Category: RT Press Releases

BREAKING: Activists Use Tripod To Block Shell’s Seattle Operations

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seattle*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

Contact: Charles Conatzer
charlesadamseattle@gmail.com
(206)556-9251

Activists Use Tripod To Block Shell’s Seattle Operations

May 12, Seattle, WA.  Days after the Foss Maritime announced that they
intended to defy Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, and illegally host Shell’s Arctic
drilling fleet, Seattle activists have blockaded Shell’s Seattle fuel transfer station by erecting a tripod.

Seattle resident Annie Lukins, who is suspended from the top of the tripod,
says she made the decision to block the facility because like everyone who
lives near the shore, she has a stake in stopping Shell.  “Shell already
knows the impacts of drilling in the arctic. They are placing themselves in
defiance of climate science, in defiance of the treaty subsistence rights
of the Inupiat, and in defiance of our elected official here in Seattle.
I’m here because I’m not the only young person who wants to raise her
children near the shore. Whether they are my kids or the kids of the
Inupiat people of the arctic, I want the next generation to be able to to
eat fish from the ocean whose flesh doesn’t carry the killing toxins of
crude oil. Shell has already proven they cannot safely operate in the
arctic, and the niger delta has shown us that they don’t clean up after
themselves. We need to ban arctic drilling now.”

“By coming to seattle in defiance of the mayor’s announcement, Shell is
proving again what we already know.” Said Marianna Coles Curtis, who helped support the protest “They are getting away with illegally docking their
drilling fleet here by paying $500 a day. It’s like a parking ticket.  This
is a company that made nearly $15 billion in profits last year, so $500 a
day isn’t anything to them. It just shows how companies like Shell, BP, and
Exxon can trample all over a community, and then get away with a small fine
that hardly takes a chip out of their profit.”

Shell’s criminal activities are worldwide.  The oil giant has come under
public scrutiny for numerous environmental and human rights violations.
Shell is responsible for the spilling of 1.5 million tons of oil in the

Niger Delta over the last 50 years. According to human rights watch groups,
Shell has made inadequate efforts to remediate impacts, and the oil has led
to massive fish kills which have devastated the local fishing economy.

Shell’s Arctic drilling mission has also sparked controversy. In 2012,
Shell ran one of their Arctic rigs aground, violated permits regulating air
pollution, and failed to certify crucial safety equipment. These
violations have prompted Inupiat leaders to come forward in opposition to
Shell’s Arctic drilling project, saying that it poses too great a danger to
the tribe’s treaty subsistence rights.

Next week, thousands of protestors from Seattle and beyond plan to converge
at terminal 5 and Harbor Island to non-violently resist the progress of
Shell’s Arctic drilling rigs and support vessels.  On May 16 a
family-friendly Paddle in Seattle will rally people on water and land to
protest their presence.  Then  May 18,  activists plan direct action on
land. Read more about “Festival of Resistance” at Shellno.org.

“We are going to stand up.” Lukins said. “Until Barak Obama has to make a
choice – arrest an entire movement for standing in defense of our own
environment and in defense of the treaty rights of indigenous people, or
end arctic drilling!”

DIRECTIONS: The Tripod is on 16th Ave Southwest on Harbor Island, just
north of the corner of 16th Ave SW and Lander St. Turn north onto 16th Ave
SW off of Spokane St and drive north until lander street, the protest will
be on your right.

### PHOTOS AND INTERVIEWS WITH ANNIE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST ###

Union Member Risks Arrest at Arc Logistics, Opposes TPP and Fossil Fuel Exports

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close-up-300x170Portland, OR. Tim Norgren of Stevenson, WA and Laborers International Union of North America member is locked to a barrel at Arc Logistics Partners’ Portland Terminal to draw a clear connection between fossil fuel exports and trade agreements like the TPP, and to call for action to put a stop to both. Tim is supported by the climate justice group Portland Rising Tide.

The crowd is gathered at Arc Logistics to support Tim and draw the connections between existing & proposed fossil fuel infrastructure and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secretive trade deal being pushed by many politicians including Democrats Senator Wyden, Representative Blumenauer, Representative Bonamici, and President Obama. Many environmental and labor groups oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on the grounds that it is written and promoted by the fossil fuel industry and American Legislative Exchange Council, gives multinational corporations more rights than communities here in the US, sends jobs overseas, and jeopardizes worker and environmental protections around the Pacific Rim.

The AFL-CIO opposes the TPP and is holding a rally today at 4:30pm at the Sentinel Hotel to tell President Obama, who is in Portland to speak on trade agreements, to stand up for workers and the environment. “I’m locked down today in part because climate change is an issue of survival inextricably linked to so-called ‘free trade’ globalization efforts like the TPP. While many of us strongly appreciate President Obama’s willingness to bring the climate crisis into the national debate, he has been unwilling to connect major fossil fuel exports to the TPP or veto the Keystone XL pipeline,” said Tim Norgren.

With proposals by major Alberta Tar Sands investor Pembina Pipeline Corporation for a propane (derived from fracked gas in Alberta, Canada) export terminal in Portland, the Jordan Cove Natural Gas terminal proposed in Coos Bay, a proposed natural gas terminal in Warrenton, as well as already-operating Arc Logistics and Port Westward oil-by-rail terminals, Oregonians are concerned that the Trans Pacific Partnership will promote more export terminals, send domestic energy overseas to fuel jobs in countries with lower workers’ rights standards, and hasten climate change. At a time when scientists tell us we need to leave most fossil fuels in the ground to prevent disastrous climate change and runaway global warming, this is completely unacceptable.

Tim hopes this action will send a message to union leaders and politicians alike that everyday workers want sustainable jobs. “I’m also taking this action to let my union, the Laborers International Union of North America, know that it has rank and file members who are willing to stand up not only for prevailing wage contracts, but for the survival and rights of all workers, rather than support those who would see minimum wage remain at poverty levels while jobs are freely outsourced to foreign factories with subsistence wages and no safety or emissions standards whatsoever. All they offer us in return is a chance to build infrastructure for an economy based on environmentally destructive resource extraction, and that’s just not sustainable.”

People gathered today at Arc Logistics spoke about being inspired by resistance from other communities in the Pacific Northwest, and hope that local governments can be leaders in stopping fossil fuel exports. “In Seattle, the Mayor recently took a strong stance against Shell’s Arctic drilling fleet and hopes to stop drilling in the Arctic entirely. We can only hope Mayor Hales will do the same, reverse course, say no to the Pembina propane export terminal and begin the process of dismantling all current fossil fuel infrastructure in Portland,” said Rising Tide organizer Jonah Majure.

Portland Rising Tide will be hosting a legal defense fundraiser for Tim at 7:30 pm on May 22nd at Ecotrust (721 NW 9th Ave, Portland OR).

Media Contact: Jonah Majure: 623-262-3063

Earth First! Protests Fracking at California Regulatory Agency

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frack thisCross-posted from the Earth First! Newswire

Ventura, CA –Dozens of activists from Earth First!, American Indian Movement Southern California, and Wica Agli demonstrated at the offices of California’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) in Ventura Monday morning, protesting the plan to pursue further slick water horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the ecologically sensitive Sespe watershed.

Approximately 50 people chanted and held banners reading “Save Water, Don’t Frack!” while dozens of activists entered the office and served a notice of eviction to DOGGR.

Fracking in the Sespe Oil Field is currently being done by Seneca Resources Corporation, a Texas-based company receiving chemicals, supplies, and other services from Halliburton. A recent DOGGR Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) highlighted the Sespe Oil Field because of its remote location and critical habitat for endangered species. The study determined that fracking in this area would result in seven different “significant and unavoidable Class I impacts,”1 including pollution of water in the Sespe Creek watershed and degradation of cultural sites of the Chumash People. In spite of substantial evidence of environmental impact, DOGGR continues to be complacent in the destruction of the Sespe Watershed.

“We are here to send the message that Seneca Resources Corporation and DOGGR need to stop their trespass and theft of water in the Sespe Watershed,” said Jason Dean, Santa Barbara resident and member of Earth First! “The resources that they use and regulate do not belong to them.”

“Seneca Resources and DOGGR are illegitimate agents acting on stolen Chumash land,” said Gray Wolf, a Yoemi Elder with American Indian Movement Southern California.

Seneca Resources already fracks heavily in the Sespe Oil Field, and DOGGR is set to approve eight new wells in the Sespe Watershed. Sespe Creek is the last undammed waterway in Southern California2 and critical habitat for many endangered species, including steelhead trout, red-legged frogs, and arroyo toads. It is bordered on three sides by the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, which facilitates the recovery of the critically endangered California condor.

“Water belongs to no individual or corporation, but to the ecological community that relies on it, and people are a part of that,” said Dean. “In a fracked world, water is undrinkable; a fracked world is uninhabitable.”

Given California’s current water crisis, it is socially irresponsible for DOGGR to allow Sespe Creek to be poisoned by the toxic chemicals used in fracking. Fracking a well once requires two to eight million gallons of water. During a time that numerous water wells are running dry throughout central and Southern California, we do not need DOGGR to regulate fracking, we need fracking to stop immediately. This morning’s protest comes in the wake of fracking bans in New York, Vermont, and Los Angeles, as well as the largest anti-fracking march in history in Oakland, and civil disobedience actions in San Francisco. Earth First! stands in solidarity with all people resisting fracking around the world.

No Atlantic Pipeline VA! Over 50 blockade Dominion HQ in downtown Richmond, VA

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noneCross-posted from Virginia People’s Climate March

February 23, 2015

Contact: Shantae Taylor

For Immediate Release

Activists Block Dominion Headquarters and Demand “Stop Selling Our Futures”

At 7:00 a.m. a group of over 50 activists blocked vehicle access to Dominion Resources’ Tredegar Campus in Richmond, Virginia to protest the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Traffic quickly formed on Tredegar Street as activists stretched large banners across the road and paraded large puppets around the scene. Two activists remain suspended from a pedestrian bridge with a banner reading “Stop Selling Our Futures” while a larger crowd occupy the access way to the campus below.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would transport natural gas from West Virginia, where there is a boom in hydraulic fracturing, 550 miles, through Virginia, and into North Carolina. “This proposal would be a dangerous investment in fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when the scientific consensus is clear that we must invest in renewables, such as wind and solar, to avoid further warming of our planet. ” said Whitney Whiting from Newport News, Virginia.

hangThis action follows several months of grassroots resistance in the region against Dominion. On February 3, an activist scaled a crane at a construction site for Dominion’s proposed Cove Point LNG export facilities in Lusby, Maryland. On February 9, activists with the group Beyond Extreme Energy staged a disruption at a Dominion analyst meeting in New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, also with the message “Stop Selling Our Futures”.

Shantae Taylor from Norfolk, Virginia said, “As a person of color, I am out here because I am disturbed by the climate crisis in the Commonwealth. The Tidewater region is second only to Louisiana for its vulnerability to sea level rise. Now we’re facing the additional threat of offshore oil and gas drilling. I don’t want another Hurricane Katrina or BP oil spill to happen here. It’s time to push back against Dominion’s corrupt political influence and demand an end to fossil fuels.”

“I’ve been born and raised in Virginia, where we have pride in our land”, said Phil Cunningham, from Prince Edward County. “Now Dominion wants to come steal people’s property and sell our futures to the highest bidder. We are here to send the message to Dominion that people matter more than profits. This is our Keystone XL, and we will stop it. ”

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