Robeson Rising Doc: Citizens Fight for Clean Water
posted by Misha Thomas, Nieema Williams | May 4, 2018 | In Arts and Culture, NewsRobeson County has been selected to be the end destination of the Atlantic Costal Pipeline. The 600-mile pipeline proposed by Duke Energy and Dominion Power plans to bring fracked gas from West Virginia across Virginia and through eight North Carolina Counties, end- ing in Pembroke and Prospect in rural Robeson County in the heart of the Lumbee Indian community.
The “Robeson Rises” documentary was an attempt to let the citizens in Lumberton, Pembroke and Prospect raise awareness of what could happen in their own community. It includes interviews and footage from public hearings and testimony by featured residents. As regional energy policy continues to promote carbon-based fossil fuels, the time to tell this story is now, while communities across West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina are still rising to stop the pipeline before it is built.
Fayetteville State University held a screening of the documentary, which was free to the campus public. The film interviewed dozens of locals, all with compelling stories of how the natural gas pipeline cre- ates more hazards for the citizens rather than efficient clean energy.
“Robeson Rises” chronicles the efforts of Robeson County resi- dents, Native American, African American, and White by uniting against the pipeline and advocating for a non-carbon, clean energy fu- ture. The short film documents the initial phases of community orga- nizing, public education, and opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in one of the most racially diverse rural county in the United States.
Robeson County is the designated southern terminus of the ACP and already hosts a compressor station that had a leak in 2017. Compressor stations which compress the gas to a specified pressure, allow- ing it to continue traveling along the pipeline to the intended recipient.
Dr. Ryan Emanuel, professor of forestry and environmental resources at North Carolina State University, and also a subject in the documentary said: “The compressor stations used to push gas through the pipeline would emit exhaust products from gas-powered engines that run continuously. The developers believe that the exhaust products from these engines won’t be bad for the local communities where the facilities will be built.”
But Emanuel went on to note that these stations are disproportion- ately located in poor and minority communities, “Two of the stations will be in predominantly African American communities, and the third is located in rural West Virginia in a county where more than 20% of people live in poverty.”
One of the key leaders of Protest the ACP featured in the documentary is Robbie Goins. If you are from Robeson County, this is not the first time you’ve heard his name. Goins is a family man and is very dedicated to his community and his tribe. His concerns are for his ancestral lands and all people of Robeson County.
Goins stated in The Appalachian Voice: “I am concerned about the historical and cultural impacts the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline project will have on my community. Water bodies are often sites of Native American archaeological findings. Construction of the pipeline, and additions to the existing Piedmont Natural Gas pipeline, could affect many tributaries and swamps in the area. They could destroy valuable cultural and historic artifacts and ancestral sites that are important to the Lumbee Tribe. I am concerned that adequate historical and cultural impact study has not been completed by regulators.”
Emanuel noted that although there is promised benefits to the region from the pipeline, there are real concerns about environmental concerns: “Developers have also assured politicians that 20% of the gas will be made available to businesses and homes in VA and NC to spur economic development. These arguments ignore environmental and social justice problems of pipelines, or they assume that by providing communities with gas for economic development it will absolve them of any responsibility for perpetuating social injustice.”
This ACP will bring more trouble than needed for the people of Robeson County. Emissions of methane gas into the air from the pipe- line can cause lung disease and respiratory failure, trouble breathing and many more complications.
The people of Robeson County have endured so much in the past two years recovering from the effects of Hurricane Matthew. The hurricane destroyed lives and homes and displaced hundreds of people from Robeson County to unfamiliar towns and states. Currently, there are people still living in the local hotels waiting FEMA aid and a place to live. There are home and local shops that will never open and operate again because of Hurricane Matthew.
One of the stories documented explains the immense damage and recovery that is still taken place since Hurricane Matthew. Adrienne Kennedy survived, yet her community is in a five-year disaster recovery. Ms. Kennedy is an alumna from FSU, once Matthew destroyed her home; she found shelter in a hotel for seven months. Now she works with “Seed for Hope,” giving donations for those who need aid from the catastrophic hurricane. She is also the Disaster Recovery Chair of Robeson County; she helps citizens recover form man-made and natural disasters.
This Atlantic Coastal Pipeline will add onto the despair and daily struggle that they are facing. In the documentary, the protesters are singing a song that says “We don’t want your pipeline, we don’t want your pipeline, we’ll take the sunshine, water and wind. We’re gonna put a stop sign on Dominions Pipeline, go tell your neighbors go tell your friends.”
If you want more information about how you can help stop the Atlantic Coastal Pipeline visit: www.robesonrises.com or www.ecorobeson.wordpress.com.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.