SUSQUEHANNA TWP., Pa. -- More than 20 people interrupted a public meeting at the Department of Environmental Protection building Wednesday, standing on tables and chanting songs, to protest the proposed creation of pipelines in Pennsylvania.
Wednesday's meeting was the last of six from the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force (PITF), a 48-person committee designed to discuss Pennsylvania's future pipeline development. The PITF took input from 158 people since July, according to DEP secretary John Quigley, and will finalize a report for Governor Wolf by February.
"We're about to enter Phase 2," Quigley said. "Assessing these recommendations, analyzing them further, seeing which ones can be implemented and which ones cannot be done by current law. This is the start of a longer conversation on pipeline infrastructure."
The conversation is precisely what around two dozen protesters sought to halt. At Wednesday's meeting, one protester, who said she was part of "the People's Task Force," jumped on the table where task force members were sitting. Many of them were escorted outside the DEP building where at least seven were placed in handcuffs.
"The task force has said they could see an expansion of 30,000 miles of pipeline in Pennsylvania," said protester Justin Wasser of the Sierra Club. "That affects the health, quality of life, and economy of local communities."
Wasser says people are concerned about the potential of pipeline explosions, and the public safety risk it could cause.
"We fundamentally believe the DEP, Governor, and any public servant should be putting the citizens of Pennsylvania before industry and before private gain," Wasser said.