Climate Justice Forum: Paul Sieracki on Chloride Gold Idaho Lakeside Deforestation, Nevada Lithium Mine Resistance March, Hearing, & Contract, Manchin FERC Protest, Actions Honoring Joye Braun 1-11-23

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The Wednesday, January 11, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features north Idaho wildlands and wildlife activist and GIS researcher Paul Sieracki talking about the massive Chloride Gold deforestation scheme planned for the remote and mountainous southeast side of Lake Pend Oreille.  We also share news, music, and reflections on an indigenous march and resistance, federal court hearing, and construction contract for the proposed Thacker Pass lithium mine in northern Nevada, a Washington D.C. protest of Senator Manchin control of the pipeline-permitting Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and a call to actions honoring fossil fuels opponent Joye Braun and the second anniversary of Keystone XL pipeline rejection by President Biden.  Broadcast for ten 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, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuel 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: Max Wilbert on Nevada Lithium Mine Resistance, Idaho Highway Construction & Park Geese Hunt, Northwest Coal Trains & Wrecks, Pipeline Expansions, & Opposition 1-4-23

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The Wednesday, January 4, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features Protect Thacker Pass activist Max Wilbert talking about ground resistance, three lawsuits, a federal hearing, and an indigenous march against a proposed northern Nevada lithium mine.  We also share news, music, and reflections on north Idaho court challenges of Highway 95 construction in wetlands, Northwest coal train decreases in late 2022 and another BNSF train wreck on New Year’s Day, a public Canada geese hunt at Sandpoint City Beach, Coastal GasLink pipeline construction and protester winter gear requests in British Columbia, and GTN Xpress Northwest gas pipeline expansion and opposition.  Broadcast for ten 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, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Audrey Leonard on Northwest Pipeline Opposition, Idaho Highway & Rail Bridge Expansion & Resistance, Nevada Lithium Mine Damages, Hearing, & Protest 12-28-22

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The Wednesday, December 28, 2022, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features Columbia Riverkeeper attorney Audrey Leonard talking about TC Energy’s proposed GTN Xpress fracked gas pipeline expansion and Northwest opposition actions and opportunities.  We also share news, music, and reflections on litigation and crowdfunding to protect Palouse Prairie wetlands from rerouted Idaho highway construction paused for winter, railroad completion of a second north Idaho lake bridge, and an upcoming federal court hearing and indigenous ceremony denouncing sacred site damages at a proposed Nevada lithium mine site.  Broadcast for ten 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, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Winter Solstice, New Idaho Rail Bridge & Spill Training, Suppressed Rail Workers Strike, Coal Train Lawsuit, COP27 Greenwash, Northwest Pipeline Support & Opposition 12-21-22

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The Wednesday, December 21, 2022, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features news, songs, and reflections on Winter Solstice, a Minnesota talk about Idaho campaigns against tar sands megaloads and oil and gas development, a second Idaho lake bridge opening and first responders train spill training, a rail workers strike on unresolved quality-of-life concerns suppressed by Congress and fossil fuels companies, a Navajo Northwest coal company lawsuit over reduced BNSF Railway shipments, indigenous and allied actions against the Coastal GasLink pipeline and United Nations COP27 greenwashing, an Idaho Congressional and governor letter supporting Northwest gas pipeline expansion written by pipeline company TC Energy, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Oregon senators comments against the same GTN Xpress project.  Broadcast for ten 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, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Audrey Leonard on Northwest Gas Pipeline Expansion, Largest Keystone Tar Sands Flows & Kansas Spill, Idaho Riverside Gas Well Hearing & Utah Oil Trains Solidarity Protest 12-14-22

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The Wednesday, December 14, 2022, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features Columbia Riverkeeper attorney Audrey Leonard talking about the dangers of TC Energy’s proposed GTN Xpress gas pipeline expansion and Northwest opposition actions and opportunities.  We also share news, interviews, and reflections on the largest TC Energy Keystone tar sands pipeline spill in Kansas and increased flows causing larger leaks, a southern Idaho federal court hearing on a permitted riverside gas well, and a north Idaho solidarity action protesting new Uinta Basin Railway and ongoing Lake Pend Oreille oil trains and fossil fuels infrastructure.  Broadcast for ten 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, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Uinta Basin Railway Public Hearing & Upcoming Solidarity Protests of Proposed Utah Oil Trains & Idaho Second Lake Rail Bridge Completion 12-7-22

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The Wednesday, December 7, 2022, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features a December 2020 public hearing hosted by the federal Surface Transportation Board, for commenters concerned about proposed Uinta Basin Railway construction and its oil trains and impacts in Utah and beyond.  We also share news, music, and reflections on an upcoming day of solidarity actions protesting this new railroad and the completion of a second fossil fuels pipeline-on-rails bridge over Idaho’s largest, deepest lake.  Broadcast for ten 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, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.

Stop Uinta Basin Railway Solidarity Action

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Stop Uinta Basin Railway Solidarity Action FlyerWild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and climate activists throughout the West are organizing solidarity protests of oil trains and infrastructure, for a day of action against the Uinta Basin Railway (UBR), supporting campaigns against the Utah oil-by-rail scheme and in north Idaho, denouncing completion of BNSF Railway’s second, almost mile-long, rail bridge across the state’s largest, deepest lake: mountainous Lake Pend Oreille.  Utah and Colorado comrades are calling for community-led actions on Saturday, December 10, 2022, to show that concerned citizens object to the devastating UBR project, and to pressure federal lawmakers, state representatives, and local governments to prevent building of the Uinta Basin Railway.  They ask everyone to explore the #StopUintaBasinRailway action toolkit with information about the UBR and action coordination, sign a letter to Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack, demanding that he revoke the U.S. Forest Service permit for the railway, participate in actions happening in a dozen locations, register to join a remote phone bank on Tuesday, December 13, at 10 am Pacific time, and tell UBR opponents that you are interested in assisting this campaign [1-2].

To involve local communities across the United States in advocating against UBR permits and their potential disasters for climate and environmental justice, Colorado groups held a public, online, action training on November 10 [3].  Organizers with years of experience shared ideas about planning effective actions and helped participants learn about the UBR oil trains that would threaten lives and livelihoods along rail routes from Utah to Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana, and around the southern Northwest, Union Pacific Railroad (UP) line across southern Idaho and eastern Oregon to western Washington.

Most of WIRT and allied resistance to behemoth oil and coal train shipments has successfully focused on dozens of BNSF Railway fossil fuels pipeline-on-rails routes from the Great Plains to the West Coast.  We rarely demonstrate against Union Pacific, except while decrying its few weekly, Northwest, tar sands trains and myriad derailments, including the Mosier, Oregon, oil train spill and fire in June 2016.  Based on our experiences of BNSF’s ongoing malfeasance, WIRT encouraged and sent extensive comments on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) in 2021, opposing the Uinta Basin Railway, and talked about the issue during recent years on our weekly, Climate Justice Forum, radio program [4].  WIRT remains steadfast in our thorough monitoring, reporting, and protesting of daily, BNSF, Bakken crude oil trains across north Idaho, as we gratefully accept dedicated co-workers’ invitations to alert our regional neighbors to the impending dangers and direct action opportunities of Utah oil transport across the Northwest.

Uinta Basin & BNSF Railways Protest

As part of countless demonstrations against the fossil fuel causes of the climate crisis and their insidious pollution, risks, and impacts on north Idaho and Northwest rail line communities, we plan to protest both the proposed Uinta Basin Railway oil trains and tracks and the BNSF Railway expansion of its industrial infrastructure into Lake Pend Oreille and Sandpoint, with three second rail bridges and two miles of doubled main line.  Please dress for warmth and dryness, bring your signs and banners, voices and drums, friends and family, and joy and courage, and join WIRT and inland Northwest activists for the Stop Uinta Basin Railway Solidarity Action at 12 noon on Saturday, December 10, at the Serenity Lee trailhead near the East Superior Street and Highway 95 intersection and/or on the public, pedestrian, and bike path to Dog Beach Park in Sandpoint, Idaho.  WIRT will provide on-site action advice and chants and pizza for appreciated participants after the gathering.  Respond in advance with your questions and suggestions, share this event information and flyer among your associates and contacts, and see previous and upcoming, website- and facebook-posted, WIRT newsletters and alerts, for further updates on these issues.

Uinta Basin Railway Opposition Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Joshua Frank on Hanford Nuclear Hazards, Northwest Pipeline Review, Idaho Rail Bridge Opening & Donations, Utah Oil Rail Line Protests, COP27 Spokane Activists 11-30-22

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The Wednesday, November 30, 2022, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features Joshua Frank of independent news journal Counterpunch, discussing the leaking radioactive and potentially explosive Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington and his new book about this most toxic American site.  We also share news and reflections on native perspectives of Thanksgiving history, final environmental review and grassroots coalition opposition to Northwest fracked gas pipeline expansion, BNSF Railway food bank donations and completion of a second north Idaho lake bridge, upcoming actions against a proposed Utah oil-by-rail line, and indigenous Spokane activists at the United Nations COP27 climate conference in Egypt.  Broadcast for ten 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, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Rethinking Thanksgiving Webinar on Indigenous Sovereignty & Land Rematriation, Northwest Pipeline Talks & FEIS 11-23-22

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The Wednesday, November 23, 2022, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features an NDN Collective, Rethinking Thanksgiving webinar on indigenous and solidarity movements committed to sovereignty, land rematriation, and a just and sustainable existence for all.  We also share news and reflections on teleconferenced talks and a final environmental review of the proposed GTN Xpress Northwest gas pipeline expansion and rejection of a November holiday celebrating ongoing North American invasions.  Broadcast for ten 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, the show describes continent-wide, grassroots, frontline resistance to fossil fuel projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ.

November 17-18 GTN Xpress Action, WIRT Talk, & FEIS Release

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Stop GTN Xpress Phone ZapGTN Xpress & Idaho & Northwest Stakeholders

Canadian energy company TC Energy (formerly TransCanada), owner of the notorious Keystone and Keystone XL tar sands pipelines and the Coastal GasLink line under contested construction through unceded, indigenous, Wet’suwet’en territories in British Columbia (B.C.), has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to increase the “natural” gas pipeline volumes and pressures of three compressor stations along its Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline, with the GTN Xpress expansion project from B.C. through north Idaho, eastern Washington, and central Oregon.  The 61-year-old, potentially explosive GTN pipeline passes under Wild Idaho Rising Tide’s (WIRT) fossil fuels pipeline-on-rails frontline community and waters around Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, through several rural sacrifice zones, and below the Spokane, Washington, metropolitan area.  One of the GTN compressor stations planned for upgrades stands near dozens of unaware residences and a popular amusement park full of hundreds of visitors in Athol, Idaho [1].

TC Energy and partner fossil fuel corporations propose to increase the capacity for dangerous methane gas in the existing, 1,354-mile GTN pipeline by 150 million cubic feet per day, pushing more gas into the Northwest and locking communities into expensive fossil fuel energy for decades.  If approved by FERC, the GTN Xpress expansion would cause continued fracking in tribal lands in Canada and threaten and harm the health and safety of rural, low-income communities living and working along the pipeline route.  Prone to accidents like leaks, fires, and explosions, the aging infrastructure of pipelines and compressor stations risks exposing nearby residents to cancer-causing pollutants.

Over the last few decades, Northwest citizens have defeated fossil fuels pipelines, processing plants, and export terminals, and organized to pass local and state climate laws, while experiencing record droughts, wildfires, storms, floods, and other climate change impacts.  But sneakier pipeline expansions require different government processes and regulations than new pipeline construction, even though GTN Xpress would exacerbate the greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the climate crisis contributing to these conditions.  Supplying enough gas to serve 1.2 million households each day, GTN Xpress would contradict Oregon and Washington state policy commitments to reduce climate pollution and end dependence on climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

During summer 2022, over 1,300 people petitioned FERC to deny TC Energy’s plans; Columbia River tribes voiced their resistance; a broad, emerging coalition of Northwest community groups commented against the project; and the attorneys general of California, Oregon, and Washington told FERC that they oppose GTN Xpress, because it clearly conflicts with state and federal climate goals.  With FERC expected to release the scheme’s final environmental impact statement (EIS) on November 18, 2022, and to issue an ultimate decision in February 2023, Northwesterners need to hold FERC accountable, ask that the agency address valid climate, public health, and environmental concerns raised across the region, and demand that FERC reject the GTN Xpress project.

Since April 2022, the WIRT climate activist collective has been informing, networking, and supporting impacted, indigenous, and grassroots groups and individuals and state, county, and city, elected and agency officials about GTN Xpress, along the north Idaho and eastern Washington GTN pipeline corridor and in southern Idaho, where Intermountain Gas customers would receive over half of the additional GTN Xpress methane gas from a Stanfield, Oregon, compressor station diversion.  We have provided extensive comments to FERC on behalf of WIRT’s 3,200-plus contacts, and communicated and urged opposition to the GTN Xpress gas pipeline expansion via social media, email, website, and other online resources, and through WIRT’s weekly, eleven-years-broadcast, community radio program [2].  WIRT plans to continue to raise resistance to this Canadian stranded gas asset invasion of the Northwest, by encouraging citizen involvement in public processes and alternative methods of GTN Xpress rejection.

Stop GTN Xpress Week of Actions Report Continue reading →