Category Archives: Wild Idaho Rising Tide

Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions & February WIRT & Allied Events

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January 29 & Onward: Resumed Climate Justice Forum

After an eleven-week break, the Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), resumed its eight years of broadcasts on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, on January 29 [1].  Interspersed with protest songs, the show features conversations with activists and scientists and news and reflections on continent-wide, grassroots resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who have adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.  Listen every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM, online at KRFP, and podcast on Radio Free America [2, 3].

February 1: Fossil Fuels Train Pollution Protest Report

In Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint of the Idaho Panhandle, dozens more defenders of railroads and the January 1, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway locomotive derailment, 2,000-gallon diesel spill, disassembly, and removal in the Kootenai River showed up than north Idaho water protectors, at the Fossil Fuels Train Pollution Protest held by WIRT on February 1.  The majority are apparently willing to support railroad operations, wrecks, and infrastructure expansions that spill hazardous materials into rivers, and to counter-protest concerned activists at WIRT demonstrations on the fossil fuels frontlines of air, climate, and water quality sacrifice zones.  See the WIRT website and facebook pages for photos and descriptions of these event outcomes [4, 5].

February 16-29: UN COP25 Indigenous Debriefing

Backbone Campaign community supported organizer, friend, and fellow activist Jacob Johns, who participated in indigenous talks and demonstrations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, during December 2019, is hosting three public, inland Northwest talks about worldwide, indigenous efforts to protect approximately eighty percent of Earth’s biodiversity.  Only five percent of humanity identifies as indigenous, but as globalization spreads, governments and corporations continue to work together to exploit biodiversity for profit and attack indigenous communities, through genocide, colonization, and greenwashing.  Jacob’s presentation will show compiled photos and videos, and amplify often unheard, frontline voices and stories.  He will also offer an indigenous organizing model, aimed at helping people to act in solidarity and co-create a livable future, and a closing, question-and-answer discussion.  Please join Jacob and WIRT activists for these informative events:

Sunday, February 16, at 1 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane, 4340 West Fort George Wright Drive in Spokane, Washington [6]

Saturday, February 22, at 3 pm at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 East Front Avenue in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho [7]

Saturday, February 29, at 3 pm at the East Bonner County Library, 1407 Cedar Street in Sandpoint, Idaho [8]

February 20: WIRT Sandpoint Movie & Meeting

The WIRT climate activist collective welcomes opportunities to involve you and the regional, environmental and indigenous community in critical issues, as we together relentlessly confront the fossil fuel causes of climate chaos, through frontline actions and solutions.  WIRT organizers invite you to participate in potluck gatherings that include climate action films and conversations planning tactics, strategies, and activities, starting at 6 pm on the first and third Thursdays of every month, respectively in Moscow and Sandpoint [9].  Due to winter travel conditions, WIRT is not holding Moscow meetings during January and February 2020, at The Attic, up the back stairs of 314 East Second Street.  But at the next Sandpoint meeting on Thursday, February 20, at the Gardenia Center, 400 Church Street, we encourage you to offer your unique advice and assistance in arranging the Ninth Annual WIRT Celebrations in Moscow and Sandpoint at 7 pm on Friday, March 28, and Saturday, April 4, #No2ndBridge attorney search, litigation, and petition signature gathering and delivery at state and federal agency offices,  documentary and panel presentations, direct actions and training workshops, and public outreach.  For updates and articles on ongoing and emerging, Northwest and North American, fossil fuels issues, please check WIRT website and especially facebook pages, listen to WIRT’s weekly radio program, and sign the Petition to Deny and Revoke Permits for the BNSF Sandpoint Junction Connector Project [10]. Continue reading →

Portland Tar Sands Terminal Comments, Moscow Oil & Gas Talk, Monthly WIRT Meetings, Idaho Lakes Rulemaking

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As prompted and supported by this Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) newsletter, please consider maximizing your opportunities to participate in resistance to a Portland, tar sands export, train terminal, a southern Idaho, oil and gas issues presentation in Moscow, rescheduled, monthly, WIRT meetings in Sandpoint and Moscow, and further, public comments and hearings on Idaho navigable lakes, negotiated rulemaking.

Portland Tar Sands Terminal Forum & Comments

Anticipating a big crowd on Monday evening, July 15, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, at the University of Portland Buckley Center (5000 North Willamette Boulevard), Portland City Commissioners are hosting a public forum and hearing on the Zenith Energy tar sands crude oil terminal on the Willamette River in northwest Portland [1-2].  In 2016, the Commissioners banned new, bulk, fossil fuel terminals, but this company has pre-existing permits.  Although the City is not currently deliberating any Zenith decisions, this listening session provides an important opportunity to again wear red, share concerns, and demand action.  More than seven organizations encouraging participation in the meeting suggest requesting that the City deny all Zenith permits to expand its terminal capacity and dangerous oil-by-rail, for the following, described reasons [1].  Between April 21 and 28, 2019, Extinction Rebellion Portland twice stopped tar sands trains for four days, with 11 arrested and other blockaders amidst a “victory over fossil fuels” garden planted on the terminal tracks [3].

As a former asphalt plant, Zenith has gradually converted its terminal to exporting tar sands crude, and has transformed regional rail lines to less voluminous, Keystone XL pipelines.  Climate-wrecking, Canadian, tar sands extraction and Northwest transportation and production threaten the health and safety of First Nations and their air, water, lands, and traditional subsistence practices.  Two mid-winter, tar sands train derailments and fires in northern Ontario in 2015 proved that “dilbit” (diluted bitumen) is as volatile and flammable as Bakken crude.  Oil companies mix diluents with bitumen (the tar drawn from tar sands) to form more fluid and transportable oil.  But this crude contains odorless and deadly hydrogen sulfide gas that is heavier than air and accumulates in low places if leaked.  Worse than any other grade of oil, dilbit also sinks to the beds of water bodies when spilled, while its diluents evaporate and seriously sicken or kill nearby communities.

According to the Washington Department of Ecology, one to two Alberta and Saskatchewan, tar sands trains pass through Sandpoint and Spokane every week.  Because “Ecology” does not require oil train reports from out-of-state destinations, additional such trains could also be moving across the Northwest toward Portland.  They usually travel south from Canada, through western Washington or north Idaho and Spokane, along the Columbia River, and through Camas and Vancouver, southwest Washington, before crossing the rail bridge to north Portland.  Idaho observers of the Union Pacific Railroad line, which needs more citizen monitors, note that oil train numbers have increased during the last year.  #No2ndBridge activists watching the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway tracks through Sandpoint fear that potentially derailed, sinkable tar sands trains may traverse the Lake Pend Oreille rail bridge [4].  Portland, Seattle, and Sandpoint trainspotters are working together to determine tar sands train routes and numbers, but request more north Idaho assistance: Contact WIRT if you can help! Continue reading →

Eighth Annual Celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide

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Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) is celebrating its March 31, eighth 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 Eighth Annual Celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide in Moscow and Sandpoint.  These benefit concerts offered by north Idaho poets and musicians feature potluck snacks and beverages and a background slide show of WIRT activities at both locations.  Come and enjoy our yearly festivities that raise awareness, involvement, and funds supporting our #No2ndBridge lawsuit and relentless, volunteer, WIRT activism, in solidarity with frontline communities and grassroots networks of fossil fuel resistance [1, 2].

WIRT activists, members, friends, and allies eagerly anticipate these lively musical and social gatherings.  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 throughout 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 talented, visiting, and resident songwriters and performers.

Moscow: Friday, March 29, 7 to 10 pm at The Attic, up the back stairs of 314 East Second Street

Fiddlin’ Big Al & Guests

KRFP Radio Free Moscow DJ and board member and core WIRT and Standing Rock activist, Fiddlin’ Big Al Chidester of Moscow plays ragtime, honky-tonk piano, fiddle, and guitar, singing old-timey, country blues and original, socio-political satire songs.  Al started the practice of playing traditional, phase-shifted, electric viola, adding to his multi-instrumental, experimental Americana repertoire on mandolin, banjo, dobro, and lap steel guitar.  He writes humorous, topical songs about peace, freedom, and political hypocrisy, some recorded on his 2004 album Where Were You the Night New Orleans Drowned? and Other Songs for Our Time.  Besides performing at Northwest barter fairs and hosting a long-running, jam session at the Moscow Moose Lodge, Fiddlin’ Big Al broadcasts several, weekly, KRFP, music shows, giving airplay to an eclectic mix of genre-bending music, recorded performances from regional venues, and occasional, live, studio sessions [3].

Sandpoint: Saturday, March 30, 7 to 10 pm at the Gardenia Center, 400 Church Street

Open-Mic Poetry

Everyone who would like to read or perform their creative work can sign up starting at 7 pm for a five-minute spot on the stage mic opening at 7:30 pm.

Kevin Dorin

A one-man band who performs folk, rock, and blues, Kevin hales from his hometown of Calgary, Alberta, as a soulful blues traveler influenced by the music of Ryan Adams, Feist, Jack Johnson, and Maticulous. He plays electric and acoustic guitar, harmonica, and sings covers and original songs [4]. Continue reading →

April WIRT & Allied Events

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Wednesday, April 18: Sandpoint WIRT Meeting & Film Screening

Invite your friends and families, and join the regional, climate activist community, #No2ndBridge group members, and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) organizers for the April, third-Wednesday, monthly, WIRT gathering at the Gardenia Center, 400 Church Street in Sandpoint, at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 18.  Discussions and action plans include Earth Day and Farmers Market outreach in Moscow and Sandpoint, an oil and gas waste injection well protest and petition presentation in Boise, and ongoing, dirty energy transportation monitoring and reporting.  We especially need your participation in work on a #No2ndBridge petition, banner, brochures, comment talking points, Sandpoint rally and demonstration with speakers on Saturday, April 28, information sessions around the inland Northwest, regional attendance and expert testimony at the May 23 hearings in Ponderay and Sandpoint, and summer, direct action training camp, all opposing Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway track and bridge expansion of the coal, oil, hazmat, and possibly tar sands pipeline-on-wheels across Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille in north Idaho.

All are welcome to bring their creative ideas and energies and potluck food and beverages, to share current, issue updates and background, and to explore strategies and tactics in support and solidarity with grassroots, Northwest, fossil fuels resistance.  At this convergence, we will also view the 2016, Break Free documentary Disobedience, a brief film that describes the global, climate justice movement led by common people taking courageous actions against the power and pollution of the fossil fuel industry, and accelerating the clean energy revolution on the front lines of every continent [1, 2].  Contact WIRT via email or phone, with your questions and suggestions about potential meeting topics and activities.

Sunday, April 22: North Idaho Earth Day Celebration

Hosted and sponsored by 350Sandpoint, North Idaho Women, and the Sandpoint Annual Earth Day Festival, this 48th, public, Earth Day celebration and march will highlight local concerns over HiTestSand’s silicon smelter proposed for Newport, Washington, and planned construction of doubled railroad tracks and three bridges across Lake Pend Oreille and Sandpoint [3, 4].  Other event offerings include free health screenings, activities for children, live music, and an Earth-themed, costume contest with prizes for kids aged 12 and younger and adults.  Organizations working to keep Idaho healthy, wild, and beautiful, by educating and activating the local community, will offer information booths, voter registration, the Idaho Medicaid petition, and much more.  Enjoy and learn with your friends and family, between 12 and 3 pm on Sunday, April 22, at Farmin Park, Oak and Fourth streets in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Sunday, April 22: Moscow Nelsebration

The family, friends, and north Idaho/Palouse community of Nels Peterson lost a beautiful soul on March 21.  WIRT activists and supporters knew Nels from the Panhandle Artisan Bread Company and as a drummer with the Moscow Volunteer Peace Band and Henry C and the Willards, who played at more tar sands megaload protests and Annual Celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide than any other musicians.

In memory and spirit of the tremendous love, strength, and peace that Nels brought to the Moscow area, his community invites everyone missing Nels during his transition to join with all the lives he touched, in a Nelsebration party in honor of Nels [5].  On Sunday, April 22, at 5:30 pm, the Moscow Volunteer Peace Band will gather at Friendship Square in downtown Moscow, and proceed to the 1912 Center, at 412 East Third Street in Moscow.  From 6 to 9 pm there, Henry C and the Willards and The Intentions will perform live music shows, Moscow Brewing Company will provide beer and wine, and participants may bring dishes of food to share.

Postponed: Spokane Train Blockader Necessity Defense Trial

In August and September, 2016, six Spokane area members of local Raging Grannies and Veterans for Peace chapters blocked coal and oil trains, with two acts of nonviolent, civil disobedience [6, 7].  Police arrested and charged all six protestors with trespass and obstructing a train.  Five pled guilty, for various reasons, at summer 2017 hearings in Spokane District Court.  Only Reverend George Taylor chose to move forward with his case to jury trial, and filed a motion asking Judge Debra Hayes to allow his attorneys to present a necessity defense, arguing that he committed one harm to prevent the greater health risks, environmental dangers, and imminent harms of fossil fuel train pollution, derailments, explosions, and fires (like in Mosier, Oregon, on June 3, 2016) and of their cargo’s combustion, greenhouse gas emissions, and consequent exacerbation of climate change. Continue reading →

Seventh WIRT Celebrations Thanks & Funds Request

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Seventh WIRT Celebrations Thanks & Funds Request

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) sends our deep gratitude to the gracious musicians, core WIRT activists, allies, guests, non-profit organizations, and businesses who contributed their efforts, donations, and supplies for the Seventh Annual Celebrations of WIRT benefit concerts at the Moscow 1912 Center and the Sandpoint Little Panida Theater, on Friday and Saturday evenings, March 30 and 31 [1-3].  We especially thank:

* Acoustic guitarist and singer John Firshi, for playing his inspiring, original, and improvisational music for participants and venue employees and volunteers at the Moscow and Sandpoint anniversary events

* Talented, hard-rocking, Sandpoint musicians Jeremy Kleinsmith and Brandon Watterson of OWULL, for sharing their exuberant sounds on the Sandpoint, fossil fuels frontline

* The seven band members of Los Caipirinhos, for traveling from the Tri-Cities, Washington, but not performing their danceable, Latin ska, reggae, and rock, due to an almost absent, Moscow audience (-$200)

* Jenny and Robby of the 1912 Center in Moscow, for Great Room reservation, rental, arrangement, and clean-up on the night before the KRFP Real Radio Dinner on the WIRT anniversary, March 31 (-$246)

* Trish, Bill, and three Little Panida Theater  volunteers, for venue rental, projection of the background, WIRT slide show, beer, wine, popcorn, and camaraderie (-$255)

* Wine Company of Moscow manager Terry, for WIRT-purchased beer and a temporary liquor license (-$27), and the Rosauers and Safeway stores in Moscow, for potluck food, wine, and ice (-$49)

* WIRT activists and friends David, Denise, Pat, and other Moscow and Sandpoint celebration participants, for delicious, potluck food, supply transportation and preparation, insightful conversations, and admission donations (+$50)

* The Bonner County Daily Bee, Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Panida Theater, and Sandpoint Reader, for publicizing both events via newspaper and website notices drawn from online, Panida Theater posts and a WIRT media release [4] Continue reading →

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 →

Sixth Annual Celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide in Moscow & Sandpoint

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March 31 & April 7 Anniversary Concerts Benefit Climate Activist Collective

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) is celebrating its March 31, sixth 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 every one of all ages to share this milestone at two Sixth Annual Celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide.  These benefit concerts provided by five bands and solo musicians accompany potluck dinner and desert in Moscow, snacks in Sandpoint, beer and wine for purchase, dozens of raffle items donated by community members and businesses, and a background slide show of WIRT accomplishments.  Come and enjoy our yearly fund and action raising parties offering radical revelry for participants supporting relentless, volunteer WIRT activism among and in solidarity with frontline communities of fossil fuel resistance and an international, grassroots network of activists.

WIRT’s amazing members, friends, and allies eagerly anticipate lively musical and social gatherings between 7 pm and 12 midnight on Friday, March 31, in the 1912 Center Great Room at 412 East Third Street in Moscow, Idaho, and on Friday, April 7, in the Little Panida Theater, 300 North First Avenue (across the street from the WIRT office) in Sandpoint, Idaho.  Suggested, admission donations of $5 or more at the doors to these otherwise free, open, 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, wild evening full of shared camaraderie, spirited conversation, exuberant dancing, good food and drink, and live music of multiple genres, played by these talented, visiting, and resident songwriters and performers from Moscow, Sandpoint, and Spokane: Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Banished Northwest Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Projects 4-6-16

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The Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) discusses proposed new and expansion fossil fuel infrastructure projects on the Columbia River and Oregon and Washington coasts that regional resistance has stalled and stopped, including two Grays Harbor, Washington crude oil terminals and the Gateway Pacific coal export facility at Cherry Point, Washington.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm PDT, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide climate activism and community opposition to extreme energy projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Paris & Seattle Protests, Portland Train Collision 12-14-15

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The Monday, December 14, 2015 Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) features news about the final accord and accompanying demonstrations at the United Nations COP21 climate talks in Paris, France, protests at Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway headquarters and in solidarity with Paris uprisings, both in Seattle, an action that shut down the Enbridge Line 9 tar sands pipeline in Ontario/Quebec, and a fuel truck and fossil fuel train collision in Portland, Oregon.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:00 pm PST, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide climate activism and community opposition to extreme energy projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.