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CLIMATE ACTIVISTS SCORE MAJOR WIN IN CAMPAIGN TO ELECTRIFY DC  
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Abby Shepard
July 18, 2024
Waging Nonviolence
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_ An inside look at the vision and strategy behind Extinction
Rebellion D.C.’s campaign that is blocking $12 billion in new fossil
fuel infrastructure. _

Shutting down Washington Gas’ pipeline construction | Photo by
Extinction Rebellion DC,

 

Last month, Extinction Rebellion D.C. scored a major victory for the
End Methane, Electrify D.C. campaign: the D.C. Public Service
Commission dismissed corporate utility provider Washington Gas’
application
[[link removed]] for
the third phase of their $12 billion fossil fuel pipeline replacement
project dubbed Project Pipes. The commission also partially approved a
petition to investigate Washington Gas’ leak reduction practices
[[link removed]]. 

This victory is a major milestone in the fight to shut down a fossil
fuel project that would lock D.C. into decades of planet-warming
emissions while poisoning the city’s residents, especially the
communities that are most marginalized and underserved.

The fight to stop Project Pipes is not over, but last month’s
victory marks a major shift in the Public Service Commission’s
approach to the regulation of utilities in D.C. and their alignment
with D.C.’s climate goals. 

While this was the work of many groups across D.C., Extinction
Rebellion D.C. played a crucial role through our core strategy of
nonviolent direct action, or NVDA. 

DEMAND THE TRUTH

Two years ago, we launched the End Methane, Electrify D.C. campaign
[[link removed]] at the Wilson
Building, which houses the mayor’s and D.C. Council offices,
unfurling a large banner over the entrance that read, “NO NEW FOSSIL
FUELS.” It was the beginning of our sustained campaign to get fossil
fuel filth out of the city and demand the D.C. Council tell the truth
to D.C. residents about the harms of Washington Gas’ methane
product. 

By launching this campaign, XRDC filled a strategic gap in the fight
to stop Project Pipes: we brought NVDA into the picture. NVDA is part
of Extinction Rebellion’s DNA, and it is a method of resistance that
has been used throughout history to create much-needed systemic
change. When we started this campaign, the D.C. Council hadn’t said
a word about Project Pipes, the Public Service Commision, or PSC, was
an obscure entity with no plans to move toward electrification, and
Washington Gas was seen as a “local,” “family-friendly”
utility at best and as a necessary evil at worst. Methane gas was also
viewed by many as “green.” Two years down the road and many direct
actions later, these perspectives have shifted.

After our launch at the Wilson Building, we delivered our demands
[[link removed]] to
the D.C. Council in hazmat suits, disrupted multiple
[[link removed]] Council
meetings
[[link removed]] and political
candidate forums
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and wheat-pasted campaign posters
[[link removed]] across the
city raising the alarm about methane gas. We made our presence
undeniably known in the community, and thus the issue was too.
Councilmembers could no longer claim ignorance or innocence. 

“As a result of the Stop Project Pipes campaign, XRDC and our
partner organizations made the PSC accountable to the public for the
first time. We also forced the D.C. Council to take an active role in
stopping the PSC from moving forward with this project, which given
their respective mandates and politics of staying in their respective
‘lanes,’ was also a first,” explains Phil J, an XRDC activist.
“All of this is a large reversal of business as usual and
demonstrates what can be achieved when direct action is used to shine
a spotlight on money-making climate injustices.” (The sources quoted
in this story were not comfortable using their full names for security
reasons.)

TARGETING THE VILLAINS

The D.C. Council wasn’t the only culprit in this issue. Washington
Gas is the clear villain, and we worked to taint the company’s’
image. We used a yacht to shut down Washington Gas’ headquarters
[[link removed]], passed
out mock flyers
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the greenwashed Recycle Day that the company sponsored, and hacked
bus stops with ads telling the truth
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its legacy. These actions exposed Washington Gas for the
multinational, greedy, profit-driven corporation it is and the
extensive greenwashing it invests in to cover up its dirty deeds.

[Activists call out DC’s Public Service Commission for its
complicity in climate chaos]

Activists call out DC’s Public Service Commission for its complicity
in climate chaos. (Extinction Rebellion DC)

And, of course, we have the Public Service Commission, or what we
refer to as the Department of Climate Chaos. There are few
opportunities for the public to engage with the PSC despite the
massive impact it has on our lives and the District’s ability to
meet its climate goals. 

The beauty of NVDA is that it isn’t constrained by what is
considered acceptable methods of public engagement. Rather, NVDA
breaks norms out of a recognition that the norms — defined by
business-as-usual — are at the heart of the catastrophe we are
facing. NVDA opens up a whole other level of creativity to shape the
future we deserve. So, we rebels got creative. We threw a paint party
[[link removed]] outside
the PSC office and showed up unrelentingly in coalition at PSC open
meetings.

“Our NVDA actions certainly made the PSC very uncomfortable to
suddenly become a target, to feel that a group out there in the public
was watching them closely,” said Stefanie S., an activist with XRDC.
“It really is only then, when people feel watched, that they start
really thinking about their responsibility to the public. If no one
cares, if no one is watching, they can do whatever they want.  And it
helps that those who are watching can make a lot of noise.”

ESCALATION TO VICTORY

In 2023, one year into the End Methane, Electrify D.C. campaign, it
was clear that NVDA was helping move the needle. D.C. residents began
to know about Washington Gas’ deadly project and even got connected
to the campaign because of the posters pasted all over town. And
the press started to take notice
[[link removed]]. 

Year two was about escalating pressure
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the face of a PSC decision that was supposed to come at the end of
that year. Activists chained themselves to the doors of the Wilson
Building
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an action that led to two arrests and coverage of the campaign in
the _Washington Post_
[[link removed]].
As wildfire smoke filled D.C. skies, we turned up the heat on
Washington Gas, challenging them to debates
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honoring its 175 years of polluting the greater D.C. area
[[link removed]].
That fall, in the face of the D.C. Council’s failure to protect its
citizens, we shut down a Washington Gas Project Pipes construction
site
[[link removed]].

“It took several hours for our reds [in NVDA, ‘red’ roles are
designated for high risk of arrest] to get arrested,” Stefanie S.
explained. “That gave us a powerful visible presence in the
neighborhood during that time and the support of the people walking by
during that whole day was so encouraging. People learned about Project
Pipes, people witnessed the level of organization that was put into
our effort, and were inspired by it. That is how collective power
grows.”

Fellow XRDC activist Forrest Cinelli points out another important
feature of participation in NVDA: reclaiming agency and hope.
“It’s really common for Americans, myself included, to feel
powerless to stop a corporation from doing destructive and immoral
things,” he said. “I’ve never felt as empowered and hopeful
about climate change as I did that day, when I was supporting those
brave rebels who faced arrest in order to stop Project Pipes.”

Sustained, escalated pressure began to turn the tide. Early this year,
in a surprise turn of events, 11 D.C. Councilmembers signed a letter
to the PSC
[[link removed]] urging
them to stop Project Pipes. Their explanation named that the project
is in direct opposition to D.C.’s climate goals and is costing
residents an absurd amount of money. Weeks ago, the PSC dismissed
Washington Gas’ application for phase three of Project Pipes,
signaling a major breakthrough.

This was heralded by the campaign’s organizers as an indicator of
success and as a motivation to continue. “This [PSC] decision [to
deny phase three of Project Pipes] means to me that NVDA works. It has
made me feel incredibly powerful. It makes me want to continue and
double the efforts,” Stefanie S. said. “And I think it is really a
huge win for the city. The D.C. government now knows that it cannot
just put some nice climate goals on paper and forget about it. They
know that if they don’t act responsibly now, that we won’t let
them get away with it.” 

TAKING IT TO THE BOSS

Two years into the campaign, it was clear there was a notable presence
missing from the conversation: Mayor Muriel Bowser. Her FY2025 budget
cut millions from key climate action programs, and her actions never
live up to her rhetoric on the climate crisis. As the person who
appoints commissioners to the PSC, it was crucial to demand that she
speak on the issue that is endangering her constituents by blowing up
buildings
[[link removed]] and making
them sick [[link removed]]. So
activists have publicly invited her into the conversation
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and we will continue to do so with increasing pressure until she
speaks up.

To mark the two year anniversary of the campaign, XRDC threw an Earth
Day Gala
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front of the mayor’s office and invited her to be their guest of
honor. The event featured speeches from organizers of different local
groups, a puppet show by theater students from Towson University, a
large red carpet, and a banner that read “Bowser: Be a true climate
leader.” 

[On Earth Day 2024, XRDC rolled out a giant red carpet to invite the
Mayor of Washington DC to an Earth Day gala to show what a livable
future free of fossil fuel combustion could look like]

On Earth Day 2024, XRDC rolled out a giant red carpet to invite the
Mayor of Washington DC to an Earth Day gala to show what a livable
future free of fossil fuel combustion could look like. (WNV/Will
Dickson)

Participants called for Mayor Bowser to join, offering her a chair and
an enlarged version of their demands to sign. In her absence, the
puppets performed a skit outlining Washington Gas’ deceitful tactics
and the power of collective action. Representatives from other local
organizations gave speeches about what a livable future looks like to
them. 

Mayor Bowser’s empty chair was spotlighted throughout the event as
representative of her empty climate promises and of what will continue
to be unrelenting pressure for her to meet XRDC’s demands
[[link removed]]:

* Make a public statement that D.C. must phase out methane gas in
order to meet its goals to combat the climate crisis, as outlined in
your Carbon Free D.C. plan, and that Washington Gas’ plans to
replace all of D.C.’s methane gas infrastructure through Project
Pipes will make these goals impossible to meet.
* Commit to immediately begin work on aligning the agencies in your
administration on supporting a managed, just transition off methane
gas that prioritizes D.C.’s most marginalized people and ends the
city’s reliance on gas by 2032.

DEBRIEFS AND BUILDING ON WINS

While other groups worked the political system, XRDC disrupted
business as usual in politics and everyday life to push a faster
timeline and bring the issue to audiences who would have otherwise
been kept in the dark. We pushed the issue to the media, brought it
into the streets, and ultimately kept up pressure that helped motivate
our leaders to take action.

“We would not be where we are today, celebrating this milestone in
the fight against toxic methane infrastructure, had we not added NVDA
into the equation,” said XRDC activist Claire H. “Our creative and
disruptive tactics have been critical in getting this issue on the map
in D.C., meaning the PSC could no longer quietly rubber-stamp
Washington Gas’ requests unnoticed. We showed how serious this
community is about the fight for a livable future, [by] putting our
bodies on the line to physically stop Project Pipes from being
built.”

At a deeper level, XRDC’s focus on NVDA is a recognition that the
system isn’t going to save us. Our leaders have failed to take
action at the speed and scale necessary. They have been bought out by
corporations like Washington Gas to push for corporate profits over
the needs of their own constituents. NVDA can certainly help pressure
our leaders to step up, and NVDA is also about putting power back in
the hands of the people. 

When we act together, when we disrupt the systems of violence that are
killing us, we are harnessing our power to direct our community to the
regenerative, thriving, fossil-fuel-free future we deserve. And along
the way, we are building a community rooted in liberatory values,
embodying a way of being that is life-giving rather than life-taking
— that unlearns the harmful cultural conditioning from oppressive
systems and relearns embodied, grounded, loving ways of relating and
being together. 

We have come a long way in these last two and a half years, and we
still have a long way to go. Washington Gas CEOs, and the politicians
they pay for, will do everything in their power to keep D.C. hooked on
methane gas forever. It is up to us to keep up the pressure on the
PSC, the mayor and the D.C. Council to ensure we move closer and
closer to the all-electric, livable future we need and
deserve. That’s why this fall, we will be organizing a People’s
Assembly [[link removed]], a chance for people from across
D.C. to come together and determine for ourselves what we want a
methane-free future to look like. We have told the truth and taken
action, and now it is time to restore direct democracy in D.C.

_This article co-published by ZNetwork.org
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_Abby Shepard (she/they) is a community organizer, yogi, writer, and
musician. She currently serves as an organizer with Extinction
Rebellion D.C. [[link removed]] and is active with local,
community-based projects such as the O’ga P’ogeh Land Tax
[[link removed]] and Queer Community
Care [[link removed]]._

_Waging Nonviolence is a nonprofit media organization dedicated to
providing original reporting and expert analysis of social movements
around the world. With a commitment to accuracy, transparency and
editorial independence, we examine today’s most crucial issues by
shining a light on those who are organizing for just and peaceful
solutions._

* Climate Change
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* extinction rebellion
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* Environmental Activism
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* Washington DC
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