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.