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About WIRT

The WIRT collective is part of an international, grassroots network of groups and individuals who take direct action to confront the root causes of climate change and to promote local, community-based solutions to the climate crisis.

Climate Justice Forum: Allie Rosenbluth on Environmental Laws Rollback Bill & Opposition, Alberta Tar Sands Pollution, Nevada Lithium & Canada Pipeline Protesters, North Dakota Derailments 10-21-26

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The Wednesday, October 21, 2026, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features Allie Rosenbluth with Oil Change International talking about the deceptive Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act currently rushed through Congress, which would weaken bedrock, environmental laws protecting waterways, endangered species, historic sites, tribal consultation, and public review through required, government, environmental impact reports on proposed infrastructure, and would speed permitting of clean and dirty energy projects.  We also share news, videos, and reflections on opportunities to oppose and stop this latest legislative deal for industry, tar sands mining and tailings pond pollution of the Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers and First Nations in Canada, a settlement ending the lawsuit brought by Lithium Nevada against six indigenous and allied Thacker Pass mining protesters, a request for support of a Native land defender from the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline, whose home sustained a retaliatory attack, and an observed, 2026 derailment and Amtrak delay in North Dakota, 25 years after a nearby, Canadian Pacific train wreck that released fertilizer ammonia, killed one resident, and injured hundreds more.  Broadcast for fourteen 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 at KRFP and the Pacifica Network AudioPort, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuels projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Five Proposed Northwest Oil & Gas Pipelines, Dakota Pipestone & Pipeline Concerns, Alberta Tar Sands Tailings Release Scheme, Settled Lithium Nevada Protesters SLAPP Suit 10-14-26

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The Wednesday, October 14, 2026, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features information and opportunities to oppose five Northwest, proposed, fossil fuels pipelines, including the new Bridger tar sands pipeline across eastern Montana, the Pacific Link tar sands pipeline and Salish Sea export terminal supertankers in British Columbia, and three Williams methane gas pipelines: the new Silver Spur from Nevada toward the planned Idaho Power South Hills and Peregrine gas-fired power plants, the Rockies Columbia Connector expansion through the Washington Columbia River Gorge, and the new Valley Trail from the Gorge toward central Washington data centers.  We also share news, videos, and reflections on Dakota Nation concerns about sacred pipestone quarries and the Magellan OneOak pipeline and its Minnesota hearing, Alberta Energy Regulator exemption from environmental review of Suncor Energy’s scheme to treat and release tar sands tailings wastewater into the Athabasca River, upstream of three indigenous nations, and an agreement without financial or site access penalties, which ends the lawsuit brought by the Lithium Nevada mining company against six Native and accomplice defenders of Thacker Pass.  Broadcast for fourteen 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 at KRFP and the Pacifica Network AudioPort, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuels projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Ben Otto on New Idaho Power Methane Plants, Williams Gas Pipeline Expansion, & Opposition, Texas ICE Prairieland Protest Prison Sentences, Fossil Fuels Reduction 7-29-26


The Wednesday, July 29, 2026, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features attorney Ben Otto, senior policy associate with the Northwest Energy Coalition, discussing two new methane plants proposed by Idaho Power Company and a possible Williams gas pipeline expansion in southern Idaho, decision-making criteria for Idaho Public Utilities Commission permitting of these projects, and best practices for oppositional public input.  We also share news, videos, and reflections on reducing use of products composed of fossil fuels and liable for carbon emissions, and Texas defendants together sentenced to hundreds of prison years by a retaliatory federal government, for protesting outside the Prairieland immigration detention facility.  Broadcast for fourteen 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 at KRFP and the Pacifica Network AudioPort, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuels projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ. Continue reading →

Oppose Two New Idaho Methane-Powered Plants by July 31

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In mid-March 2026, Idaho Power Company (IPC) applied to the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity (case number IPC-E-26-04), to invest in and construct two new methane gas power plants and extra pipeline capacity in southern Idaho over the next few years [1-5].  IPC proposes to build the South Hills plant on the Snake River near Milner, Idaho, to generate 222 total megawatts of electricity from 12 reciprocating engines by June 2029 (enclosed concept picture), and the Peregrine plant between Boise and Mountain Home, to produce 430 megawatts from one massive, single-cycle combustion turbine by June 2030.  IPC claims that it needs to make investments now in these resources, to meet peak demands beyond its adequate, existing system, and due to the long lead times required to obtain gas generation equipment and additional pipeline capacity.  The company forecasts rapid load growth from committed industrial sites and predicted large-load users.

As the initial, formal step for any utility seeking approval for new infrastructure, IPC is requesting PUC permission to begin accounting for its spending on these gas plants.  If or when it brings these projects online, IPC will engage another PUC process to recover project costs from its customers.  In the present case, Northwest Energy Coalition and Renewable Northwest have intervened in opposition, while large-load users Idaho Irrigation Pumpers Association and computer memory and data storage manufacturer Micron Technology as well as PUC staff represent various interests [6].  Spring 2026 searches yielded little public information about these power plants, beyond the PUC site and industry articles.

As always with the climate-wrecking schemes of the oil and gas industry and its utility enablers, these facilities may manifest the covertly planned destinations for the 80 percent of additional Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline methane pushed by TC Energy through the GTN Xpress expansion toward Idaho, and/or for the products of two Snake River Oil and Gas wells drilled near the Payette River, the Fruitland city water intake plant, and a dense residential/business area in June and July 2026.  Owner of the other interconnected, regional, methane pipeline network, Williams Companies announced in May the proposed Silver Spur expansion of its Northwest pipeline system from Opal, Wyoming, toward the Northwest, the first phase of its Rockies Columbia Connector ambitions to add a 90-mile transmission line into Idaho, which could impose 275 million cubic feet per day of methane by early 2030 [7].

Climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) noticed these developments in April and has been sharing news, articles, and reflections about the proposed South Hills and Peregrine methane power plants on our weekly Climate Justice Forum radio program, broadcast for fourteen years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow [8, 9].  Throughout the last year and decades, we also continue to offer public process and direct action support to frontline, Payette County residents opposed to riverside and residential area gas well drilling.  This spring, we were further shocked to learn that a third methane power plant slipped under the Boise resistance radar, as the PUC permitted its construction in Mountain Home.  WIRT hopes that this overbuild of soon outdated and defunct fossil fuels infrastructure in the Idaho high desert does not fuel more remote data centers dreams or distant, urban electrification of utilities and transportation. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Ryan Calbreath, Jess Conard, Mark Lopez, Tabitha Tripp, & Andrea Vidaurre on Electrified Public Railways, Enbridge Line 5 River Blasting, Idaho Forced Leased Gas Well Objections 5-13-26


The Wednesday, May 13, 2026, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features an Earth Day panel discussion facilitated by Bill Moyer of Solutionary Rail, with environmental justice and labor organizers Ryan Calbreath of the UE Union Green Locomotive program, Jess Conard of Rail Watch, mark! Lopez of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, Tabitha Tripp of Public Rail Now, and Andrea Vidaurre of People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, talking about shifting harmful, private, Wall Street-extractive, Class 1 railroads into beneficial, public, electrified, rail and transmission infrastructure systems that could provide better accountability and community safety and services. We also share news, videos, and reflections on the proposed, unpermitted, bedrock blasting under rivers for construction of the Enbridge Line 5 tar sands pipeline, rerouted around a Wisconsin indigenous reservation near the Great Lakes, and Idaho citizen objections to Snake River Oil and Gas plans to drill the Miller 1-15 methane well and extract their privately-owned resources via forced leasing, close to hundreds of Fruitland residences, businesses, and water wells. Broadcast for fourteen 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 at KRFP and the Pacifica Network AudioPort, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuels projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.

Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: George Price on Overshoot & Solutions, Actions Stopping Black Hills Drilling, May Day Protests, Global Renewable Electricity, Idaho Forced Leased Gas Well Objections 5-6-26


The Wednesday, May 6, 2026, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features George Price, a Native and African American, organic farmer, history educator, writer, and eco-socialist advocate in Montana, talking about the critical planetary boundaries of human existence, destructive activities causing current ecological overshoot, and solutions that replace industrial capitalism with cooperative, alternative, societal and economic structures.  We also share news, videos, and reflections on indigenous direct actions and a federal lawsuit and injunction stopping exploratory graphite drilling at the Pe’ Sla sacred site near the South Dakota Black Hills, thousands of May Day strikes, blockades, and demonstrations across the U.S., growth of global electricity capacity from renewable energy sources to almost fifty percent during 2025, and Fruitland city and Idaho citizen objections to Snake River Oil and Gas plans to drill the Miller 1-15 methane well and extract their privately-owned resources via forced leasing, close to hundreds of residences and water wells.  Broadcast for fourteen 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 at KRFP and the Pacifica Network AudioPort, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuels projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: George Price on Ecological Overshoot, International Labor Day, Bridger Tar Sands Pipeline, Atlantic Ocean Current Collapse 4-29-26


The Wednesday, April 29, 2026, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features George Price, an indigenous and African American, organic farmer, history educator, writer, and eco-socialist advocate in Montana, talking about the critical planetary boundaries of human existence, destructive activities causing current ecological overshoot, and solutions that replace industrial capitalism with cooperative, alternative, societal and economic structures.  We also share news, videos, and reflections on the history and upcoming workers rights demonstrations of May Day as International Labor Day, public comment opportunities to resist the proposed Bridger tar sands pipeline from Canada across eastern Montana to Wyoming, and a crucial Atlantic Ocean current system that could soon collapse and bring catastrophic cold to northern Europe and sea level rise to the U.S. East Coast.  Broadcast for fourteen 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 at KRFP and the Pacifica Network AudioPort, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuels projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Mary Stites on Zenith & Portland Disputes, Earth Day History, Militarism Film, Nuclear & Nicaragua Talks, New Idaho Gas Plants, Endangerment Finding Lawsuit 4-22-26


The Wednesday, April 22, 2026, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features attorney Mary Stites of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, talking about current, legal wrangling between the City of Portland and the Zenith Energy oil train terminal and infrastructure, which have violated Oregon and city agreements on numerous occasions, while constructing and transporting its fossil and renewable fuels.  We also share news, videos, and reflections on the climate-altering history of Earth Day, a second Spokane, Washington, screening of Abby Martin’s documentary about global U.S. militarism and its climate and environmental impacts, a nuclear energy informational session presented for Nez Perce tribal officials and members, a Spokane discussion about sustainable approaches to community needs, led by a Nicaragua advocate, two new, southern Idaho, methane power plants proposed by Idaho Power, and a lawsuit brought by 24 states and ten cities against federal agency repeal of the endangerment finding central to climate regulations.  Broadcast for fourteen 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 at KRFP and the Pacifica Network AudioPort, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuels projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ. Continue reading →

WIRT Comments & CAIA Objection with Attachments Opposing Snake River Oil & Gas Miller 1-15 Methane Well Drilling Application

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WIRT Comments on SROG Miller 1-15 Well Application

CAIA Miller 1-15 Well Drilling Objection with Attachments