Amazon: A commitment to GTN XPress is a Commitment To Climate Catastrophe
Press Release: Scores of "Troublemakers" Activists Successfully Blockade all Amazon HQ Entrances
March 27, 2024
Contact: Emily Johnston, 206-407-5003, or Sheryl Feldman, 360-606-7708
Seattle, WA – For over an hour this morning, activists from a new group called Troublemakers shut down all entrances to Amazon’s Headquarters at the Day 1 Building, located at 2121 7th Avenue in downtown Seattle. They were there to protest the company’s plans to connect three of its four data centers near Boardman, OR to the planned GTN Xpress gas pipeline expansion. On March 19th, the group sent CEO Andy Jassy this letter, co-signed by 19 other local groups, calling on Amazon to halt its plan to connect to the GTN Xpress. Amazon has not issued a response.
The decision to use fracked gas from the GTN Xpress adds to Amazon’s carbon emissions problems - Amazon’s 2022 carbon emissions totaled 71.27 million metric tons, marking an 18% rise from 2020 and a 40% surge since 2019, the year Amazon unveiled its Climate Pledge. This alarming trend is in stark contrast to the global imperative to halve emissions by 2030.
TC Energy’s plan for the GTN Xpress Pipeline is to push more fracked gas, 150 million cubic feet of it, into the Northwest by increasing the pressure in a 60-year-old pipeline. The impacts include:
3.47 million tons of carbon pollution/yr (equal to 754,000 cars)
increased methane leakage-- methane is 80 times more potent than CO2 in its first 20 years
OR estimates Amazon’s use of gas for its data centers will add 250,000 tons of CO2/yr.
The demand was that Amazon:
publicly renounce the plan to connect to GTN Xpress
commit to not powering AWS (Amazon Web Services) data centers with fossil fuels and
commit to using 100% renewable energy in each operation while funding wind and solar generation, storage and distribution
"We see Amazon's greenwashing every time we pass by 'Climate Pledge' arena," says Valerie Costa, one of the activists, "and until Amazon drops its plan to buy fracked gas from GTN Xpress, we'll keep showing up. Every fossil fuel project in the PNW will be met with fierce resistance."
"We can't let Amazon get away with building new facilities that rely on fossil fuel. The need for a stable climate comes first, it's not an afterthought to a company's 'need' for constant expansion," added Margo Polley.
"Amazon is breaking its Climate Pledge by powering new data centers with fracked gas," says scientist Leonard Sklar. "So we came to demand that they honor the pledge. We know they have the power to be 100% renewable energy, and that's what this moment requires."
Some employees were frustrated--some were even aggressive, but the great majority were curious, and many thanked the activists.
This was an opening salvo; the activists made a decision early on not to engage in a technical blockade, or to lock themselves down this time. They indicated that they will continue to disrupt catastrophic business in the region—and especially any plans for polluting new infrastructure.
Troublemakers is a new climate-focused NVDA (nonviolent direct action) group. We believe that humanity has the creativity, resources, and commitment to end within a decade the pollution that threatens all life on the planet. Being alive in this moment is a great gift and a profound responsibility; every fraction of a degree of heating means the loss of countless human and other-than-human lives, and increases the risk of collapse. If we stop the heating, we save those lives.
Letter to AMazon CEO, Andy Jassy
We sent the letter below to Andy Jassy by USPS (and also by email) on March 19.