Fearless Summer

The first days of summer just got hotter as environmental activists are turning up the heat on the fossil fuel industry. Frontline environmental groups are waging non-violent civil disobedience against the tar sands industry, mountain-top removal, and hydraulic-fracturing. A summer long campaign, named Fearless Summer, kicked off today against extreme forms of fuel extraction. #FearlessSummer is a leaderless, loose coalition, umbrella term for groups working to escalate the movement against extreme energy and for a livable future. This spring was ripe with direct actions across the country and the seeds have been sewn for a fertile, Fearless Summer. 

     Multiple actions took place today to kickoff the first day of Fearless Summer. The Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance staged their largest action to date. Eight people locked-down to heavy machinery and a work trailer in Seminole, OK early this morning before being arrested. A total of ten people were arrested, and one of the 'lock-downers' was sent to the hospital after a volunteer firefighter attempted to use the Jaws-of-Life to extract them. Their website reads, "Folks soonafter unlocked out of concerns for their safety." They were blocking construction of a pump station for TransCanada's hotly contested Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. 

     In Michigan, members of Detroit Coalition Against Tar Sands, DCATS, used their bodies to block five trucks of "petcoke" from being dumped along the Detroit River. Further west in the state, in Marshall, Chris Whamhoff used a skateboard to crawl deep inside Enbridge's Line 6B. Whamhoff is part of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands, Mi CATS, and he celebrated his birthday today by occupying the pipeline for the entire work day. He was calling attention Enbridge's failure to adequately clean up the pipeline spill in the Kalamazoo River that occurred nearly three years ago, and exposing their planned re-construction of the pipeline. 

     Folks in West Virginia, Vermont, and New York sent messages to public officials to stop extreme forms of extraction and to say no to gas pipelines. In Ontario, blockaders have 'swamped line 9' and occupied a pumping station for Enbridge's Line 9. Their action "aims to prevent construction on Line 9 and block the transport of Tar Sands through Ontario and Quebec." Back in the states, EarthFirst Humboldt and Little Lake Valley Defender Will Parish climbs a 100-foot wick drain stitcher that's drying out the wetlands for highway construction in Willits, CA. Parish is on his fifth day of  the tower sit and second day without food. In Oregon, folks with Cascadia Forest Defenders are in their second week of a tree-sit to save old growth forest. Fearless Summer had a mighty start today and many more actions are planned for the coming weeks and months. 

     All of this comes just one day before President Obama's big climate speech. The president is poised to outline his "vision for a comprehensive plan to reduce carbon pollution, prepare our country for the impacts of climate change, and lead global efforts to fight it." Although emissions rules for power plants, efficiency standards, renewable energy development, and climate impact preparation are on the docket, don't hold your breathe for a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. The environmental impact assessment is not yet finished for the Keystone XL pipeline, and he is likely to announce his decision later this year. President Obama would be wise to listen to his environmental base, because grassroots movements like Fearless Summer and 350.org are building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. 

Stand Tall With Julia

"This is too big for the insiders, too big for the lawyers and lobbyist that dominate this place," says progressive syndicated columnist Jim Hightower.  "This is so big that it has to go to the people, and this is why we are going to the top leadership, to get them to take it to the people."

  

Photo: Max Anderson

     This past Monday, Debra Medina, We Texans, Julia Trigg Crawford, Lamar County landowner, and Texas progressive Jim Hightower spent time with legislators at the Texas capitol to discuss eminent domain abuses.  They want to secure public hearings for Texans immediately following this Special Session -- in communities starting with East Texas -- who have suffered from the abuse of eminent domain in the Lone Star State.
     Crawford is the manager of Red'Arc Farm.  Her grandfather bought the 650-acre farm in 1948. She is currently in litigation with TransCanada, the company behind the hotly contested Keystone XL pipeline, after they seized part of her land claiming eminent domain.  TransCanada received the rubber stamp of approval from the Texas Railroad Commission after saying that the KXL will be a 'common carrier.' Crawford says, "We don't believe a Canadian corporation, transporting a product made in Canada, has the right to take a Texans land."  Landowners face significant obstacles in part because Texas eminent domain laws do not provide due process for individuals until after their land is seized.

Photo: Max Anderson

     A grass roots 'cross partisan coalition' is forming to have public hearings for local citizens to voice their concerns.  Hightower says, "Our legislative leaders have been weaker than Canadian hot sauce when it comes to standing up for farmers... against a multibillion dollar Canadian corporation who is coming in and taking the land of farmers. It is a mockery of our democracy."
     The trio is at the capitol to urge that hearings for an Interim Study begin immediately in East Texas along the route of the TransCanada/Keystone XL pipeline. This pipeline is due for completion sometime early next year. In addition to concerns about the use of eminent domain, the House Land & Resource Management, Business & Industry, and Energy Resources committees have all heard additional concerns that landowners, together with towns, cities and counties along the route, may be inadequately prepared for emergency measures needed if there is a pipeline breach.  The fact that the pipeline is carrying diluted bitumen under high pressure, which poses particular dangers to health, safety and our water supply, has somehow been lost in the eminent domain shuffle.

Photo: Max Anderson

     The Keystone XL pipeline will cross the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which serves 10-12 million people, and other Texas waterways along its path to refineries in Port Arthur and Manchester.  This is raising serious concerns about preserving the integrity of our water, especially with the recent news of 'anomalies' found in newly laid pipe in East Texas. Public hearings and full discloser are a necessity if we want the people to have a say.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a blockader!

Photo: Tar Sands Blockade/Creative Commons

Diboll, TX - Tar Sands Blockaders halt construction of Keystone XL pipeline with aerial tree blockade. Late Wednesday night blockaders set up two "dump platforms" nestled 50-60 feet in the air with a perimeter of intricate life-lines spanning 80-100 feet. The blockaders are sitting in solidarity with the Idle No More First Nations movement. 

    The first day of blockading ended with a ten hour stand-off between protesters and police and led to the arrest of five individuals, including one of the tree-sitters who was brought to the ground by a cherry picker. The tree blockade comes just weeks after the end of Tar Sands Blockade's 85 day tree blockade near Winnsboro, TX. 

     Tar Sands Blockade Spokesperson Ron Seifert says using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop construction of TransCanada's Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is necessary for our collective future. 

Photo: Tar Sands Blockade/Creative Commons

     "Institutional methods of addressing climate change have failed us," explained Ron Seifert. "Rising up to defend our homes against corporate exploitation is our  best and only hope to preserve life on this planet. We must normalize and embrace direct, organized resistance to the death machine of industrial extraction and stand with those like Idle No More who take extraordinary risk to defend their families and livelihoods." 

     Angelina County authorities said the second protester is still atop the "dump platform" deep in the woods. They plan on coming back in the morning to retrieve the blockader. 

     This is the first direct-action of 2013 for Tar Sands Blockade, who is entering their sixth month of civil disobedience against the Keystone XL pipeline. Tar Sands Blockade is a coalition of climate justice activists and Texas and Oklahoma landowners using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop construction of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline. 

Want to get more involved with TSB? Make a donation and join the campaign. 

Photo: Tar Sands Blockade/Creative Commons

Tar Sands Blockade

Photo: Max Anderson

     Opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline is heating up in East Texas. The Tar Sands Blockade group is organizing with local residents and environmentalists from around the country to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Led by veteran climate justice organizers, participants have waged non-violent direct action against construction of the pipeline by building a tree sit-in and locking-down to heavy machinery. 

     Tar Sands Blockade, now entering its sixth month of action, will be hosting another 'mass action training camp' in preparation for an action on January 7th. The mass action camp is scheduled January 3rd - 8th. The training and events are open and include roles for everyone. If you are interested in joining the Tar Sands Blockade and standing up against toxic tar sands then make your way to Southeast Texas this weekend!!!

TransCanada, bad for Texas

TransCanada steals Texans’ private property! That’s right. TransCanada, a foreign transnational corporation, is coming into Texas and expropriating private property from individual landowners. Under the guise of ‘eminent domain’ TransCanada has been successful at bullying landholders to for go their private property for TransCanada’s right-of-way of the Gulf Coast project, the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Photo: Max Anderson

            The Keystone pipeline system will span 1,702 miles, and will carry heavy crude from the oil sands mines of Alberta, Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast. The southern leg will stretch 485 miles from Cushing, OK to Nederland, TX. It will carry 700,000 barrels of crude a day. The pipeline will cut across 17 Texas counties and cross several major waterways, including the Neches, Red, Angelina, and Sabine Rivers, as well as the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which provides drinking water to upwards of 10 million Texans. The Keystone XL pipeline will also run near the Big Thicket National Wildlife Preserve in southeast Texas.

            All pipelines leak. The Keystone 1 pipeline spilled 12 times in its first year. This could wreak havoc on the waterways in Texas, pollute precious ground water, and has likelihood of being the next Kalamazoo River spill. East Texas, which is already drought stricken, cannot afford to have its’ waterways polluted on a large scale. It is not only bad for Texas, but it’s dangerous to its citizens. The human race can survive without oil, we cannot, however, survive without water.

            The Keystone XL pipeline has been cited with bringing jobs to the area and supporting energy independence, but what is less known is that TransCanada has contracted jobs to Michels, a company based out of Wisconsin, and most of the product, once it is refined in Houston and Port Arthur, will be sold on a global market to places like China, India, and Brazil. How is this good for Texas?

            What is often neglected in mainstream news is what the pipes will be transporting. It is not conventional crudes or even natural gas, but an unconventional diluted bitumen that is extracted from tar sands. Tar sands are one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet. It is literally tar that has the consistency of peanut butter. Before they can put this substance into any pipe they must first extract the oil out of the sands. The extraction process is very energy intensive with little return on oil. TransCanada must first large-scale surface mine the land to extract the ore. Once it is mined, they then use enormous amounts of water to get the oil out of the sands. It can take upwards of four barrels of water per one barrel of oil. The water used in the extraction process is eventually stored in vast tailing ponds. These tailing ponds, which can be seen by the naked from space, hold water mixed with toxic by-products of the extraction process and is acutely toxic to aquatic life. The environmental concerns associated with developing the tar sands are now of substantial concern. NASA’s leading climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, has called the Keystone XL pipeline “game over” for the planet.

Photo: Max Anderson

            There is a movement of resistance growing in East Texas. There has been a consensus among landowners, scientist and environmental activists in opposing the pipeline. The Tar Sands Blockade group has been actively trying to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The Tar Sands Blockade group is dedicated to using non-violent civil disobedience to stop construction along the proposed pathway. Tar Sands Blockade members have locked onto heavy machinery used in the construction process, set up a tree village blockade along the proposed pipeline path, and held protests in front of construction sites. The most recent action on October 15^th was the largest yet. More than 50 people participated in shutting down construction near Winnsboro, TX. A total of nine people were arrested, including two men who locked onto a backhoe for nearly eight hours. This was Tar Sands Blockade’s ninth action in just a few months. The first action was on August 28^th when four people lock-boxed themselves to an 18-wheeler carrying pipes in Livingston, TX.  The Tar Sands Blockade has been growing in strength and shows no signs of slowing down.

            A resistance movement between concerned landowners, scientists and eco-activists is heating up in the backwoods of Texas with one message: TransCanada, GO AWAY!

At The Drive In reunited

By Max Anderson

Texas State student

AUSTIN, Tx – For the first time in 11 years the members of At The Drive In took the stage together. They kicked off their tour in the capital of Texas and tickets for the Austin show sold-out in fewer than 15 minutes.

News about the concert first appeared on twitter, a popular social media website, and links to the tickets were posted on ATDI and Cedric Bixler Zavalla's page. Tickets went on sale three days before the show, with no advanced warning of a show in Austin, and sold-out in 11 minutes. Many fans were upset because they could not get tickets, but that did not stop about 150 fans from listening to ATDI’s first performance in 11 years.

ATDI played on the outdoor stage at Red 7, located on 7^th street. In the alley behind Red 7, about 150 fans gathered to listen to ATDI’s hour-long set. People climbed trees, sat on fences and stood on dumpsters to get a glimpse of the band. Although the stage was not visible through the 10-foot tall concrete wall, the music was loud.

Fans danced, cheered, and sang along with the band on the other side of the wall. A few daring fans even slipped through a neighboring gate and scaled a wall just to get a peak of the band. ATDI played old favorites “Arcarsenal,"“Pattern Against User," “Napoleon Solo," “Catacombs," “One Armed Scissor” and many more.

After the show ATDI was rushed off stage and into a black unmarked van waiting in the alley. Fans gathered around the van and took pictures and cheered as the van drove off. Everyone appeared to be in high spirits except for Omar Rodriguez Lopez. Lopez barely moved around on stage, and he sat looking perplexed when the van made its getaway.

ATDI debuted their tour in a handful of cities in their home state before heading to Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Reunited for the first time in 11 years, ATDI is breathing new life into old hits and giving fans a moment they never thought would happen again. 

Texas State’s Hoodie Day

By Max Anderson

Texas State University student

SAN MARCOS – Students, faculty and staff at Texas State gathered in front of the Stallions on Tuesday, March 27, to show solidarity with the family of Trayvon Martin and raise awareness about social injustice issues.

George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, shot and killed an unarmed Martin as he was walking back to his father’s girlfriend’s house from a 7-Eleven. Zimmerman shot Martin after he called police to report him as a suspicious person because the 17-year-old was wearing a hooded jacket the night of the incident.

Texas State’s Hoodie Day attracted a large crowd of students, faculty and staff, including Associated Student Government President AJ Degarmo.

“This is a tragic case; it was a senseless crime,” said AJ Degarmo. “However, this is only one example of many things I see across our nation every single day.”

The 80-degree weather did not stop people from wearing hoodies to show their support for Martin. Several people gave speeches and a moment of silence was held in the memory of Trayvon Martin.

“For instance, the hoodie, to me isn’t just a hoodie that he was used to be a victim, it represents the identity that all of us carry,” said AJ Degarmo. “This hoodie is taking on so much more of that symbol, that it’s something we all can gravitate towards and speak our minds about.”

While the Trayvon Martin case has turned into a national issue it is only highlighting the larger issue of discrimination and violence.

“I think it’s important to let people know while the Trayvon Martin issue is saddening, while it’s alarming, while it’s an issue in itself, Trayvon Martin is not the first and he’s not going to be the last, sadly,” said Mike Yates. “I could be the next Trayvon Martin.”

Yates is a senator at Texas State, and believes that it is important for leaders to be outspoken about important issues.

“This is important to me because Trayvon could have been me. Trayvon could have been my little brother. Trayvon could have been my little cousin, and that would hit directly home for me,” said Jay Hawkins. “This is going to be pivotal in the movement between peace and justice for all people.”

The Underrepresented Student Advisory Council, Department of Sociology and Department of Anthropology sponsored the event.

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