KXL Resistance Still Strong
Hello climate fighters!
Some of this has been in circulation for a minute now, but we just wanted to share these exciting updates from Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, just in case you hadn’t heard yet. Their ongoing blockade in Oklahoma is rolling along, with a fresh action every couple of days now. Known as the Red River Showdown — they are attempting to slow down construction on the last sections of the southern leg of the KXL tar sands pipeline. Let’s wish them the best! And of course, if you are able, you can donate to their mounting legal costs on their Donation Page.
TWO ACTIVISTS LOCK DOWN TO PROTECT CROSS TIMBERS FROM TAR SANDS
BLOCKADER ENCASES ARM IN CONCRETE, HALTING CONSTRUCTION OF PIPELINE
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Rising Tide North America APRIL Newsletter
Fossil Fuel Resistance Heating Up!
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Friends and Supporters!
It has been some time since we reached out to you all, too much time in fact. We wanted to pass along some exciting updates, and inform you of the resurrection of Northern Rockies Rising Tide! Some of the folks involved with NRRT originally have moved on to other projects in other parts of the country, but remain steadfastly committed to climate justice. That said, there are still a few of us around, and we are excited to begin organizing again in the Northern Rockies.
As most of you are abundantly aware, the climate struggle has not slowed down — or even taken a day off. In fact, what we are witnessing is an encouraging escalation, in the range of targets and tactics and the scope of discourse around climate justice. And its happening on a daily basis! In solidarity with the millions of people around the world who are taking action every day to stem the tide of global ecological meltdown, NRRT is dedicated to participating in and contributing to an increasingly cohesive climate struggle.
With that in mind, what is NRRT going to do? Well, we are in the process of figuring that out right now. In Montana the battle front has been focused on the extraction and shipment of coal from the Powder River Basin. There is a growing number of groups in MT organizing against the extraction and shipment of coal, with what looks like the formation of a united statewide coalition on the horizon. More updates on that soon. We are currently looking into aspects of the coal battle and will have something on line before too long.
A little less talked about in activist circles in the Treasure State is the Keystone XL pipeline, of which a significant portion will pass through if approved by the Transcanda, I mean Obama, administration. Unfortunatley, some less than encouraging news from organizing attempts along the pipeline route in MT make the prospects for a strategic direct action campaign unlikely. (Please inquire if you would like to know more) Groups like Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance (http://gptarsandsresistance.org/), Tar Sands Blockade (http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/) and the Oglala Sioux Nation are tirelessly maintaining direct action campaigns against the portion of the pipeline in construction, and the portion likely to begin any day now. We hope to work with such groups in the near future if a critical mass of opposition around the pipeline in MT materializes.
Besides these two pressing issues we hope to engage and empower local communities, build stronger statewide and regional coalitions and open up new avenues for resistance against the perpetrators of climate injustice. Please stay tuned to this listserv, facebook and our webiste for more information.
Finally, some relevant updates from around the region:
Coal exports at record levels as Interior investigates royalty practices
Port of Coos Bay Coal-Export Proposal Ends after 18 Months of Work (April 1 Oregonian)
Sierra Club Plans to Sue Railroad, Coal Companies over Coal Dust Pollution in Northwest (April 2 Oregonian)
$1.7 Million Penalty Proposed for ExxonMobil Oil Spill into Yellowstone River (March 25 Billings Gazette)
Environmental groups seek moratorium on Montana, Wyoming coal leasing
You will have to bare with us for a minute while we get back on a schedule for making our web updates more timely and organzied.
In solidarity,
Northern Rockies Rising Tide
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…ANNNND We’re Back!
Updates coming soon. NRRT is reforming and the tide is rising once again in the Northern Rockies!
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Below is the article from the Huffington Post.
WASHINGTON — Acting on a recommendation from the State Department on Wednesday, President Barack Obama denied a permit for the contentious Keystone XL pipeline proposal, which would have linked a vast oil deposit in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.
In rejecting the permit, Obama laid blame on Republicans in Congress, who forced passage of a measure late last month requiring the administration to render a decision on the pipeline by Feb. 21.
“As the State Department made clear last month,” Obama said in a prepared statement, “the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment. As a result, the Secretary of State has recommended that the application be denied. And after reviewing the State Department’s report, I agree.”
Though the denial of the permit was a major blow to the company behind the project, TransCanada, the president emphasized that his decision does not preclude any subsequent permit application for this or similar projects.
“In the months ahead, we will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security — including the potential development of an oil pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico — even as we set higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and invest in alternatives like biofuels and natural gas,” Obama said.
TransCanada responded by immediately saying it would reapply for a permit.
“While we are disappointed, TransCanada remains fully committed to the construction of Keystone XL,” said Russ Girling, the energy infrastructure company’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “Plans are already underway on a number of fronts to largely maintain the construction schedule of the project,” he continued. “We will re-apply for a Presidential Permit and expect a new application would be processed in an expedited manner to allow for an in-service date of late 2014.”
Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones said in a press briefing that any new application “would trigger a completely new process. We cannot state that it would be expedited in any way.” But she also acknowledged that environmental reviews are legally allowed to use information that is publicly available, including previous environmental impact statements. “The body of information that is out there would inform a new application,” said Jones.
The news of the State Department’s decision comes after White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced at a Tuesday afternoon press conference that Obama cannot approve the pipeline by the Feb. 21 deadline imposed by Congress.
It also comes after House and Senate lawmakers signaled they would introduce new legislation pushing the permit forward even if the Obama administration rejected the pipeline proposal. That bill, drafted by Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), would shut the White House out of the Keystone decision-making process, leaving Congress with full authority to approve the pipeline, which would stretch an estimated 1,700 miles from tar sands in Canada to oil refineries along the Gulf Coast.
The State Department had been charged with granting a permit for the project because the pipeline would cross an international border. Rejecting that permit may prevent the project from moving forward as conceived, but sources familiar with the process tell The Huffington Post that TransCanada should be able to build a southern portion of the pipeline — between Oklahoma and Texas — without further approvals. TransCanada can also reapply for the border crossing at any time, the sources said.
The pipeline has been at the center of a bitter and long-running battle between environmentalists, who feared both oil spills and the vast carbon footprint of the project, and oil industry supporters, who argued that the pipeline promised copious oil from a nearby and friendly source.
Author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org who spearheaded the movement against the pipeline, reacted to the news in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
Assuming that what we’re hearing is true, this isn’t just the right call, it’s the brave call. The knock on Barack Obama from many quarters has been that he’s too conciliatory. But here, in the face of a naked political threat from Big Oil to exact ‘huge political consequences,’ he’s stood up strong. This is a victory for Americans who testified in record numbers, and who demanded that science get the hearing usually reserved for big money.
We’re well aware that the fossil fuel lobby won’t give up easily. They have control of Congress. But as the year goes on, we’ll try to break some of that hammerlock, both so that environmental review can go forward, and so that we can stop wasting taxpayer money on subsidies and handouts to the industry. The action starts mid-day Tuesday on Capitol Hill, when 500 referees will blow the whistle on Big Oil’s attempts to corrupt the Congress.
For their part, pipeline advocates were quick to condemn the administration for its actions, accusing the president of trying to drum up support from environmentalists in an election year.
“Blocking the Keystone pipeline would be an enormous mistake by the Obama administration,” said H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis. “We need the oil and we need the jobs it would bring. This is as ‘shovel ready’ as anything Obama has proposed, yet because his radical environmental constituency objects, he’s apparently halting the pipeline. He simply needs their support too much in an election year.”
Conservative think tank American Action Forum chimed in, calling the president’s decision “a disaster for major energy infrastructure investments” and blasting out a list of grievances that ranged from the argument that the decision would stifle job creation in the Midwest to claims that it would help China “assume a major position” in North American oil.
The White House also announced that Obama on Wednesday had called Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to personally convey his administration’s decision on the Keystone pipeline and affirm the close alliance between the U.S. and Canada.
Sara McIntyre, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Harper, confirmed the phone call.
Harper expressed “profound disappointment with the news,” according to McIntyre. The prime minister also emphasized to Obama that Canada will continue to work to diversify its energy exports, suggesting that alternative routes designed to move oil from Alberta’s vast, landlocked resources to the global marketplace are almost certain to be considered.
The prime minister’s disappointment was reiterated by Canada’s natural resource minister, Joe Oliver, who described Obama’s decision as “regrettable” during an afternoon press conference.
“The responsible development of the enormous resources provided by our oil sands is expected to create hundreds and hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, generating significant economic benefits,” Oliver said. “We cannot underestimate the fact that these benefits fund critical services for Canadians, including health care and education.”
Oliver echoed Harper’s suggestion that Canada would seek to export its oil with or without Keystone XL. “Today’s decision by the Obama administration,” Oliver said, “underlines the importance of diversifying and expanding our markets — including the growing Asian market — to help ensure the financial security of Canadians and families for decades to come.”
Carney, the White House spokesman, emphasized for the second day in a row that the administration believed Congress had forced the State Department into an untenable decision by demanding a decision on the pipeline permit by Feb. 21.
“The Republicans put in jeopardy a process that should be immune from politics, should be conducted on the basis of pragmatic and considered analysis, and tried to hijack it,” Carney said at his daily press briefing.
Carney added that the administration was particularly concerned that under that law, a decision about an alternative route through Nebraska, which many environmental groups and other stakeholders had called for, would have to be made in an “arbitrary fashion.” The Huffington Post has previously reported that the State Department repeatedly rejected efforts by other government agencies to compel it to evaluate alternative routes through Nebraska, long before the most recent uproar.
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Tags: keystone, oil transcananda, sands, tar, xl
Where Have We Been?
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Those of us involved with NRRT are aware of our absence from the megaload fight and other efforts to undermine tar sands infrastructure development. Hopefully the following can allay some of the concerns and accusations that we have encountered in the past few months of non-involvement.
First, we did not give up! The struggle to shut down the tar sands and achieve climate justice is something that NRRT members are concerned with in a very profound way. The megaload/heavy haul fight was never, and will never be, a ‘not in our backyard’ issue for us. Our disengagement with current battles does not mean we were satisfied with what minor court victories did for the overall struggle against the tar sands. Quite the contrary. Many of these minor victories have since been overturned, reversing what we and many other groups had fought for for nearly two years. The Earth First! Rendezvous this past summer was in some ways a climax for NRRT, at least as it had existed until that point. Shortly after the Keystone XL pipeline action at the Montana Capitol, judge Ray Dayton ruled in our favor (unrelated to the action), stopping turnout construction on Montana Highways indefinitely. This gave us a bit of breathing room to regroup and form strategies for the future. But, alas, regrouping proved difficult as summer gave way to fall and the megaload issue seemed temporarily resolved. A multitude of factors contributed to this: members’ school commitments, lack of funding (or creative ways to find it), lack of a central organizing space, a mediocre level of inspiration, a reversal of the judge’s decision and the movement of members onto other projects. Do not forget, however, that this grassroots struggle has not been a failure by any means. Since NRRT initiated discussion on the issue over two years ago, with the help of many other groups, we have delayed the construction of the Kearl Oil sands mine by two years and cost them untold millions in transportation hold-ups and court costs.
Second, the dynamics of the megaload fight in particular became more complex when Imperial Oil began shipping re-sized megaloads on the interstate. As a direct action oriented organization, NRRT was unsure how to approach interstate megaload travel with such tactics in mind. This is where the brave souls of Wild Idaho Rising Tide stepped up to the plate. We want to applaud their efforts and let the world know that we stand in solidarity with their weekly demonstrations in downtwon Moscow, ID. Without much time to develop a strategic plan to confront the new megaload route, before NRRT members were needed elsewhere this fall and winter, the “direct action vacuum” has been occupied by WIRT. We have not retreated from this fight, however, but are calculating and looking for a new wave of energy.
But what about the Keystone XL pipeline? The efforts to get president Obama to stop the Keystone XL pipeline are simultaneously daunting and inspiring. The unprecedented (at least in recent history) acts of civil disobedience surrounding the KXL pipeline have been very inspiring. Combined with a general trend of increased political and environmental awareness and action, spurred on by the the Occupation movement, it looks as though direct action is finally making a comeback.
With all this in mind, the future of NRRT is somewhat uncertain and entirely unwritten. Finding new energy and folks who are willing to organize will be critical, as NRRT members of the past two years spread around the country. We are still deeply concerned and opposed to the current trend of transforming Montana, and the Intermountain West in general, into a vast energy extraction colony. When the time is right, and people are willing to really put themselves on the line, we will be there to turn up the heat!
Feel free to contact us!
Northern Rockies Rising Tide
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Please take the time to submit a public comment to the Montana Department of Transportation urging them to deny Imperial Oil/Exxon permits to ship hundreds of tar sands megaloads on our public interstates.
You can submit your comment here.
[by Kim Briggemean for The Missoulian]
The Montana Department of Transportation said Friday morning it’s preparing to issue permits for approximately 300 oversize loads on Interstate 90 and Interstate 15 to Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Ltd.
It’s also soliciting written and online comments on the project, which is slated to start next week and continue through March. The prime transporter is Mammoet USA South Inc.
The loads, destined for the Kearl Oil Sands in Alberta, will reach Montana at Lookout Pass on I-90, access I-15 north at Butte, and exit the state at the Port of Sweet Grass in Toole County.
It’s the same route many Imperial/Mammoet loads have already taken, including those from the Port of Lewiston, Idaho, that have been reduced in profile to fit under interstate bridges after legal action blocked their route on Highway 12 over Lolo Pass.
MDT said one lane of travel will remain open, though “travelers may occasionally experience short delays during the transport of these oversize loads.”
The transportation for the project is available on the MDT website, www.mdt.mt.gov/oversize.
For more information, contact Duane Williams, MDT Motor Carrier Services Division Administrator at (406) 444-7312. For the hearing impaired, the TTY number is (406) 444-7696 or 1-800-335-7592, or call the Montana Relay at 711.
Written comments may be submitted to the Montana Department of Transportation Helena MCS office at PO Box 201001, Helena, MT 59620-1001, or online at www.mdt.mt.gov/mdt/comment_form.shtml. Please note comments are for the “Mammoet Interstate Transportation Permits.” Alternative accessible formats of this information will be provided upon request.
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Occupy Missoula Enters Its Third Day!
In solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, Missoula’s 99% has set up an encampment at the courthouse on Broadway Ave. to protest against growing inequality, the corporate control of public resources, and the fundamentally unjust nature of capitalism itself. Northern Rockies Rising Tide endorses with enthusiasm Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Missoula, and encourages anyone outraged by this country’s twisted economic system to join us.
General Assemblies are held every day at 5:30 and are open to all. Please come and participate in this amazing experiment in direct democracy, where we, as a community, come together and make a collective effort to find our own solutions to the problems we face. If you’re sick and tired of this country’s failed political process–the charade of two-party politics, the corporate control of the ostensibly public decision-making process–then join us in developing community-based solutions and asserting our collective voice! YOU ARE THE 99 PERCENT!
On a less-inspiring note, Judge Dayton has modified his earlier decision and will now allow the permiting of Megaloads on Hyw. 12.
See the Missoulian article for more details.
NRRT remains committed to fighting the corporations that would turn our scenic byways into industrial shipping corridors for Tar Sands infrastructure projects, and hope that with the resurgence of an (anti-authoritrarian) populism in this country, we will begin to see an end to extreme energy projects like the Tar Sands.
To put it bluntly: Corporations are destroying the planet, and the fate of the environmental movement is inextricably linked to the fate of the growing movement to abolish corporate power and create grassroots alternatives to capitalism.
The Left is Dead! Long Live the Left!
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[by Phil Aroneanu for The Huffington Post]
“Go Paul!”
That’s what a top State Department official wrote in an email to the top lobbyist for TransCanada, a top tar sands oil producer, upon hearing that he had garnered support for the Keystone KL pipeline from a US Senator. That shouldn’t be too surprising, since the lobbyist was one of Hilary Clinton’s campaign aides during her presidential run. The cozy relationship between corporate lobbyists and decisionmakers isn’t anything new, but it’s just as despicable as ever. And with the Keystone XL pipeline issue, corporate America’s fingerprints are turning up all over the place.
That’s why over 1200 ordinary people from around the country took the extraordinarily courageous step of sitting-in and getting arrested at the White House in late August — to show President Obama and leaders on Capitol Hill that real people can be just as powerful as corporate interests. Will President Obama, who campaigned saying ”I don’t take a dime of their [lobbyist] money, and when I am president, they won’t find a job in my White House,” be willing to push back against TransCanada, its Wall St. financiers, and the stranglehold these corporations have on our government, or will he be complicit in destroying our democracy, our land and our atmosphere?
Later on this year, when President Obama makes a decision whether to go forward with the tar sands pipeline, we’ll know where he stands. But the Occupy Wall Street protesters aren’t going to wait that long. The amount of energy that the Occupy Wall Street movement has generated so far is incredible. Over the course of two weeks, their numbers have ballooned from a few hundred to thousands, and Occupy movements have started up in dozens of other cities around the country and the world. Why? Because Americans are sick and tired of top officials cozying up to lobbyists, of political cronyism and petty corruption at the highest levels of government.
While from an outside perspective the Occupy Wall Street protests might seem disorganized, their message is clear: If Wall Street is occupying the State Department and the halls of Congress, its time for the people to occupy Wall Street. In the case of the Keystone pipeline, the paper trail shows that Big Oil and Wall Wt. certainly walk the halls of the State Department with impunity. Now, it’s time for climate activists to join hands with the Wall Street protestors, and occupy together.
Here’s a quick video of some Occupy Wall Street folks talking about the connection between climate change and the occupation:
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A Few Updates
Last Chance to Submit Public Comment on Keystone XL Pipeline
If you haven’t yet submitted a public comment to the US State Department opposing TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, please do so NOW. You can submit your comment here.
These comments are especially important right now, because of numerous recent developments indicating that the State Department is not conducting a good-faith review of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
In a stunning conflict of interest, the State Department hearings this week have been run by a company called Cardno ENTRIX, a contractor working for the Keystone XL pipeline developer TransCanada.
Cardno ENTRIX also conducted the State Department’s woefully inadequate environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline. That review was finalized a few weeks ago, despite the EPA raising numerous concerns and warning that the review was “insufficient.”
What’s more, recently published documents revealing a shockingly cozy relationship between State Department officials and lobbyists for the Canadian pipeline company TransCanada.
These documents include emails from a TransCanada lobbyist named Paul Elliot, who previously served as the Deputy Campaign Manager on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential campaign. State Department officials, in a clear show of pro-pipeline bias, appear to have coached Elliot and other TransCanada staff about how to build their case for approval, and even how to respond to questions and concerns about pipeline safety and environmental impact.3
The State Department appears not to be taking seriously it’s solemn obligation to the people of this country to conduct an impartial evaluation of the impacts of this pipeline. But this decision is ultimately still up to the President.
Submit a public comment now to send a strong message to President Obama and his State Department.
Pilots, Transit Workers, and Others Join Occupy Wall Street
Occupations Spread Around the Country
NRRT stands in solidarity with the multitude of enraged citizens from around the country who have converged on Wall Street to demonstrate their disgust with the financial and political elites who claim to be the ones who would solve the economic and ecological crises that they themselves created.
Resistance to Keystone XL Pipeline Continues to Escalate
This week, 117 people were arrested on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada for crossing a police barricade and attempting to enter the House of Commons in protest of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
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