 So we're here today to stop the consolidation of power of our utilities outside of Vermont, outside of the people who live in Vermont, and we're here to keep fossil fuels in the ground. It's time to declare a climate emergency, and it's time. So we're here to make everybody aware of what's going on and that we care. We are Extinction Rebellion Vermont, and supporters and friends, we're Extinction Rebellion. We are involved in every aspect of Vermont life. We live here. We care about Vermont. We care about the earth, and we really just want to see effective change at every scale. We're here today because Enbridge wants to buy out the public shares of Vermont gas and Vermont power, and we don't want to send our voice out of state, and we don't want to allow other fossil fuel industries into our state to build new fossil fuel infrastructure. So we're here protesting to make sure that they know that they are not welcome to make that decision, and we will make our voices heard. So our expectation is that if Enbridge is able to purchase public shares of these two utilities, that they will install new fossil fuel infrastructure, the public will have less say in what happens in our own state, and we're just going down a dangerous path of consolidating power away from the communities in which that will be affected. What's happening now is that there are four hurdles that Enbridge needs to overcome to get this approved, and three of them have already been attained, and so this last public utility commission approval is our last stand. The people here are willing to put their futures, their reputations, their bodies on the line for this. It's time for everybody to get motivated and to really take a stand. We don't have any more time to waste. The people that are here are ready to fight for this. The outside right now are not going to move inside. We do have allies inside who are going to be peacefully. We are going to be maintaining this traffic jam for quite a while today. We signed on to be interveners because we want to see accountability. When a foreign company is going, especially one that's controlled by Enfield, is going to have potentially controlling interests in Vermont companies, we want to see accountability. They should not be able to do whatever they want, and we want to see truth in advertising when it comes to natural gas, which has not been happening. So we'd like to see the public utilities commission at the very least put conditions on this purchase. We'd like to have public members on the boards of the companies in the long line that goes down to Vermont Natural Gas and Green Mountain Power. We'd like to see requirements that they cannot interfere with the operation of GMP and Vermont Natural Gas, which they claim they've never done, but there's nothing in the paperwork that says they can't do that in the future. We do not want Enfield and Norevesco having a say in what happens in Vermont. And the way this is lined up, there's nothing to stop them from doing that. So we want to stop that and have accountability that may be accountable to the people of Vermont and the laws of Vermont and the requirements in Vermont for decreasing carbon pollution. One of the other conditions we're asking for is that Vermont Natural Gas stopped their false advertising of saying that gas is a clean fuel. When you burn it, it's a clean fuel, but during the production, it's a very dirty fuel. It releases a lot of methane into the atmosphere, much more than other carbon-based fuels. So they continue to represent themselves falsely as a good alternative to electricity, which they're not. Very concerned about climate, and we have renewable energy goals in Vermont, and we will not meet these renewable energy goals if we increase production in natural gas. I would like to see us have 100% green energy in Vermont to meet our goals. We're desperately short on our goals. We increased our carbon footprint last year instead of decreasing it. So we're quickly slipping away from our goals, and we need drastic action. As all of the reports have come out, the UN's Climate Commission report says that we have 12 years before we've tipped the scale, and Vermont can and should be a leader. We've led before. We've led on civil unions. People say Vermont can't do this alone, but Vermont can. Vermont can be the example that spurs the nation into action, and that's why I'm here. I want to see us meet renewable energy goals. And that's why we don't want Enbridge, which is a huge producer and pusher of natural gas, having a say in what happens in Vermont. We do not need Enbridge in Vermont, end of story. Enbridge has strong interests and power in Narevco, so it's a whole succession down the line. So do you believe that if Enbridge has more influence, they're going to attempt to help VGS to put a pipeline all the way through Vermont to Massachusetts in order to supply That's their corporate interest, so unless there's some way to prevent that, which is one of the things we're asking for, then that's going to happen. That's our fear. And I mean, right now they have about a quarter of interest on the GMP board, but this will bring them to a third. And we find that to be very disconcerting and dangerous. And it will mean all the boards between Narevco and GMP and VGS are private. So we don't even know who the board members are. That's not okay. They went from a publicly traded company in which we could buy shares, and several of us did, so that we could attend the meetings and find out what's going on to a privately controlled thing. So we've lost any say as for monitors and what happens in our state. And the PUC has the authority to turn it down completely or to put conditions on it. We'd like it to be turned down, but conditions would be better than nothing. And on the other hand, the PUC has done nothing very much to stop the progress of this pipeline project so far. That is correct. Yeah. It doesn't stop the Addison one, not in Bristol, not the PUC. We believe that no Vermonters should have a natural gas pipeline. And the other thing is that there's eminent domain. People are, houses are, and property are taken from them if they're in the root of the pipeline. And I don't want to see any Vermonter displaced for natural gas when we could have renewable energy. Yeah. That's just, it's criminal. So, so Esa, you, you were arrested last time in the last Extinction Rebellion Vermont episode in the state house when you were attempting to address the entire house. So in that case, we were protesting the Vermont Legislature's inability to really get anything done in the last session, even though there was a democratic supermajority. So it was kind of very dismaying, the lack of progress. So we just went in and made the simple statement, kind of get your act together, and we asked them to show more progress on climate and other issues in the next session. Today, we're out here to protest Novarko and Enbridge's acquisition of the public share of Vermont gas. We don't want to see more pipelines than other fossil fuel infrastructure built in Vermont. So, again, we're out here saying keep it in the ground, no fossil fuels in Vermont, no new fossil fuels. I don't think we plan on being arrested today. We're not going to get too crazy today, just be out here, make ourselves seen, and then leave respectfully when it's time to. Meanwhile, do you feel that your, this blockade is being thwarted by the police who are diverting, driving all around town to, to prevent their, their being a blockade scene here? You know, we knew that they would do that. On one hand, it is unfortunate that less people are seeing us, but they are essentially doing our work for us and shutting down the traffic around us. So thank you to the police. We appreciate your solidarity and the climate movement. To anybody who wasn't in convenience today, we're sorry about that, but we'd like everyone to acknowledge that the inconvenience of catastrophic climate change is going to be a whole lot worse than a slow morning commute. Come join Extinction Rebellion Vermont. We're on Facebook. You can find out when our meetings are. Come join the climate movement.