No Charges for the 21 Arrested in Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s Office

 

pic via Southern Oregon Rising Tide

cross-posted from Southern Oregon Rising Tide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, December 20th, 2019
Contact: Southern Oregon Rising Tide, sorisingtide@gmail.com, (541) 392-0643

No Charges for the 21 Arrested in Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s Office Demanding That She Oppose Jordan Cove LNG and the Pacific Connector Fracked Gas Pipeline
Arrestees Speak Out And Call on Gov. Brown to Take a Stand for our Communities and a Livable Future
[SALEM, OR] – No charges were filed for the 21 individuals arrested at peaceful sit-in in Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s office demanding she publicly oppose the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and fracked gas pipeline. On the day that would have been their court arraignment, the 21 people from across rural and urban Oregon spoke out about the reasons why they engaged in civil disobedience to urge the Governor to oppose the project.

On November 21st, following a rally of nearly 1,000 people on the front steps of the state capitol opposed to Jordan Cove LNG, 10 impacted southern Oregonians entered Governor Kate Brown’s office and began a sit in, declaring that they would not leave until she declared opposition to the project. They were joined by dozens more, and nearly 100 people remained in Governor Brown’s office for 9 hours during which they sang songs, shared stories, and called upon the Governor repeatedly to take action. Police arrested 21 people who refused to leave when given a notice of trespass.

“As a landowner on the proposed pipeline route I will continue to fight the pipeline as I have for the past 15 years,” said Sandy Lyon of Days Creek, OR in Douglas County. “Not only do I feel the use of eminent domain is so wrong for a private company’s gain from the destruction of private property and people’s dreams, but crossing through our rivers and streams will be so detrimental to endangered salmon, lamprey and all native fish and their habitats.”

“I have marched, rallied, signed petitions, written letters, met with her staff, and now even spent the night in jail to try to persuade Governor Brown to do the right thing and stop Jordan Cove LNG and the Pacific Connector Pipeline. I do this because it is the only way I can look my 10 year-old in the eye and tell him that I am doing everything I can to protect his future from climate disruption,” said Kelly Campbell of Portland. “I urge Governor Brown to join me in opposing this destructive project and protecting our children’s future.”

“The corporations and politicians think they can use shallow promises of economic prosperity to pit rural Oregonians against each other while selling out the future of our planet,” said Derek Pyle of Medford. “It’s time to invest in green jobs, not fossil fuels.”

“Jordan Cove LNG is an environmental disaster both locally and globally,” said Beth Malitz of Corvallis. “Governor Brown should use her power to speak for all of us to stop it.”

The proposed Jordan Cove LNG project and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline would cut through 229 miles of forests, waterways, cultural resources and traditional territories of local Tribes, and private land in four counties of southern Oregon. Tens of thousands of individuals opposed to the project have made their voices heard in federal and state public hearings and comment periods during 2019.

Governor Kate Brown has refused to take a position on the pipeline despite the huge opposition from her constituents and the recent opposition to fracked gas projects from Governors Inslee and Cuomo of Washington and New York. With federal and state permit decisions regarding Jordan Cove LNG expected in early 2020, communities are calling on Governor Brown to immediately take action to oppose the project and put an end to it for good.

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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.

Community Members Occupy Jordan Cove LNG Portland Office Lobby in Solidarity with Impacted Landowners

Pics via NO LNG EXPORTS Oregon. ?

via Portland Rising Tide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019

Contact: Dineen O’Rourke, dineen@350pdx.org, 631.830.7478

Community Members Occupy Jordan Cove LNG Portland Office Lobby in Solidarity with Impacted Landowners

[Portland, OR] On Wednesday, May 22nd, from 11AM-1PM Over seventy community members gathered inside the lobby of the Jordan Cove LNG Portland office (11 SW 5th Avenue) to demonstrate opposition to the the proposed fracked gas project in solidarity with impacted landowners in Southern Oregon.

The Jordan Cove LNG project is a proposed 229-mile pipeline and export terminal to transport fracked gas through Southern Oregon to markets in Asia. The pipeline threatens the private property rights of hundreds of landowners, tribal lands and cultural resources, and 400 rivers and streams. The highly volatile LNG export terminal is proposed in an earthquake and tsunami zone on the coast and places over 16,000 Coos Bay residents in an hazardous burn zone.

If built, the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal alone would become the largest source of climate pollution in the state of Oregon. The full annual climate emissions from this project would be equal to another 7.9 million passenger vehicles on the streets according to a report from Oil Change International.

Pics via NO LNG EXPORTS Oregon.

Inside the office lobby, video messages were screened from Southern Oregon landowners whose property would be subject to eminent domain for the proposed fracked gas pipeline. Community members also joyfully listened to anti-fossil fuel folk music, ate blueberry pie (symbolic of potentially impacted blueberry fields), and wrote comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Large banners in the lobby read, “Protect What You Love”, “No LNG”, and “No Pipelines Anywhere”.

For 15 years, rural landowners, Tribal representatives, youth, environmental advocates, and other residents have mobilized to stop Jordan Cove LNG, which was originally denied by FERC in 2016. Just a few weeks ago, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) denied a Clean Water Act permit that the project cannot move forward without. The company still has permit applications pending at the local, state, and federal levels.

“Jordan Cove has threatened us with eminent domain for over a decade,” said Francis Eatherington, landowner in Douglas County. “Though they recently moved the route off our property, it is now much closer to the house, and so we are still threatened with the effects of a gas explosion. And what will happen when a forest fire burns over the block valve that’s cited near us?”

“Jordan Cove and Pembina have been pressuring landowners to sell permanent access to our land for their dangerous export project,” said Stacey McLaughlin, a landowner impacted by the pipeline. “They have caused us years of stress about the fate of our home and livelihood. I want them to pull their permit applications and stop torturing us.”

At the rally, people called on Governor Kate Brown to deny all state permits for this unpopular and unnecessary project and expressed concerns about the impacts of recent Trump pro-pipeline executive orders.

“Jordan Cove LNG is not welcome in Southern Oregon and it’s not welcome here in Portland either.” said Audrey Caines with Portland Rising Tide. “We will continue to stand with communities in Southern Oregon to fight Jordan Cove LNG until this climate disaster is stopped for good.”

Portland Rising Tide, a local all volunteer grassroots group that takes direct action to confront the root causes of climate change, organized today’s rally. They were joined by community members with 350pdx, Sunrise Movement PDX, DSA Eco Socialists, and individuals representing their own demands to end this pipeline project.

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