Oil & Gas

Eritrean Refugee Crisis Escalates Due To Canadian Mining

September 23, 2015 Michael Stewart, www.rabble.ca Educate! Canada, Eritrea, Europe, Mining, Oil & Gas, Refugees

By Michael Stewart in Rabble - As millions of refugees brave their way across a Europe increasingly hostile to their existence, it is still Syrians dominating the headlines. But the third-largest group crossing the Mediterranean is fleeing the small African country Eritrea, home to one of the most corrupt and brutal regimes in the world. The gut-wrenching photo of drowned toddler Alan Kurdi has strained Canadians' humanitarian mettle. Many have criticized Stephen Harper's failure to welcome a single refugee across Canada's borders since publication of the photo, yet few have reckoned with the ways in which Canadians are complicit in driving desperate people toward the sea. Earlier this month, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson hosted a public forum on the refugee crisis. Those in attendance discussed the complexity and cost of privately sponsoring refugees and revisited a campaign promise to make Vancouver a Sanctuary City.

Annie Clair, Anti-Shale Gas Protester Free, Charges Dropped

September 23, 2015 Jennifer Choi, www.cbc.ca Resist! Canada, Criminal Justice, Oil & Gas

By Jennifer Choi in CBC - Anti-shale gas protester Annie Clair had all charges against her dropped in a Moncton courthouse on Monday, almost two years after the charges were laid in relation to incidents near Elispogtog First Nation. Clair was scheduled for a four-day trial, but the Crown dropped the charges and she walked out to a small group of clapping supporters. Clair hugged her lawyer, Gordon Allen, and thanked him for his work. "I'm really happy that it's all done and that I don't have any charges," said Clair. "It just shows that I did the right thing. And that I hope that they [provincial government and SWN Resources Canada] realize that this is really important, that they don't do this to any other people any more and that this [shale gas development] stops."

Pope Arrives, Hunger Strike Grows Against Oil & Gas

September 22, 2015 Melinda Tuhus, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! BXE, Climate Change, Fast, FERC, Oil & Gas, Pope Francis

By Melinda Tuhus for BXE - On the day the Pope arrived in Washington, DC, Beyond Extreme Energy entered the 15th day of their water-only fast, outside of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) headquarters, 888 1st St. NE, D.C. The fast, which began on September 8th, is calling on FERC to issue no new permits for oil and gas infrastructure. The fast is growing as two women travelled across the country to join Beyond Extreme Energy’s 18-day fast at FERC). Their communities have been directly harmed by the permits FERC has issued or has pending regarding fracked gas The call for No New Permits is in line with Pope Francis's call in his recent encyclical for the world's leaders to immediately address the already devastating impacts of climate change – fueled by the burning of fossil fuels – especially on the poor who have contributed the least to the problem.

Hunger Strikers Lay It All On The Line To Stop Gas Pipeline Permits

September 22, 2015 Ann Meador and John Zangas, www.cetology.org Resist! Climate Justice, Environment, Oil & Gas, Pipeline

By Ann Meador and John Zangas in Cetology - Vibrations from the fiddler’s bow ricochet off the hot concrete canyon walls of First Street near Union Station. About a dozen people lounge on sleeping bags and lawn chairs on the sidewalk under a blue awning, sipping salt water. They toss a few bucks into a pot for a wager on who has lost the most weight since their public fast began five days ago. Fifteen pounds dropped since Labor Day wins the prize. It’s come to this. Eighteen days of virtual starvation to draw a line under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s intransigence, its refusal to do much of anything to address controversy, protest, and mass mobilization against the stream of permits it issues to greenlight gas. In other words, rubberstamp approval for the infrastructure projects it takes to transport fracked gas from the shale fields.

Activists Disrupt Governor McAuliffe’s Speech At Energy Symposium

September 22, 2015 Seed Coalition, www.seedcoalition.wordpress.com Resist! Climate Change, Environment, Oil & Gas

By Seed Coalition - Five activists disrupted Governor McAuliffe’s keynote address at the Biennial Natural Resources and Energy Law Symposium today by performing a poem written specifically for the Governor and creatively demanding that he “call off” the proposed pipelines threatening to go through Virginia. The activists were members of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, SEED: Stopping Extraction and Exports Destruction, We Are Cove Point, and FANG: Fighting Against Natural Gas. Taking turns with each verse, they stood on chairs and recited a poem entitled “McAuliffe Knows” (see text below). It spotlighted the hypocrisy of the Governor, primarily regarding his continued support of several natural gas pipelines proposed to devastate Virginia and the Appalachian region.

FERC Fast: ‘The Time For Reasonable Has Past’

September 21, 2015 Steven Norris, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Environment, FERC, Hunger Strike, Oil & Gas

By Steven Norris - Many people, FERC employees and passersby, walk past and ignore us. But many also stop and talk, ask what we are doing, give us a victory signs, say "Thanks" or "God bless you", ask for a flier, or simply smile. Many have also stopped and asked probing and important questions, thanking us when they leave. A group of students from a nearby high school in a peace studies class came by, and wanted to learn more. We took them with us to CNN headquarters which is next door to FERC. We were trying to deliver a letter to CNN asking for the moderator of CNN sponsored Republican Presidential debate to ask the candidates about climate change. CNN refused to talk with us or accept the letter. So on the way out, in the fancy cavernous and echoing CNN lobby we chanted "CNN: Ask about climate change," giving these youngsters a small taste of real world activism.

Drive To Drill: Growing Resistance To Atlantic Oil & Gas Drilling

September 21, 2015 Sue Sturgis, www.southernstudies.org Resist! Arctic drilling, Oil & Gas

By Sue Sturgis in Southern Studies - Seismic testing is the first step in offshore drilling, allowing energy companies to map potential oil and gas deposits in the ocean. At the time, the Obama administration was considering whether to allow seismic testing in the Atlantic — part of a broader plan to open an area 50 miles off the East Coast from Virginia to Georgia to oil and gas drilling by the year 2022. The industry says the testing — which involves air guns shooting dynamite-like blasts underwater as often as every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for weeks at a time — is needed to figure out the size and location of deposits. But opponents point out the blasts have been found to depress fish catch rates, and the federal government's own estimates say that as many as 138,500 dolphins and whales could be injured by seismic testing in the Atlantic. Those and other concerns were on the minds of the 50 people who signed up to speak at the Kure Beach council meeting.

Gas Compressors And Nose Bleeds

September 19, 2015 Jessica Cohen, www.utne.com Educate! Environment, Oil & Gas, Public Health

By Jessica Cohen in UTNE - In rural Minisink, NY, air contaminants from the Millennium Pipeline gas compressor now exceed what would be found even in a big city, says environmental health consultant David Brown. After dozens of Minisink residents found they were beset by similar ailments immediately after the compressor station was built in 2013, a two-month study of air contaminants and residents’ symptoms was conducted by Brown and his cohorts at Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project. The nonprofit group of public health experts, based in McMurray, PA, have been investigating a comparable pattern of symptoms near gas drilling sites in Pennsylvania and other states. In the Minisink study, recently released, they found that spikes in air toxins around the compressor coincided with residents’ adverse health symptoms.

Rising Tide Member Shuts Down Essex Pipeline Site

September 18, 2015 West Coast Native News, www.westcoastnativenews.com Resist! Environment, Oil & Gas, Oil Pipeline, Vermont

By West Coast Native News - A young Burlington woman removed herself from atop an excavator early Thursday afternoon, ending a protest by the group Rising Tide Vermont on a Vermont Gas Systems work site. Protesters from group Rising Tide Vermont disrupted the site in Essex along the westbound lane of Vermont 289 early Thursday morning as part of their ongoing efforts to halt construction on the pipeline completely. Molly Stuart, a member of the environmental activist group, chained herself to the arm of excavator on the site, Rising Tide said. Essex police Capt. George Murtie said Stuart was taken to the Essex Police Department for processing, and he anticipates she will be charged with unlawful trespass. Additional charges may also be brought if Stuart damages any of the equipment, Murtie said. Protesters hung a sign that said, “This pipeline ends with us” from the excavator when Stuart first ascended.

Call To Action: Stop Bank Loans To Oil & Gas!

September 16, 2015 We Are Cove Point, www.wearecovepoint.org Petitions and Online Actions Oil & Gas

By We Are Cove Point - There are constant press reports on the financial crisis of the oil and gas industries. Prices of oil are hovering far below the break-even point, and prices are not expected to rise for several years. At present, the oil and gas industries are spending more money than they are taking in. Oppenheimer reports that “all oil companies are funding their dividend through additional borrowing or asset sales, and even the majors could be forced to freeze or cut their dividend, which could sink their shares.” The banks are getting very nervous that they will not be paid back the billions of dollars they have loaned these industries. The problem is so severe that they are talking about oil and gas as “stranded assets.”

Peru: Indigenous Protesters Occupy Airport

September 15, 2015 TeleSurTV, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Indigenous People, Oil & Gas, Peru

By TeleSurTV - Peru has been grappling with a growing protest movement against oil privatization. Indigenous protesters have seized an airport in northern Peru, escalating demands that the government hold consultations with local communities before implementing any deals that would privatize oil exploration. Peru has been grappling with a growing protest movement that is calling on the government to nationalize and invest in the largest oil block in the country, Lot 192, which was recently licensed to a Canadian transnational, Pacific Stratus Energy, in August. Protesters are demanding that the state-run Petroperu operate the oil-rich lot instead of transnational companies, which many remain highly suspicious of. On Saturday, Indigenous activists with the Quechua Community Assembly in Cuenca del Pastaza decided to take over the small airfield in Andoas in an effort to send a message to the government of President Ollanta Humala and business community.

12 People Fasting For 18 Days Demanding FERC Issue #NoNewPermits

September 12, 2015 Ted Glick, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Energy, FERC, Oil & Gas

By Ted Glick in EcoWatch - Twelve members of Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE), ages 19 to 72—from California, Virginia, DC, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Nebraska, Michigan and North Carolina—are in the beginning days of a planned 18-day, water-only “Fast for No New Permits” for fossil fuel infrastructure in front of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a virtual rubber-stamp agency for the fracked gas industry. Each weekday until Sept. 25 we will be on the sidewalk in front of FERC from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., leafletting FERC employees—over a thousand of them—as they arrive for or leave from work. We’re also passing out leaflets to thousands of others who work or live in the area who walk by.

Montana’s Fossil-Fuel Resistance Centers On Stewardship Of Land

September 9, 2015 Sarah Van Gelder, www.truth-out.org Create! Environment, Montana, Oil & Gas

By Sarah Van Gelder in Truthout - There are two visions for Montana, I'm finding. One includes resource extraction, ecological sacrifice zones, short-term boom-and-bust economics, and long-term damage to soil, air, water, and health. It's a familiar pattern of colonization: powerful outside interests make big profits, often rolling over local interests. They promise jobs, some sharing of the wealth with local elites, and some taxes. But the reality is often boom-and-bust cycles creating jobs that bring in outsiders and corruption, while locals are left to deal with long-term degradation, like at the enormous, toxic Berkeley Pit located in the center of Butte, Montana. The new vision is a rediscovery of what it means to be indigenous to a place. Indigenous is a quality of mind and a form of culture that does not belong to any one group. It grows out of a commitment to land, water, family, and community. Rediscovering this part of our heritage may be our best hope.

First Nations Protest Pollution In Ontario’s Chemical Valley

September 8, 2015 Fram Dinshaw, www.earthfirstjournal.org Resist! Chemicals, First Nations, Oil & Gas

By Fram Dinshaw in Earth First Journal - Hundreds of climate activists marched in a ‘Toxic Tour’ through a bleak industrial landscape on the edge of Ontario that is a frontline in Canada’s climate wars. They were gathered to support the tiny Aamjiwnaang First Nation, whose traditional territory lies near an area known as “Chemical Valley” — a 15 square-mile area in Sarnia, where over 40 per cent of Canada’s chemical industry is based. Nearly 60 oil refineries and factories are crammed into an industrial strip overlooking the St. Clair River. Storage tanks and oil terminals just a stone’s throw from Aamjiwnaang lands, and the skyline dominated by familiar company logos: Enbridge, TransAlta, Cabot, Suncor Energy Inc., Imperial Oil, among others.

Citizens Call To Shut Down Enbridge Line 5 By December

September 8, 2015 Oil & Water Don't Mix, www.oilandwaterdontmix.org Educate! Environment, Oil & Gas, Oil Pipeline, Water

By Oil & Water Don't Mix - With Coast Guard and oil spill recovery experts citing challenging winter conditions in the turbulent, icy Straits of Mackinac, citizens groups today demanded that state officials shut down the flow of oil through Enbridge Line 5 in the Straits by December to avoid a worst-case catastrophic spill. “Winter’s coming and the icy Straits makes effective oil spill recovery virtually impossible,” said David Holtz, Chair, Michigan Chapter of Sierra Club. “When it comes to oil recovery, there is no good plan for the Great Lakes. It just makes sense that we stop the flow of oil through the Straits and that we do it by December before the ice comes.” More than eight feet of ice can form in the Straits where two Enbridge oil pipelines are up to 200 feet below the surface.

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