Monthly Archives: May 2017

Climate Justice Forum: Ben Otto on Northwest Utility Energy Choices, Mosier Oil Train Derailment Commemorations, BNSF Corn Train Wreck Dump, Payette River Gas & Oil Pipelines, New Idaho Oil & Gas Rules & Commission 5-31-17

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The Wednesday, May 31, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, hosted by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features a Sandpoint presentation by Ben Otto of the Idaho Conservation League, about Northwest utility company energy choices.  We also discuss first-anniversary commemorations in three states of the oil train derailment, spill, and fire in Mosier, Oregon, the aftermath of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe corn train wreck near Cocolalla, proposed gas and oil pipelines under the Payette River, and new Idaho oil and gas rules and commission composition.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm PDT, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide, community opposition to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Sandpoint & Spokane Stand with Mosier

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Mosier Gathering

On Saturday, June 3, to honor the one-year anniversary of the oil train derailment, spill, and fire in Mosier, Oregon, Northwest community members are gathering together in support of Mosier area and tribal communities and cities like Spokane, Vancouver, and Portland, who are threatened by, but standing up to, oil trains [1-5].  At a public event in Mosier, hosted by Stand Up to Oil, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Columbia Riverkeeper, Washington Environmental Council, and Climate Solutions, participants will demand a thorough, Union Pacific cleanup of Mosier and an end to reckless oil trains, reminding Washington Governor Jay Inslee and other decision makers to heed the warnings of this catastrophe.

From 12 noon to 3 pm at the Mosier Community School, 1204 Historic Columbia River Highway (U.S. 30 East), regional activists will rally against oil-by-rail and hear from speakers including Yakama Nation Tribal Council chair JoDe Goudy, Mosier City Council members, Mosier physician Dr. Maria McCormick, Hood River mayor Paul Blackburn, Vancouver City Council member Alisha Topper, and several other tribal and faith leaders, elected officials, health professionals, and group representatives.

Friends of the Columbia Gorge conservation organizer Ryan Rittenhouse will emcee the gathering followed by a short walk to the Columbia River, for more commemorations.  Afterwards, Friends’ land trust manager Kate McBride will lead an optional hike to the nearby Mosier Plateau.  Columbia Riverkeeper will live-stream the event through its facebook page, and @standuptooil will live-tweet #mosier.  Bring friends and family, lunch and snacks, hats and sturdy shoes, and colorful banners and signs, and email Ryan@GorgeFriends.org with any questions or concerns.

Sandpoint & Spokane Solidarity Actions & Carpools

Please join Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and Occupy activists and allies for carpools to Mosier, Oregon, and solidarity actions in Sandpoint, Idaho, and Spokane, Washington, to represent interior Northwest, rail-line communities solemnly remembering the June 3, 2016, oil train derailment, resulting devastation, and ongoing water contamination in Mosier.

Opposing Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway’s (BNSF) proposed, second rail bridge over Lake Pend Oreille and double downtown tracks, Sandpoint area activists are converging at 12 noon on Friday, June 2, at City Beach Park.  Before Sandpoint carpools to Spokane and Mosier depart at 2 pm that afternoon, and return on Saturday evening, June 3, participants are marching north with Mosier solidarity signs on Sandpoint Avenue, to the Lake Pend Oreille surface water treatment plant.  Completed in 2012 and operated by the City of Sandpoint, the facility treats and distributes 10 million gallons per day to two on-site, two-million-gallon reservoirs and over 4000 connections in Dover, Kootenai, Ponderay, Sandpoint, and surrounding Bonner County [6].  Only 65 feet from the BNSF tracks carrying full, explosive, Bakken shale and Alberta tar sands crude oil trains and dusty, Powder River Basin coal cars toward and over the lake rail bridge, this critical, community source of treated lake water is just as vulnerable to an oil train fire and spill as the Mosier wastewater treatment plant adjacent to the Union Pacific train derailment that inundated the facility with 13,000 gallons of the estimated 47,000 gallons of oil released from four derailed tanker cars in early June 2016 [7].

Occupy activists are meeting between 4 and 6 pm on Friday, June 2, for the weekly, public demonstrations of Free Speech Friday at the V, where Ruby and Division streets split north of the Spokane River bridge and North River Drive in downtown Spokane.  Organizers invite everyone to bring smiles and Mosier train wreck anniversary signs and banners, and address concerns about coal and oil train traffic through Spokane, while exercising rights to freedom of speech and assembly in public places.  Music, singing, and dancing may also emerge, before regional activists depart for Mosier at 6 pm. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Second Lake Rail Bridge, Pipeline Protest Camps, Mosier Derailment Anniversary, Coal & Oil Terminals Petitions, Permit, & Review Challenge, Tacoma LNG Facility Arrests, Spokane Railroad Site Contamination, Highway 95 Wetlands Impact Application 5-24-17

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The Wednesday, May 24, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, hosted by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, discusses actions against a second Lake Pend Oreille rail bridge, a documentary screening and resistance to pipeline protest camps, the Mosier oil train fire one-year anniversary, a Tesoro-Savage oil terminal air pollution permit, arrests at a Tacoma LNG facility, one million petitions against Washington coal and oil ports, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway contaminated Spokane fueling site and legal challenge of the Longview coal terminal review, and an Idaho Transportation Department application for a wetlands impact permit for Highway 95 construction.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm PDT, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide, community opposition to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Radical Movie Night! Screens AWAKE, A Dream from Standing Rock

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For the third Radical Movie Night! of the bi-monthly film series intended to inspire, challenge, and educate participants toward democracy, co-hosts RADAR and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) offer a free, public screening of AWAKE, A Dream from Standing Rock, from 4 to 6 pm on Thursday, May 25, at the East Bonner County Library, 1407 Cedar Street in Sandpoint, Idaho.  Please join this screening and discussion of current, regional, social and environmental struggles seeking just, sustainable, shared solutions.  This documentary series and ongoing, radical and climate activism rely on physical and fiscal contributions from viewers and supporters.  Peruse the following film description, drawn from the original AWAKE press release, and visit the enclosed links and WIRT website and facebook pages for further information resources.

Indigenous, activist, and Academy Award nominated filmmakers, including Gasland’s Josh Fox, Silenced’s James Spione, and Digital Smoke Signals founder Myron Dewey, each directed the three chapters of this unique, collaborative, full-length documentary centered around film co-writer and advisor Floris White Bull.  Produced by Doug Good Feather, Lauren Taschen, and Emmy Award winning Amy Ziering of The Invisible War, the movie features background scores by indigenous musician/activist Nahko and Prolific the Rapper.

It premiered on Earth Day, April 22, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, as part of a sold-out event with an opening prayer by film advisor Doug Good Feather, an in-depth panel discussion among the directors, and a live performance by Prolific the Rapper, attended by many water protectors such as LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, the founder of the first resistance camp at Standing Rock.  AWAKE producers simultaneously released the movie online worldwide, for audiences to stream in exchange for contributions to the Pipeline Fighters Fund and the Indigenous Media Fund, supporting pipeline battles and indigenous journalists.

AWAKE chronicles the dramatic rise of the historic, #NoDAPL, native-led, peaceful resistance at the Standing Rock Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, which captured the world’s attention in late 2016.  Thousands of activists converged from around the continent, to stand in solidarity with water protectors protesting construction of the $3.7 billion Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), planned to carry fracked crude oil from the Bakken fields, through sovereign indigenous land, and under the Missouri River, the water source for the Standing Rock Reservation and 17 million people downstream. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Second Lake Pend Oreille Rail Bridge, Hanford Radioactive Tunnel Collapse, Tar Sands Pipeline Protests at Seattle Banks, New York Gas Storage Opposition Victory, Shelley Brock on Idaho Oil & Gas Resistance 5-17-17

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The Wednesday, May 17, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, hosted by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), discusses the second, proposed, Lake Pend Oreille rail bridge near Sandpoint, collapse of a Hanford Site radioactive storage tunnel, tar sands pipeline opponent protests at Seattle area Chase banks, and upstate New York victory over a lakeside methane storage facility.  We also air the third half-hour of an April 29 presentation by Shelley Brock of Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability, at the Moscow forum called Oil and Gas Development and Resistance in Idaho Communities.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm PDT, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide, community opposition to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Longview Coal Terminal Impact Statement, North Idaho Climate Marches, Second Lake Pend Oreille Rail Bridge Protest, Shelley Brock on Oil & Gas in Idaho 5-10-17

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The Wednesday, May 10, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, hosted by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), discusses the final, Washington state and county environmental impact statement for the Millennium Bulk Terminals coal export project in Longview, north Idaho climate marches, and a community meeting and protest of the second, proposed, Lake Pend Oreille rail bridge near Sandpoint.  We also air the third half-hour of an April 29 presentation by Shelley Brock of Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability, at the Moscow forum called Oil and Gas Development and Resistance in Idaho Communities.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm PDT, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide, community opposition to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Second Lake Rail Bridge Protest #1 Report

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Thanks to each of the 20 indigenous, community, and climate activists who participated in the Second Lake Rail Bridge Protest #1 between 9 and 11:30 am on Monday, May 8, on the Dog Beach Park path and site of pile drive tests in preparation for Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s (BNSF) proposed, second, 4800-foot, rail bridge across Lake Pend Oreille, near Sandpoint, Idaho! [1-3]

At 9:09 am, BNSF again attempted, but failed this time, to rush a westbound, unit oil train past a rail-line community, in advance of another demonstration. The train crossed over Sand Creek near its lake outlet, on the single-track bridge that BNSF plans to double-track along with construction of the parallel lake bridge.  Water protectors at the event stood with banners in the mid-morning light and close proximity to the train that WIRT activists documented with high-resolution photos clearly identifying its “1267” crude oil hazmat placards.  They later noticed several alarming components of these tanker cars illustrated in the photos: tangles of snaggable, undercarriage wires and tanker end valves facing each other on adjacent cars and protruding from rectangular, metal bar “shields.”  These purportedly safe rail cars looked like an end-to-end, heavy, oil car crash accident waiting to happen.

Marching with protest signs visibly close to U.S. Highway 95, the Bonner County residents and three Washington friends waved to the BNSF cops and contracted, Oregon workers, before reaching the lake shore and standing with banners in front of the pile drive crane and the Lake Pend Oreille rail bridge. As new participants arrived, they circled, smudged, prayed, drummed, and sang in ceremony, then reflected on and discussed second rail bridge concerns among themselves and on video.  They gradually dispersed and waved goodbye to the railroad crew and police, and gathered for lunch before three visiting Kalispel Nation and Spokane activists departed. Continue reading →

Second Lake Rail Bridge Protest #1

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THANKS to everyone who contributed practical and passionate insights to the Thursday evening, May 4, Second Rail Bridge Community Meeting. Resulting from this amazing, shared, grassroots organizing, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and allies have initiated three ongoing projects in resistance to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway’s (BNSF) proposed, second, rail bridge in Lake Pend Oreille.

First, we have opened conversations and continue to seek information from city, county, state, and federal regulatory agencies responsible for bridge testing and building permits. As further discussed in an upcoming report with issue background and recent developments, on Monday, May 8, BNSF will commence two preliminary pile load tests on land (not near water or in the lake, as assumed) below the railroad tracks north of Dog Beach Park just outside Sandpoint, Idaho, in its right-of-way property, requiring no permitting.

Second, we are composing a legally defensible, sign-on letter to include numerous, regional groups in opposition to initial pile load tests and proposed construction of a second lake rail bridge. Our coordinated outreach is asking for the support of elected officials, media, allies, and the regional community, as we build a strong case against this BNSF plan.

Third, as the first of many likely demonstrations, we are protesting BNSF pile drive work near Dog Beach Park. Please join WIRT and allied climate and community activists and Kalispel Nation members at 9 am on Monday, May 8, for the Second Lake Rail Bridge Protest #1.  Meet us in the parking lots near the Power House (120 East Lake Street) or visitor center/trailhead at the East Superior Street/Highway 95 intersection or on the bike path north of Dog Beach Park.  Bring your protest signs and banners, drums, voice, and, for protection from pile drive noise, ear plugs, to vote early and often with your body against this first and subsequent, second bridge invasions!

Power Up!  Resist, Insist, Persist!  Warriors Up!

Climate Justice Forum: Shelley Brock at Oil & Gas Development & Resistance Forum, Second Lake Pend Oreille Rail Bridge near Sandpoint, WIRT Regional Outreach & Organizing 5-3-17

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The Wednesday, May 3, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, hosted by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features an April 29 presentation by Shelley Brock of Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability at the Oil and Gas Development and Resistance in Idaho Communities forum in Moscow.  We also discuss a second, proposed, Lake Pend Oreille rail bridge near Sandpoint, and recent and upcoming, WIRT outreach, organizing, and training projects at and beyond Earth Day and climate march events throughout the region.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm PDT, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide, community opposition to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Second Rail Bridge Community Meeting

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Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), RADAR, and allied, indigenous and climate activists are hosting a community meeting to discuss and design resistance to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) plans for a second, parallel, rail bridge over Lake Pend Oreille and associated, potentially illegal, temporary ramps and heavy equipment on public lands and pile driven, load bearing tests in the lake, starting on Monday, May 1.  Concerned, regional citizens are welcome to participate from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on Thursday, May 4, in Rooms 103 and 104 of the East Bonner County Library, 1407 Cedar Street in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Predictably in conservative, small, Idaho towns, direct action seems our only recourse, without any public input opportunities, or even information, about the permitting processes for these railroad invasions impacting water and air quality and community noise levels and access to public lands and waters.  Photos of a BNSF ad in the Sunday, April 30, Bonner County Daily Bee bear logistical information about rail bridge work already underway [1].  WIRT website and facebook event pages will soon expand this announcement to provide further issue, meeting, and protest information.

Also on this May Day, the second, Sandpoint area, train derailment in one and a half months occurred around 6 am, on BNSF tracks paralleling U.S. Highway 95, less than 13 rail miles west of the current and proposed, 4800-foot, rail bridges over Lake Pend Oreille [2].  About 25 scattered, mangled cars of a presumably westbound, unit, corn train left the straight rail line in front of Valley Vista Ranch near Cocolalla, north of Highway 95 milepost 460.  On March 17, an eastbound, empty, unit, coal train derailed between Ponderay and Kootenai, only three rail miles east of the lake rail bridge.

[1] Second Rail Bridge Community Meeting, May 1, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide facebook photo

[2] The Second, Sandpoint Area, Train Derailment…, May 1, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide facebook photo