Category: RT Press Releases

Rising Tide Chicago: Citizens Dressed as Elves Set Up Frack Rig on Governor Quinn’s Lawn

  By , , ,

RT ChiFrom Rising Tide Chicago

Citizens Dressed as Elves Set Up Frack Rig on Governor Quinn’s Lawn

Chicago, IL —Monday morning four concerned community members dressed as elves visited Governor Quinn’s Chicago residence and set up a hydraulic fracturing rig

with a large red bow attached on the front lawn.  The “elves” said they were delivering a present from Santa who has been nervously watching the dangerous practice of hydraulic fracturing or fracking inch closer and closer to becoming reality in Illinois during the past year.

The elves delivered the frack rig because people that live far away from where fracking is planned are the ones making the decision to bring the dangerous practice here. “We are delivering this rig today because if Governor Quinn and the other people that have opened up our state to fracking had to live next to fracking and had to obtain their water from a well I think they would not bring fracking to our state,” said Mike Durshmid of Rising Tide Chicago.

Hydraulic fracturing is an environmentally damaging practice of obtaining natural gas in which large amounts of water, sand and chemicals are combined and then forced deep underground to break shale rock to release trapped oil and gas. Fracking has been linked to earthquakes and air and water pollution in Colorado, Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania, states that have been using the practice for some time.

The climate implications of fracking were front and center during the delivery as the elves spoke about how their home, the north pole had been irreversibly damaged due the loss of ice. They also drew the connection to climate related disaster like Hurricane Sandy and the extreme drought that Southern Illinois experienced a few years ago and how these events would become more frequent and intense if we continue to emit more greenhouse gases like the methane that is released during hydraulic fracturing.

“We just can’t afford to allow the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, and must find a way to live that does not put continued economic growth above preserving a habitable planet. For this reason we must stop fracking from starting in Illinois and also work to make larger systematic changes” said Angie Viands of Rising Tide Chicago. The frack rig delivery, organized by Rising Tide Chicago, comes on the heals of several public hearings on hydraulic fracturing in the state that drew many hundreds of residents expressing their concerns about the practice and some vowing to resist it if it comes to Illinois.

###

 

Wild Idaho RT: Tar Sands Megaload Resistance Solidarity

  By , , ,

WIRTCross-posted from Wild Idaho Rising Tide

Updates and additions to Idaho & Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests!

Over the last month by Christmas Eve, Umatilla and Warm Springs tribes, Rising Tide groups, and allied organizations and activists have staged dozens of actions escalating Northwest resistance against tar sands mining and megaload exploitation of indigenous and public lands and people.  At least five Umatilla-led protection ceremonies in Pendleton, four Port of Umatilla protests and blockades, three Portland and Seattle area office occupations of megaload hauler Omega Morgan and designer Resources Conservation Company International, two blockades in John Day, Hermiston and Stanfield protests, a Portland visit to the Oregon Department of Transportation, and a light brigade overpass action have resulted in nineteen mostly illegal arrests of activists at the four blockades [1].

Activists with 350, All Against The Haul, Blue Skies Campaign, Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction, Montana Indian Peoples Action, five Rising Tide groups, and multiple indigenous tribes are planning protests in Umatilla, Oregon, Missoula and other locations in Montana, and in or near Marsing, Mountain Home, Bellevue, and Salmon, Idaho, over the next month [2-7].  In the wake of years of relentlessly meeting every Highway 12 and 95 tar sands facilities shipment in Idaho with resistance, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and allies will not stand down, despite recent, illegal, and unethical police attempts in John Day to dissuade further First Amendment-protected expressions of citizen dissent of the state/corporate fossil fuel agenda [8].  As news of Rising Tide and allied protests has spread through some of the most popular Idaho media outlets over the past month, we are calling Oregonians, Idahoans, and Montanans to rise up against tar sands megaloads [9].

These heat exchanger cores of wastewater evaporators are likely the remnants of the ten in-situ tar sands mining modules that Omega Morgan tried to transport in August to Canada, up Highway 12 through Nez Perce resistance – manufactured at the General Electric plant in Port Coquitlam, B.C., disassembled (not made) in Portland, and barged to the Port of Umatilla.  Rising Tide groups in Missoula, Moscow, Portland, Seattle, and Spokane have struggled against these components of tar sands extraction since early 2010.  Understanding their ultimate implications for vast ecocide, genocide, and climate chaos, we cannot in good conscience stand aside while some of the wealthiest corporations profit at the expense of millions of people and species and the habitats that sustain them [10].  As our Oregon colleagues develop a seventh lawsuit against megaload incursions of the Northwest, we invite everyone to participate in the following actions.

Idaho & Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests!

After a presumed five-day journey across Oregon extended into three tumultuous weeks of delays wrought by wild weather and passionate protesters, the first of three Omega Morgan-hauled tar sands megaloads traveled along the Snake River and entered Idaho on Sunday night, December 22-23 [1, 11].  Local scouts reported its passage south and east from the Vale, Oregon, weigh station to the Marsing, Idaho, area.  As described in a December 13 event announcement, 350 Idaho and WIRT will stage protests across southern Idaho, contingent on the travel schedule of the three pieces of extreme energy mining equipment [12].  Although social and other media initially blocked organizational attempts to share information about these civil displays of discontent, regional networks have fostered interest among megaload-impacted communities, who have expressed enthusiasm in engaging in these two-state events.  With all of these stakeholders, we will continue work to stop Alberta-bound machinery that accelerates tar sands extraction and transportation and accompanying environmental and human health devastation.  Wild Idaho Rising Tide will regularly update the tentative dates, times, places, and carpool arrangements of megaload protesting and monitoring activities on the WIRT website and facebook pages.  Please bring your family, friends, and neighbors, and come prepared with protest signs, banners, and equipment, musical instruments, voices, and chants, audio and video recorders, cameras, notepads, and your spirit of solidarity, regional resistance, and freedom of expression.

* Boise carpools to Marsing and Mountain Home: Contact Ann Ford of 350 Idaho at annkeenan4d@gmail.com or 208-344-4675.  Meet at the Shopko sign/parking lot at 2655 South Broadway Avenue, tentatively at 8 pm MST on Friday, December 27, and later dates.

* Marsing protest: Also meet at the Marsing Elementary/Middle School parking lot, 205 Eighth Avenue West, Highway 78, at 9 pm on Friday, December 27.

* Mountain Home protest: Also meet at the Pilot Travel Center, 1050 Highway 20 at Interstate 84 Exit 95, at a date and time to be arranged (TBA).

* Wood River Valley (Bellevue) protest: Meet to carpool in the Atkinsons Market parking lot, 757 North Main Street in Bellevue, or at the Timmerman Junction rest area, on the southwest corner of the U.S. Highway 20 and Idaho Highway 75 intersection, at a TBA date and time.

* Salmon protest: Meet at the Stagecoach Inn, 201 Riverfront Drive, at a TBA date and time.

* Spokane carpools to Missoula and Montana at a TBA date and time: Contact Terry Hill of Spokane Rising Tide at facebook.com/terry.hill.509.

* Megaload monitoring at various locations: Contact WIRT at 208-301-8039 and wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com.

* Contributions for organizer, monitor, and protester travel and potential legal expenses: Donate through WePay at https://www.wepay.com/donations/907347297 or send checks to P.O. Box 9817, Moscow, ID 83843.

Solidarity with Umatilla Tribes, Resist the Megaload!

On Sunday night, December 22, the second Omega Morgan-hauled tar sands megaload in Oregon left the Port of Umatilla and stopped near Pendleton on Monday morning.  Portland Rising Tide is calling on all supporters and allies from across the region, to join a special demonstration and ceremony in Pendleton, led by members of the Confederated Umatilla Tribes, when the transport resumes travel on Monday evening [13].  Please bring your friends and family to this unforgettable holiday action, provide your own food, fuel, and possible lodging, RSVP if you plan to attend and carpool, and circulate this event announcement via facebook, email, Twitter [14].

Carpools from Portland to Pendleton are meeting at 1 pm at 4105 North Haight Avenue, at the corner of Mason and Haight streets in Portland.  In Pendleton, people are gathering at 5:30 pm at the Wildhorse Casino Business Center, 46510 Wildhorse Boulevard.  At the casino, participants will discuss the action plan and prepare for gathering at the nearby megaload, to bear witness to its departure en route to expanding tar sands mining operations.  Organizers do not anticipate anyone risking arrest at this ceremony, but ask participants to share their support and solidarity through their physical presence among a frontline community resisting tar sands development.  Portland comrades will rejoin carpools at around 9 pm.

Our amazing Portland Rising Tide and allied friends still need financial support for legal expenses and organizing against the megaloads.  They have raised almost $16,000 but will need $20,000 to offset already incurred expenses.  Please donate and encourage your associates to do the same [15].

###

[1] Oregon Resistance (Wild Idaho Rising Tide)

http://wildidahorisingtide.org/category/news/omega-morgan-megaloads/oregon-resistance/

[2] Megaload Shipment Poised to Enter Southern Idaho (December 10 KBOI TV Boise)

http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/mega_loads-235312401.html?tab=video&c=y

[3] Giant Heat Exchanger Will Soon Pass through Idaho (December 10 Idaho Press-Tribune)

http://www.idahopress.com/members/giant-heat-exchanger-will-soon-pass-through-idaho/article_65e58528-6170-11e3-a297-0019bb2963f4.html

[4] Over the River and Through the Woods (December 11 Boise Weekly)

http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/over-the-river-and-through-the-woods/Content?oid=3022373

[5] Megaload Inching Closer to Idaho (December 13 Idaho Mountain Express)

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007149732#.UqztmbDTldg

[6] String of Protests Scheduled for Mega-Load’s Journey through Southern Idaho (December 14 Boise Weekly)

http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/string-of-protests-scheduled-for-mega-loads-journey-through-southern-idaho/Content?oid=3024758#.Uq1Ox7jKPyM.facebook

[7] Idaho Issues Permit for Megaload to Cross State, Climb Lost Trail Pass (December 21 Missoulian)

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/idaho-issues-permit-for-megaload-to-cross-state-climb-lost/article_609b8952-6a42-11e3-bc8c-001a4bcf887a.html

[8] Op-Ed: Yes, Virginia, There is a Police State (December 21 Huntington News)

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/79034

[9] Top Ten Idaho Newspapers and News Sites (All You Can Read)

http://www.allyoucanread.com/idaho-newspapers/

[10] Megaload Facts (Wild Idaho Rising Tide)

http://wildidahorisingtide.org/megaload-facts/

[11] Megaload to Cross into Idaho by Monday Morning (December 22 Twin Falls Times-News)

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/megaload-to-cross-into-idaho-by-monday-morning/article_3c05e71c-6b8d-11e3-ab2b-001a4bcf887a.html

[12] Idaho & Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests! (December 13 Wild Idaho Rising Tide)

https://www.facebook.com/events/365652300245333/

http://wildidahorisingtide.org/2013/12/13/idaho-montana-tar-sands-megaload-protests/

[13] Solidarity with Umatilla Tribes, Resist the Megaload! (December 22 Portland Rising Tide)

https://www.facebook.com/events/473566286097861/473637492757407/

[14] RSVP for Action at Second Megaload in Pendleton (Portland Rising Tide)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1aetdVuqnuokdtCZ9GpbDu8e58PYZQ6y_1v96ZSxUfw0/viewform

[15] Megaload Support – Portland Rising Tide (WePay)

https://www.wepay.com/donations/portland-rising-tide

 

 

 

16 Arrested as Climate Justice Groups Halt Controversial Tar Sands Megaload in Oregon

  By , , ,
mega loads

Note: Image not from Monday. Photo & video teams arrested, still awaiting images.

12/16/13

Media contacts:

Yoko Silk, Portland Rising Tide – yokita@gmail.com; 541-517-7766

Stephen Quirke, Portland Rising Tide – stephen.quirke@ncf.edu – 941-525-0076

16 ARRESTED AS CLIMATE JUSTICE GROUPS HALT CONTROVERSIAL TAR SANDS MEGALOAD

John Day, OR: On Monday Dec 16, climate justice groups stopped the movement of a controversial shipment of equipment bound for the Alberta tar sands. Concerned citizens locked themselves to two disabled vehicles in front of the 901,000 pound load blocking it’s route along highway 26 outside of John Day. Police responded and arrested 16 at the two blockade sites using pain compliance to extract them.

Tonight’s action is the latest in a series of protests that have erupted in OR and WA since the megaload began to move. The load was first blocked on December 1st, when two people locked themselves to the truck as an estimated 70 others rallied nearby, including many Umatilla Tribal members. The next night one Umatilla tribal elder was arrested while blocking the load.

Two weeks ago in Fife, WA members of Rising Tide occupied the megaload shipper Omega Morgan’s office, and did so again last week in Portland, OR after disrupting a meeting. The group also occupied an office of a General Electric subsidiary in Bellevue, WA that manufactured the equipment being shipped. The group is calling for Omega Morgan and other companies to stop shipping or otherwise facilitating tar sands development. Events tonight marked the 6th regional action against megaloads in just over two weeks.

The 901,000 lb mega load is hauling a heat exchanger to the Athabasca oil fields in Alberta, Canada. The load is 22 feet wide, 18 feet tall and 376 feet in length. A similarly-sized load toppled Tuesday evening in Gladstone, OR, blocking part of I-205 for hours. Omega Morgan says this is  the first of three megaload shipments through the region, though it is likely the company needs this route indefinitely, as their former route through Idaho was blocked by an injunction filed by the Nez Perce Tribe, following major protests in Idaho and Montana.

In a recent letter to Governor Kitzhaber, Gary Burke, Chair of the Umatilla Reservation’s Board of Trustees, expressed opposition to the megaloads due to lack of consultation with the tribes and the role of tar sands extraction in harming indigenous people and fueling global climate change. He also emphasized the legal requirement of state agencies like the Oregon Department of Transportation to consult tribal representatives before engaging in actions that affect Oregon Tribes, as Kitzhaber mandated in Executive Order 96-30. He also called attention to the role of tar sands extraction in harming indigenous people and fueling global climate change.

Groups organizing the protest in Eastern Oregon, including chapters of Rising Tide and 350.org, oppose the shipments due to their ultimate role in extracting Alberta tar sands, which would supply oil for the controversial Keystone XL, and facilitate what many have called the most destructive industrial project on Earth. Umatilla Tribal Member Shana Radford said, “We have responsibility for what happens on our lands, but there are no boundaries for air, and the carbon dioxide this equipment would create affects us all. The Nez Perce tribe said no to megaloads, and so should we.”

###

Megaload Protestors Take-Over Bellevue Office

  By , ,
bellvue

Rising Tide Seattle outside GE’s offices in Bellvue, WA.

Megaload Protestors Take-Over Bellevue Office

*Contact: Karen Looney, Spectrum@riseup.net <Spectrum@riseup.net>,

312-813-6306 *

*Thursday, December 12, 2013*

BELLEVUE, WA –  Today, over a dozen protestors with the group Rising Tide Seattle took over the offices of a General Electric subsidiary to protest their role in the tar sands oil extraction project in Canada. Protestors are concerned about equipment designed by General Electric’s “Thermal Products” business for use in heavy oil extraction in the tar sands. The equipment is currently being transported across eastern Oregon on an oversized load, referred to as “megaloads”. Protestors delivered a letter and occupied the office disrupting work for about an hour.

“By designing and shipping this tar sands equipment General Electric is facilitating the genocide of first nations communities in Alberta, destruction of the Boreal forest and catastrophic climate change,” said Karen Looney, a spokesperson for Rising Tide Seattle.

The object of today’s protest is an oversized load, referred to as a ‘megaload’, carrying an “evaporator” designed by GE for use in the Alberta tar sands oil project, which environmentalists call the most destructive project on earth. General Electric has contracted with Hillsboro based Omega-Morgan to move three megaloads in December and January, the first of which is now on the road in eastern Oregon.  The shipment weighs 450 tons and measures 378 feet long, 22 feet wide and over 18 feet tall and is only permitted to travel between 8 PM and 6 AM.

A coalition of environmentalists and members of the Umatilla and Warm Springs tribes is attempting to stop the megaloads from reaching their destination. Last week the megaload was stopped at the Port of Umatilla when two men locked themselves to the trucks hauling the equipment. The following day Cathy Sampson-Kruse, a grandmother and member of the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla was arrested for attempting to block the load by laying down in the road.

“People are going to use every tool they have to stop these dangerous Megaloads. From legal challenges to civil disobedience,” said Looney

Inside General Electric’s offices protestors activists as janitorial staff offered to “greenwash” the company’s image. One participant held a banner reading “GE: Cleaner GEnocide”. General Electric claims that its controversial “evaporators” make tar sands operations more efficient by recycling water.

“General Electric’s main contribution to the tar sands is helping to engineer a more efficient genocide on the land and people of Alberta,” said Kyle Miskell, one of the participants in today’s protest.

Controversy has followed attempts to move tar sands megaloads through the northwest over the past three years. Last August a megaload carrying similar equipment designed by GE faced four nights of protest and blockades crossing the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho. 28 Tribal Members were arrested as part of the blockades including 8 members of the Nez Perce tribal council. Following the blockades legal challenges secured a court injunction preventing further megaloads from crossing the reservation on Highway 12 until a study on their impacts is completed.

Activists and tribal members are exploring their options for a legal challenge to the megaload’s permit and preparing for more sustained civil disobedience to stop the shipments from moving. While today’s protest in Bellevue was going on another group visited the Hillsboro, Oregon offices of hauler Omega-Morgan.

“People across the northwest are working together to stop our region from being turned into a superhighway for the fossil fuel industry,” said Miskell. “We are putting together the infrastructure to block these shipments and any new fossil fuel infrastructure that manages to get permitted for our region.”

###