitment that guides his congregation.

“We are aware of the 30,000 who marched against the pipeline and of the injustices committed as the bombing in

Vieques. We have a ministry of social justice and we know this is a complicated issue that needs broad support,

so we are calling on everyone, regardless of race or political views, to support the fight against the pipeline,” said

the church leader.