Draft letter to a policymaker in New York State on the proliferation of natural gas pipelines

I have been advised that the legal process is both too expensive and takes too long for an artist to engage in to resist the proliferation of natural gas infrastructure at the expense of citizens. Some activists, such as the Montrose 9 + 2, have taken the route of risking (and being) arrested to prevail under the "necessity defense," that the necessity of opposing a disaster prevails over other considerations. Instead, I was advised to, and decided to find a policymaker who could spearhead the necessary changes. So I drafted the following letter for a policy maker in NYS:

I am writing as a citizen concerned with pubic good, and aware of your record of concern for the people of this state, with the hopes that we might meet to discuss your position on natural gas. I am a resident of NYC, and an ecological artist, with a transdisciplinary PhD in environmental sciences from the University of Plymouth, UK, and an Affiliate at the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I was approached a year ago, by activists opposing the Algonquin natural gas pipeline (AIM), now being installed in Peekskill, NY close to the Indian Point nuclear facility. Since then, I have informed myself about the risks that concerned them. In June 2015, I launched a public art project, “Blued Trees,” at the invitation of private landowners resisting eminent domain condemnation of their lands. That work has now been installed within the corridors of miles of proposed natural gas infrastructure, throughout the United States, copyrighted, and in the case of the Algonquin, a cease and desist was issued, and subsequently ignored by Spectra Corporation. The grounds of this legal-art work, are that the public good is not being served, as we face a catastrophe of climate change, alarming data on fugitive methane emissions, the probability of a fracked gas explosion close to a nuclear facility thirty miles from NYC, and impacts on watersheds and the small farming communities of upper New York State. I would be very appreciative if we might meet to discuss the data about this situation.

Thank you for you time and attention,

Dr. Aviva Rahmani 

Blued Trees: the significance of participation, Part II of three

Testing ultramarine blue pigment on tree bark in preparation for the launch of Blued Trees.

Yesterday, I was heartened by the important news that some landowners directly in the path of the Algonquin pipeline that is planned to be installed alongside the Indian Point nuclear facility, will be participating in my new project, Blued Trees. That was the green light I'd been waiting for since mid-February for the official launch June 21, for the summer solstice to make the event more than an act of protest or art alone. 

It will be both. 

News that a number of landowners who own forested property in the path of the Algonquin natural gas pipeline will actively participate in Blued Trees is critical.

The Algonquin pipeline would be positioned within 115’ of the Indian Point nuclear facility. Should there be a leak from that pipeline, a Fukushima scale "accident" could annihilate the entire East coast of North America, including New York City, Boston and Washington DC. 

The participation of these brave landowners means Blued Trees will establish the legal basis to litigate against land condemnation under eminent domain law by pitting copyright law against the present basis for eminent domain. Presently, eminent domain routinely takes land for the purpose of the “public good” to effect various corporate purposes, in this case, natural gas pipelines. Blued Trees will contest the present definition of “public good.” Confirmed participants for Blued Trees are in Portugal, Mexico, and various locations in the United States, includingTexas.

There are several aesthetic strategies to implement Blued Trees. I will briefly present some of those strategies here and in a later text, detail them further. The first is a distribution of marked trees along 1/3 mile corridors in the path of fossil fuel activities.

Test of Blued Trees mark. Photo by Frank Spinelli based on painting by Aviva Rahmani

Trees painted with an abstract wave shape and a slurry of ultramarine blue mixed with buttermilk to create a permanent casein mark on the tree trunks. Painting and photo by Aviva Rahmani

Blued Trees participants will paint non-toxic ultramarine blue marks on an intercontinental series of trees in the path of natural gas pipelines. The painted trees will create a copyrightable pattern with both spatial and acoustic aspects. The pattern will be effected in collaboration with the landscape, and could preclude eminent domain takings for natural gas pipelines or fracking. The copyright on land would elevate the “public good” of ecosystems over fossil fuels.

Blued Trees is intended to stop the proliferation of fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure at the expense of the entire earth, for the profit of a very unscrupulous few, while starving alternate energy systems of support. As I write, clean-up crews are struggling to contain the damage of the Santa Barbara oil spill. Reports are that the clean-up of oil in Santa Barbara has recovered 10% of the spill. CNN estimates there are about 130 spills a year. This must stop. 

The distribution pattern of marked trees will comprise an installation that also corresponds to a musical score. The numbers correspond to a rhythm of perception for a walker passing through the forest.

Approximately 20 artists will simultaneously launch affiliated events internationally ,with visual, performative and musical aspects. Alyce Santoro is one of those artists. May 20, Santoro participated with Dr. Eugene Turner and myself for a Gulf to Gulf webcast about her participation. She states about their planned actions that: 

In solidarity with Blued Trees, the Big Bend Conservation Alliance is initiating a blue ribbon campaign. Residents of far west Texas will tie cobalt blue ribbons along the proposed route of the 42" high-pressure Trans Pecos Pipeline, set to bisect one of the largest intact bioregions in the country. 

The rhythm of perception of painted trees and the pattern of distribution has been transposed into a melody that can be repeated and interpreted by various musicians on the day of the launch, June 21.

We are hoping to take the message viral that beauty and health for all must take precedence over fossil fuels, climate change and death.