Monthly Archives: March 2018

Climate Justice Forum: North Idaho Rail Bridge Expansion Resistance, Increased Canadian Tar Sands by Train, Bellingham Area Tanker Cars Derailment, Montana Valve Turner Sentencing, Trans Mountain Pipeline Protest Arrests, Massachusetts Necessity Defense Victory, Seventh WIRT Anniversary Concerts 3-28-18

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The Wednesday, March 28, 2018 Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features news and reflections on resistance to railroad track and bridge expansion around Lake Pend Oreille, increased Canadian tar sands-by-rail due to blocked pipelines, black tanker car derailments near Bellingham, Montana pipeline valve turner sentencing and statement, Trans Mountain pipeline protest arrests, Massachusetts pipeline blockaders’ necessity defense victory, and two seventh anniversary WIRT benefit concerts.  Broadcast for six years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show describes continent-wide, community opposition to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Seventh Annual Celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide

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Anniversary concerts benefit climate activist collective

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) is celebrating its March 31, seventh anniversary as a regional, climate activist collective confronting the root causes and perpetrators of climate change, through direct actions and locally organized solutions.  We invite and welcome everyone of all ages to share this milestone at two Seventh Annual Celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide.  These benefit concerts offered by two bands and one musician feature potluck dinner and desert in Moscow, snacks in Sandpoint, and beer and wine for purchase and a background slide show of WIRT accomplishments, at both locations.  Come and enjoy our yearly festivities that raise awareness, involvement, and funds supporting relentless, volunteer, WIRT activism in solidarity with frontline communities of fossil fuel resistance and an international, grassroots network of activists.

WIRT activists, members, friends, and allies eagerly anticipate lively musical and social gatherings between 7 and 11 pm on Friday, March 30, in the 1912 Center Great Room at 412 East Third Street in Moscow, Idaho, and on Saturday, March 31, in the Little Panida Theater, 300 North First Avenue, across the street from the downtown, WIRT office in Sandpoint, Idaho [1-3].  Suggested admission donations of $5 or more at the doors to these otherwise free, public events assist the dedicated work of WIRT and allies to banish new and expanded, fossil fuel infrastructure from the Northwest.  Please join dirty energy resisters for a well-deserved, reinvigorating evening full of shared camaraderie, spirited conversations, exuberant dancing, good food and drink, and live music of multiple genres, played by these talented, visiting, and resident songwriters and performers from the Tri-Cities, Washington, and Sandpoint.

* John Firshi

Acoustic guitarist and singer John Firshi is opening both WIRT celebrations in Moscow and Sandpoint this year, with his unique style of eclectic, original music played around the region for ten years [4-6].  As part of many diverse projects, he has provided guitar accompaniment and production assistance for other Northwest recording artists.  Drawing on a wide range of musical influences from his experience as a supporting musician, John enjoys musical styles that have a certain familiarity, yet still create the opportunity for fresh, exciting improvisation of the “ever-evolving conversation” of music.

* Los Caipirinhos

From the Tri-Cities, Washington, Los Caipirinhos is headlining the Moscow celebration at 9 pm, playing dozens of mostly original and some favorite, cover tunes in Español and English [7, 8].  The seven-piece band has fused elements and rhythms of Spanish ska, reggae, and Latin rock, with their voices, guitars, drums, trumpets, trombones, and saxophones, across the inland Northwest since 2014.  Regional audiences who appreciate and miss the amazing performances of Landrace, the Pullman-based band of Washington State University students, will enjoy the enthusiastic, authentic, danceable music of Los Caipirinhos, with former Landrace members.

* OWULL

Starting at 9 pm on the seventh WIRT anniversary, OWULL is sharing their hard rock music, as WIRT catalyzes community uprisings on the Sandpoint, fossil fuels frontline.  The left-handed band, composed of Jeremy Kleinsmith on drums and vocals and Brandon Watterson on guitar and vocals, has been playing their intricate, hard-driving sounds throughout the region [9]. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Sandpoint Rail Line & Bridge Expansion Comments & Hearings, Tar Sands Export Trains through Idaho, Portland Train Derailment, Trans Mountain Pipeline Blockade, Montana Valve Turner Non-Jail Sentence, March WIRT Events 3-21-18

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The Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features news and reflections on public comments and hearings on rail line and bridge expansion around Lake Pend Oreille, Canadian tar sands exports to Asia via north Idaho trains to Portland, an empty train derailment in Portland, a B.C. tree-sit blockade of the Trans Mountain pipeline, Montana tar sands pipeline valve turner Leonard Higgins’ sentence without jail time, and WIRT meetings, screenings, and benefit concerts.  Broadcast for six years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show describes continent-wide, community opposition to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

March 21: Sandpoint WIRT Meeting & Screening

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Invite your friends and families, and join Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), the #No2ndBridge group, and the regional, climate activist community at 7 pm on Wednesday, March 21, at the Gardenia Center, 400 Church Street in Sandpoint, Idaho, for conversations about strategies and tactics opposing Northwest, fossil fuel extraction and transportation.  Among potluck food, beverages, and ideas, we will share current, issue updates and background on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway proposal to expand rail bridges and tracks across Lake Pend Oreille and downtown Sandpoint, and associated, state and federal, public comment periods, hearings, and other participation processes [1, 2].  Besides the March 30 and 31, Seventh Annual Celebration of WIRT benefit concerts in Moscow and Sandpoint, we are planning #No2ndBridge, public information sessions, targeted protests, and a summer, direct action camp, to further catalyze resistance to ongoing train derailments and fossil fuel pollution of essential watersheds and the shared, global climate.  See the January through March, Moscow and Sandpoint, meeting alerts on the WIRT website, for other, possible topics of discussion, and contact WIRT via email or phone, with your questions and suggestions.

For this third-Wednesday monthly, March 2018 gathering, we will screen Momenta, a 42-minute documentary released in Bellingham in June 2014, which describes the first years of the Northwest movement dedicated to “educating, raising awareness, and activating communities to stop all proposed coal exports,…rethink fossil fuels [and] their impacts on climate and environment, and accelerate the clean energy revolution” [3].  We will also present the trailer for the upcoming documentary Choke Point, the story of the “Inland Northwest’s fight against exploding oil trains and fossil fuels,” produced by grassroots, Spokane videographers Rosie Ennis and Joe Comine of Dancing Crow Media, who need your donations for their ongoing work [4].  Choke Point “is about trains transporting coal and highly combustible crude from the Bakken oil fields, through the area between Sandpoint, Idaho, and Cheney, Washington, known as the ‘choke point.’  These trains travel over our aquifer and water resources, across unstable infrastructure, and through the heart of our home,…[and] tend to blow up when there’s a derailment or due to equipment failure.”  The completed film could include excerpts, which we will show, of talks by Spokane City Council president Ben Stuckart, Sightline Institute policy director Eric de Place, Spokane tribal activist Twa-le Abrahamson, and Railroad Workers United organizer Jen Wallis, recorded at the June 2015 Coal Exports, Oil Transport, and Solutions Forum, held at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Second, Lake Pend Oreille, Railroad Bridge Resistance, Anacortes Refinery Expansion Appeal Denial, Circuit Court Approval of Youth versus U.S. Climate Trial 3-14-18

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The Wednesday, March 14, 2018 Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features news and reflections on resistance to a second, Lake Pend Oreille, railroad bridge and inadequate, public participation processes, Skagit County commission denial of a Tesoro Anacortes refinery expansion permit appeal, a U.S. Circuit Court decision favoring youth plaintiffs over Trump administration dismissal of their landmark, constitutional, climate trial, two seventh annual celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide, and other topics.  Broadcast for six years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show describes continent-wide, community opposition to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Lake Bridge Comment Period, Moscow WIRT Meeting & Film, Seventh WIRT Celebration

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February 26: BNSF Lake Bridge Permit Application Release

On Monday, February 26, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) released for mere, 30-day, public review Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway’s (BNSF) joint application to construct a “2.2-mile-long, second, mainline track west of the existing, BNSF mainline, to connect the North Algoma Siding track (MP 5.1) south of Sandpoint, to the Sandpoint Junction switch (MP 2.9), where the BNSF and the Montana Rail Link (MRL) mainlines converge in Sandpoint…[The] applicant proposes to start construction in the fall of 2018.  The permit would authorize construction for a period of five years,” including rail bridges over Sand Creek and almost one mile over Lake Pend Oreille [1].

The City of Sandpoint, bigger green, organizational partners, coal/oil train/terminal opposition network, local, #No2ndBridge group, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), and allied activists are coordinating responses and will send comment suggestions soon, continuing frontline, second BNSF lake bridge vigilance and resistance commenced in August 2014.  “The second rail bridge is likely to be a contentious proposal within Sandpoint.  BNSF officials say the second bridge will help alleviate wait times caused by rail traffic in town.  However, with train traffic estimated to double in the area by 2035, Sandpoint officials and conservation activists worry the convenience carries a higher risk of a disastrous accident.” [2]  “The bridge proposal has drawn the opposition of Wild Idaho Rising Tide, which contends the span will ultimately exacerbate climate change, because it will facilitate the trade of domestic coal and oil products.” [3]  Although the “Port of Vancouver and Vancouver Energy, which wanted to build the nation’s largest rail-to-marine, oil terminal at the port, mutually agreed to end the company’s lease on Wednesday, [February 28,] a month early,” “an estimated 58 trains use the BNSF rail line per day.  It’s expected by 2035, that number will increase to 114 trains daily, according to a [Spokane] city report.” [4, 5]

Before sending your more thorough, written comments addressing the application for and myriad impacts of this expansion of the Northwest pipeline-on-wheels over the fifth deepest U.S. lake, please demand from the Army Corps and IDL a comment period extension of 90 days, public hearings, and a full environmental impact statement.  Alongside diverse, citizen stakeholders, many indigenous, federal, and state agencies involved in or affected by this decision (U.S Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard, and Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho departments of Environmental Quality, Historic Preservation, Lands, and Water Resources, and the Coeur d’Alene, Kalispel, Kootenai, Salish, and Spokane tribes) require additional opportunities, time, and documentation to responsibly share information and analyze this largest construction project in decades on and near Lake Pend Oreille and the hundreds of pages of the BNSF application [6].

The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impact, including cumulative impacts, of the proposed activity on the public interest.  This decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources…Comments are used in the preparation of an environmental assessment [the current, inadequate, Army Corps choice] and/or an environmental impact statement, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act.  Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing, and to determine the overall public interest in the proposed activity.

…Any person may request in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing is held to consider this proposed activity.  Requests for a public hearing shall state specific reasons for holding a public hearing.  A request may be denied if substantive reasons for holding a hearing are not provided or if there is otherwise no valid interest to be served.

…Interested parties are invited to provide comments on the proposed activity, which will become a part of the record and will be considered in the final decision.  Please mail all comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, Attn: Shane Slate, Coeur d’Alene Regulatory Office, 1910 Northwest Boulevard, Suite 210, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83814-2676, or email NWW_BNSF_Pendoreille@usace.army.mil.  Comments should be received no later than the comment due date of March 28, 2018, as indicated on this notice, to receive consideration. [1]

Issuing a separate, public notice, the Idaho Department of Lands is also holding a public comment period on the proposed project and associated materials, ending on March 30, 2018 [7].  Send your message encouraging BNSF permit denial to comments@idl.idaho.gov or through the IDL website.  Citizens can also share their concerns with the U.S Coast Guard, charged with issuing or denying permits for bridges and causeways in or over navigable waters of the United States, and overseeing compliance with National Historic Preservation Act and Endangered Species Act consultation, for the proposed bridge projects over Sand Creek and Lake Pend Oreille.  But the Army Corps and Coast Guard cannot grant permits until the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) evaluates whether to issue, waive, or deny Clean Water Act water quality certification for discharge of project dredge and fill material, within 60 days or, by IDEQ-requested extension, longer.  Please see the Army Corps public notice about this project, for pertinent agency contact information [1].

Besides contributing written comments, and hopefully oral testimony, toward the lopsided and thus oppressive, power dynamics of these “public participation processes,” WIRT and regional allies are planning public information sessions, targeted protests, and a summer, #No2ndBridge, direct action camp, to catalyze further resistance to this industrial invasion of crucial, home waters and wetlands. Continue reading →