Please join Extinction Rebellion (XR) Palouse, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), and allied groups at multiple, upcoming gatherings in Moscow, Idaho, during the mid-April week before Earth Day, to interactively discuss and resist destructive fossil fuels and infrastructure expansions and their implications for climate change, biodiversity loss, and resident harms across north Idaho and the Northwest.

GTN Xpress Gas Pipeline Expansion Talk

On Thursday, April 18, from 6:30 to 8 pm, activist Helen Yost of WIRT welcomes everyone to learn about and resist plans by TC Energy, owner of the Keystone and Keystone XL tar sands pipelines, to expand its Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) fracked methane gas pipeline with the GTN Xpress project across the Idaho panhandle, eastern Washington, and central Oregon [1, 2].  This free, public event in the Fiske Room of the 1912 Center, 412 East Third Street in Moscow, will talk about the health, safety, and climate impacts of this unnecessary, Canadian fossil fuels invasion on pipeline corridor communities from Sandpoint and Athol, Idaho, to the Spokane, Washington, and Bend, Oregon areas.  The states of Washington, Oregon, and California and dozens of climate, conservation, faith, and health advocacy organizations have opposed GTN Xpress since its initial, autumn 2021 applications to federal and state agencies, through environmental review and public input processes in 2022, via numerous citizen and state official protests, media outreach articles, and government appeals in 2023, and by legal challenges filed in 2024.  XR Palouse and WIRT event hosts encourage participants to engage in a question and strategy session concluding this insightful presentation.

Mo(u)rning Walk on Paradise Ridge

From 10 am until 12 noon on Saturday, April 20, community members are meeting at the south parking lot and barn of the University of Idaho Arboretum and Botanical Garden, 1200 West Palouse River Drive in Moscow, to attend a guided walk up Paradise Ridge with representatives of the Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition (PRDC) [3, 4].  Over the last three decades, PRDC has refuted deficient, Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) environmental studies and applications and has delayed flawed ITD attempts to realign U.S. Highway 95 between Thorn Creek Road and Moscow, on this ridge that hosts some of the last, significant remnants of native Palouse Prairie.  Through four court challenges, expert wetland analyses, public records requests, and a lawsuit settlement, PRDC has forced suspension of wetland damage permits that ITD later revised and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved during 2023.  As contested construction activities resume on Paradise Ridge, walk participants intend to share information about this ongoing preservation campaign and to collectively witness and grieve the degradation of this globally endangered ecosystem.

Allied Week of Actions in Moscow

Both of these convergences are part of a week of actions from Monday, April 15, to Saturday, April 20, variously organized and sponsored by XR Palouse, Friends of the Clearwater, KRFP Radio Free Moscow, Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, Palouse Group Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement Palouse, and WIRT.  Other events include a free screening and discussion of the award-winning, climate documentary Once You Know at the Kenworthy Theatre, 508 South Main Street in Moscow, at 7 pm on Monday, April 15, a group eco-meditation and climate cafe with Jamie Derrick in the 1912 Center Reading Room, 412 East Third Street in Moscow, from 1 to 2 pm on Tuesday, April 16, a free, public, art session for expressing climate feelings in Friendship Square, Fourth and Main Streets in Moscow, from 11 am to 3 pm on Wednesday, April 17, and the third annual Biodiversity Ball featuring live musical performances by Evergreen Afrodub Orchestra and The Pond, a WIRT slide show of historic climate activism, an aquatic wildlife-themed costume contest, and raffle prizes, all for $20 suggested admission donations at Hunga Dunga Brewing Company, 333 North Jackson Street in Moscow, from 7 pm to 12 midnight on Friday, April 19 [5].  See the linked event descriptions and XR Palouse facebook page for further information [6].

Weekly Climate Issues Updates

Regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide invites you to listen to the Climate Justice Forum radio program that shares current news, music, recorded conversations, and associated reflections on continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to the fossil fuels causes of climate change.  WIRT volunteers have compiled, produced, and broadcast this show full of reports and calls to action over twelve years on progressive, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, both on-air at 90.3 FM and online, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who have adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.  Catch these updates live or visit the station website and click on the red heart on the front page, to hear archived, previous, WIRT, XR Palouse, and other KRFP programs [7].

Thanks for your climate concerns, renewed responses, and protective work!

[1] GTN Xpress Gas Pipeline Expansion Talk, April 1, 2024 Extinction Rebellion Palouse and Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[2] Stop GTN Xpress, January 31, 2023 Rogue Climate

[3] Mo(u)rning Walk on Paradise Ridge, April 1, 2024 Extinction Rebellion Palouse

[4] Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition, April 14, 2024 Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition

[5] Third Annual Biodiversity Ball, April 14, 2024 Extinction Rebellion Palouse, Friends of the Clearwater, and Hunga Dunga Brewing Company

[6] XR Palouse, April 14, 2024 Extinction Rebellion Palouse

[7] KRFP Radio Free Moscow, April 14, 2024 KRFP