Unite in Support of Ellen Gerhart!
On Wednesday, May 9, attorneys for Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners subsidiary Sunoco will attempt to make the case at the Huntingdon County Common Pleas Court that longtime Huntingdon County resident Ellen Gerhart violated a court-ordered injunction while opposing construction of the Mariner East 2 Pipeline on her land. If convicted, Ellen could be sent to jail for up to six months without trial and be forced to pay unlimited restitution to the company.
Unite in Support of Ellen Gerhart!
This legal bullying adds insult to injury for the Gerhart family, who already have had their land seized and destroyed via eminent domain to enable Sunoco to build the Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline through their property. The Gerharts have never given Sunoco permission to enter their property. The Gerharts have levied a federal civil rights lawsuit against Energy Transfer Partners, private security contractor TigerSwan, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Huntingdon County Sheriff Department, and a creator of a faux-grassroots Facebook page called PA Progress over continuous harassment the family has faced since deciding to oppose the pipeline project. In advance of the hearing, the Gerhart family and other Pennsylvania residents impacted by the Mariner East 2 Pipeline will speak at a press conference at the Huntingdon County Courthouse.
THERE WILL BE A PRESS CONFERENCE BEGINNING AT 11AM ON THE COURTHOUSE STEPS. COURT BEGINS AT NOON.
Speakers at the press conference include the following Pennsylvania residents who have suffered negative consequences of the ME2 pipeline including water contamination, harassment, and eminent domain abuse:
• Ellen Gerhart, Huntingdon County, retired special ed teacher, pipeline fighter
• Ralph Blume, Cumberland County, Navy Veteran, impacted landowner
• David Anspach, Berks County, Marine Corps Veteran, impacted landowner
Note from Elise, who will be at the Forest Council in PA and will be speaking in detail about what she and her family have gone through. “With less than a week for us to prepare, Energy Transfer Partners is trying to take my mother to court where she will be facing 6 months in jail without the right to a jury trial and unlimited fines. This is some weird combination of civil / criminal proceedings cooked up by our friends over at ETP. We will be entering a hostile courtroom that is presided over by the same judge who allow the company to use eminent domain against us, and whose injunction is the basis for etp’s proceedings. Please share the event and our fundraiser as we will be needing to hire a criminal lawyer in addition to our civil attorney as soon as possible. Fundrazr. com/campwhitepine
We will be pushing out as much media as possible on this and we will need all the help we can get. If you have any solid leads on journalists please send them my way. I am more available on the phone, via call or text that I am on email. Seven zero seven, four nine nine, thirty nine eighty nine.
