Nordamerika

BREAKING NEWS: First Nations say they will fight tar sands, pipelines

March 20, 2013.

Red Lake Tribal Members Occupy Illegal Enbridge Pipeline on Their Land

Tessa McLean, Anishinaabe

What happens when you’ve had enough of oil companies illegally passing pipelines through your tribal land? You practice self-determination and your sovereign rights to occupy that land. That is exactly what a group of Red Lake Tribal members are doing.

Members of Red Lake Band protest Enbridge pipeline which runs illegally through their tribal land. (Photo: Monte Draper/ Bemidji Pioneer)Day seven of blockade: Group hopes to slow down the flow of Canadian tar sands oil

Reposted from Common Dreams. Written by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams staff writer

Braving frigid temperatures and intense snowfall, a group of Red Lake Nation tribal members are now on their seventh day of a blockade of an Enbridge oil pipeline, which they say passes illegally through their sacred tribal land in northern Minnesota.

Related: Youtube video: Red Lake Direct Action to stop illegal Enbridge pipeline

The occupation utilizes a pipeline safety law which states that if a person or thing remains situated above a pipeline for over 72 hours the pipeline must be shut off. The protesters hope that the demonstration will slow down the production of tar sands in Canada.

The encampment began on February 28th, with the 72 hour mark passing days ago. Though Enbridge has not yet "stopped the flow," Cobenais said in an email, the group "continues to stand the line."

Kulluk grounded on Kodiak Island: Photo courtesy of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg/U.S. Coast GuardShell has plans for drilling several exploratory wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas area off the north coast of Alaska. The grounding of the Kulluk circular oil drilling ship on Sitkalidak Island while being towed in heavy seas must call into question whether safety measures by Shell and Coast Guard response capabilities are adequate to allow Arctic drilling to proceed.It now seems that Shell risked moving drill ship in storm to avoid paying millions in taxes, and their weather judgement to move the rig is questionable. Shell and the US Coast Guard have started salvage operations on the stranded drilling rig.

Initial approval for oil drilling by Shell Oil was given by the Obama administration in August 2012 despite opposition by numerous conservation groups and a petition of over a million US citizens. To preserve a safe climate based upon the simple climate maths of how much fossil fuels we can afford to burn, we need to Go Fossil Free through divestment, start taxing carbon and leave the oil reserves beneath the Arctic alone.

Related: Greenpeace - Save The Arctic | Sierra Club - Chill the Drills: Protect America's Arctic! | Center for Biological Diversity - Arctic Oil Development | Alaska Despatch - U.S.: Shell’s grounded drilling rig raises questions | DeSmogBlog - Shell’s Kulluk Rig Grounding Proves Folly of Arctic Oil Drilling, Again

Background: ClimateIMC July 2011 - Smears on integrity of Polar wildlife scientist a prelude to Arctic Oil Drilling | London Indymedia Sept 2012 - Activists 'brick up' Shell HQ as the Arctic melts | Indymedia Ireland Sept 2012 - 1,600 billion - Massive scale of oil giveaway revealed in Shell to Sea report | Sourcewatch on Shell

Will Shell’s grounded drilling rig impact US energy policy in Arctic?

By Alex DeMarban and Suzanna Caldwell,

Opposition to coal export from the US Northwest is growing with a number of Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Meetings being held and citizens making an active stand against coal export and to take action on climate change. More information from Power past Coal

Radio: NPR: Is It Morally Wrong For U.S. To Export Coal?

Related Videos - No coal export in WA (28:03) | Moxnews: Thousands Protest An Increase Of Coal Exports In Washington State | Rally opposing Oregon Coal Exports

Dec 13 Seattle - Gateway Pacific Terminal -- Cherry Point Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Meeting: Dignitaries from Coal Scoping Seattle | Bellingham Scoping Hearing Oct 27, 2012 Playlist | Ferndale Scoping Hearing Nov 29 2012 Playlist | Mount Vernon Scoping Hearing Nov 5, 2012 Playlist |

At least 54 people were killed by Hurricane Sandy in Haiti due to the torrential rains, flooding and destruction of essential bridges and roads. Many Concrete homes and tent camps in Port-au-Prince setup after the 2010 earthquake are largely destroyed leaving up to 18,000 families homeless according to Haitian authorities.

Substantial crop loss occurred due to the Hurricane winds and flooding, threatening hunger and famine in coming weeks and months. Staple crops such as bananas and breadfruit were severely damaged by hurricane Sandy. "We'll have famine in the coming days," Kechner Toussaint, the Abricots mayor, reportedly said. "It's an agricultural disaster."

Related: UN Reliefweb: UN relief agency estimates 1.8 million Haitians have been affected by Hurricane Sandy

Over fourteen hundred maximum temperature records have been broken or tied across the United States so far this July as a heatwave lingers from the mid-western and southern states and expands to encompass the eastern states. High humidity accompanies the high temperatures making the heat further unbearable. Little relief is being found overnight with highest minimum temperatures recorded also breaking new records: with 1,951 new records and 1,421 tied records to 21st July.

Related: Human health limits of heat stress with climate change | The US 'normal climate' just got hotter | Higher Temperatures and Crop yields in the US

Northern Rockies Rising Tide and Earth First! Activists Occupy Montana Capitol Building Demanding Governor Schweitzer Publicly Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline and Tar Sands Megaload Shipments

Related: Over 60 people occupy Montana capitol protesting tar sands, megaloads, and government collusion with Big Oil 

On the morning of July 12th, six activists from Earth First! and Northern Rockies Rising Tide occupied Governor Schweitzer's office in an act of non-violent civil disobedience. The activists locked their arms in a mock oil pipeline made out of PVC plastic pipe. In the wake of the Silvertip spill, Governor Schweitzer has publicly chastised ExxonMobil for their negligence and lack of transparency, while at the same time continuing to promote the construction of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, Exxon's megaload shipments bound for the Alberta Tar Sands, and other extreme fossil fuels projects throughout the state.

For the USA the 'normal climate' just got warmer. Every decade the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) updates a range of climate measures averaged over the previous 30 years. These measures are called the climate normals.