Eloquently and perspicaciously as always, Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney defends her Earth Day award to the megaload protesters as Earth Protectors and elucidates their/her motivations and the tar sands megaloads’ impacts. Thanks to Tom Hansen for extracting her City Council meeting response to Henry Johnston’s derogatory remarks at the May 7 session.
(Video provided by Tom Hansen)
[NOTE: This press release and accompanying photos garnered public exposure of our frontline tar sands activism through three media outlets. On May 22, lead Rising Tide organizer Scott Parkin posted our description of Spokane protests against ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil’s tar sands construction/transportation invasion of the Northwest as Tar Sands Megaload Fight Moves West to Spokane on the Rising Tide North America website and in the online newsletter It’s Getting Hot in Here: Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement. On the same day, when over 1000 visitors viewed their internet site, the Earth First! Newswire also ran our story about Occupy Spokane/WIRT’s May 20 demonstration.]
At about 11:30 pm on Sunday night, May 20, a dozen activists from Occupy Spokane and Wild Idaho Rising Tide converged in Spokane, Washington, to protest megaloads of oversized equipment bound for Alberta tar sands operations from the Port of Pasco. ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil has been using Highway 395, Interstate 90, and city streets in Spokane and Spokane Valley since mid-October to transport road damaging shipments weighing up to 400,000 pounds and stretching over 200 feet long. Diverted in Idaho from their originally intended Highway 12 route by court challenges and from their alternative Highway 95 path by Moscow area protests, these pieces of a tar sands/bitumen processing plant will expand Canadian carbon fuel extraction, American dependence on oil, and continental greenhouse gas emissions, while reaping hefty profits for one of the wealthiest corporations on Earth. Continue reading
On the Monday, May 21, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), we welcome Marty Cobenais, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network in Minnesota, who organized an anti-megaloads workshop in Lewiston in February 2011. He will speak about indigenous opposition to tar sands extraction and transportation ventures. Please adopt WIRT as your DJ, as we also cover other climate activism news between 7:30 and 9 pm PDT, live at 92.5 FM and online at KRFP Radio Free Moscow. Listen to an edited recording of the May 21 Climate Justice Forum at Radio4All.
On Wednesday, May 16, the second to the last road-hogging convoy of Alberta tar sands equipment, state cops, pilot vehicles, and flaggers will likely rampage Spokane and Spokane Valley streets. Although we cannot promise any dirty energy resister action against ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil until we hear from our Occupy Tri-Cities Port of Pasco scout around 7 or 8 pm, we do not want to miss this opportunity to kick some more Big Oil ass. Our Occupy Spokane allies are enthusiastically taking to the streets, calling for our camaraderie, and even offering sleeping space in their clubhouse! Continue reading
Tucked in among the political endorsements on Thursday’s editorial page (May 10) was a tart bit of criticism from Frank Luzzo, accusing (it is presumed) the megaloads protesters and those who support them of hypocrisy.
I beg to differ. It is not hypocrisy to realize that an energy extraction process which requires more energy input than it returns as output is unsustainable; that allowing one’s community to be used as a doormat for corporate profiteering is ultimately destructive to that community; that the growth-obsessed, consumption-driven economy in which we grew up has brought us to the brink of ecological catastrophe; that the extent of our benefit from the era of cheap oil should be the measure of our responsibility for leading the transition away from it; and that we, as a society, have been headed the wrong way, and it is time to change course.
That is not hypocrisy. It is wisdom.
After an opening half-hour of current regional and national climate activism news, the Monday, May 14, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) will feature Selene Gonzalez of Rising Tide Chicago discussing a national Rising Tide gathering, climate and environmental direct actions, and the NATO Summit protest march in the Windy City on May 18 to 21. Moscow anti-megaload demonstrator and arrestee Jim Prall will also talk about his 1960s and recent protest experiences and his climate nurturing forest restoration endeavors. Listen to KRFP Radio Free Moscow between 7:30 and 9:00 pm PDT online or at 92.5 FM and adopt WIRT as your DJ!
This letter is to the people who think Dan Carscallen was wrong when he opposed the Moscow mayor in the acknowledgement of the megaload protesters.
If you have one piece of plastic in your possession or have rubber tires on your bicycle, then you are a hypocrite.
And how much oil did it take from conception to finished product if you are reading this newspaper today?
Also, 98 percent of a pro football player’s outfit is a by-product of the petroleum industry.
On the Monday, May 7, Climate Justice Forum radio program, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) will host Bruce Mohun of North Vancouver, spokesperson for British Columbians for Climate Action, who warned Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway owner Warren Buffet of their intent to impede Asian export coal trains near White Rock, B.C., and were arrested for their peaceful blockade on Saturday, May 5, International Stop the Tar Sands/Climate Impacts Day. Justin Ellenbecker of Occupy Spokane will also talk about the Climate Justice Protest against ExxonMobil’s Megaloads, in observance of the same occasion, which mobilized Spokane citizens opposing Alberta tar sands expansion on Sunday night, May 6. Listen to the KRFP Radio Free Moscow show between 7:30 and 9:00 pm PDT at 92.5 FM or online for other regional dirty energy resistance news and adopt WIRT as your DJ!
In recognition of International Stop the Tar Sands/Climate Impacts Day on Saturday, a group of about eight activists met near East Third Avenue in Spokane, Washington, on Sunday evening, May 6, to protest megaloads of oversized equipment bound for Alberta tar sands operations from the Port of Pasco. ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil has been using Highway 395, Interstate 90, and city streets in Spokane and Spokane Valley since mid-October to transport road damaging shipments weighing up to 400,000 pounds and stretching over 200 feet long. Diverted in Idaho from their originally intended Highway 12 route by court challenges and from their alternative Highway 95 path by Moscow area protests, these pieces of a tar sands/bitumen processing plant will expand Canadian carbon fuel extraction, American dependence on oil, and continental greenhouse gas emissions, while reaping exorbitant profits for one of the wealthiest corporations on Earth. Continue reading
BOISE – The new owners of natural gas wells in western Idaho plan to spend more and drill more to find more gas in the state.
“This is exciting news for Idaho,” Snake River Oil and Gas President Richard Brown told the Idaho Statesman in a story published Saturday. “This acquisition of the productive wells and the thousands of associated leased acres means we can expand our oil and gas exploration program, drill more wells, and bring major investments to the region and the state.”
The company is partnering with AM Idaho LLC, a subsidiary of Texas-based Alta Mesa Holdings.
The companies recently purchased the Idaho gas wells from Bridge Resources Corporation and its partner, Paramax Resources Ltd. Those companies in 2010 produced what appear to be commercially viable natural gas wells after drilling 11 wells in Payette County.
The new owners plan to use advanced technology that allows geologic mapping of the region to find more natural gas. Continue reading
Wild Idaho Rising Tide 