 Across the state, students with the KY Student Environmental Coalition (KSEC) are organizing teach-in events to educate their peers and build resistance to the controversial Kinder Morgan Tennessee Pipeline Conversion project. Events are planned for tonight at Berea College and next week at Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University, and Centre College.
"The Tennessee Gas Pipeline is a 75 year old pipeline that has already had over 250 ‘significant failures’ over it's lifetime. We shouldn't be talking about repurposing it, we should be talking about retiring it," said Clara Ana Ruplinger, a student hosting one of KSEC's teach-ins. "Now, Kinder Morgan wants to send NGLs through it, which are more dangerous than methane, extremely explosive and require higher pressure to transport. We can't let that happen. This project is a threat to our future." The teach-in events include a presentation on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing and pipeline development as well as the unique dangers of this particular project in Kentucky. There is also an emphasis on resistance strategies and how young people can be a part of resisting this and other "threats" to their future. "We are going to take responsibility for our future and fight this pipeline and every other pipeline project because we know that hydraulic fracturing and it’s NGL byproducts are not a part of the just and sustainable future that we need. We don't need bridge fuels to get to a renewable energy future, we can invest in real solutions right now that protect our water, our climate, and our future," said Sarah Buschman at Morehead State University. "That is why we are seeing so much resistance across the continent to stopping pipeline construction, including other controversial projects like; Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain PIpeline, Keystone XL and the Dakota Access Pipeline". To learn more about KSEC and their work to build a network of empowered youth in Kentucky visit their website at www.kystudentenvironmentalcoalition.org
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