Fearless Summer: Coal Export Sacrifice Zone Uprising

Posted on June 24, 2013 by WIRT

Since late May, Rising Tide and allied groups across the Northwest have been organizing region-wide direct actions for the Fearless Summer of resistance to extreme energy extraction, transportation, and combustion, starting with the Escalating Week of Action during June 24 to 29. In Coeur d’Alene/Spokane, Missoula, Portland, and Seattle, climate activists are integrating their messages and images for coordinated demonstrations confronting Northwest coal mining, hauling, and burning on June 25, 27, and 28. In solidarity with grassroots organizations across the country, regional protests strive to stop some of the worst dirty energy industrial projects in America.

On behalf of the health and environment of Idahoans and Montanans recently dismissed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) at a U.S. House Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, June 18, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists and allies will stage a demonstration at the Coeur d’Alene Corps office (2065 West Riverstone Drive) at 3 pm on Thursday, June 27. Jennifer Moyer of the Corps stated at the hearing that the federal agency will not undertake a programmatic environmental impact statement considering the broader climate change impacts and the effects of rail transport of coal in its review of three proposed Northwest coal export terminals. WIRT takes issue with Ms. Moyer’s announcement and the Corps’ fast-tracked Morrow Pacific environmental assessment of Ambre Energy’s Boardman, Oregon, port plans. (See the following links to pertinent videos, articles, and a protest location map.)

Activists in Montana, Idaho, and eastern Washington encounter difficulty targeting corporate offices and industrial polluters, because thankfully not many sully the inland Northwest’s more breathable environs. Nonetheless, like comrades in other Northwest cities and beyond, members of Occupy Spokane, Spokane Coalition Builders, and WIRT will gather in Spokane for a sign-waving rally and biking event denouncing coal export/Bakken shale oil train routes and increased rail traffic through northern Idaho and Spokane. Participants will meet at 4:30 pm on Thursday, June 27, in the lobby of the Community Building (35 West Main Avenue, Spokane) before standing at the busy, evening rush-hour intersection of North Division Street and East Martin Luther King Jr. Way. A Spokane bike action may also emerge at 6 pm in High Bridge Park just off West Sunset Boulevard, with people riding trails near train tracks through the west side of Spokane.

Please RSVP to let WIRT know if you can attend any of these events. Carpools to Coeur d’Alene/Spokane will depart the WIRT Activist House in Moscow, Idaho, at 1 pm on Thursday, June 27, and return by 8 pm that evening. For further information, email WIRT at wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com or call 208-301-8039. Before the massive 350.org Summer Heat convergence in Portland on Saturday, July 27, co-sponsored by Portland Rising Tide and expanded by representative contingents from across the region, other Fearless Summer actions this week in the Northwest include: Continue reading →

Spokane Coal Train Hearing: Oral Testimony & Interviews

Posted on December 9, 2012 by WIRT

KRFP recorded all except the first 15 minutes of the Tuesday, December 4, public scoping hearing for the environmental impact statement assessing a proposed new coal export facility at Cherry Point north of Bellingham. As one of up to six new planned West Coast terminals, it could increase sales of Powder River Basin coal from Montana and Wyoming to China and other Asian markets. At the meeting held in Spokane by the Washington Department of Ecology, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Whatcom County, most of the first 30 speakers reflected pro-coal objectives, because the Northwest Alliance for Jobs and Exports paid temporary workers to wait in line from 8 am until the start of the hearing and reserve the numbered cards that indicate the sequence of speakers. In Spokane Coal Train Hearing – Full – Part 1, KRFP Radio Free Moscow presents the first two-hour block of the three-hour hearing. It provides the rest of the recording, plus a few interviews done in the hall outside the hearing, in Spokane Coal Train Hearing – Full – Part 2.

Coal Shipment Opponents: ‘They’re the Dirtiest, Most Dangerous Trains’

Posted on December 5, 2012 by WIRT

Concerns over proposed rail shipments of coal through Montana, Idaho’s panhandle, and Washington state before being shipped to China drew more than 800 people on Tuesday to a public hearing at Spokane’s County Fairgrounds.

Boise Weekly first told you in February about how some of the globe’s biggest mining companies want to ship hundreds of millions of tons of coal through the northernmost sections of the United States.

This morning’s Coeur d’Alene Press reports that opponents of the shipments outnumbered supporters on Tuesday. Opponents waved signs that said, “Check the Facts,” and wore T-shirts that said, “Coal is a dirty, old source of energy, and its time has passed.”

Boise Weekly reported on similar protests on November 17, when members of Moscow-based Wild Idaho Rising Tide joined Occupy Spokane to rally in the Idaho panhandle town of Sandpoint, where many of the shipments would roll through.

(By George Prentice, Boise Weekly)

Dana Lyons Concert and Workshop in Pullman

Posted on November 22, 2012 by WIRT

On Wednesday, November 28, performer and environmental educator Dana Lyons will bring his Great Coal Train Tour to Pullman, Washington, offering a community organizing workshop from 3 to 4 pm and a concert between 7 and 9 pm. Since September 8, he has visited dozens of communities throughout four Northwestern states, from Billings to Bellingham and from Portland to Coos Bay. Along the route of proposed coal export trains that could carry 160 million tons of coal per year from Montana and Wyoming to the Columbia River and West Coast and via supertanker to China, Dana’s fun, inspiring, and family-oriented concerts intermingled with place-based storytelling have fostered interest and understanding of this significant regional issue. Extending into 40-plus shows through April 13, his tour provides accurate and intricate descriptions of coal export impacts, as it catalyzes public engagement, discussion, and opposition to this regionally and globally detrimental scheme.

Singer and guitarist Dana Lyons hails from Bellingham, Washington – ground-zero of Northwest resistance to coal exports, near the largest proposed coal port facility in North America, SSA Marine’s Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point. Best known for his comedy hit song Cows with Guns, Dana has recorded eight albums during his lifetime artistic career, including Circle the World and At Night They Howl at the Moon: Environmental Songs for Kids. Working around the Earth to raise awareness, activism, and funds for environmental and social justice issues, Dana has collaborated with Dr. Jane Goodall and her environmental group Roots and Shoots. Besides bolstering community knowledge of potential Northwest coal exports, Dana has been meeting, learning, and networking with local residents and organizers across the region who are working to stop proposed coal mines, trains, and ports for health, safety, traffic, economic, and environmental reasons. Continue reading →

Tar Sands Blockade Solidarity Actions

Posted on November 21, 2012 by WIRT

With so many things happening on November 19, Tar Sands Blockade unfortunately was not able to give a proper shout-out to many of our comrades who also did solidarity actions and sent in photos during their Day of Mass Action on November 19. So with their many apologies, here are the solidarity actions that they didn’t get to post earlier.

Sandpoint, ID – Nov 17

Moscow, ID – Nov 19

Groups Protest Proposed Coal Shipments through Idaho Panhandle

Posted on November 21, 2012 by WIRT

(Zach Hagadone photo)

“When we start putting jobs and the economy ahead of the environment and our children, we’re fools”

A plan by some of the globe’s biggest mining companies to ship hundreds of millions of tons of coal by rail through Idaho’s panhandle is still in its infancy, but that’s not stopping activists from raising a ruckus.

Members of Moscow-based Wild Idaho Rising Tide joined Occupy Spokane on November 17 to take their opposition to the Idaho panhandle town of Sandpoint, where many of the shipments would roll through on a journey from Montana to the Pacific Coast. The coal would ultimately be loaded onto ships bound for China or India.

(By Zach Hagadone, Boise Weekly)

Cross-posted in the Earth First! Newswire: Groups Protest Proposed Coal Shipments through Idaho Panhandle

Speak Out against Coal Trains’ Danger

Posted on November 20, 2012 by WIRT

Nick Gier, Moscow

Bonner County Daily Bee 11/20/12

If the coal companies and their allies have their way, the nation’s largest coal terminal will be built just north of Bellingham, and 40 to 60 extra trains loaded with low-sulfur coal from southeastern Montana and Wyoming will pass through Sandpoint and Spokane.

The residents of Spokane will at least have a chance to have their concerns heard. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a “scoping” hearing on December 4 from 3 to 7 pm at the Spokane County Fairgrounds. Activists all along various rail routes are demanding that the scope of the environmental impact review be “from mines to ports,” not just the terminals themselves.

The people of Sandpoint will have no official say in this dramatic increase in train traffic. As a result, on Saturday, November 17, activists from the region converged on Sandpoint to stage demonstrations, distribute information, and protest proposals for more coal trains and ports. Continue reading →

Four-State Coal Export Protests & Hearings 11-17

Posted on November 19, 2012 by WIRT

On Saturday, November 17, between noon and 4 pm, two dozen activists from Occupy Spokane and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) converged in several high vehicle and pedestrian traffic areas in Sandpoint, Idaho, with a people’s train of “rail car” protest signs, sidewalk parades, and chants. Rebuking schemes for five coal export facilities on the Columbia River and Washington and Oregon coasts and increased toxic coal train traffic from Montana and Wyoming across the Northwest, demonstrators distributed coal issue flyers and door hangers, encouraged northern Idaho participation in December 4 scoping hearings in Boardman, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington, on proposed Coyote Island and Cherry Point coal terminals, and mobilized a network of activists for direct actions at the hearings and in the field before respective December 12 and January 21 public comment deadlines. As federal, state, and county decision makers and industry perpetrators of pollution and climate change discount the concerns of communities most adversely affected by potential coal export train traffic through eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana, by staging distant opportunities for purported public input, anti-coal organizers are demanding rescheduling of the overlapping hearings, a mine-to-port programmatic environmental impact study and statement for all coal export proposals, and hearings in Idaho and Montana to expand the current exclusionary scoping process.

Continue reading →

Coal Trains Threaten Environment, Health

Posted on November 16, 2012 by WIRT

Nick Gier

Nick Gier, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 11/16/12

If the coal companies and their allies have their way, the nation’s largest coal terminal will be built at Cherry Point, Washington, just north of Bellingham. It is estimated that 40 to 60 extra coal trains from southeastern Montana and Wyoming will pass through Sandpoint and Spokane.

Nine trains per day will be redirected to Bellingham, and the remainder will be sent to other proposed ports, through a rail system that is already at 80 percent capacity. Nearly 140 million tons of additional coal will be sent to China each year.

The residents of Spokane will at least have a chance to have their concerns heard. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a “scoping” hearing from 3 to 7 pm on December 4 at the Spokane Fairgrounds. Activists all along various rail routes are demanding that the scope of the environmental impact review be “from mines to ports,” not just the terminals themselves.

The hearings have been billed as the “biggest experiment in environmental democracy the Northwest has ever seen.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has joined the activists in supporting a regional impact study, and the Army Corps has already received 30,000 letters. Continue reading →

Stand Up! Fight Back! Against Big Coal in the Northwest 11-3-12

Posted on November 9, 2012 by WIRT

Thanks to our amazing Occupy Spokane and Wild Idaho Rising Tide comrades, two dozen activists contributed to a great seven-hour November 3 brainstorming/strategizing convergence, full of enthusiastic and insightful conversations, alliances, and upcoming actions! Following through on the successes of the Northwest Extraction Resistance Workshop in June, we networked with activists from the Spokane area, northern Idaho, British Columbia, Montana, and Oregon. Among a whirlwind of creative ideas, we designed a coal export train demonstration in Sandpoint on Saturday afternoon, November 17, to instigate more public participation in the December 4 Spokane scoping hearing on proposed West Coast coal port facilities. As we learned local hearing logistics from Crystal Gartner, who has diligently worked with numerous Coal-Free Spokane volunteers over the last year to secure and populate the event, we also planned tactics and props to augment the rally and citizen involvement in the hearing and to stage an on-the-ground action before the January 21 comment deadline. Heartfelt thanks to Terry for initiating this gathering and inviting western Washington allies’ input, to Val for workshop food provision, Nick for round-trip alternative fuel transportation between Moscow and Spokane, and to Andy, Peter, Cheryl, and Kerry for traveling so far to participate. As we left this last event ever held in the former Rainbow Tavern of the International District in Spokane, Peter of Oregon said, “You know, 100 years from now, people will point to that building and say ‘That is where a small group of people met and made the plans that stopped the coal trains.’” To join in discussions about coal export train direct actions, please join the facebook group Stand Up Fight Back Against Big Coal in the Northwest and/or our Spokane workshop email list shared among about 30 activists.

(All photos provided by Aaron Kathman of OUTSIDEmedia.)