Washington DC: Mobilize for Climate Justice & Immigrant Rights on December 6

cross-posted from Shut Down DC

Around the world, climate change is driving mass migration as water dries up, farmland turns to desert, shorelines erode, coastal areas flood, permafrost melts and ecosystems can no longer support the communities they once could. And it is going to get much much worse.  As far back as 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that the greatest single impact of climate change could be on human migration – and we’re seeing this projection come true. The latest estimates predict as many as 200 million climate refugees by 2050.

This is a climate and human rights crisis. Climate migrants routinely face life threatening hardship, discrimination and repression in their search for safety for their families, and often those most vulnerable to changing climate and extreme weather lack the resources to migrate, so remain in harm’s way.

Even worse, many of the same banks that made billions of dollars financing the fossil fuel industry that caused the climate crisis–Black Rock, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase–are now profiting off of climate chaos by investing in the companies that are contracting with ICE to finance border wall construction and run for-profit prisons and detention centers. First they drive climate migration, and then they profit from it.

On December 6th, we’re going to shut down business-as-usual for the financial institutions that profit off of the climate crisis and immigrant detention. Meet us at 11am in Franklin Square (14th St. and I St. NW, Washington, DC 20005) for a rally featuring Jane Fonda and Fire Drill Fridays along with Saket Soni, the Executive Director of the National Guestworker Alliance, GreenFaith, the Franciscan Action Network and other climate, faith and migrant justice organizers. At 12 noon we’ll march through the streets of DC to visit the banks and financial institutions in DC that are profiting off of the climate crisis and immigrant detention.

WHEN: Friday, December 6th, 11am
WHERE: Franklin Square; 14th & I St NW, Washington, DC

21 Oregonians Arrested in Governor Brown’s Salem Office for Demanding She Oppose Jordan Cove LNG

image courtesy Southern Oregon Rising Tide

cross-posted from Southern Oregon Rising Tide

 21 Oregonians Arrested in Governor Brown’s Salem Office for Demanding She Oppose Jordan Cove LNG

SALEM, OR – After a nine-hour peaceful sit-in and two informal meetings with Governor Brown, 21 Oregonians were arrested in her office after the Governor refused to take a public stance against the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and fracked gas pipeline. Despite heartfelt testimony from impacted landowners, tribal members, youth, and dozens of others, the Governor twice refused to take a public stance against what would become the largest climate polluter in the state.

One of those arrested standing up for their clean water and a healthy climate was Sandy Lyons, an impacted landowner in Days Creek, Oregon. In a statement she said:

“My husband and I have lived on our ranch for the past 29 years working extremely hard to create and live our dream. We raised our son here teaching him to respect the land, its people and its incredible natural resources. For 15 of those years we have been fighting the proposed gas pipeline which a fossil fuel corporation has chosen our land to cross and seize it from us by eminent domain. I am here today because we have tried every possible way to be heard and want somehow to gain the Governor’s attention to how wrong this is and the negative ways in which it will permanently scar us and our land.”

Another of the 21 arrestees was Emma Marris, an environmental writer from Klamath Falls:

“I live in Klamath County and this is a terrible deal for us. We would bear all the environmental and safety risk so others could profit. Southern Oregon is not a sacrifice zone. All Oregonians should be demanding this project be stopped. I could not look my children in the eyes unless I took this stand today.”

image courtesy Southern Oregon Rising Tide

Inside the sit-in people sang songs, shared stories from over 15 years of fighting the Jordan Cove LNG project, and connected over community solutions to the climate crisis. People inside the room applauded the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for their denial of the 401 Clean Water Act permit in May and acknowledged Governor Brown’s pushback against the Trump administration’s attack of that law.

However, community members participating in the sit-in reiterated many times throughout the day that real climate leadership means standing up against the fossil fuel industry and that they would stay until Governor Brown publicly opposed Jordan Cove LNG. This comes at an especially critical moment with the Federal Government making a decision on the project this February.

“If Governor Brown cares about climate change as much as she claims to, there’s no reason she shouldn’t oppose Jordan Cove LNG today. Governors in New York and Washington have come out publicly against similar fracked gas projects this year,” said Owen Walker with Southern Oregon Rising Tide. “It’s time for Governor Brown to be a climate leader by opposing this project.”

Donate to the legal support fund.

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Southern Oregon Rising Tide is dedicated to promoting community-based solutions to the climate crisis and taking direct action to confront the root causes of climate change. We are based in the mountains and rivers of rural Southern Oregon, with most of our members living on stolen Takelma land.

BREAKING: Constituents sitting in Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s office refusing to leave until Governor opposes Jordan Cove fossil fuel project

cross posted from Southern Oregon Rising Tide

HAPPENING NOW: *NEW LINK TO LIVESTREAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2019

CONTACT: Southern Oregon Rising Tide, sorisingtide@gmail.com, 541-531-1858

CONSTITUENTS SITTING IN OREGON GOVERNOR KATE BROWN’S OFFICE, REFUSING TO LEAVE UNTIL GOVENOR OPPOSES JORDAN COVE FOSSIL FUEL PROJECT

[Salem, OR] – Enough is enough. This is a crisis. Today, 10 impacted individuals began peacefully sitting in Governor Kate Brown’s office in the Oregon State Capitol Building, quickly joined by 65 more for a total of 75. The sit-in began after hundreds of Oregon and northern California residents entered the Oregon State Capitol Building singing “we have got the power, it’s in the hands of us all.” Allies in the capitol’s rotunda displayed a banner with all the watersheds impacted by Jordan Cove LNG over the Oregon State seal on the floor of the rotunda. The rural landowners, tribal members, and others along the proposed pipeline route are urging the Governor to publicly oppose the proposed Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline, which would damage four southern Oregon counties–and contribute to climate change. They want her to take a stand before the Federal Government issues a decision on the ill-advised project in February. The sit-in comes less than a week after the U.S. government issued a weak final environmental impact statement for the project, underlining the critical role that the State of Oregon must play in denying the project.

Governor Brown has said she wants Oregon to be a leader in climate policy. Keeping silent on a project that would become the state’s largest climate polluter is absolutely incompatible with “climate leadership.” The era in which natural gas, which is largely derived from fracking, could be considered a “bridge fuel” is long past. Scientists around the world agree fossil fuels must be phased out completely and quickly.

The sit-in was led by people living in communities directly impacted by the 229 mile-long fracked gas pipeline and export terminal, including former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. Others quickly joined, taking seats inside the office in solidarity with the community members who began the sit-in.

LINK TO LIVESTREAM: https://www.facebook.com/sorisingtide/videos/527473954474705/

During the sit-in, people are singing, writing letters to Governor Kate Brown, and telling stories about how their homes and the places they love would be hurt by the project.

“It’s so clear to me that the Jordan Cove energy project in Coos Bay makes absolutely NO SENSE.  It risks the safety of about 25,000 citizens while employing less than 200 people AND makes global warming worse for every resident of our planet,” said former Secretary of State and Coos County Resident, Bill Bradbury.  “Helping a Canadian corporation make money while jeopradizing our citizens is just plain stupid.  They don’t allow it in the state of California, they don’t allow in the state of Washington – we shouldn’t allow it in Oregon – just say NO!”

“The Jordan Cove LNG facility, pipeline, and tankers pose big risks to me, my family, and the lives and property of my friends and thousands of local residents,” says former Department of State Lands employee and Coos County resident, Mike Graybill. “I am taking action today to urge Governor Kate Brown to step up and take a position of opposition to this project. Oregon could and should invest in a future for Coos Bay that does not threaten so many people’s lives and negatively impact existing businesses and residents.”

“My husband and I have lived on our ranch for the past 29 years working extremely hard to create and live our dream. We raised our son here, teaching him to respect the land, its people and its incredible natural resources. For 15 of those years, we have been fighting the proposed gas pipeline which a fossil fuel corporation has chosen our land to cross and seize it from us by eminent domain,” said Sandy Lyons, an impacted landowner and rancher in Days Creek. “I am here today because we have tried every possible way to be heard and want somehow to gain the Governor’s attention to how wrong this is and the negative ways in which it will permanently scar us and our land.”

“We need to be ending our dependence on fossil fuels. And not criminalizing water protectors that are defending the sanctity of Oregon’s lands and waters,” said Thomas Joseph II, Hoopa Tribal Member and co-founder of California Kitchen. “Let’s not do Standing Rock again, lets create something new. Indigenous Knowledge is vital in this transition.”

“I live in Klamath County and this is a terrible deal for us. We would bear all of the environmental and safety risk so others could profit. Southern Oregon is not a sacrifice zone,” says Emma Marris, an environmental writer from Klamath Falls. “All Oregonians should be demanding this project be stopped. I could not look my children in the eyes unless I took this stand today.”

“As impacted landowners, my husband and I have been fighting the Pacific Connector Pipeline for over 10 years,” said Camas Valley resident Kris Cates. “We are concerned about the use of eminent domain to acquire an easement through our forested property. However, more importantly we feel a need to protect the environment for future generations, including our own grandchildren.”

“Today I stand with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” said Onna Joseph, Yurok Tribal Member. “We are know pipelines bring man camps that pry on our communities and we need to stop the fracked gas pipeline today. Governor Brown please stand with Indigenous women and stop the Jordan Cove Terminal and LNG Pipeline.”

“I am here on behalf of every Oregonian whose air and water is threatened by this project,” said Southern Oregon University Student, Laura Burke. “I am here because the exploitation of public lands and resources is immoral and must be stopped within this decade. I am here because I have my whole life ahead of me and the decisions made today will directly impact the quality of that life.”

“I am here because of my spiritual commitment to live by the golden rule — do for others as you want them to do for you. A modern version is, do for the next generation what you would want done for your generation. In this era of climate emergency that means we must stop pouring climate pollution into our atmosphere,” said Caren Caldwell, retired Clergy and Jackson County resident. “Jordan Cove LNG, if built, would be the largest polluter in Oregon, and must be stopped now.”

In order to enrich a Canadian fossil fuel corporation, the Jordan Cove LNG export project would trample the private property rights of private landowners, harm the traditional territories and treaty-protected cultural resources of local Tribes, put hundreds of waterways and the drinking water of over 150,000 people at risk, threaten jobs in fishing and crabbing, pose a new major wildfire risk, and become the single largest source of climate pollution in Oregon.

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Southern Oregon Rising Tide is dedicated to promoting community-based solutions to the climate crisis and taking direct action to confront the root causes of climate change. We are based in the mountains and rivers of rural Southern Oregon, with most of our members living on stolen Takelma land.

Hundreds Gather in Salem to Demand that Governor Brown Oppose Jordan Cove LNG Terminal & Pipeline

Pic Rogue Climate

Cross-posted from Rogue Climate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2019

CONTACT: Allie Rosenbluth, allie@rogueclimate.org, 541-816-2240

HUNDREDS GATHER IN SALEM TO DEMAND THAT GOVERNOR BROWN OPPOSE JORDAN COVE LNG TERMINAL & PIPELINE

[Salem, OR] – Only days after the Federal Government released their Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and fracked gas pipeline, hundreds will assemble on the steps of the Oregon State Capitol Building to urge Governor Kate Brown to take a stand against the project before the Federal Government makes its final decision about the project in early 2020. The rally begins on Thursday, November 21 at 11AM on the Steps of the Oregon State Capitol.

Even if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) grants approval for the Jordan Cove LNG export project in February, Governor Kate Brown and Oregon’s state agencies have the power to deny critical permits and stop Jordan Cove LNG for good.

The rally attendees had a clear call to action for Governor Kate Brown to:

  • Declare opposition to the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector Pipeline. Governors in Washington and New York have recently opposed similar fracked gas projects.
  • Support agency staff in enforcing Oregon’s regulations in Jordan Cove LNG’s permitting process.
  • Continue to advocate for the protection of state decision-making authority under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act which is currently threatened by changes proposed by the Federal Government; and
  • Prepare to challenge FERC if the agency approves the project.

pic Rogue Climate

Speakers and attendees at the rally spoke to the urgency of Governor Brown supporting communities threatened by the Jordan Cove LNG project. Speakers included: Chairman of the Klamath Tribes Don Gentry; impacted landowner Bill Gow; Hoopa Tribal member Thomas Joseph II; Klamath-Modoc artist Ka’ila Farrell-Smith; Coos Bay commercial fisherman Sam Schwarz; Oregon State Representative Pam Marsh; family medicine doctor Patricia Kulberg, MD, MPH, and South Medford High School student Eliza Viden.

“How can a Canadian company shipping Canadian natural gas for export be allowed to use American eminent domain law against my family to take my property? It’s just not right,” said Bill Gow, impacted landowner and rancher in Douglas County. “Private property rights is an American value that shouldn’t be squashed for a big corporation with lots of money just to turn a profit.”

“A few months ago I refused a once in a lifetime opportunity to hang my paintings in Governor Brown’s office because of her silence on Jordan Cove LNG,” said Klamath-Modoc artist Ka’ila Farrell-Smith. “Governor Brown cannot claim to be an ally of indigenous peoples without taking a stand against and stopping this fracked gas pipeline that threatens our sacred sites, the natural resources we have harvested for millennia, and the safety of our women.”

“If built, Jordan Cove LNG’s impact on our climate and our bay would be devastating,” said Chase Kazzee, student at Southwest Oregon Community College who drove up to the rally from Coos Bay in a van of 15 students. “Governor Kate Brown has the power to be a climate leader and stand up for my generation by stopping Jordan Cove LNG before it ever gets permits.”

“The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) represents  nearly 15,000 Oregon Registered Nurses and strongly opposes the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and the related Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline,” said the Oregon Nurses Association in a statement. “This project will degrade Oregonians’ water quality, harm the health of communities throughout the region, contribute to climate change and irrevocably alter our landscape. This project is not in the best interest of the state of Oregon.”

The Jordan Cove LNG project has been strongly opposed by impacted landowners, tribal members, youth, commercial fishermen, rafters, business owners, health professionals, and allies from across Oregon and northern California for over a decade. Over 90,000 comments opposed to the project have been submitted to permit review processes in 2019 alone.

The Jordan Cove LNG export project would trample the private property rights of private landowners, impact the traditional territories and cultural resources of local Tribes, put hundreds of waterways and the drinking water of over 150,000 people at risk, threaten existing jobs in fishing and crabbing, pose a new major wildfire risk, and become the single largest source of climate pollution in Oregon.

 

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