Fellow activists, friends, and supporters,

The colonial conquest mindset of dirty energy developers and their minions only seems to intensify, as they trespass upon and seize lands from northern British Columbia (B.C.) to the American Gulf Coast.  The life of these places mutually abides with the people who care for them, not with those who despoil them.  We must collectively continue to escalate resistance to the selfish and destructive ways of fossil fuel corporations and consumers.

This one of several belated Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) newsletters describes the tar sands and coal opposition of indigenous, Rising Tide, and other allies, current as of mid-April with a few topic-specific exceptions.  Expect another few extensive messages about early 2013 tar sands developments, dirty energy accidents, and Idaho legislative and fracking news, before we summarize late April happenings and launch another phase of our Idaho anti-fracking campaign in coming weeks.

INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE

Ta’Kaiya Speaks for First Nations Youth at Idle No More (January 12 video)

An 11-year-old First Nations girl from North Vancouver, B.C., Ta’Kaiya Blaney, spoke out for youth at an Idle No More protest at Vancouver City Hall on January 11.

Journey of Nishiyuu

With two guides, six young men under the age of 20 of the Cree Nation in Quebec walked almost 1000 miles across Canada, from the southeast shores of Hudson Bay to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, between January 16 and March 25.  In a quest-journey supporting Mother Earth, the mission of Idle No More, and the indigenous rights of the true keepers of the lands, waters, and winds, the fierce, young warriors sought to unite and empower historical allies, restore traditional trade routes among First Nations, and revive the ancestral voices and truth of sacred teachings.

Indigenous Organizers to Hold Round Table Meeting on Tar Sands Resistance and Decolonization (January 30 Earth First! Newswire)

Tar Sands Blockade activists recruited indigenous delegates from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Houston’s toxic East End, Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, northern B.C., and other Canadian locations to attend the annual Earth First! Organizers’ Conference and Winter Rendezvous.  Coordinators requested contributions to fund the travel expenses of indigenous, anti-tar sands, land defenders representing struggles against Alberta tar sands mining and proposed pipelines extending west, south, and east to the coasts.  Although we wished to participate in this international round table, the isolated, frontline, tar sands opposition campaigns in Utah and the Northwest could not send attendees. Continue reading →

Bidder 70 Screening & Tim DeChristopher Discussion

See the nationwide, simultaneous screening of the documentary Bidder 70 about Utah climate activist Tim DeChristopher, who stopped an unjust federal oil and gas lease auction.  Participate in his first live-streamed talk and tweeted question-and-answer session since his Friday release from federal prison.  On Earth Day, Monday, April 22, the Kenworthy Theater (508 South Main Street, Moscow) opens at 5:30 pm PDT, and the film starts at 6 pm, co-sponsored by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), Peaceful Uprising, Gage and Gage Productions, and Gathr Films through $10 or donation admissions.  For further information about this seminal event, see the WIRT website and facebook pages.

Tim DeChristopher’s Peaceful Uprising (April 21 EcoWatch)

Thanks to Stefanie Spear of EcoWatch for posting and featuring WIRT’s piece about the nationwide Bidder 70 screening and discussion with Tim DeChristopher on Earth Day, Monday, April 22, wishing us “Best of luck!”, and requesting further news about this event.

Earth Day Exclusive: Tim DeChristopher Speaks Out after 21 Months in Prison for Disrupting Oil Bid (April 22 Democracy Now!)

Wild Idaho Rising Tide

P.O. Box 9817, Moscow, Idaho 83843

WildIdahoRisingTide.org & on facebook

208-301-8039

Dear comrades,

Comment to the U.S. State Department on the latest Keystone XL pipeline proposal before midnight on Monday, April 22, if you still have any faith in the regulatory system, but copy your manifesto to Bold Nebraska, 350.org, or other non-governmental organizations, because our federal government (purposely?) loses citizen input (keystonecomments@state.gov).  Although Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) is a direct action collective, whose multiple members should be staging actions, here is yet another backlogged newsletter from too few of us who would prefer to create news with you rather than tell you about it.  Because talking is faster and more effective than writing, WIRT has covered most of this material, current as of April 14, on our Climate Justice Forum radio program, aired Mondays between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PDT on KRFP Radio Free Moscow.  Expect another several late newsletters with 2013 first-quarter news over the next few weeks.

WIRT hopes that the activism of our peers described through this effort will inspire you toward passionate activity rather than news-mongering passivity, in reaction to the hegemony of mercenary dirty energy corporations.  Because we are gratefully far from the big city headquarters, fancy hotels, and slick conferences of the Earth desecrators targeted by recent Tar Sands Blockade and 350.org mass actions, we decided not to rile our local banks and gas stations and divert our emphasis on direct confrontations to join our allies’ bandwagons in February and March.

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

Keystone XL Pipeline Evaluation Process Fact Sheet 2012 (U.S. Department of State)

Submit your official 45-day comments on the Keystone XL pipeline: “…members of the public, public agencies, and other interested parties are encouraged to submit comments, questions, and concerns about the project via e-mail to keystonecomments@state.gov or by mail to:

U.S. Department of State

Attn: Genevieve Walker, NEPA Coordinator

2201 C Street NW, Room 2726

Washington, D.C. 20520”

Keystone XL Draft Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (U.S. Department of State)

All pipelines leak!  Comment on the draft supplementary environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline by Earth Day, April 22. Continue reading →

Dear climate concerned co-activists,

With coal, Bakken oil, and liquefied natural gas (and tar sands?) poised to hemorrhage out of the Northwest, and extraction supplies for Alberta (and Utah?) tar sands mining and Bakken fracking invading from Asia, our regional resistance movement grows every day, gratefully with your co-leadership!

WIRT/LOCAL NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Taking Action (March 28 Lewiston Tribune)

One of the last feature stories written by Alan Solan for the Inland 360 entertainment section of the Lewiston Tribune (possibly read by Boise lawmakers) highlighted Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and our dirty energy resistance campaigns and second annual celebration/benefit concert.

lur apparel Sustainable Leader Award (March 29)

Thanks to everyone who participated in this contest that closed on Friday, March 29, and garnered almost 100 votes for Helen Yost of WIRT.  Your active, daily support of our entry attempted to win $500 in sorely needed funds for Wild Idaho Rising Tide, the same value in new clothes for Helen, and wider involvement in and national coverage of our shared activism to halt dirty energy development.  Although two years of community organizing, protests, and events, group newsletters, action alerts, website and facebook pages, and a radio show, and personal arrests and court battles have won us extensive affirmations of our work, they could not match the 700-plus votes and subsequent prize of the winning co-contestant.  Nonetheless, we are relieved that the distraction of inadvertently promoting a more lucrative company has passed so that we can focus more intently on our campaigns vanquishing fossil fuel extraction and transportation ventures in our region.  Thanks for your support (the donation link on the WIRT website functions more easily)!

Flashpoints Interview of Helen Yost (April 1 Flashpoints)

Between 21:52 and 33:07 of the Monday evening, nationally broadcast Flashpoints radio show, Helen Yost of WIRT talked with program host Dennis Bernstein during a recorded interview about megaload and tar sands operations and their impacts on the places and people of Canada and Idaho, expressing gratitude for KRFP Radio Free Moscow and promoting WIRT’s radio show, upcoming events, and internet interactions.

Andrew Nikiforuk Visit (April 4-5)

We greatly appreciate award-winning journalist and author Andrew Nikiforuk’s visit to the Palouse region and Highway 12, and his numerous presentations, conversations, signed copies of his books, and the opportunities that he provided all of us to expand our community knowledge of the Canadian Mordor that we work so diligently together to oppose.  We offer our apologies for delaying his travel toward Missoula as dusk descended and hope that his experiences of one of the largest expanses of wild rivers and forested mountains in the lower 48 states in such twilight conditions only further buttress his considerations of sharing the ‘Big Wild’ with his family and Idahoans assisting such an adventure in the future.

Wild Idaho Rising Tide extends our earnest gratitude to everyone who facilitated Andrew’s visit.  A thousand thanks to Jeanne McHale for connecting us with Jakob Magolan and his amazing Oil/Tar Sands Speaker Series; to Jakob for organizing this great educational foray and providing recorded material for the KRFP Radio Free Moscow news; to Carol Spurling of BookPeople of Moscow and Lioubov Baugh of the Washington State University (WSU) Bookie for swiftly arranging book signing opportunities for Andrew and for obtaining books for event participants; to Brian Koepke for working with his fellow WSU students, even while celebrating his ‘Big One,’ to reserve WSU space and post flyers for Andrew’s Friday, April 5, presentations; to Lin Laughy and Gary Macfarlane for sharing their vast understanding of the Clearwater/Lochsa valley and megaload issues with Andrew on his Friday afternoon tour; to Borg Hendrickson for inviting all the good people on the Fighting Goliath email list to purchase Andrew’s books at BookPeople (521 South Main Street in Moscow, 208-882-2669) and the Bookie (WSU Compton Union Building, 1500 NE Terrell Mall in Pullman, 509-332-2537) while they remain in stock (please buy some books, WIRT activists!); to Leigh Robartes of KRFP for promoting and reporting on the Oil/Tar Sands Speaker Series and Andrew’s additional appearances; and to the Associated Students of WSU Environmental Task Force, WSU Environmental Science Club, and Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition for co-sponsoring the multiple aspects of Andrew’s visit.  Explore the following links for more insights into Andrew’s beneficent work.

Andrew Nikiforuk

Andrew Nikiforuk Interview (November 21, 2012, Alternatives Journal)

Andrew Nikiforuk – The Energy of Slaves (October 12, 2012, CBC)

What is the Petro-State? Andrew Nikiforuk (January 17 Parkland Institute) Continue reading →

Dear WIRT revelers,

Thanks to everyone who worked (and played!) so diligently to make Wild Idaho Rising Tide’s (WIRT) Second Annual Celebration and Benefit Concert so successful on Friday evening, March 29.  We heartily applaud Kelly Emo, who recruited and organized the musical acts and critiqued and circulated event flyers along with Brian Koepke; Alan Solan, who served as bartender when no one else stepped forward; Jack Porter, who strung decorative lights, Ellen Roskovich, who oversaw kitchen operations, and several volunteers, who folded napkins, cleared tables, and assisted other arrangements.  Our deepest appreciation goes to the talented musicians who exuberantly offered us all an uplifting night of inspiring music: the Moscow Volunteer Peace Band, Sharon Cousins, Josh Yeidel, Kelly Emo, Al Chidester, Dan Maher, Henry Willard, Terri Grzebielski, Donna Holmes, Jeanne McHale, Doug Park, and Nels Peterson.  We owe special thanks to the Wine Company, for donating (another!) case of wine and a liquor service permit and for supplying low-cost beer for the event, and to these fifteen Moscow and Pullman businesses, who provided raffle items collectively valued at hundreds of dollars.

Continue reading →