Fossil Fuel Infrastructure’s Destructive Impacts on Rural Communities

Excerpt of climate activist Sydney Collins' speech at a Stop Project Maple rally in Hartford, Connecticut, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus

Project Maple is the “New England-y” sounding name for a major expansion of an existing fossil fuel pipeline — the so-called Algonquin pipeline — that carries fracked gas, or methane, across New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The pipeline’s owner, Enbridge, is the same company that built the Line 3 pipeline from the Canadian tar sands in Alberta across several states in the Upper Midwest, including northern Minnesota, as well as the Line 5 pipeline across Michigan. The company has yet to file a proposal for Project Maple with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the needed permits, but it has been building small components along the pipeline route.

In late September, the Connecticut contingent of a four-state coalition called Stop Project Maple held a rally outside the Capitol building in Hartford, after which it delivered a letter to Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont asking him to deny permits for all future fossil fuel infrastructure. One of the speakers, Sydney Collins, is a recent college graduate and young climate activist. Enbridge operates a compressor station on the pipeline near her small hometown, which transports the gas along the pipeline and produces toxic emissions. As extreme weather events like climate-change fueled hurricanes Helene and Milton ravage the southeast U.S., Collins addresses the destructive impact of fossil fuel infrastructure on rural communities and on the nation more broadly.

SYDNEY COLLINS: When I first learned about the climate crisis, I was shocked. It sunk my heart. The trees, rain and the stars were my sense of safety and community, and how could our planet be in harm’s way and no one was doing anything about it? As I got older and my struggles with family intensified, I was really scared. I was scared of family chaos and scared of what our future held and I learned to “people-please” and hide my truth. Thinking, denial and avoidance was my way to hold onto safety. When I went to college and began studying environmental science, there was no way to avoid the truth anymore. It was staring me right in the face. While I had spent years avoiding tough conversations at home, I was facing an even bigger one with myself. How could I stay silent in the face of something so urgent and so pressing as the climate crisis?

Thank you. During late college, I found myself at the doorsteps of the Yukon recovery community, and I started to explore my own recovery. I was scared, but there was a sense of hope, knowing that my home life could be more whole than the alcoholism, substance misuse, and loneliness that my home life grew to know. Recovery means being vulnerable, being scared, admitting I feel helpless in asking for help. I was and am still terrified and it means constantly challenging the defense mechanisms I have and still want to hold onto. However, recovery isn’t easy because the more I started to honor myself and my story, I had to honor the even more terrifying truths.

The truth that we are in a climate crisis and young people have a future where they don’t know how ugly it will be. Recovery has shown me what it actually means to feel alive and whole and connected. And how tragic is it? At the same time, my recovery has shown me that that is not guaranteed because in the face of the climate crisis, we see worsening storms, extreme heat, sea level rise threatening the lives of million people today because big companies and governments have determined that the lives of young people are worthy of being abused. Even harder, my recovery has shown me that I’m not alone in my struggles and they’re not my fault.

Because there are layers of systemic problems and oppressive systems that we exist in that victimize so many communities with the same or worse struggles that I and my family face: from our economic system to racial violence, to the brutalizing, military, industrial complex, and so much more. I found that that this fight we are showing up for today is more than just about fossil fuels. It’s about justice and liberation and reclaiming our right to live because fossil fuels, they don’t just fracture our land, they fracture our communities and strip us of our right to feel safe, connected, and whole.

Rural communities like mine often suffer from higher rates of alcoholism, community isolation, loneliness, which can be attributed to fossil fuels and the culture and system it supports. Studies show communities near extraction sites experience greater levels of isolation and up to 40 percent higher rates of substance misuse and mental health challenges. And this is specifically targeting low-income communities, communities of color, and indigenous communities.

RALLY LISTENER: That’s right!

SYDNEY COLLINS: Communities of high levels of fossil fuel dependency report, lower levels of community trust, destroying our social networks and support. And there’s over 17 million people in the US that live within half a mile of fossil fuel infrastructure. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t wanna lose anyone else to alcoholism, substance misuse or suicide.

CROWD: Wooo!

SYDNEY COLLINS: This is not just a threat to our communities, but it’s a threat to our fragile democracy. The rise of political polarization and extremism can be traced back in part to the rise of fossil fuels in a capitalistic system. Our fossil fuel industries prey on rural communities, infiltrating them with a toxic culture of hyper independence, economic instability, and exposure to toxins, leaving people feeling abandoned and desperate for connection and care. And right-wing groups know this, and they victimize people to extremists and violent ideologies in search for blame and feelings of belonging.

But my friends, my brothers, my sisters, I’m here to tell you that it’s not our fault. We live amongst industries and economic systems that thrive by exploiting our planet and our people. I stand with you today fighting against projects like Project Maple and fossil fuel companies, Enbridge, that continue to harm communities like mine and like yours. When we fight against these industries, we’re not just fighting for cleaner air or lower emissions. We’re re-imagining a world where we and our planet can heal.

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