Written by Vanessa Santilli in the Winter 2013 issue of Geez Magazine

Since 1824, the Sisters of Loretto of Marion County, Kentucky have been adhering to a land ethic that commits them to honour their territory as a “sacred trust” given by God.

So when the community was approached by Williams Companies of Tulsa, Oklahoma (in partnership with the Boardwalk Pipeline Partners of Houston, Texas) for access to their land in order to build an interstate pipeline, they declined.

Stock photo of a pipeline courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The proposed Bluegrass Pipeline would bring 24 inch pipes across the land, buried at a depth of only about three feet, carrying toxic, highly flammable and dangerous natural gas liquids under extremely high pressure,” says Sister Kathy Wright, treasurer of the community.

“The ongoing risks of leaks, spills and explosions that would do serious and perhaps irreparable damage to the land, water and people are too high,” adds Wright.

In order to help landowners in Kentucky make well-informed decisions about whether to allow the pipeline on their individual properties, the Loretto Community has been gathering and sharing information.

“Loretto has done door-to-door canvassing and distribution of information, has held public forums to share the information they have gathered and has participated in other public forums when invited,” says Wright. The community has also engaged in prayer and singing at events.

“The need for civil disobedience has not arisen thus far in Loretto’s opposition to the proposed pipeline,” says Wright. “But should the need arise, members of the Loretto Community have a history of civil disobedience when it was deemed necessary.”

For example, in the late 1970s, the community banded together with more than 100 striking coal miners and their families, friends, neighbours and other groups in Stearns, Kentucky to challenge the practices of the Blue Diamond Coal Co. of Knoxville, Tennessee.

“Blue Diamond had received the largest fine in Kentucky history for polluting streams and groundwater in eastern Kentucky,” says Jean Schildz, communications director for the Loretto Community. “Its mine in Scotia blew up and 26 miners and others were killed because of its flagrant violations of federal mine health and safety laws.

“Then, as now, Loretto became one of the faces of opposition to corporate practices that put profit way ahead of care for people and the land,” she says.

Wright adds that once the landowners have made their decisions, it may be more necessary to use more public tactics to ensure that the state legislature does not override the wishes of the landowners.

“Loretto and most local landowners do not have the funding to hire public relations firms or lobbyists, so the grassroots tactics of organizing and getting the word out through meetings, written materials and websites are imperative.”