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.