Extinction Rebellion Boston stands in solidarity with the 350 Mass hunger strike

Extinction Rebellion Boston stands in solidarity with the 350 Mass hunger strike

Six members of Climate Courage, the nonviolent direct action wing of 350 Massachusetts, began a hunger strike yesterday, March 15, 2022.

The hunger strike aims to draw attention to the foolishness of building new fossil fuel infrastructure. Locally, the strike is focused on the proposed Peabody Peaker Plant. Decision makers at local, state, and federal levels have the power to avert this strike by meeting several demands.

The science is undebatable. The recent IPCC report stated that our species is close to destroying the livability of our planet, and once Earth hits major tipping points, humans will no longer have control over the trajectory of global heating. The planet will barrel towards what climate scientists call an “uninhabitable hothouse Earth.”

Hunger strikers are demanding a health and safety review of the proposed Peabody Peaker Plant. The plant, also known as Project 2015A, was planned by the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company with the intent of providing peak power from natural gas and oil to 12 municipal utilities located throughout the Commonwealth: Peabody, Boylston, Holden Hull, Mansfield, Marblehead, Shrewsbury, South Hadley, Sterling, Wakefield, West Boylston, and Russell.

The facility is proposed for construction on Pulaski St. in Peabody, MA, a social and environmental justice community that is already negatively impacted by other fossil fuel facilities. It is projected to emit 51,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to 11,000 gasoline-powered cars.

Residents of Peabody have implored Governor Baker and Secretary Kathleen A. Theoharides to do a basic Community Health Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Review, but their requests have been ignored.

XR Boston stands in solidarity with members of 350 Mass who are on hunger strike: Judith Black, Rob Bonney, Sue Donaldson MD, Joy Gurrie, Nathan Phillips PhD, and Roger Rosen. We also stand in solidarity with members of Extinction Rebellion Boston, including Kameel Nasr, and other individuals who have chosen to fast for 6-24 hours in support of the hunger strike.

XR Boston supports the demands of the strike, including:

• Muncipal electric utilities immediately rescind this 2015a contract.
• MMWEC CEO Ronald DeCurzio cancel Project 2015a and re-apply for the 100MW Westover Energy Storage Center battery project.
• Governor Baker and Secretary Theoharides conduct basic due diligence by ordering the Community Health Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Review that the community has been denied for seven years.
• Senator Cynthia Creem, Chair of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, order an investigative hearing into opaque MMWEC contracts for the Peabody Peaker and the Westover Energy Storage Center.
• Grid operator ISO New England CEO Gordon van Welie order an immediate re-hearing of his backroom decision to intentionally suppress renewable energy across New England for two years.
• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Richard Glick and fellow Commissioners reverse their concurrence on ISO-NE’s decision to allow ISO-NE to utilize methane for two more years.
• President Joe Biden must support a European and North American transition to clean energy, so that no nation is at the mercy of gas and oil oligarchs

#FastingForAFuture