Wild Idaho Rising Tide Has Moved to http://wildidahorisingtide.org

“Portland Rising Tide dropped an anti-tar sands banner today from the Burnside Bridge. The group is acting in solidarity with communities, organizations and individuals resisting tar sands development across North America.

Rising Tide’s action comes on the heels of the 2-week Tar Sands Action campaign in Washington DC. 1,253 American’s were arrested in an act of civil disobedience at the White House to send a message to President Obama, asking him to stand up to Big Oil and deny the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline permits.”

“The Keystone XL pipeline is required for Big Oil to profit off of the social and environmental disaster that is the Alberta tar sands. Current tar sands mining has brought increased cancer rates, polluted water, and mass die-offs of birds and fish in the largely First Nation communities of northern Alberta.

Tar Sands Action organizers have put a call out for activists to hold the date October 7th for further action. This is the final Congressional hearing on the Keystone XL pipeline. Regionally, people are encouraged to visit their local Obama 2012 headquarters and inform staffers that you will withhold your support in the upcoming presidential elections until the pipeline is stopped.”

- from http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/2011/09/tar-sands-action-rising-tide-portland-in-solidarity/

For more info on the Keystone XL action in Washington D.C. and other solidarity actions visit Rising Tide North America’s website.

(Ed. Note: This footage was originally posted on YouTube by a critic. I believe an open dialog is essential to advancing an honest dialog between the various stakeholders involved. Misinformation and disinformation need to be addressed on both sides so that an understanding of the facts can be attained.)

Information is the Key

“The future path of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada will depend on a number of factors including: government actions, technological change, the growth in the economy, and developments in energy markets. Without incorporating the impacts of future government measures that have not yet been specified, the projections presented in this report are based on expectations of the evolution of key economic and energy drivers (such as the world oil price, gross domestic product, and population growth) derived from a variety of authoritative sources. However, as with any projection of this type, the likely outcome associated with each specific driver is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. As such, the emissions scenarios presented here should be seen as representative of a number of possible greenhouse gas emissions outcomes to 2020, depending on economic and other developments, as well as future government measures.”

(Ed. Note: Specific mention is made of the impacts due to the expansion of tar sands development on p24-27. GHG emissions are projected to rise in Canada in part because of increases in the exploitation of bitumen as a source of unconventional oil.)

- from Environment Canada report “Canada’s Emission Trends” released July 2011

The Stakes

“Canada’s boreal region contains one-quarter of the world’s remaining original forests. It is home to a rich array of wildlife including migratory songbirds, waterfowl, bears, wolves and the world’s largest caribou herds. Canada’s boreal is a major part of the global boreal region that encircles the Earth’s northern hemisphere, storing more freshwater in its wetlands and lakes and more carbon in its trees, soil, and peat than anywhere else on the planet. The Canadian boreal forest is also the location of one of the world’s largest deposits of oil – Alberta’s oil sands.

With conventional oil reserves in North America in steady decline, Alberta’s oil sands have begun to attract significant attention, both locally and internationally. Currently, the majority of oil sands production comes from open-pit mining facilities, and it is these shovel and truck operations that most people have come to associate with oil sands development. The mining zone currently extends across approximately 3,300 km2 of northern Alberta and, when fully developed, will likely qualify as the world’s largest open-pit mining complex.

What is not well known is that only a fraction of the total available oil sands deposits are close enough to the surface to be mined. The bulk of the established reserves (81%) must be extracted using in situ techniques.”

(Ed. Note: Canada’s boreal region extends beyond the proposed oil sands extraction sites and comprises almost 60% of the country’s land area.)

“… [I]n situ development of Alberta’s oil sands will result in unprecedented impacts to Alberta’s forests and pose grave risks to regional wildlife populations. Existing in situ leases already total 3.6 million ha (hectares), which is more than ten times the size of the mineable oil sands region. To put this in perspective, we are talking of an intensive industrial use zone larger than Vancouver Island. If existing leases are subjected to the same industrial footprint as the Long Lake project then 296,000 ha of forest will be cleared for SAGD infrastructure and over 30,000 km of access roads will be built. Furthermore, new leases continue to be awarded at a rapid pace, and new technologies for extracting less accessible reserves are continually being developed. If the entire area underlain by oil sands is eventually developed, in situ infrastructure could impact almost 14 million hectares of forest – a land area the size of Florida.”

- from “Death by a Thousand Cuts: Impacts of In Situ Oil Sands Development on Alberta’s Boreal Forest”

More reports are forthcoming.

Poster #1:

Who are you guys??????? Really, who are you? Where were you guys 40 years ago? 20 years ago? 2 years ago? Who are you and why aren’t you registered with the State attorney generals office so we can see how much money you generate with your CAUSE?

Do you guy’s pay to bail out the people you encite to do your bidding? Spokes-person aside, who are you? Where were you 4 years ago when this whole thing started? Are you going to tell the rest of us how you goy your hand slapped in court when you tried to dip into the oil money that was being passed around to make this Eco stuff go away? Show us the work you were involved in to do the road widening and turn-out construction along the Clearwater. Show us the Eco baracades you placed to keep debris out of the river to protect the fish? Show us the P&L statements of your group so we can see who you are and just how many Eco groups you are involved in that exist to line your pockets?

The irony you have distain for oil companies mainly for profit but you seek donations and hide behind Catch-Phrase names like “Wild Idaho Rising Tide”.

Don’t post this, it will just confuse the sheep.

(Ed. Note: This person obviously hasn’t done their homework. Conspiracy, conspiracy, conspiracy… oh boy. Let’s not even talk about the spelling.)

Poster #2:

// anti-activist toolkit v1: break out the fire hoses !

(Ed. Note: Short and to the point… this poster must be a “freedom loving” American, no?)

Stay tuned for more updates and reports coming in the near future.

http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/ACTUP_CivilDisobedience.pdf

(ACT UP)

http://www.crimethinc.com/tools/downloads/pdfs/direct_action_guide.pdf

(Crimethinc. Workers Collective)

http://www.ruckus.org/downloads/RS_ActionVisuals.pdf

(Ruckus Society)

Read the decision by following the link below:

http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/files/2011/07/MOTIONFORP.pdf

Although this represents a clear victory for those who have sought to stop the shipments along the HWY 12 Northwest Passage Scenic Byway, the language of the document makes no specific mention of the proposed US 95 to I 90 route. The recent shipment of equipment through Moscow, ID along US 95 indicates that the transport of these modules could in the future continue along this revised route. But, there is another obstacle compounding these modules transportation problems – a construction project currently underway on I 90. For now, the shipments may have been stopped. Stay tuned for further updates on Idaho’s and Montana’s permitting of over-sized loads destined for Alberta using this alternate route.

Recent Development

According to the Lewiston Morning Tribune (quoting MDT legal council Dave Ohler):

“If Imperial Oil is successful in getting paperwork reissued in Idaho and issued in Montana, road construction on Interstate 90 and Interstate 15 won’t be an obstacle…”

- from http://apps.itd.idaho.gov/

Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money.

- Cree Proverb

http://www.kearltransport.com/

(Kearl Project Transportation Website)

http://apps.itd.idaho.gov/Apps/MediaManagerMVC/PressRelease.aspx/Search

(ITD Press Releases)

http://www.driveoureconomy.org/

(Drive Our Economy)

Direct action gets the goods.

Protesters Call Trimming Root of Evil: Project to make way for oil refinery equipment traveling on U.S. 95

Moscow Parks and Recreation staff and T.R.E. Tree Services were shadowed Monday by protesters condemning the trimming of 18 trees along Washington Street to make room for the transport of two loads of refinery equipment by Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil up U.S. Highway 95 and Interstate 90 to its Kearl Oil Sands Project in Alberta, Canada.

T.R.E., contracting with the oil company, was granted the tree trimming permit Friday by Parks and Recreation, which oversaw the work that started at 9 a.m. Monday and finished around 1:20 p.m.

A small number of protesters, many affiliated with the grassroots conservation group Wild Idaho Rising Tide, came out to protest the city’s allowance of the trimming, which they said would encourage many more oversized loads to make their way to the sands project, which they see as a pending ecological disaster, using Moscow as an industrial corridor.

Helen Yost, with Wild Idaho, said the trimming was just one example of “corporate privilege over the public good,” and the protest was necessary on a larger scale to express people’s dissatisfaction with the oil sands project, which she said would cause tons of pollutants to be expelled into the environment.

“We wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves, essentially,” she said. “We’re trying to stay out of the way, but also make a point to our fellow citizens.”

But with traffic limited on Washington Street during the trimming and protesters mounted on the other side of the project, Parks and Recreation director Dwight Curtis said he felt it was necessary to call Moscow Police out to the site.

“It was getting kind of crowded,” he said. “We just thought we’d get a (police) presence.”

Moscow Police Lt. Paul Kwiatkowski said officers responded to the call to make sure no one got in the way of the trimming, but also to ensure safety for everyone near where branches were falling.

“The sidewalk being as dangerous as it is , we wanted to make it safe for everybody. We got a call saying there was some difficulty here,” he said, as a tree was being trimmed across the street from Gritman Medical Center. “It’s going to be a long day. We’ll leave when we think it’s safe and everybody’s being socially acceptable.”

Protester Greg Freistadt said the trimming was just another representation of how Moscow was essentially a city in the way of the oil company’s goal of shipping its refining equipment through Idaho, into Montana and finally to Alberta.

“Somebody’s got to stand up against this. It’s just too bad that the public’s input and interests don’t seem to matter much,” he said, referring to previous public hearings hosted by the city over the passage of the two, now-permitted oversized loads through Moscow. “It’s almost just put on for a show.”

Andee Chosch-Pittenger said she felt the trimming was being done in a way that went against the original purpose of their planting on Washington Street, which was to beautify the area, and the branches were only being cut on the side facing the street creating an imbalance.

“By trimming one side, they are accelerating the growth on one side,” she said. “If they trimmed the trees like that for me, I wouldn’t pay them. As far as I’m concerned, the trees are being violated.”

Curtis said half a cubic yard of mulch was produced by the trimming project – to be used at T.R.E.’s discretion – and “things went very smoothly. There were no incidents.”

While the oil company could have moved its two loads as early as Monday, Imperial Oil spokesman Pius Rolheiser said the company will need to send its revised plan to ITD later this week, as well as finalize a contract with the Idaho State Police to escort the loads from the Port of Lewiston to the Montana border. Capt. Lonnie Richardson with ISP’s Region 2 in Lewiston said the agency’s prior obligations could prevent staff for the loads from becoming available for two to three weeks.

(photos @ http://www.dnews.com/photos/311/)

Brandon Macz can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 238, or by email to bmacz@dnews.com.

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Copyright (c) 2011, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Moscow, Idaho

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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- from http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/5260109/protesters-call-trimming-root-of-evil