Author: sparki

Citizens Disrupt Southwestern Energy Presentation over Fracking Projects on Elsipogtog First Nations Land

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For Immediate Release: June 25, 2014

Contact:
Angie Viands
angiemariev@gmail.com
312-217-0145

Video of Action:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8QN4uWWq26qaGIya0EyenJpbzg/preview

RT ChiCitizens Disrupt Southwestern Energy Presentation over Fracking
Projects on Elsipogtog First Nations Land

Chicago, IL–Two protesters interrupted a Southwest Energy (SWN) presentation Wednesday at the Global Hunter Securities 100 conference in Chicago by taking off their shirts and unfurling a banner to an
audience of investors that read, “The people resist SWN, you lose your
shirt!”  The banner referred to how increasing public resistance SWN’s
controversial hydraulic fracturing projects in Elsipogtog first
nations land, public land in Pennsylvania and other locations is
successful in slowing down and preventing projects and therefore makes
them unwise investments.

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” involves forcing large amounts of
water or other substances deep underground to break shale rock to
release trapped oil and gas. Fracking has raised the ire of people
globally due to air and water pollution, earthquakes and large amounts
of greenhouse gases that are tied to the process.

Attempts to frack Elsipogtog first nations land have been met with
fierce opposition from the Mi’kmaq people during the past year. Canada
has given permits to SWN to frack, but Elsipogtog lands were never
ceded. In October of 2013, SWN brought in police to uphold an
injunction and arrested 40 people that were among many more attempts
to stop fracking in their community. Less than a week ago, more road
blockades to halt fracking activity resulted in 12 arrests. Community
resistance has resulted in delaying SWN’s activity.

“A recent scientific study found that that public resistance to these
oil and gas projects is successful because it delays them and costs
the company money. Sometimes they end up canceling the project.” said
Joy Holowicki one of the participants in today’s action referring to a
study titled Cost of Company-Community Conflict in the Extractive
Sector.

In Pennsylvania, SWN is moving forward with unpopular plans to frack
in Loyalsock State Forest. This mostly intact forest will become
fragmented and further impacted by fracking well pads, pipeline and
roads.  Just this month, more than 200 people rallied at the
Pennsylvania state house to call for an end to fracking in
Pennsylvania state parks and forests.

When asked why she interrupted the SWN presentation Gloria Fallon of
Rising Tide Chicago said, “We are here today to stand in solidarity
with the Mi’kmaq people, residents in Pennsylvania and all other
communities impacted by Southwestern Energy’s destructive projects. We
are working to prevent hydraulic fracturing in Illinois as well.
Nobody should have to live near dirty, dangerous fracking.”

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Eight Jailed After Alpha HQ Blockade and Banner Hang

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lockCross-posted from the RAMPS Campaign

Update: Five of the eight have been bailed out.  The remaining three are expected to have bail hearings on Wednesday or Thursday. Read all updates here.

June 23, 2014. Bristol, VA All of our friends arrested in the Alpha headquarters action were arraigned in front of a judge this morning after spending the weekend in Jail. While none of them can be released from jail until their bail is set, only some of them will get bail hearings this afternoon. If enough donations are made to the legal defense fund, we may be able to get some of them out of jail today or tomorrow!  While it’s looking like half or more of our friends won’t be able to get a hearing today, we hope to raise money in the interim so that we’re able to make bail as soon as it is set.

Over the past decade, the Mountain Justice Legal Defense Fund has made it possible for countless people to risk arrest in actions and for our movement to bail those arrested out when they needed it. Donations to the legal defense fund are usually used not just once, but again and again as court cases are resolved and those funds return. In other words, one donation can help action after action over the years. Right now, our fund is critically low because many activists are still out on bail for other Mountain Justice actions that have happened this year.

If you can, please donate to the legal fund to make it possible to bail out the 8 people in jail now and to support our ongoing work.

Our friends who were arrested near Alpha’s headquarters thought a lot about the issue before taking action. Here are the statements that they made about why they are organizing against Alpha Natural Resources:

Galen pic for website

 

Galen

“I’m participating in this action in solidarity with my friends in Appalachia whose daily lives are affected by Alpha Natural Resources’ operations. I’m also doing this to send a message to Alpha that they cannot continue the wholesale destruction of mountain communities.”

Maleny
maleny for website

 

“Those who got arrested in this action, who were protesting against the unethical practices of Alpha Natural Resources, aren’t the true criminals. The true criminals are those who are ordering the destruction of these beautiful mountains, symbols of history, culture, and community.”

Camilo for website

Camilo

“Extreme extraction is very close to my family’s story, and the destruction of mountains is near to my heart. My father’s hometown in Peru is right next to the largest gold mine in the world, Yanacocha. As long as I can remember, I’ve had family who worked in the mine – and against it. My grandfather taught me that according to his indigenous beliefs, each mountain has an Apu – its own spirit. I’m here today in solidarity with the people of Appalachia, to demand an end to Alpha’s mountaintop removal mining. I’m standing up for the mountains and all of the life that depends on them.”

Dakota
Dakota for website

 

“How can we live in a society where corporations like Alpha are allowed to strip the land, blow up mountains, pollute the water and the air we breathe? People are sick and dying because of mountaintop removal, and it’s time we held corporations accountable.”

roger

Roger

“I oppose MTR because it harms life.  I risked arrest alongside friends practically guaranteed for it because of what has left the sphere of risk and entered into reality and living history for Appalachian communities, working and incarcerated people, and the mountains that sustain them.  I will not negotiate on the right to clean water and decent livelihood for everyone.  Instead I will act to ensure it.”

No Business as Usual at Alpha Headquarters

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flagReposted from the RAMPS Campaign

June 20, 2014 — Bristol, VA. Three activists with Mountain Justice and Radical Action for Mountains and People’s Survival (RAMPS) are currently stopping business as usual at Alpha Natural Resources headquarters in Bristol, VA, in protest of Alpha’s devastating practices of mountaintop removal coal mining. Activists were protesting the opening of new mines on Coal River Mountain in southern West Virginia. Two protestors are locked in front of the front doors of the office, while a third is hanging from a flag pole displaying a banner that reads “Save Coal River Mountain”

“That mountain is the mountain I learned to hunt on, it’s the mountain that’s sustained my family for generations. I’ll be a dead man before I see them take what’s left up there,” said
Junior Walk, of West Virginia. Walk lives in the Coal River Valley, directly below Alpha operations on Coal River Mountain. Alpha recently began blasting on the 264 acre Collins Fork mine. Local residents and activists have opposed surface mining on Coal River Mountain since the late 1990s.

2014-06-20 06.25.05-2“I am here today to demand an end to Alpha’s role in the destruction of Appalachia. While coal is exported and profits leave the region, the health effects remain in the communities,” said Camilo Pereira, one of the protestors blocking the office. Two of the protesters in a lockbox at the front door of Alpha’s headquarters and blocked the entrance.

While coal production has decreased nationwide in the past years, coal exports are at an all-time high. The overwhelming majority of coal extracted from Coal River Mountain is metallurgical coal used primarily to produce steel and is likely bound for export markets. Adam Hall, of Glen Daniel, WV, said, “As a country, we have made great strides against the dangers of coal fired power plants. However, new emission regulations will not stop Alpha from blowing up Coal River Mountain and endangering my home and family.”

More than 20 peer-reviewed studies demonstrate a connection between mountaintop removal coal mining operations and increased cases of lung and heart diseases, as well as increased birth defects, early mortality, and depression.

The RAMPS Campaign’s ongoing work against Alpha Natural Resources demands an end to Alpha’s mountaintop removal practices in Appalachia. Furthermore, RAMPS urges the company to re-employ miners for effective and thorough reclamation of retired and abandoned mine sites.

Photos of today’s protest can be found here when available.

Mountain Justice is a regional and national network that has worked for 10 years to support community based, grassroots efforts to end Mountaintop Removal and build a brighter future in Appalachia.

Rising Tide North America Announces Our Continental Gathering; August 22-24 near Whitesburg, KY

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PGh March**NEW** Logistical Details For The Gathering Here

Save the Date!

Rising Tide North America Announces Our Continental Gathering! August 22-24 near Whitesburg, Kentucky

Join us for the 2nd annual Rising Tide North America Continental Gathering, August 22-24 in eastern Kentucky.

As information is updated we will be publishing it here

This year, Rising Tide North America’s network of activists and allies from around the continent will be converging in Appalachia at the tenth anniversary of Mountain Justice to learn from and support the struggle to stop mountaintop removal, connect with climate justice activists from around North America and strategize about how we want our movement to expand and grow.

Additional details will be available soon..