The courts are now entangled in an issue too bizarre to take seriously; how to remove tree-sitter pipeline opponents, so we’re having a contest. Join in!

Our buddy, Jim Willis, has posed an interesting question over at Marcellus Drilling News; how does one legally remove a law-breaking tree-stitter opposed to the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) without hurting them? He says he’s “not sure what can be done to dislodge these hardened activists” but points out the absurdity of what’s going on by linking to two stories (here and here) and suggests a tree sitter who refuses to come down, or won’t even accept orders to do so, as is the case here, ought to be viewed as an eco-terrorist.

It’s easy to agree with Jim, but we’d like to have some fun with this. So, let’s have a contest to help the authorities with some imaginative ideas.

The contest is to identify the best ideas for legally removing a tree-sitter without hurting them. The best ideas will be evaluated based on effectiveness (how quickly the tree-sitter can be forced out of the tree), minimizing risk to those empowered to remove the tree-sitter, costs and usefulness of the technique as a model for other similar situations. Special points will also accrue to any idea that would make a complete mockery of the tree-sitter.

Read more:

http://naturalgasnow.org/take-naturalgasnow-remove-tree-sitter-contest/