RTNA April Newsletter: Fossil Fuel Resistance Heating Up!

seattleFossil Fuel Resistance Heating Up!

UPCOMING ACTIONS AND ACTION CAMPS

May 17th-19th – Central Wisconsin Action Camp – Stevens Point, Wisconsin

The Central Wisconsin Action Camp will bring together organizers and activists from Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region to foster a culture of direct action that challenges false solutions to environmental and economic problems including upcoming regional infrastructure projects.

May 19th-27th – Mountain Justice Summer Action Camp – Damascus, VA

Join Mountain Justice this year near Damascus, VA. Mountain Justice has grown from a fast burning brush fire that helped push Mountaintop Removal to national awareness into a critical support network at the base of a growing, national anti-extractive industry movement for social and environmental justice.

May 26th-June 1st – Resist the Biotech Tree Conference – Asheville, North Carolina

Join activists from around the country to protest an international gathering of scientists and industry executives who are working to replace our native forests with genetically engineered tree farms.

June 15th-23rd – Wild Roots Feral Futures – Southwest Colorado

For the 5th year running, the Wild Roots Feral Futures (WRFF) eco-defense, direct action, and rewilding encampment will take place in the forests of Southwest Colorado this coming June, 2013.

July 23rd-29th – Trans and Womyn’s Actions Camp – Near Eugene, Oregon

TWAC is a movement to unite, support and inspire trans and women activists to take action against patriarchy, oppression and exploitation and in defense of our communities and ecosystems.

CONTENTS

Oklahoma Grandmother Locks Herself to Keystone XL Heavy Machinery — Halts Construction

Last week Oklahoma grandmother Nancy Zorn, 79, from Warr Acres, has locked herself to a piece of heavy machinery effectively halting construction on TransCanada’s Keystone XL toxic tar sands pipeline. This action comes in the wake of the disastrous tar sands pipeline spill in Mayflower Arkansas, where an estimated 80,000 gallons of tar sands spilled into a residential neighborhood and local waterways.

Read more – Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance

Environmentalists Put Their Bodies on the Line to Protest Keystone Pipeline Profiteers

Last month in the nation’s capital, five members of DC Rising Tide participated in a peaceful act of civil disobedience against one of the corporations that stands to profit from the Keystone XL Pipeline. The five were arrested by DC metro police after a sit down peaceful protest in the lobby of 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, which is the DC corporate office of Valero Energy Corp. Valero owns oil refineries that are poised to receive at least 20% of the tar sands exported from Canada through the nation’s heartland to Texas.

Read more – Rising Tide North America

Global Day of Action against Chevron and the Pacific Trail Pipeline

Everywhere Chevron operates they exploit land and people for shareholder profit, often they use force and intimidation, very rarely do they take responsibility for the consequences. From the US to Nigeria, Australia to Equador, Brazil to Bangladesh, Chevron brings death and destruction. In Canada, Chevron’s Pacific Trail Pipeline threatens unceded indigenous land. Last month groups from around the world united and took action in solidarity with the Unist’ot’en and all frontline communities affected by Chevron, to clearly state, Chevron your time has come your days are numbered! Stop Fracking Chevron!

Read more – Unist’ot’en Camp

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Two Lifelong Oklahomans Halt Construction of Keystone XL Work Site

Eric_machines_LIGHT

Action in Oklahoma

Cross-Posted from Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance

BRYAN COUNTY, OK – Tuesday, April 16, 2013, 8:00AM – Two lifelong Oklahomans have effectively halted construction on an active work site for TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in Bennington, Oklahoma.

Eric Whelan, 26, who grew up in McLoud, Okla., has ascended 40 feet into the air in an aerial blockade that began at dawn this morning.

Gwen Ingram of Luther, Okla., 56, has locked herself to heavy machinery and shut down the construction site.

Today’s event marks the fourth act of civil disobedience by Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance and comes in the wake of the disastrous tar sands pipeline spill in Mayflower, Arkansas.  For the last three weeks, over 300,000 gallons of tar sands diluted bitumen have spilled into a residential neighborhood and local waterways.

“Keystone XL sounded like a bad idea from the beginning,” explained Whelan. “The Mayflower spill proves that we shouldn’t be trusting these multi-national corporations, like Exxon or TransCanada, because every spill further exposes their criminal incompetence. Now, TransCanada wants to build a toxic pipeline through the center of the country.

“I’m taking action to prevent a tragedy like that from happening in Oklahoma.”

The tar sands’ corrosive nature makes pipelines more prone to leaks than transporting crude oil, as evidenced by the Exxon’s Pegasus pipeline burst in Mayflower, Ark.

Luther resident Gwen Ingram before her direct action in Bennington, Oklahoma.

When spills inevitably do occur, the heavier diluted bitumen sinks in water and into the water table. Keystone XL’s proposed route cuts through the heartland of North America, crossing the Arbuckle Simpson and Edwards Trinity Aquifer in Oklahoma.

“The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would carry the dirtiest fuel on the planet from Canada to America’s Gulf Coast’s refineries and ports, and then overseas for export,” said Gwen Ingram, before locking herself to TransCanada’s heavy machinery.

“I simply won’t allow this pipeline to cross our precious rivers; the North and South Canadian, The Red River, The Cimmaron and threaten our drinking water.”

Oklahoma Grandmother Locks Herself to Keystone XL Heavy Machinery — Halts Construction of Tar Sands Pipeline

MEDIA RELEASE: April 9, 2013

For Immediate Release

Contact: Eric Wheeler, Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, 760-914-2480, gptsresistance@riseup.net

Live updates and photos: http://gptarsandsresistance.org/2013/04/09/3rd-action/

Oklahoma Grandmother Locks Herself to Keystone XL Heavy Machinery — Halts Construction of Tar Sands Pipeline

In response to Exxon Mobil’s disastrous tar sands spill in neighboring Arkansas, Oklahoma residents are engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience to halt construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline

ALLEN, OK – Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 9:00 AM – Oklahoma grandmother Nancy Zorn, 79, from Warr Acres, has locked herself to a piece of heavy machinery effectively halting construction on TransCanada’s Keystone XL toxic tar sands pipeline. This action comes in the wake of the disastrous tar sands pipeline spill in Mayflower Arkansas, where an estimated 80,000 gallons of tar sands spilled into a residential neighborhood and local waterways.

Using a bike-lock Zorn has attached her neck directly to a massive earth-mover, known as an excavator, which has brought construction of Keystone XL to a stop.  Zorn is the second Oklahoma grandmother this year risking arrest to stop construction of the pipeline, and her protest is the third in a series of ongoing civil disobedience actions led by the Oklahoma-based coalition of organizations, Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance.

“Right now our neighbors in Arkansas are feeling the toxic affect of tar sands on their community. Will Oklahoma neighborhoods be next?” asked Zorn before taking action today. “I can no longer sit by idly while toxic tar sands are pumped down from Canada and into our communities. It is time to rise up and defend our home. It is my hope that this one small action today will inspire many to protect this land and our water.”

Exxon Mobil’s recent Pegasus pipeline spill has forced local residents to evacuate their homes due to life-threatening toxins released into their neighborhood. Local families have experienced episodes of nausea, headaches, and respiratory problems due to acute exposure to deadly chemicals, like benzene, that are mixed in with the raw tar sands. Pegasus was carrying up to 90,000 barrels of tar sands a day before it ruptured and spilled.  The Keystone XL pipeline is slated to carry over 800,000 barrels a day; an alarming 10 times the amount of tar sands.

“In the last two weeks alone there have been at least six different inland oil spills across the country,” said Eric Wheeler, an Oklahoma native and spokesperson for Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance. “It’s time to stop referring to pipeline spills as accidents, it’s now abundantly clear that leaks are just part of business as usual. Tar sands hurt everyone they touch, from the indigenous communities in Alberta whose water is being poisoned, to the Gulf Coast communities that are forced to breathe toxic refinery emissions. We’re not going to allow this toxic stuff in our beautiful state.”

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 Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance is a coalition of groups, individuals, and supporters dedicated to stopping tar sands transportation and extraction infrastructure in the beautiful heartland of North America.

 

Seattle:Tar Sands Protestors Chain Themselves To Canadian Consulate Doors

RT seattleContact:
Annie Lukins: (206)708-4872 annielu@uw.edu

Tar Sands Protestors Chain Themselves To Canadian Consulate Doors

Seattle, WA: Two Seattle residents have chained themselves to the doors of the Canadian Consulate in downtown Seattle today protesting proposed pipelines that would bring Canadian tar sands to American refineries.

“We used to look up to Canada as an environmental leader, but promoting extreme energy like tar sands has soiled that reputation forever,” said Carlo Voli, a 47 year old Edmonds resident, as protestors poured fake oil over Canadian and American flags. Voli and Lisa Marcus, a 57 year old Seattle resident and grandmother, have U-Locked their necks to the doors of the consulate’s conference room.

Participants are protesting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and proposals to increase the number of tankers carrying tar sands through the Salish Sea. More than fifty people have been arrested at similar protests around the country this past month. 1

“We’re here to expose the collusion between the tar sands industry and the Canadian government,” explained Rachel Stoeve, a recent University of Washington graduate who was holding a banner outside the cheese factory, “The Canadian government and the tar sands industry are working together to bring tar sands to our communities. They’re not doing it for our benefit; they’re doing it for profit,”

Canadian Diplomats have come under criticism around the world for their aggressive promotion of the tar sands industry. The Harper Administration also provoked the indigenous rights movement Idle No More when they opened up native lands to development. In March Environmental Defense, a Toronto based group, released nearly one thousand pages of internal e-mails from Canadian diplomats outlining a strategy to promote the Keystone XL pipeline with American journalists.2 Last year an internal memorandum released by Post-Media news revealed the Harper government had deployed a network of Diplomats to lobby Fortune 500 companies in order to counter an environmental campaign targeting the tar sands.3 In Europe, the Canadian government has attempted to undermine the European Union’s “Fuel Quality Directive” with a lobbying campaign that Friends of the Earth described as “possibly the most vociferous public relations campaign by a foreign government ever witnessed in the EU.”4

While the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline has become a headline issue for environmentalists around the country, Seattle residents point out that Canada’s tar sands are already impacting the Salish Sea. All five of Washington’s refineries currently process tar sands materials, transported by Kinder-Morgan’s Trans-Mountain pipeline and oil tankers.5 THe Kinder-Morgan has proposed twinning the Trans-Mountain pipeline nearly tripling its capacity from 300,000 barrels per day to 850,000 barrels per day.6

“”There is no safe method for tar sands transport. Kinder Morgan’s plans could bring up to 360 tankers through the Salish Sea7 and the Department of Ecology still has no plan to deal with a tar sands spill. It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” warned Rachel Stoeve

The Department of Ecology estimates a major oil spill could cost the state’s economy $10 Billion and 165,000 lost jobs as well as wipe out Washington’s resident Orca population.

“We’ve had enough of politicians on both sides of the border acting as mouthpieces for the fossil fuel industry. It’s time for ordinary people to put their bodies on the line to protect our region and our climate from extreme energy,” said Voli.

Photos available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94446910@N03/