Guest post by Jim Willis of Marcellus Drilling News.
We think our original headline [“2 Old N.J. Hippies Block Va. MVP Work by Hiding in Giant Opposum”] about says it all. We’ve seen this type of thing many times before — out-of-town (actually, out-of-state) “protesters” show up and disrupt legal construction activity because, well, because they’re looney tunes. They’ve drunk the global warming Kool-Aid and are convinced, against all reason and rationality, that using natural gas and oil is going to destroy Mom Earth.
This time around, it was a married couple well past their prime, a couple of old hippies making silly asses of themselves. They sat inside a huge plywood structure made to look like an opposum, blocking access to a Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) construction site in Virginia for several hours.
Ted Glick (74) and Jane Califf (83), who are married, locked themselves inside a large wooden opossum on Honeysuckle Rd. in Roanoke County, blocking legal MVP construction in the area. Glick and Califf prevented MVP from accessing its rightfully owned pipeline easement, a work yard, and 2 access roads, for 6.5 hours, before they were extracted from their blockade and arrested. They were each charged with three misdemeanors, given bail of $3,000, and bailed out the same day.
A “support rally” of a dozen people gathered on-site with the geriatric protesters, many wearing silly opossum costumes. Banners and signs on site read, “ELDERS SAY NO MVP,” and “DEFEND THIS LAND.” Ever notice how the left always creates a freak show wherever they go?
Here’s what it looked like:
The first article below is from the couple’s hometown Patch publication. Do you think we’re somehow prejudiced or flippant with our comments about the couple being old hippies attempting to relive the glory days of the Vietnam protests? The article below confirms our view. Old anti-shale protesters try to find some sort of purpose in their senior years, and they’ve transferred anti-war sentiments into anti-fossil fuel. Frankly, it’s pathetic. We feel sorry for them.
A quick note: In both stories below, you will read that the couple sat in (and others dressed up as) a “possum.” The word possum is commonly misused here in the U.S. Opossums are marsupials native to the Americas. They are characterized by white faces and sharp teeth. Possums are marsupials native to Australia and some neighboring countries. They are characterized by prehensile tails. The proper word usage for this case is opossum.
Who needs a Trojan Horse when you have a giant possum?
Jane Califf and Ted Glick – a married couple from Bloomfield, New Jersey who have been together for 45 years – recently had a unique idea to raise awareness about a controversial gas pipeline in Virginia: use a huge, wooden possum to block construction crews from accessing the site.
On Wednesday, Califf and Glick locked themselves inside the wooden critter on Honeysuckle Road in Roanoke County, temporarily blocking work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Here’s some background on the project, according to its website:
“The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project is a natural gas pipeline system that spans approximately 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia – and as an interstate pipeline will be regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission … With a vast supply of natural gas from Marcellus and Utica shale production, the MVP is expected to provide up to two million dekatherms per day (two billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day) of firm transmission capacity to markets in the mid- and south Atlantic regions of the United States. The MVP will extend from the Equitrans transmission system in Wetzel County, West Virginia, to Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company’s (Transco) Zone 5 compressor station 165 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia … As designed, the pipeline will be 42 inches in diameter and will require approximately 50 feet of permanent easement (with up to 125 feet of temporary easement during construction). The MVP project will require three compressor stations, located in Wetzel, Braxton, and Fayette counties of West Virginia.”
After being delayed for years by legal and permitting challenges – and seeing its estimated cost more than double to upwards of $7.6 billion – the project is back on track for completion this year. Supporters say the pipeline will help to meet a crucial need for domestic energy, the Cardinal News reported.
But according to opponents such as Glick and Califf – who have echoed the call that other protesters are making against the pipeline – it would have serious environmental consequences for the people living nearby, many of whom live in low-income, rural and underserved communities.
Califf and Glick said they are concerned about the impact that a fracked gas pipeline will have across 303 miles of Appalachia.
“We are taking action together as elders deeply concerned about the future facing our 3-year-old grandson, all children and all life on Earth,” the married couple said in a joint statement. “That is why we have joined with many others to stop the destructive and abusive Mountain Valley Pipeline, as well as any new fossil fuel infrastructure.”
This week, they climbed inside their wooden possum – with a sign reading “Defend This Land!” – blocking the MVP’s access to the pipeline easement, a work yard and two access roads for more than six hours.
According to a statement from advocacy group Appalachians Against Pipelines, Califf and Glick were eventually arrested and charged with three misdemeanors. They were assigned bail for $3,000 and were released from jail later that day.
It isn’t the first time that Califf and Glick have put their freedom on the line at a protest. Glick, an organizer with Beyond Extreme Energy, and Califf, a retired teacher, have been longtime activists since the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War.
In 2021, Califf and Glick were among more than a dozen seniors who were literally arrested in their rocking chairs during a rally in Wilmington, Delaware.
Blocking a street in front of JP Morgan Chase credit card headquarters, the environmental advocates held a peaceful sit-in to demand that Chase Bank shift its investments in fossil fuels to renewable energy to ward off a “full-blown climate crisis.”
Appalachians Against Pipelines and Popular Resistance, far-left wackadoodle groups, issued this story about the opossum shenanigan:
Early Wednesday morning, married couple Ted Glick (74) and Jane Califf (83), locked themselves inside a large wooden possum on Honeysuckle Rd in Roanoke County, VA, blocking Mountain Valley Pipeline construction in the area. Ted and Jane prevented MVP’s access to the pipeline easement, a work yard, and 2 access roads, for 6.5 hours, before they were extracted from their blockade and arrested. They were each charged with 3 misdemeanors, given bail of $3,000, and bailed out the same day. A support rally of a dozen people gathered on site with Ted and Jane, many wearing possum costumes. Banners and signs on site read, “ELDERS SAY NO MVP,” and “DEFEND THIS LAND.”
“We are a married couple of 45 years,” they explained in their joint statement. “We are taking action together as elders deeply concerned about the future facing our 3-year-old grandson, all children, and all life on earth. That is why we have joined with many others to stop the destructive and abusive Mountain Valley Pipeline, as well as any new fossil fuel infrastructure. Three years ago, the International Energy Agency said that was needed even then, because of the seriousness of the climate emergency.”
Ted, an organizer with Beyond Extreme Energy, and Jane, a retired teacher, have been long-time activists since the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War. For 10 years, they have been active in the movement to protect monarch butterflies from extinction. The possum used in the blockade had monarch butterflies painted on it.
They also brought up the connection between climate change and militarism, stating, “We are outraged that billions of our tax dollars are being used for military aid to Israel in its genocidal war on Gaza. War kills people and the environment. We need solar and wind right now, not destructive fossil fuels and a trillion dollar a year war economy.” MVP boasts that it would supply gas to numerous military installations if the pipeline is completed.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is over budget by more than $4 billion and nearly 6 years behind schedule. The pipeline, if completed, would transport fracked gas across at least 303 miles of Appalachia. The project has a long record of environmental violations. In June 2023, the pipeline was fast-tracked by Congress, despite local residents voicing their opposition and concerns. Over the last few months, Mountain Valley Pipeline has escalated its legal intimidation of pipeline fighters, filing multiple Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP suits) and collaborating with local law enforcement to charge protesters with erroneous felonies in order to discourage resistance. The legal intimidation has failed to stop protestors.
Notice the couple’s comments on the Hamas war against Israel (to which Israel is responding) by calling Israel’s response a “genocidal war on Gaza.” No mention that Hamas invaded Israel, murdered 1,200 people, and took 200 hostages. Is this how Nazism began in Germany in the 1920s? We sometimes wonder.
Editor's Note: We note Ted Glick is a serial protester, which is the nature of most leftists. He is universally lauded by other leftists, of course, and himself. One thing we never learn about him, though, is how he supported himself during a lifetime of serial protesting. Isn't that odd? Draw your own conclusions but why didn't someone in the adoring press ask along the way? Well, that's easy. They like what he says and does and only wish they could be him.
#MVP #TedGlick #JaneCaliff #Climate #Protest #Opossum
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These people are ultimately parasites on the ass of the planet.