Once Again Lancaster Against Pipelines Delays Pipeline Construction in Lancaster County Five Lancastrians were arrested in Martic Township on Nov. 20th for peacefully protesting construction of an export pipeline Five more Lancastrians were arrested yesterday, including one minor, for doing the only thing legislators, courts, and regulators have left for us: civil disobedience. The Atlantic Sunrise pipeline, built by Williams Partners, is currently tearing through 38 miles of Lancaster County. Our brave five neighbors stopped construction on Martic Heights drive by sitting in front of a working backhoe. They join the Lakewood 3, the Chapel 23, the Quilt 6, and the Conestoga 8 (2015), who have been arrested for peacefully defending the forests and farmland that Lancaster County prizes. Lancaster Against Pipelines has raised thousands of dollars for a legal defense fund to support those arrested or cited during protests. So long as Williams continues to desecrate our county, we will continue to resist. The next publicly announced mass action will be held on December 9. These last arrests bring the total number to 45 since the project was initiated by Williams Partners, an Oklahoma based private corporation, which has used “public utility” status to seize private property from county residents, either through coercion or the courts. These arrests and the mass number of residents protesting show the commitment of community members to make real sacrifices for what they believe in. Hundreds of Williams’s out-of-state workers and shadowy security crews have invaded our home, trenched our fields, and defiled our rights. And for what? So their shareholders can make even more money and increase domestic gas prices by exporting whatever the Atlantic Sunrise delivers. This is being done on our backs. We will be left in the wake of this destruction when the workers and security crews go home. When our land, water and air are polluted, when our rights to property and justice are destroyed. Already, our tax dollars have subsidized municipal services usurped solely to protect the profit of a billion-dollar corporation based in Oklahoma. Yesterday also demonstrated a new tenor in police treatment. Protestors were given citations without warning. The police clearly no longer work for us, cajoled by an out-of-state corporation, just like our legislators, into doing their dirty work for them. It’s shameful. And we will not be quiet because we cannot be quiet. This project is unjust and we are united in standing for our rights, homes and liberties.