Protesters put this structure up on Public Service Commissioner Chris Recchia’s property Wednesday morning, he says. Photo courtesy of Chris Recchia
Chris Recchia, the commissioner of the Department of Public Service, got a rude awakening Wednesday morning.
He says environmental activists dressed in hard hats and safety vests arrived at his house in Randolph at 6:15 a.m., blocked the driveway with traffic cones, painted orange lines in the driveway, and put up a replica of an oil derrick.
Ten to 15 protesters insisted that Recchia listen to them read “some type of affidavit” and demanded that he sign the document, he said. Recchia refused and told them he would call the Vermont State Police.
“I’d had half a cup of coffee at the time, but I told them, ‘I won’t let you read the affidavit, and I won’t sign it,’” Recchia said. “I told them, ‘You are trespassing.’”
Recchia said he went back inside his house and called state police.
The protesters then put up caution signs, “pretended to cut down a lilac” with a chainsaw and tied a yellow ribbon around a silver maple in Recchia’s yard, which he said they also appeared ready to cut down.
When the demonstrators got close to the house, Recchia said, he could see that the saw did not have a cutting chain on it and there was no danger the tree would be cut down.
He said one of the protesters, whom he recognized from a Rising Tide Vermont demonstration in Montpelier in October, erected a wooden replica of an oil derrick on his lawn.
The demonstrators appeared to be protesting the Vermont Gas pipeline project from Colchester to Middlebury, although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the protest.
The Department of Public Service, the Public Service Board and Gov. Peter Shumlin have sanctioned the pipeline, and state approval of the project has generated pushback from environmental groups.
“It was disconcerting,” Recchia said. “I’ve been in public service for a long time. I understand the opposition to the pipeline. We made a judgment based on good public policy. They’ve protested on the Statehouse lawn and I’ve met with some of them, but this is really beyond what should be acceptable for state employees or for anyone in public service.”
Recchia said it’s fine if protesters want to demonstrate in front of his office. But he added: “Leave my family and my animals alone.”
The demonstrators left about a half hour after they arrived, and Vermont State Police troopers from the Royalton barracks were on the scene an hour after Recchia called the dispatch service. Police said they are following leads. Recchia said the protesters drove a blue car and a camouflage-painted truck.
Lindsey Gillies, a former spokeswoman for Rising Tide Vermont, said the group didn’t sanction the action.
Rising Tide has tried to hold up construction of the Vermont Gas pipeline and has held demonstrations against the Vermont Department of Public Service.
In October, Rising Tide Vermont demonstrated against the pipeline by occupying State Street in Montpelier for three days.
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