General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn fracking hot spots, police and gas industry share intelligence on activists
Audio: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/feature/audio/
From an Article by Marie Cusick, NPR-StateImpact-PA, February 2, 2015
Police monitored an anti-fracking protest outside the state capitol during Gov. Wolfs inauguration in January 2015.
Last month an anti-fracking group settled a lawsuit against Pennsylvania ( http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2015/01/22/anti-drilling-group-settles-surveillance-litigation-with-state/ ), after it was erroneously labeled a potential terrorist threat. The case dates back to 2010 and was an embarrassment for then-Governor Ed Rendell.
But documents obtained by StateImpact Pennsylvania show law enforcement here and in other parts of the country continue to conduct surveillance on anti-fracking activists, leading some to claim their Constitutional rights are being violated.
This is scary
Its not hard to tell Wendy Lee is an animal lover. When I arrived at her home in Bloomsburg, I was greeted by several dogs, an iguana the size of a cat, and three birds. With her cockatiel, Quantum, by her side, she showed me her blog ( http://thewrenchphilosleft.blogspot.com/ ). Lee is a 55-year-old philosophy professor at Bloomsburg University and proud anti-fracking activist.
My long history of political activism is on the left, she says. I am the author of books with titles like On Marx if that gives you an idea.
Anti-fracking activist and philosophy professor Wendy Lee sorts through photos shes taken at gas sites. Pa. State Police wont explain why a trooper came to her home to question her last year. They cited an ongoing criminal investigation.
She often travels to gas industry sites and takes photos. Her website is filled with criticism of fracking, and shes used to getting criticized for her views. Still, she was surprised last February when a Pennsylvania State Trooper came to her house to ask her about a visit shed made to a gas compressor station.
On that trip, she was joined by two other activists and took some photos of the compressor. It wasnt long before security guards told them all to leave. When they tell us to leave, we left, she recalls. There was no altercation. There was nothing.
As the trooper stood inside her door, he questioned her about the incident. After a while, he brought up eco-terrorism. Lee was stunned when he asked her if she knew anything about pipe bombs.
Part of me was like, Oh this is scary. This is actually scary. she says. And part of me is just laughing on the inside because its ludicrous. Lee was never charged or arrested for anything.
It turns out that same Pennsylvania trooper had already crossed state lines and traveled to upstate New York to investigate the compressor incident. He visited 65-year-old Jeremy Alderson, one of the other activists with Lee that day.
When Alderson got a knock at his home in Hector, a New York trooper was there too. Having two troopers show up at your door, thats kinda scary, he says. Because you dont know whats happened.
While he was being questioned about trespassing, Alderson assumed the police knew about his newsletter, the No Frack Almanac ( http://www.nofrackalmanac.com/ ). Hed published photos and an article about his visit to the compressor. So he asked them, Why would I publish all that if I thought Id done something illegal? But neither trooper knew anything about it.
It was clear theyd come to visit me before they had even put my name into a search engine on the internet, says Alderson. So this led me to believe, what possible reason do they have to come here but to intimidate me? They dont care about information. They havent done a thing to get it.
Alderson was also not charged or arrested for anything.
A history of suppressing dissent
The Pennsylvania Trooper, Mike Hutson, declined to comment for this story. But documents obtained by StateImpact Pennsylvania through the Right to Know Law show Hutson is part of a broader intelligence-sharing network between law enforcement and the gas industry.
Its called the Marcellus Shale Operators Crime Committee. It allows the industry to swap information with local, state, and federal law enforcement about activists, protests, and potential threats.
Energy companies have a history of suppressing dissent in this country, says Witold Walczack, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. Whether its coal, oil, or now natural gas.
Walczack has represented fracking opponents as clients. He says a small percentage of activists resort to crime. There have been reports of pipe bombs, charred debris, and gunshots fired at gas sites. But the vast majority of people who are involved today in the anti-fracking movement are law-abiding citizens.
A spokesman for the states main gas industry trade group, The Marcellus Shale Coalition, declined to comment for this story but sent an email saying, safety is the industrys top priority.
But some activists complain police are trampling free speech under the guise of tracking real threats. We believe that collecting and disseminating information about groups engaged in lawful activities can and does have a chilling effect upon freedom of speech, says Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition vice president Diane Dreier.
The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition is the group from northeastern Pennsylvania that recently settled a lawsuit with the state for being labeled a terrorist threat in 2010. The groups attorney Paul Rossi says hes disturbed to now hear about the Marcellus Shale Operators Crime Committee.
We just had a ruling that this was unconstitutional, says Rossi. Im about as flabbergasted as an attorney can be at the serial violations of First Amendment rights in this state.
Both the FBI and the Pennsylvania State Police say theyre not official members of the Operators Committee but acknowledge they receive updates from it and have attended meetings.
J.J. Klaver is a special agent with the FBI in Philadelphia and points out part of its jobs is monitoring threats to infrastructure. The FBI is not in the business of investigating or tracking groups for having specific beliefs, he says. Thats not within our jurisdiction or within the law.
The documents obtained by StateImpact Pennsylvania show the intelligence-sharing between police and the oil and gas industry goes on in other parts of the country too.
Surveillance in other shale plays
A man named Jim Hansel sends out many of the updates to the Marcellus Shale Operators Crime Committee. Hes based in Williamsport and manages security for the Texas-based gas driller, Anadarko Petroleum. Neither Hansel nor Anadakro responded to requests to comment for this story.
In one of his early emails to the group, Hansel writes that drillers are involved in similar partnerships with law enforcement around the country in Texas and the Rockies.
Documents show the gas industry and law enforcement have similar intelligence-sharing partnerships in other parts of the U.S., including Texas and the Rockies.
Cliff Willmeng is not surprised to hear about the surveillance. Hes a nurse and anti-fracking activist who lives near Boulder, Colorado. To some extent, I think were experiencing a sort of quasi-privatization of our legal forces, says Willmeng.
Two summers ago he found himself under arrest pinned down onto his driveway by a pair of police officers.
They were yelling Stop resisting! and my wife was watching this the entire time screaming, says Willmeng. Why was this happening?
According the Erie County Colorado police report, Willmeng drove up to a security guard at a gas well site and asked some questions. He was there for about 60 seconds and never got out of his car. After he left, the guard called police and said hed felt threatened and harassed.
Two departments showed up at Willmengs home. In their report, the officers said he was uncooperative. They charged him with four misdemeanors: harassment, criminal trespassing, obstruction, and resisting arrest.
All the activists in this story say they feel like theyve been targeted for their viewpoints.
Its not clear to what extent the surveillance will continue under Governor Wolfs new administration. His pick to head the state police, Col. Marcus Brown says hes not familiar with the Marcellus Shale Operators Crime Committee.
Very early on, well make sure the state police are doing what they should be doing, Brown said at a recent press conference. If their actions are appropriate, then well continue it. If theyre doing something they shouldnt be, well make sure it doesnt go forward.
After her visit from the Pennsylvania state trooper, blogger and Bloomsburg University professor Wendy Lee filed an open records request with the state police, trying to find out why she was questioned.
Months later, her request was denied. Among other reasons, the police said the records were part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
They dont tell me whether Im the object of that investigation which would be quite mystifying and they dont tell me in any way I would be connected to that investigation if I am not its object. she says. Lee thinks the visit was simply to intimidate her.
While we get to believe we have the free exercise of our First Amendment rights, were not actually supposed to use them. She still hopes to get the police records and is appealing the decision.
See also: http://www.FrackCheckWV.net
.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)SOURCE: http://www.judibari.org/
Thank you for the heads-up, Panich52. That report is why democracy depends on freedom of the press and why the secret state is fascist at its core.