Category: RT Press Releases

MN: Faith Leaders Read the Names of 227 Bodies of Water that Line 3 Will Cross

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via Resist Line 3

Participants to Read the Names of 227 Bodies of Water that Line 3 Will Cross in Minnesota

MINNESOTA GOVERNOR TIM WALZ’S OFFICE PRESENTED WITH LETTER AND DEMANDS FEB. 19 SIGNED BY MORE THAN 570 FAITH LEADERS AND OTHERS OPPOSED TO THE TAR SANDS PIPELINE “AS A REAL THREAT TO WATER, CLIMATE AND INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY”

More than 100 people gathered at the state capitol at Governor Tim Walz’s office to deliver a letter signed by more than 571 faith leaders  — including the Minnesota Council of Churches — and others opposed to the tar sands Line 3 in northern Minnesota, which “poses a real threat to water, climate and indigenous sovereignty.”

Minnesota’s own Dept. Of Commerce (DOC) has opposed this line since it was first proposed on analytical economic and environmental grounds, saying that Enbridge never demonstrated an economic need for the line (the oil will be shipped to foreign markets, and not used here), at a time when two major 2019 world reports that carbon emissions threaten to exacerbate climate change.  Mainstream climate and weather experts say is already being felt in Minnesota with increased precipitation and more severe storms.

via Resist Line 3

These issues were passionately argued recently by Public Utilities Commissioner Matthew Schuerger – a former supporter of the line — when he cast the lone PUC vote against approving the $2.6 billion project again.

“Since taking office, Governor Walz has vowed to uphold ambitious climate goals, but at the same time has avoided taking action to stop the largest proposed fossil fuel infrastructure project in the state,” says Julia Nerbonne, Executive Director of MNIPL).

“The Walz administration is poised to issue permits for 227 water crossings for this pipeline against the clear evidence of oil spill risk, broken treaties, and scientifically-vetted risks from climate change.  We join together as faith leaders to urge Governor Walz and other public officials to use their power to protect our sacred water.”

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Idaho: Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions Supporting Indigenous Rights

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cross-posted from Wild Idaho Rising Tide

via Wild Idaho Rising Tide

Media contact: Helen Yost, Wild Idaho Rising Tide, wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com, 208-301-8039

Friday, February 21, Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions Supporting Indigenous Rights

  • Sandpoint, Idaho (Kalispel Territory): 12 pm on the?southwest corner of North Third Avenue and Oak Street, across from the Farmin Park clock, with the weekly, 350Sandpoint Climate Strike
  • Spokane, Washington (Spokane Territory): 3 pm at the park on the southeast corner of North Division Street and East Martin Luther King, Jr. Way
  • Moscow, Idaho (Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) Territory): 5:30 pm at Friendship Square on the west side of South Main Street at West Fourth Street, with the weekly, Palouse Peace Coalition demonstration

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), #No2ndBridge, and regional, climate activists are hosting demonstrations in Spokane, Washington, and Moscow and Sandpoint, Idaho, on Friday, February 21, in solidarity with five Wet’suwet’en Nation clans in west central British Columbia (B.C.) defending their sovereignty from Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) invasions imposing TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) construction of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) fracked gas pipeline from northeastern B.C., across unceded, Wet’suwet’en territories, to an unbuilt, liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Kitimat, B.C.  The clans’ hereditary chiefs have not provided their free, prior, and informed consent, as required by law, and have unanimously opposed the pipeline and police occupations.  They closed the Morice West Road into their lands and on January 4, evicted CGL from their territories, where it was building housing for 400-plus workers.

Amid rising tensions, RCMP attempted to enforce a December 2019, B.C. Supreme Court injunction that seeks to block Wet’suwet’en people from their traditional lands, by establishing an exclusion zone that eases CGL access to pipeline sites.  On February 6 to 10, militarized police with rifles, dogs, vehicles, and helicopters staged multiple raids of two Gidimt’en clan camps and checkpoints along the road, and the Unist’ot’en clan’s healing center beyond the gated, Morice River bridge.  At gunpoint, they detained journalists, arrested and removed 28 tribal members and supporters, some while in ceremony, towed resident vehicles, and dismantled camps, sacred fires, and dozens of red dresses strung along the road to symbolize the missing and murdered, indigenous women and girls victimized by transient, pipeline “man camps.”

Denouncing Canada’s failed reconciliation processes with First Nations, indigenous and allied, frontline activists across Canada and around the Earth have sustained scores of protests, marching, rallying, and blockading at government offices and buildings, city streets and highways, and ports and train tracks.  Canadian and western Washington sabotage and blockades of relatively indefensible rail lines connecting ports, refineries, and passenger and freight traffic have caused major railroad networks to cancel services, discouraged investments in energy projects, and disrupted business-as-usual, national economies.

Inland Northwest solidarity actions support Wet’suwet’en rights and title to their lands and waters and increasing, worldwide opposition to fossil fuels extraction, transportation, infrastructure, and pollution risks and impacts to public and environmental health and safety, which privatize public police and officials and criminalize land, water, and climate protectors.  Protest organizers encourage participants to learn more about Wet’suwet’en resistance to colonization, contact Canadian politicians to demand that they stop police violence, donate toward the Wet’suwet’en legal fund, and attend a demonstration in Moscow, Sandpoint, and Spokane on Friday, February 21.  For further issue and event information and ideas for relevant signs and banners, please see Wet’suwet’en supporter toolkits [1, 2], the international solidarity actions page [3], WIRT website and facebook event posts [4, 5], and the attached flyer.  Dress for winter warmth and dryness, bring friends, family, and creative signs, assist with carpools to these community events, and contact WIRT with your questions and suggestions.

[1] Wet’suwet’en Strong: Supporter Toolkit, Unist’ot’en Camp

[2] Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Art Kit

[3] When Justice Fails: Wet’suwet’en Strong Solidarity Actions, February 16, 2020 Harsha Walia

[4] Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions, February 16, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide (website)

[5] Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions, February 16, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide (facebook)

 

Guardian: New train blockade piles pressure on Trudeau in Wet’suwet’en pipeline fight

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cross-posted from the Guardian

via Cuzzins for Wet’suwet’en

New train blockade piles pressure on Trudeau in Wet’suwet’en pipeline fight

Group of about 20 blocked Canadian National Railway Co rail line near Edmonton, capital of the western province of Alberta

Demonstrators opposed to a Canadian gas pipelinehave blockaded another railway line in the west of the country, adding to pressure on Justin Trudeau to solve a two-week protest.

Freight traffic in eastern Canada has already been stopped for days after campaigners blockaded a main line in Ontario. Protesters across the country have taken up the cause of the Wet’suwet’en indigenous people who are seeking to stop the C$6.6bn (US$4.98bn) Coastal GasLink gas pipeline project in British Columbia.

On Wednesday, a group of about 20 people blocked a Canadian National Railway Co rail line near Edmonton, the capital of the western province of Alberta.

“They’re on the CN property, and we’re working with the CN police to resolve it,” a local police spokesman, Barry Maron, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Television footage showed the group standing on the rails behind a banner that read “No pipelines on stolen land.” The company said it was assessing legal options.

Trudeau, who insists his government will not use force against the protesters, toughened his language on Wednesday, calling the disruptions unacceptable.

The blockades pose a delicate challenge for Trudeau, who says one of his main priorities is to improve relations with Canada’s marginalized and impoverished indigenous population.

“This government is working extremely hard to resolve this situation. We know people are facing shortages, they’re facing disruptions, they’re facing layoffs – that’s unacceptable,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.

His tone was noticeably harsher than in a speech he gave to legislators on Tuesday in which he stressed the importance of “dialogue and mutual respect”.

Canada’s main opposition parties say the federal government should send in police to clear the blockades, which are also hitting Quebec, Canada’s second most populous province.

Quebec’s premier, François Legault, on Wednesday demanded Trudeau come up with a timetable to end the blockades.

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Ongoing Police Harassment of Pipeline Fighters in Appalachia

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cross-posted from Appalachians Against Pipelines

via Appalachians Against Pipelines

UPDATE: “Cops DRESSED AS PIPELINE WORKERS violently arrested our friend at the Yellow Finch tree sits yesterday.

Disguised as an erosion control crew, undercover cops tackled this pipeline resister to the ground and hauled them off to jail on behalf of MVP. They were brutally dragged by their shoulders away from the sits. AND the state thugs never showed our friend a warrant before taking them into custody. Collusion between police and the multi billion dollar Mountain Valley Pipeline project is clearer than ever!

The pipeline fighter is still in jail and is being help without bail! This is an unusually harsh penalty that has been applied to pipeline resistance in Virginia again and again.

We know that the police and the courts are out to protect corporate interests, but we won’t let that scare us! FTP!!

Our friend has sustained some injuries, but they are in high spirits and will continue to fight!”

Original Post:“Despite MVP having their permit process delayed until at least early April, the collusion between the state and extractive industry goons is ramping up. For the past few days we have seen both uniformed and undercover cops riding with workers doing “erosion control” in an attempt to intimidate those taking a stand against corporate eco-terrorism in Appalachia.

Also, Global Security workers, headed in this area by Stephen Len McGary, potentially with undercover police have walked into camp off of their Limit Of Destruction, where land defenders have been holding space for 533 days, supporting the trees in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The state will use any excuse to escalate the situation and use force against us. We will not be deterred! We are here and encourage peoples to rise up, wherever they are at, against the violent colonial death machine. It is everywhere. It is bigger than this 42 inch, 300 mile, fracked gas pipeline. We exist now amid climate chaos thanks to the continued fierce resistance to colonization among indigenous peoples and resistance fighters worldwide. If you are reading this we are not far from you. There is struggle and action everywhere. Find them. Act.”

via Appalachians Against Pipelines

From Yellow Finch to Wet’suwet’en, NO PIPELINES, NO BORDERS, NO RCMP, NO SURRENDER!”

To donate to the ongoing resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline, go here.

To join the Appalachian Climate Action Camp on March 6th-15th, go here.