Text published by: First-Arai and Tatum. “Pipeline tells Black Memphis …” The Guardian. 22 April 2021.
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Headline published by: Southern Environmental Law Center. “Memphis rallies and marches draw attention to Byhalia Pipeline opposition.” 23 April 2021.
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Headline and text published by: WMC5. 20 April 2021.
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Since February 2020, the Byhalia Pipeline, a joint venture of Valero and Plains All American Pipeline, has been trying to gain control of part of Johnson-Tutwiler’s land, which is along the route of the proposed 49-mile Byhalia Connection oil pipeline. The route would run through multiple majority-Black neighborhoods in south-west Memphis, and researchers and activists say a spill could threaten the city’s public water source: an aquifer the size of Lake Michigan. […]
On 14 May [2021], a circuit court judge will hear oral arguments from Byhalia Connection, and their opponents, to determine whether any crude oil pipeline developer, including Byhalia Pipeline, has the right to exercise the power of eminent domain under Tennessee law. […]
Developers and the federal government have used eminent domain extensively to take land from Black communities, which contributes to Black land loss and the racial wealth gap. Since the 1930s, the government has used it to evict Black tenants under the guise of “urban renewal,” and bulldozed Black neighborhoods to replace them with highways and public housing projects.
“We have to have a broader conversation nationally and internationally about how much power we’re granting corporations to exploit communities, particularly Black communities, Indigenous communities and [other] communities of color,” said Justin J Pearson, the co-founder of Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, a grassroots group, which is also fighting Byhalia Connection in court. […]
The Byhalia Connection pipeline, which would link two existing pipelines stretching from Oklahoma to the gulf coast, was first announced in December 2019. […] Meanwhile, Energy Citizens, a group created by the American Petroleum Institute, has launched a campaign urging residents to write their elected officials in support of the pipeline, characterizing it as “under threat”. […]
On Tuesday [20 April 2021], the Memphis city council delayed a final vote on an ordinance that might hinder the pipeline, noting the need to prepare for a potential lawsuit from the developers. Pearson, from MCAP, said the project has brought to light the structural racism that has resulted in heavy industrial development and health disparities in south Memphis’ historically Black neighborhoods.
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Headline, images, captions, and text excerpt published by: Leanna First-Arai (for The Guardian) and Carrington Tatum (for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism). “Pipeline tells Black Memphis landowners: sell us the rights to your land or get sued.” The Guardian. 22 April 2021.
