Community members and Indigenous leaders gathered at Oquaga Creek State Park to begin a two-week walk to raise awareness against a resurfaced natural gas pipeline proposal on Saturday.
The Constitution Pipeline is proposed to be a 30-inch, 125-mile fracked gas pipeline that would run from northeastern Pennsylvania into Schoharie County in New York. The walk, organized by the Waterfall Unity Alliance, began a 108-mile trek crossing the path of the pipeline.
“The Women’s Water Walk is not a protest,” wrote Bethany Yarrow, lead organizer of the Women’s Water Walk and the acting director of the Waterfall Unity Alliance, in an email to Pipe Dream. “It is a prayer to come together to protect our water and raise awareness around the serious threats that the Constitution Pipeline would pose to our communities. In this time when so many people are frozen in fear and confusion and don’t know what to do, the Water Walk is a reminder that we just need to take the first step, but we need to take it together.”
Opponents of the pipeline said the route would disrupt land through over 300 water bodies and dozens of trout streams. According to the Waterfall Unity Alliance, the pipeline will result in the clearing of 1,872 acres of land — including 1,034 acres of forest and approximately 700,000.
“We invite teachers, students, farmers, neighbors, workers, artists, faith leaders, elected representatives and all relations to walk with us,” wrote the Waterfall Unity Alliance on their website.
The prayer walk was led by Indigenous grandmothers and was described by participants as a spiritual prayer for water protection.
“I feel really humbled to be able to walk this way,” said Sandra Deer of the Owén:nakon tribe.
The walk on Saturday covered seven miles and ended near Masonville Creek. On Sunday, the walk crossed the path of the pipeline, then headed into a community discussion and performances at La Patrona restaurant.
The prayer walk will cross more than 200 of the total rivers and streams that the proposed pipeline would impact. Organizers will host events along the way and gather water to deliver to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul at the capital on Oct. 6 as a message to keep waters clean.
The pipeline proposal was initially rejected by New York State in 2016 over environmental concerns. However, protesters explained that federal officials and the Williams Companies are now pushing to accelerate the repermitting process.
“There’s certainly a desire and a push by the federal government to put this in place, to line the pockets of fossil fuel companies, and to start their expansion and their destruction of our rural communities,” said Yarrow.
Hochul’s office did not respond to Pipe Dream’s request for comment.
The Binghamton Climate Action Campaign told Pipe Dream it supports the prayer walk.
“We urge NY state to continue their fight against the Constitution Pipeline, invest in greater green energy solutions in the southern tier and stand with the Prayer Walk,” wrote Nicholas Washington, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and president of CAC, to Pipe Dream.
Organizers claim the pipeline would increase energy bills, cause health risks to communities and threaten local water.
Yarrow wrote that walking alongside Haudenosaunee women through their ancestral lands has been “ incredibly uplifting and hopeful.”
“We are the generation here to heal; and our strength is in community and taking care of each other, and then together we can take care of our lands, our water and our Mother Earth,” Yarrow wrote.