Fellow megaload resisters,

Friday, September 13, 5 pm: Megaload Meeting

Nez Perce tribal and non-tribal activists are holding a gathering at 5 pm this Friday, September 13, at Lapwai City Park in Lapwai, Idaho, to discuss ideas and plans for protester court cases and next megaload movements on Highway 12.  Judge Winmill today granted a preliminary injunction against only Omega Morgan megaloads using Highway 12, in response to the Monday, September 9 federal court hearing that the tribe and Idaho Rivers United brought against the Forest Service.  Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Boise will attend this meeting, to assist the 28 tribal members who were arrested while protesting the last Omega Morgan megaload shipment in early August.  At no cost, ACLU representatives may also provide a training to advise the tribe and community about the legal aspects of conducting civil disobedience.  They could also coordinate on-site legal observers to document protests, if and/or when the next tar sands module currently parked at the Port of Wilma or other megaloads pursue passage on regional highways.  This precautionary activist practice and legal protocol assures better protections and outcomes for arrested protesters, who should talk with attorneys before making any statements or decisions about charges.  Contact the Boise office of the ACLU at 208-344-9750, extension 1202, with your questions.  Nez Perce T-shirts printed at the start of anti-megaload struggles three years ago will also be available at this convergence.  Participants invite everyone attending to bring cold water or drinks in anticipation of high temperatures.  Palouse area carpools depart the WIRT Activist House at 4 pm.

Sunday, September 15, 4 pm: Megaloads Teach-In

Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) Nation community members who are concerned about the recent tar sands megaload protests that occurred on August 5 through 8, 2013, encourage and welcome youth, elders, and people of all ages to participate in a community discussion at The Cave, 118 Main Street in Lapwai, Idaho, from 4 to 6 pm on Sunday, September 15.  The teach-in aims to provide the Nimiipuu Nation and community with information and background about the megaloads and the history of Nimiipuu activism, including the perspectives of nation members who wish to share their knowledge on this topic.  Along with dialogue about why the Nimiipuu Nation wants to stop the megaloads and support other indigenous communities in their struggles against tar sands exploitation, facilitators will host a community forum on this issue.  This second teach-in will also offer updates on the federal court case and legalities, in the aftermath of the September 9 hearing in Boise and the September 13 temporary injunction.  Please bring an open mind, positive attitude, and ideas for next steps.  For further information, see the Caywaaspoo Megaload Teach-In Flyer 9-15-13 and contact Ciarra Greene at ciarrag@nezperce.org.  Moscow/Pullman area carpools depart the WIRT Activist House at 3 pm.

Federal Judge Orders Injunction Blocking Highway 12 Megaloads (September 13 Spokesman-Review Eye on Boise)

Sacrifice zone activists opposing alternative tar sands supply routes are always leery when our regional allies proclaim victory while we continue frontline resistance.  Like the Montana court decision on ExxonMobil loads, Judge Winmill’s ruling applies only to Omega Morgan transports.  Another hauler, Contractors Cargo Company, “wants to ship three massive refinery vessels from the Port of Lewiston to Great Falls, Montana, by November”.  But Judge Winmill’s memorandum decision implies that the Forest Service should enforce Highway 12 closure, ironically beyond the Nez Perce Reservation, until the agency has conducted its corridor review and consulted with the tribe.  His order states, “In accordance with the memorandum decision set forth above, now therefore it is hereby ordered that the motion for preliminary injunction is granted.  It is further ordered that the Forest Service issue a closure order to Omega Morgan pursuant to the Forest Service’s authority under 36 U.S.C. § 261.50.  The closure order shall close Highway 12 between mileposts 74 and 174 to any Omega Morgan megaload, and shall remain in place until the Forest Service has conducted its corridor review and consulted with the Nez Perce Tribe.  It is further ordered that the parties may contact the court’s clerk to set up an evidentiary hearing if necessary.” Continue reading →

Fellow activists and friends,

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and allied activists have invited hundreds of tribal and non-tribal friends, students, and supporters in north central Idaho, the Treasure Valley, and beyond to the following events.  Please participate and contact WIRT at wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com and/or 208-301-8039 to arrange carpools from the Moscow/Pullman area to Bellingham, Boise, Helena, and Lapwai.

Sign the Stop the Megaloads Petition (Ciarra Greene)

A third anti-megaload petition, addressed to Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest Supervisor Rick Brazell, the U.S. President and Congress, the Idaho governor and legislature, and four regional county commissioners, urges the Forest Service to enforce its jurisdiction over megaload shipments across the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest.  Warning of the long-lasting effects of environmental and social injustices in the Highway 12 and Alberta tar sands regions, which cannot be repaired through financial settlements, the petition encourages Forest Service adherence to the scientific process and a complete assessment of the possible impacts of megaload transportation through the Wild and Scenic River corridor, before megaload transit authorization.

On behalf of WIRT’s 2000 members, our signature and comments on this petition added 5500 signatures, by incorporating the 3500 online and in-person signatures of the Petition to Deny Permits for Transport of Massively Oversized Equipment on U.S. Highway 12, submitted to the Idaho Transportation Department and Governor Otter, and the approximately 2000 online and in-person signatures of the currently circulated Petition to Deny Permits for Massively-Oversized Transports in the Northwest and Northern Rockies, addressing elected and appointed officials in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Please add your name and comments to the petition to Stop the Megaloads’ 700 signatures, and request that all of your associates do the same, via facebook, email, Twitter, and other social media.

Saturday, September 7: Human Rights Day at the Market (City of Moscow)

The annual Human Rights Day information booth near the Friendship Square fountain at the Saturday, September 7, Moscow Farmers Market will feature displays, brochures, children’s activities, and a gallery of pictures and information about Moscow women (including a core WIRT organizer) representing different areas of work, to depict this year’s theme, Women and Work: Supporting Progress toward Equality.  Stop by this and the WIRT table between 8 am and 1 pm and take part in community discussions.

Sunday, September 8: Nimiipuu Against Megaloads Teach-In (Nimiipuu Activists)

Nimiipuu Nation community members who are concerned about the recent tar sands megaload protests that occurred on August 5 through 8, 2013, encourage and welcome youth, elders, and people of all ages to participate in a community discussion at the Lapwai City Park and the Pi-Nee-Waus Community Center in Lapwai, Idaho, from 4 to 6 pm on Sunday, September 8.  The teach-in aims to provide the Nimiipuu Nation and community information and background about the megaloads and the history of Nimiipuu activism, including the perspectives of nation members who wish to share their knowledge on this topic.  Along with dialogue about why the Nimiipuu Nation wants to stop the megaloads and support other indigenous communities in their struggles against tar sands exploitation, facilitators will host a community forum on this issue.  The teach-in will also offer updates on the federal court case and legalities, in preparation for the hearing on Monday, September 9, in Boise, Idaho.  Please bring an open mind, positive attitude, and ideas for next steps.  For further information, contact Ciarra Greene at 928-266-6527 or ciarrag@nezperce.org.  Moscow/Pullman area carpools depart the WIRT Activist House at 3 pm.

Monday, September 9: Rally for Indigenous Environment (Nimiipuu Activists)

Nez Perce tribal activists and allies are gathering in solidarity on the West Jefferson Street steps of the Idaho Capitol in Boise between 1 and 4 pm Mountain time on Monday, September 9.  Please join this anti-megaload rally before the associated federal court hearing, to send a clear, strong, unified message to elected Idaho officials that the Highway 12 corridor is not for sale to corporate America.  Participants will protest Omega Morgan’s transport of General Electric megaloads to tar sands extraction sites in Alberta, Canada, to speak out against massive water contamination, environmental degradation, and the rape of Mother Earth.  Bring your spirit of resistance, voice, signs, banners, and moccasins to stomp on Governor Butch Otter’s plan to stifle tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Continue reading →

Hi all,

In lieu of a more extensive, late-August Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) newsletter with plenty of positive news and updates, here is another quick note about upcoming events over the next week.  Please check the WIRT Events Calendar frequently and join us!

Tribal Activists Meeting (Tuesday, September 3)

Nez Perce, Idle No More, WIRT, and allied activists are gratefully anticipating hearing and sharing tribal activists’ insights at a gathering at Lapwai City Park in Lapwai, Idaho.  The 6 pm meeting on Tuesday, September 3, may be moved indoors to the nearby Pi-Nee-Waus Community Center if it rains.  Listen to the following KRFP interview of tribal activist Julian Matthews by citizen journalist Brett Haverstick, describing the last (first) such convergence.

Nez Perce Hold Community Meeting in Lapwai City Park on Megaloads (August 21 KRFP Evening Report, between 11:41 and 3:14)

National Weather Service Forecast for Lapwai

IRAGE at The Liquid Forum (Wednesday, September 4)

At the next, first Wednesday of every month Liquid Forum, activists of our partner grassroots group, Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction (IRAGE), will describe what is happening with and how citizens are fighting oil and gas drilling and looming fracking in Payette County.  Deserving much more public attention, these processes threaten land, water, residents, agriculture, dairies, and sustainability in Idaho.  Please join the discussion and enjoy music by Breakdown Boulevard (as experienced at the Community Progressive III), between 5:30 and 7:30 pm MDT on Wednesday, September 4, at the restaurant/bar Liquid, 405 South Eighth Street in Boise, Idaho.

Weekly WIRT Potluck Meeting (Thursday, September 5)

Wild Idaho Rising Tide is holding potluck gatherings at 7 pm on Thursdays at the WIRT Activist House in Moscow, setting organizational goals, brainstorming strategies, devising tactics, establishing roles, delegating tasks, and mobilizing our collective.  Please see the WIRT alert about the last meeting for further information about upcoming and ongoing projects. Continue reading →

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) is holding potluck gatherings at 7 pm on Thursdays at the WIRT Activist House in Moscow, setting organizational goals, brainstorming strategies, devising tactics, establishing roles, delegating tasks, and mobilizing our collective!  Upcoming and ongoing projects include:

* Plans for initiating a regional canvass, filling the WIRT Activist House, and raising campaign funds

* Carpools to the Monday, September 9 Idaho Rivers United/Nez Perce federal court hearing about Highway 12 megaloads in Boise, Idaho, and to the Sunday and Monday, September 15-16 September Showdown organized by Coal Export Action in Helena, Montana

* Preparation for the Wednesday, September 18 Fourth Annual Tar Sands Healing Walk presentation co-hosted by Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition in Moscow, Idaho

* Organization of a Friday, September 20 co-sponsored benefit concert for arrested Nez Perce megaload blockaders, involving two to three invited bands at the Unitarian Church in Moscow, Idaho

* Tactics for protesting and monitoring the next (fifth) mid-late September launch of an Omega Morgan-hauled General Electric tar sands evaporator on Highway 12 in Idaho Continue reading →

Co-activists,

As a previous Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) newsletter noted, WIRT is holding potluck meetings every Thursday at 7 pm.  As we work on a megaload edition, topics of tonight’s strategizing/planning session at the WIRT Activist House in Moscow include:

* Carpools to Moccasins on the Ground direct action training camp (near Whitehall, Montana, on August 23 to 25) and the Nez Perce/Idaho Rivers United federal court case hearing (in Boise on August 27)

* Tactics for protesting and monitoring the next (fifth) Omega Morgan tar sands evaporator (on Highway 12 in late August/early September)

* Volunteers for college population outreach at initial academic year events like the University of Idaho Palousafest on August 24, Lewis-Clark State College Welcome Fair on August 26, and Washington State University Cougs Connect on August 28

* Organization of a co-sponsored benefit concert for arrested Nez Perce megaload blockaders, involving two to three invited, tentative bands (at the Unitarian Church in Moscow on September 6 or 13)

* Plans for Idaho and Montana actions in solidarity with a Highway 63 blockade (between Fort McMurray and Alberta tar sands operations on an unknown date)

* Arrangements for a regional Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction/WIRT-led Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance direct action training session (on the Palouse, in the Clearwater Valley, and/or Boise in September or October)

* Logistics of upcoming events: Coal Export Action’s September Showdown in Helena, Montana, on September 15 and 16; Millennium Bulk Terminal (Longview coal port) scoping hearings in Spokane on September 25 and in Pasco on October 1; Global Frackdown  statewide or in Boise/Payette County on October 19 (Please check the WIRT website’s Events Calendar.)

* Other organizational goals, such as mobilizing our collective, establishing roles, delegating tasks, initiating a regional canvass, filling the WIRT Activist House, etc.

See you tonight!

Wild Idaho Rising Tide

P.O. Box 9817, Moscow, Idaho 83843

WildIdahoRisingTide.org & on facebook, Twitter

208-301-8039

Dirty energy resisters,

IDAHO OIL & GAS DRILLING/FRACKING

Outline of Idaho Oil and Gas/Injection Well Rules (Idaho Oil and Gas Conservation Commission)

Reasonably Foreseeable Development Scenario for Oil and Gas Development in the Four Rivers Field Office Idaho (October 16, 2009 Bureau of Land Management)

Low-Flying Airplane Mapping Spokane Area (May 15 U.S. Geological Survey)

Claiming that it was measuring and mapping the magnetic field of the earth and related subsurface geologic and hydrologic features, such as shallow faults that caused small 2001 Spokane earthquakes, the U.S. Geological Survey contracted EDCON-PRJ, a company involved in mining and oil and gas exploration around the world, to fly low-level aircraft over the Spokane/eastern Washington/northern Idaho area and other parts of Idaho for nearly a month this spring.  Are corporate forces exploring fracking opportunities in our region?

If you would like local answers to this question, as a WIRT member is seeking in the Grangeville area, search your county recorder’s office for oil and gas leases, filed as encumbrances against real property after they are signed and made available online by some counties, such as Payette County.  Among various ways to search through these documents, the easiest method entails using the code for oil and gas leases that the county clerk or recorder assigns.  If you do a “grantee” search, look for these companies that have operated recently in Idaho: Alta Mesa Idaho (or AM Idaho), Bridge Resources, Idaho Natural Resources, and Snake River Oil and Gas.

Gas Exploration Benefits Southwest Idaho Farmers (July 5 Capital Press)

Industry spin and citizen cooperation: Although Idaho state law prevents local governments from regulating the technical aspects of oil and gas drilling, it allows them to create ordinances that protect public health and safety and property rights.  The 60-member Weiser River Resource Council, which advocates responsible drilling and fair landowner/neighbor treatment by industry, is pushing for strong, local ordinances that protect the environment, public infrastructure, and property rights and that mitigate potential negative effects, according to co-chair Amanda Buchanan.

Alma Hasse on Kevin Miller Show (July 24)

On Wednesday, July 24, between 7 and 8 am, Alma of Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction (IRAGE) talked about fracking/drilling in Idaho on the Kevin Miller program on KIDO 580 AM, Boise, Idaho.  She encouraged distant fractivists and IRAGE friends to call in to the toll-free phone number on Kevin’s website, and she later described her host as a perfect gentlemen.

Payette County Oil and Gas Ordinance (July 29)

The Payette County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) held their public hearing on the proposed county oil and gas ordinance at 11:00 am on Monday, July 29, at the Payette County Courthouse.  Fellow fractivist Alma Hasse mobilized community involvement, attended, and offered information for this report.  The commissioners had demolished most of the ordinance that the planning and zoning commission (P&Z) had worked on for six months.  But they retained the nationally rare requirements for baseline water testing before drilling, although of only two down-gradient domestic wells (or of two up-gradient wells, if two below cannot be located).

Industry attorney/spokesperson Michael Christian adamantly argued against the need to conduct baseline water testing, disingenuously saying that samplers would not know which chemicals to target.  Alma countered that drillers could provide a sample of their flowback/produced water and a list of all of the constituents in their drilling and fracking fluids to guide chemical tests.  New Plymouth Mayor Joe Cook asserted, and Commissioner Endrikat agreed, that the nearby municipalities also need copies of all of the water testing data.  Such information after redaction should be available through the county to members of the public, who can learn what industry is testing for and conduct their own testing to ensure the accuracy of industry data.  (Please thank Mayor Cook for this policy development by calling him and/or leaving a message for him with the clerk at 208-278-5338.)

Before the hearing, Tina Fisher had measured out 200 feet at the county courthouse to provide the commissioners with a visual sense of such distance, and spoke eloquently at the meeting about the importance of oil and gas facilities placement.  Nonetheless, the county commissioners reduced the minimum setback distance between private/public buildings and oil/gas wells to 200 feet with exception language.  The P&Z commission had intended that this spacing component of the ordinance only cover oil and gas wells, whereas the earlier county commissioner version applied to all aspects of production.  However, this distinction reappeared in the latest ordinance, allowing dehydration/compression stations and toxic waste and evaporation pits and tank batteries to be located less than 200 feet away from schools, churches, parks, hospitals, etc.  Fractivists are considering all options for a successful resolution of this dilemma – a model ordinance for every county in the state to adopt – but it will necessitate plenty of work by committed citizens. Continue reading →

Regional climate activists,

Over the last few weeks since the last Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) newsletter and amidst several action alerts, WIRT activists have protested oil and gas drilling and fracking in southern Idaho, trained to teach direct action tactics in preparation for nationwide Keystone XL pipeline protests, and joined blockades and roadside uprisings led by the valiant Nez Perce people against Highway 12 tar sands megaloads. In the wake of all of this activity and the extended travels since August 1 of the WIRT email/facebook/website/radio show coordinator, we are composing and sending three WIRT newsletters by the end of this week: this issue about regional fossil fuel resistance, an upcoming edition about Idaho oil and gas issues and protests, and a description/media compilation about last week’s Highway 12 megaload events. We apologize for our temporarily reduced (and corporate/competitor-scuttled?) capacity for public and media communication and outreach during such a significant time in our anti-tar sands/megaload campaign, while we applaud our many stalwart core WIRT activists who participated in historic resistance and successfully shared observations, videos, photos, and news about our collective regional work.

WIRT Weekly Potluck Meeting

Beginning with our regularly scheduled third Thursday monthly meeting on August 15, WIRT activists will start holding weekly strategizing and planning sessions at the WIRT Activist House in Moscow at 7 pm every Thursday. Please frequently check the Events Calendar on the WIRT website, call 208-310-2108 for more information, bring some food and beverages to share, and discuss these and emerging group initiatives at this WIRT convergence:

* Tactics for protesting and monitoring the next (fifth) Omega Morgan tar sands evaporator to cross Highway 12 in Idaho, perhaps next week, from a Port of Wilma warehouse to the Montana border

* Carpools from the Palouse/Clearwater Valley to Whitehall, Montana, for the indigenous-led Moccasins on the Ground direct action training camp over the August 23-25 weekend

* Plans for Idaho and/or Montana actions in solidarity with frontline, indigenous activists who will blockade Highway 63 between Fort McMurray and Alberta tar sands operations on Saturday, August 24, as proposed at the July 6 Tar Sands Healing Walk

* Arrangements for a regional direct action training session conducted by Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction and WIRT organizers who participated in a Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance training for trainers in Salt Lake City on August 3 and 4

* Other upcoming organizational events and goals, such as delegating tasks, filling the WIRT Activist House, and reaching college populations Continue reading →

WIRT Activists and Friends,

URGENT WIRT MEETING

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) is staging a strategizing and planning meeting at the WIRT Activist House at 6 pm on Sunday, August 4!  Participants will discuss tactics for protesting and monitoring tar sands evaporators that could cross Highway 12 in Idaho beginning on Monday night, August 5.  Omega Morgan has attached one of these megaloads to pull and push trucks and staged it for transport in a paved lot at the Port of Wilma, Washington, a few miles downriver from Lewiston, Idaho.  As described in a previous WIRT newsletter, another shipment remains in a large shop at the port.  Please call 208-310-2108 for more information about this WIRT meeting and see the following articles about this emerging situation.  Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction and WIRT organizers are participating in a direct action training for trainers this weekend and will conduct a regional training session soon, to foster effective demonstrations against megaloads, oil and gas drilling/fracking, and the Keystone XL pipeline.  Expect an action alert after the WIRT meeting on Sunday evening…

Earth First! Direct Action Manual

Megaloads Could Go Monday (August 2 Lewiston Tribune)

On Friday, Omega Morgan stated its intentions to start hauling a massive evaporator up Highway 12 to Alberta tar sands operations at 10 pm on Monday, August 5.  The Forest Service “is not likely to try and stop the shipments if the company proceeds without its approval.”  The Idaho Transportation Department issued a permit to Omega Morgan on Friday and advised it to contact the Forest Service and the Federal Highway Administration.  A federal court recently affirmed their authority to review and regulate megaload permits for passage through the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest and the Lochsa and Middle Fork of the Clearwater Wild and Scenic River corridor.  But the Forest Service has only suggested three interim criteria for such megaload transport and has not yet consulted the Nez Perce Tribe, conducted a proposed study of corridor values affected by the shipments, nor established a megaload permit approval process.  Forest Service response to Omega Morgan’s assertions will need Chief Tom Tidwell’s approval.  Opponents and mercenary supporters of megaloads have sent dozens of messages to the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest over the past few weeks.

Update: Can a Mega-Load Make a U-Turn? (July 31/August 3 Boise Weekly)

Editorial: Time to Set Rules of Road for Idaho Megaloads (July 31 Spokesman Review)

Wild Idaho Rising Tide

P.O. Box 9817, Moscow, Idaho 83843

WildIdahoRisingTide.org & on facebook & Twitter

208-301-8039

WIRT SONG

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) offers our exuberant gratitude to benefactor Tom Hansen, composer/performer Roy Zimmerman, and musical guide Jeanne McHale, for the uplifting song created for WIRT in May-June 2013, The Tide Is Rising!  Please share freely and revise as your own anthem, Rising Tide activists and friends.

OMEGA MORGAN EVAPORTORS

Missing Megaload! (July 29 Big Country News Connection)

As Portland Rising Tide and 350 posed and hung a bridge banner declaring “Coal, Oil, Gas: None Shall Pass,” WIRT activists arrived at the Port of Wilma to confront two tar sands megaloads that passed under the same bridge the week before the Summer Heat: Columbia River Climate Action.  Unlike in Portland, a few protesters and a Lewiston Tribune reporter showed up at 3:30 pm on Saturday, July 27.  Everyone else likely assumed that the Forest Service and conservationists would keep these evaporators out of the Highway 12 wild and scenic river corridor, although most of the region had failed to stop similar transports to Alberta tar sands operations.  But the three of hundreds of potential protest participants observed that one of the Omega Morgan shipments was missing!  Did it sneak up Highway 12 unannounced?  We questioned the on-site security guard who refused to answer our queries, searched both the Ports of Wilma and Lewiston, contacted our non-activist allies who rarely work during weekends, and alerted and asked multiple associates around the region.  No one in the Kamiah Nez Perce community had seen the missing megaload.  Like during the 2011-12 ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil invasion of Highway 95, we felt betrayed and abandoned by industry, government, and absent allies and protest participants.

We cringed at the same-day juxtaposition of people downriver giddily stating “None Shall Pass,” as they posed against, rather than directly confronted, fossil fuel perpetrators, perhaps assuaging guilt with ‘photo ops’, while a megaload disappeared before anyone but a few diehards bothered to face it on the frontlines.  As we have worked to instigate for years, we hope that Americans will wake up and fight back in time, meeting megaloads with resistance at the coast and all along the 465-mile trip up the Columbia/Snake rivers to Lewiston area ports.  Our activist allies are still wondering why we have not blockaded Highway 12 yet.  On Monday, July 29, Mia Carlson-Simpson of Big Country News solved the missing megaload mystery with a few phone calls.  The module was in a nearby shop at the Port of Wilma, where presumably a crew is installing its insulation (or reducing its height for interstate overpasses?).  This Thursday, an ally noted that “Omega Morgan may have gone down Highway 95.”  With plenty of unverified or unshared information emerging, we remain vigilant of any megaload movement up Highways 12 or 95, not entirely convinced that the Forest Service will hold the line, that conservationist allies would call for an injunction, or that the police will not continue to reinforce social and environmental injustice.

“An oversized load that was delivered to the Port of Wilma just west of Clarkston a week ago has not been transported out of the region, although some people have asked ‘Did it sneak up Highway 12 last week?’  Activists with Wild Idaho Rising Tide showed up on Saturday, to protest the two loads that were unloaded from their barges on July 22, and discovered that there was only one sitting there.  According to Olga Haley, a spokeswoman for transport company Omega Morgan, the load is being ‘stored inside a building at the Port of Wilma.’  Meanwhile, she adds that there is no other news since the company is working with the U.S. Forest Service and the Idaho Department of Transportation on the permit situation.

The water purification vessels were fabricated in British Columbia, weigh about 320 tons each, and could be the first of at least nine loads that the Oregon-based shipping company wants to move east on U.S. Highway 12 to Montana and then up to Alberta, Canada, to the tar sands.  But the loads can’t move until they meet three interim rules set by the Forest Service to protect the Wild and Scenic Middle Fork Clearwater and Lochsa rivers: no traffic can be fully stopped in the corridor, the loads must pass through the corridor in less than 12 hours, and no physical modification may occur of the highway or adjacent vegetation beyond normal highway maintenance.  Omega Morgan has submitted a revised plan that shows the loads meet two of the three rules, but they would still delay traffic.  (Photo courtesy of Wild Idaho Rising Tide)” Continue reading →

Fellow activists, friends, and supporters,

UPCOMING WIRT/ALLIED EVENTS

Fearless Summer is boldly unfolding as one of the most active seasons of direct actions against dirty energy in American history.  Join us in supporting, organizing, and staging some of the following initiatives instigated by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and our courageous comrades across the continent.  WIRT is coordinating regional carpools departing Moscow, Spokane, Boise, and Missoula for all of these events.  Because we will be traveling to these great convergences throughout July and August, please RSVP preferably by phone (208-301-8039) or email (wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com).  Peruse our constantly updated Events Calendar page of the WIRT website and contribute what you can toward our ever-expanding and escalating resistance campaigns.

July 18: WIRT Monthly, Third Thursday Potluck Meeting (Thursday 7 pm, WIRT Activist House, Moscow, Idaho)

July 18-20: Rising Tide Continental Gathering (Thursday to Saturday, Green River, Utah)

July 24-29: (Utah Tar Sands) Canyon Country Action Camp (Wednesday to Monday, Green River, Utah) (facebook page)

July 26: Gutting the Heartland – Traveling Art Gallery (Friday 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Community/Saranac Building, 25-35 West Main Avenue, Spokane)

July 27: Summer Heat: Columbia River Climate Action (Saturday 10 am to 4 pm, Portland, Oregon, part of continent-wide 350.org Summer Heat) (facebook page)

July 31-August 5: Localize This! Artful Activism Organizer Training (Wednesday to Monday, Vashon Island, Washington)

August: Compassionate Earth Walk (Eastern Montana Keystone XL pipeline route)

August 23-25: Montana Moccasins on the Ground (Friday to Sunday, near Butte, Montana)

With mountain camping on beautiful private lands near the continental divide and Butte, the Montana Moccasins on the Ground nonviolent direct action camp, planned and prepared by Indian People’s Action and Montana environmental justice allies, will be led by Debra White Plume and Owe Aku.

September 15-16: September Showdown, Coal Export Action (Sunday and Monday, Helena, Montana) (sign-up)

September 17-October 17: Millennium Bulk (Coal Export) Terminals Longview Public Scoping Hearings (9/25 Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, 10/1 The Trac Center in Pasco)

October 19: Global Frackdown (Saturday, across Idaho, continent-wide) Continue reading →