Climate Justice Forum: Washington Governor on GTN Xpress Rehearing Petitions, Northwest Double Coal Trains, Atlanta Cop City Blockade, Dakota Access Pipeline Comment Period 11-29-23

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The Wednesday, November 29, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features a media conference held by Washington Governor Jay Inslee and Columbia Riverkeeper attorney Audrey Leonard, talking about petitions for rehearing filed by West Coast states and a Northwest coalition, challenging federal approval of the GTN Xpress fracked methane pipeline expansion.  We also share news, music, and reflections on the deadly international and Zionist dynamics of settler colonialism and resistance, double-long coal trains and Navajo mine-forced coal shipments crossing north Idaho and Washington, an elder blockade of Atlanta cop training center construction, and an extended public comment period on a court-ordered environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline.  Broadcast for eleven 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 opposition to fossil fuels 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: Will Wiltschko on Bay Area APEC Protests, Israel Apartheid & Global Palestine Solidarity, Indigenous Thanksgiving Perspectives, Legal Challenges of GTN Xpress Pipeline 11-22-23

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The Wednesday, November 22, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features Will Wiltschko of the California Trade Justice Coalition and Scott Parkin of Green and Red Podcast talking about the week of protests organized by diverse movements against the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit convened by corporate billionaires and government leaders in the San Francisco Bay area last week.  We also share news, videos, and reflections on Israel environmental apartheid of Palestine lives, land, water, natural gas, and other resources and global solidarity with Palestinian resistance, Indigenous perspectives and rejection of the American Thanksgiving celebration, and a Northwest coalition legal challenge of federal approval of the GTN Xpress fracked methane pipeline expansion.  Broadcast for eleven 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 fuels 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: Idaho Methane Pipeline Expansion Protest, Radioactive Train, & Oil & Gas Facility Emissions, Oregon Liquefied Natural Gas Fire, Methane Gas Health Consequences 11-15-23

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The Wednesday, November 15, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features a Moscow, Idaho, march and rally opposing GTN Xpress fracked gas pipeline expansion, as part of multiple inland Northwest protests responding to federal approval of this TC Energy proposal.  We also share news, music, and reflections on a possibly radioactive, north Idaho train, illegal, toxic, unregulated emissions from southern Idaho oil and gas facilities, an Oregon liquefied natural gas truck tanker fire and burned driver, and the health consequences of extracting, transporting, and burning methane gas.  Broadcast for eleven 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 fuels 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: Audrey Leonard, Spokane Safety Vigil, & Inland Northwest Protests of GTN Xpress Gas Pipeline Expansion, Spokane Indigenous Delegation Talk about COP 28 11-8-23

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The Wednesday, November 8, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features Columbia Riverkeeper attorney Audrey Leonard talking about the dangers of TC Energy’s proposed GTN Xpress fracked gas pipeline expansion and Northwest opposition actions and opportunities.  We also share news, music, and reflections on a Spokane community safety vigil and multiple inland Northwest protests responding to federal approval of GTN Xpress and an upcoming Spokane presentation to support an indigenous delegation to the COP28 climate talks, including shot Spokane activist and artist Jacob Johns.  Broadcast for eleven 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 fuels 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: GTN Xpress Hearing & Inland Northwest Protests, Wounded Spokane Activist Update, BC Pipeline Resister Trials, Atlanta Cop City Actions, DAPL EIS Comment Period 11-1-23

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The Wednesday, November 1, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features speakers at the February 13 People’s Hearing to Stop GTN Xpress, hosted by a Northwest coalition to gather testimony from community and tribal members threatened by Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline expansion.  We also share news, music, and reflections on a Spokane candle light vigil, Seattle Times editorial, and multi-city inland Northwest protests opposing federal approval of GTN Xpress, updates from Spokane indigenous activist Jacob Johns shot in New Mexico, Wet’suwet’en land defender trials resulting from Coastal GasLink pipeline resistance in British Columbia, an upcoming mass action to halt construction of an Atlanta cop training facility, and a public comment period and North Dakota hearings on a court-ordered environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline.  Broadcast for eleven 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 opposition to fossil fuels projects, the root causes of climate change, thanks to generous, anonymous listeners who adopted program host Helen Yost as their KRFP DJ. Continue reading →

Inland Northwest GTN Xpress Weeks of Actions

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Inland Northwest GTN Xpress Weeks of Actions FlyerOn October 19, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) Xpress expansion of an unsafe, potentially explosive, six-decade-plus, methane (“natural” gas) pipeline across Idaho, Washington, and Oregon to California [1-7].  The Calgary, Alberta-based, Canadian owner of the rejected Keystone XL and rupture-prone Keystone tar sands pipelines in the Great Plains and the fiery Columbia Gas Transmission line in the northeast U.S., TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) proposes to increase the pump pressures of three compressor stations in Athol, Idaho, Starbuck, Washington, and Kent, Oregon, and push an additional 150 million cubic feet per day of unneeded, fracked gas volumes through the almost 1,400-mile-long GTN line from Eastport, Idaho, to Malin, Oregon, suspiciously the origin point of the defeated Pacific Connector gas pipeline to the also vanquished Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal planned for Coos Bay, Oregon [8, 9].

The bi-directional Williams Northwest gas line would carry over half (79 million cubic feet per day) of GTN Xpress methane from the GTN-Northwest juncture near the Columbia River at Stanfield, Oregon, to the Boise metropolitan area and southern Idaho.  Cascade Natural Gas based in Kennewick, Washington, and Intermountain Gas headquartered in Boise signed precedent agreements for their utility companies to receive and distribute GTN Xpress gas.  Not coincidentally, Intermountain has concurrently applied to the Idaho Public Utilities Commission for customer rate increases, contested by the city of Boise and Idaho Conservation League, likely to pass the costs of excess GTN methane on to Idaho consumers.

After rubber stamping 423 of 425 pipeline applications as standard practice during the last two decades, FERC published a 79-page order issuing a certificate of public convenience and necessity for GTN Xpress, including statements from commissioners Clements and Danly both partially concurring and dissenting with the decision [10, 11].  This outcome ignored Northwest concerns about the lack of gas demand and the climate, health, and safety impacts of the expansion (addressed in an upcoming action alert), neglected proper tribal consultation, despite extensive comments to FERC from the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and dismissed unprecedented community, tribal, and state and federal government resistance to this scheme clearly driven by industry profits from increasingly stranded fossil fuels assets.

Columbia Riverkeeper and Rogue Climate, accepted intervenors in this quasi-judicial, FERC case deliberating whether GTN Xpress methane is both necessary and in the public interest, will challenge this reckless decision, by petitioning FERC before November 22, to withdraw its GTN Xpress order and/or hold a formal rehearing.  Through their first of several filings, since the public comment period on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for GTN Xpress in summer 2022, all three West Coast attorneys general requested belated intervenor status after the February 2022 deadline.  The Stop GTN Xpress coalition is encouraging the states of Washington, Oregon, and California, who urged FERC to reject this project, to also ask FERC for a rehearing.  As the Northwest continues to hold FERC, TC Energy, and GTN accountable for exacerbated climate change and environmental injustices, FERC can grant, deny, or ignore these petitions within 30 days of their filing, and compressor station upgrades and construction could begin in January 2024.

Besides thousands of Northwest citizens and a broad coalition of dozens of regional and nationwide, indigenous, environmental, health, and faith advocacy groups, numerous elected officials have voiced objections to GTN Xpress, including U.S. senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of Oregon, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington, and Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla of California, U.S. Congressional members Earl Blumenauer and Andrea Salinas of Oregon, Washington governor Jay Inslee, Oregon governor Tina Kotek, attorneys general Rob Bonta of California, Bob Ferguson of Washington, and Ellen Rosenblum of Oregon, and four Oregon and Washington state representatives.

Inland Northwest GTN Xpress Weeks of Actions Continue reading →

Spokane Vigil Opposing GTN Xpress

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Vigil for Community Safety GTN Xpress 11-5-23

Along with Inland Northwest GTN Xpress Weeks of Actions in Athol, Boise, Moscow, and Sandpoint, Idaho, and Kennewick and Spokane, Washington, on October 28 to November 10, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists and allies encourage you to attend this GTN Xpress pipeline corridor community safety vigil on Sunday evening, November 5 [1, 2].

Forwarded message:

Dear colleagues and friends,

You are invited to a vigil to respond to the recent, disappointing news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has green-lighted the GTN Xpress fracked gas pipeline expansion project.  Here are the details, and attached is a flyer, which you are welcome to pass along to those who would be interested.

Vigil for Community Safety Against Approved Pipeline Expansion of Gas Transmission Northwest Xpress

Sunday, November 5, 2023, 4:30-5:30 pm*

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 316 East 24th Avenue, Spokane

*Please note that this will be an outdoor event on the day when clocks change from daylight savings to standard time.  For more information, please see our website, the Seattle Times, and Columbia Riverkeeper [3-5].

The vigil is co-sponsored by these organizations: Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: GTN Xpress Gas Pipeline Expansion Hearing, Federal Approval, Legal Challenges, & Protests, Shot Spokane Activist Updates, American Climate Corps 10-25-23

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The Wednesday, October 25, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features speakers at the February 13 People’s Hearing to Stop GTN Xpress, hosted by a Northwest coalition to gather testimony from community and tribal members threatened by Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline expansion. We also share news, music, and reflections on recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval of GTN Xpress, Spokane and Idaho news coverage, upcoming legal challenges, and inland Northwest protests of the FERC decision, updates and a benefit for Spokane indigenous activist Jacob Johns shot in New Mexico, and a Sunrise Movement explanation of the American Climate Corps. Broadcast for eleven 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: Northwest Pipeline Hearing, Looming Decision, & Protests Week, Jacob Johns Benefit & Shooter Charges, Deadly Colorado Coal Derailment, Idaho Gas Line Explosion 10-18-23

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The Wednesday, October 18, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features speakers at the February 13 People’s Hearing to Stop GTN Xpress, hosted by a Northwest coalition to gather testimony from community members threatened by Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline expansion.  We also share news, videos, and reflections on a shooter sentencing hearing, press conference, and benefit art show for Spokane indigenous activist Jacob Johns wounded in New Mexico, the recent annular and upcoming solar eclipses, a deadly Colorado bridge coal train derailment and prolonged interstate closure, an excavator rupture and explosion of an Idaho gas pipeline proposed for reversal, and a looming federal decision and week of inland Northwest protests of GTN Xpress.  Broadcast for eleven 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: Indigenous Peoples Day & Hate Crimes, Northwest Pipeline Support & Protests, Appalachia Pipeline & Idaho Park Blockades, Washington Earthquakes & Nuclear Facilities 10-11-23

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The Wednesday, October 11, 2023, Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activists collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), features news, videos, and reflections on Indigenous Peoples Day, the shooting of Spokane climate activist Jacob Johns at a peaceful New Mexico prayer gathering, calls by his family and Native community leaders for justice, unity, and federal hate crime charges, conservative representative and news demands for, and upcoming regional protests against, Northwest gas pipeline expansion, blockades of Appalachian pipeline construction and north Idaho park trees removal, and nuclear submarine and weapons facilities in a recently active Washington earthquake and tsunami zone.  Broadcast for eleven 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 →