Giles County, VA: Lockdown to Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline

cross-posted from Appalachians Against Pipelines

“Alice Elliot has stopped active construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Giles County, VA, by locking herself to construction equipment, suspended about 20 feet in the air! MVP has been unable to use the equipment that Alice is locked to since 7 am this morning.

“By locking myself to this equipment, I’m stopping MVP from using it and costing them tons of money, but this is just one form of resistance,” explained Alice. “Being arrested while doing lockdowns is often glamorized and upheld as the ultimate way to be an activist, but all kinds of resistance are necessary and happen every day. From long-term jail support for incarcerated people, to labor organizing at warehouses and factories, to fighting for police abolition, to babysitting and organizing childcare at actions, many different routes are being taken to revolution. Even something simple, like someone taking the leap to go to therapy and work on their shit — that matters.”

Nearby, a rally of folks have gathered in support of Alice’s lockdown. Karolyn Givens, a self-described 79 year old badass and owner of the Giles County Historic Leffel Farm stated: “I hear there is some resistance in Newport! I wonder why??? MVP is dynamiting family farms, working as fast as they can up and down our beautiful steep mountain sides in this historic tight knit community. They’re threatening our water and damaging our farms. They are threatening our very lives putting this 42 inch pipe with 1400 PSI of fracked gas right through the center of the village, placing the whole community in the blast evacuation zone. Yes, we need to make our voices heard in every way possible! I know that I will not and cannot quit resisting this money making boondoggle that is ONLY helping its wealthy investors.”
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a 42-inch diameter, 300-plus mile, fracked gas pipeline that runs from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia, with a proposed 70-mile extension into North Carolina. The MVP contributes to climate change, increases demand for natural gas (and as a result, fracking), and is entrenched in corrupt political processes. It endangers water, ecosystems, and communities along its route. The failing pipeline project is years behind schedule, several billion dollars over budget, and is still missing key permits — including permits to cross streams, waterways, and the National Forest. Until recently, MVP was unable to work in Giles County based on its proximity to the Jefferson National Forest. In early April, the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice asked Governor Northam to issue a moratorium on all new fossil fuel projects.
Meanwhile, Acre and Wren are currently being held in jail with no bail for misdemeanor charges after their extraction from the Yellow Finch tree sit, which blockaded the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for 932 days. Before they were arrested, Wren said, “The fight continues, and the struggle for a better world always will.” The banner hanging at today’s action is a reference to Wren’s statement.”
Donate to support Alice and resistance to pipelines in Appalachia: bit.ly/SupportMVPResistance
Join us! Email appalachiansagainstpipelines@protonmail.com

San Francisco: Action and March at Wells Fargo HQ and BlackRock Offices

photo credit: Brooke Anderson

cross-posted from Diablo Rising Tide

Livestream link: https://www.facebook.com/INMSolidaritySF/

San Francisco: Hundreds Demand Wells Fargo Ceases Funding the Climate Crisis; Demand Ousting of Its Board Chair Charles Noski over Failure of Leadership

Broad coalition of hundreds of Indigenous, youth, grandmothers, and other climate activists to block streets, hold rally, jointly painted giant mural outside Wells Fargo HQ to call out megabank for continuing to fuel the climate crisis

Groups are calling for accountability from Wells Fargo leadership, who continue to fail frontline communities, the planet, and future generations

From Wells Fargo HQ, they will march to BlackRock offices to demand the asset manager votes out Charles Noski during shareholder season

San Francisco — On Friday morning, hundreds of activists will take to the streets of San Francisco to demand Wells Fargo takes responsibility for its role in the climate crisis by immediately changing course. The broad coalition of groups are united in a call for Wells Fargo to defund the Line 3 pipeline and hold its leadership to account for failure to act on climate, beginning with the removal of Board Chair Charles H. Noski.

The action will be led by Indigenous, youth, seniors, labor, and other climate advocates, with groups involved ranging from NDN Collective and Idle No More to 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations, Earth Guardians, Mennonites, and Silicon Valley Climate Action Now. The groups call for urgent climate action, a halting of the Line 3 Pipeline’s construction, and the termination of any corporate leaders not taking definitive measures to reverse their companies’ contribution to global emissions and fossil fuel expansion, on the grounds that they are not only incompetent, but a threat to future generations. The participating groups will jointly paint a 200’ X 25’ banner on Montgomery Street, outside of Wells Fargo HQ.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/282846953288589

photo credit: Arthur Koch

The action began with a blockade of Montgomery Street outside of Wells Fargo Headquarters, where ten or more groups will paint large street murals demanding the defunding of Line 3, the firing of Noski, and the defense of land, water, and Indigenous rights. The murals will be surrounded by hundreds of socially distanced people, many holding signs with photos of younger relatives or friends, with the urgent call to “Protect Future Generations.” After a rally with numerous speakers, the groups will continue to BlackRock’s San Francisco Headquarters, where they will again block the street and hold a second rally, calling on the world’s largest investor (as well as Wells Fargo’s second largest shareholder) to use its voting power this shareholder season to vote out Charles Noski for his failure to incorporate climate change into his leadership of the bank.

Background: Wells Fargo has been the world’s third worst banker of fossil fuels since the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, with $223 billion in lending and underwriting between 2016 and 2020.  It is the world’s leading funder of fracked oil and gas.

Instead of taking the necessary action to end its funding of fossil fuel expansion, Wells Fargo continues to invest in and profit off the industries fueling climate change. That includes continuing to fund and advise Enbridge on its construction of the Line 3 pipeline, which would pump tar sands, the dirtiest form of oil, from Alberta, across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The pipeline’s route endangers the Great Lakes, home to one fifth of the world’s fresh water, and some of the most delicate soils, aquifers, and pristine lakes in northern Minnesota, It also threatens critical resources on Ojibwe treaty lands, where tribal members retain the rights to hunt, fish, gather, hold ceremony, and travel. The pipeline would have a climate impact equivalent to bringing 50 new coal plants online or adding 38 million gasoline cars to the road. Line 3 and its route have seen escalating Indigenous-led dissent and pressure, with groups on the ground struggling to defend the land, water, and Indigenous sovereignty.

Because of Wells Fargo’s failure to respond to the struggle against Line 3, to stop funding climate chaos, or to realign its fossil fuel financing and policies to limit global warming to 1.5°C, groups like BlackRock’s Big Problem and Majority Action are calling on investors of Wells Fargo to vote hold Wells Fargo’s leadership accountable, beginning with the firing of Charles Noski.

The physical and financial risks posed by climate change to long-term investors are systemic, portfolio-wide, unhedgeable and undiversifiable. Therefore, companies like Wells Fargo that fail to align their business with limiting warming to 1.5°C pose risks to the financial system as a whole, and to investors’ entire portfolios.

Last year, groups demanded former oil man and climate-denial maven Lee Raymond be removed from the JPMorgan Chase board of directors. After a strong no vote, Lee Raymond left the board.

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Idaho: Idaho Train Increases & Blocked Roads, Wyoming & Montana Derailments, Rejected Colorado Railway, Pipeline & Mine Protests

Cross-posted from Wild Idaho Rising Tide

Our comrades with Wild Idaho Rising Tide have been fighting fossil fuels in their region for over ten years. Their campaign began with blockades and arrests of people fighting Exxon’s “megaloads” hauling tar sands mining equipment through Idaho to Alberta during 2011 and 2012. But the group has over the past decade taken on all fossil fuels in northern Idaho and other parts of the Northwest.

This includes persistent monitoring and documenting of coal and oil trains traveling through the region.

They also host a weekly radio show on local community radio station KRFP called “Climate Justice Forum” that describes continent-wide grassroots opposition to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change and many local issues.

Here’s details on a recent episode about the monitoring of Northwest fossil fuel trains:

“The Wednesday, April 7, 2021, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features news and reflections on our tenth anniversary, volunteer opportunities, and recent, social media absence, north Idaho railroad-blocked road access and fossil fuel train increases during March and from tar sands pipeline opposition, a Wyoming river locomotive fuel spill settlement, Montana chlorine train crash remembrances, federal rejection of a potential Colorado oil train corridor, and indigenous and allied actions against pipelines and lithium mines.  Broadcast for nine years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.”

For more info and regular updates, check out Wild Idaho Rising Tide’s website.

Vancouver BC: Land and Water Protectors Lockdown Trans Mountain Pipeline Insurers’ Offices

Cross-posted from @qtcatspictureclub on Instagram
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Land and Water Protectors Lockdown Trans Mountain Pipeline Insurers’ Offices
[Unceded Musqueam, Squamish), and Tsleil-Waututh territories, Vancouver, BC, April 14th, 2021]
What: Land and water protectors have locked down the entrances to Chubb Insurance and Liberty Mutual Insurance, two of the insurers of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project (TMX).
When: April 14th, 8:00 AM Now! Come witness the direct action currently taking place. Strict physical distancing and masks required.
Where: Chubb Insurance Company,250 Howe St AND Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 999 W Hastings Street on Unceded x?m??k??y??m (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and S?l?ilw?ta?? (Tsleil-Waututh) territories, in so-called Vancouver, BC.
Why: We demand that Chubb and Liberty Mutual stop insuring TMX.
Indigenous and settler land and water protectors have locked down the entrances and four youth have chained themselves to two doors at two insurance companies, Chubb and Liberty Mutual, in so-called Downtown Vancouver this morning. Work is being disrupted at these companies’ offices on the same day as Liberty Mutual’s Annual Policyholder meeting to draw attention to the irreparable harm that these companies are causing by enabling Trans Mountain to force a pipeline through unceded territories without prior, informed consent.
Anishinaabe’kwe, Indigenous Elder from Turtle Island and supporter of the group, Veronica Butler says, “We are targeting Chubb and Liberty Mutual in solidarity with all Indigenous land and water defenders who persistently oppose TMX for degrading their ancestral homelands and sacred waters. Chubb and Liberty Mutual, alongside other TMX insurers like AIG, must stop insuring this genocidal project.”
Following pressure from Indigenous youth earlier this year, the federal government-owned Trans Mountain Corporation submitted a request to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) asking to protect the identities of TMX insurers. “This demonstrates that direct action works, and that these companies are fearing for their reputation and profits as the public becomes aware of their complacency in genocide.