People Before Profit blog

Activists, unionists protest oil-by-rail

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:32:00 +0000

A group of activists blockaded train tracks at a Seattle oil facility on July 28, to protest continuous derailments and crashes of trains carrying oil. The most recent such incident occurred in that very city on July 24, when several cars full of crude oil tipped over, though for once, nothing spilled. Three of the protesters who refused to leave were arrested, but their demand - that there be an immediate end to oil shipment via train through Northwest communities - did not go unnoticed.

The protest was very much about the risks posed to workers and people in general. For example, the Lac-Megantic oil train tragedy that killed 47 people was still fresh in the minds of many. In fact, the one-year anniversary of that incident was observed a few days prior, on July 18, by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). In Washington's Port of Vancouver, union members used a crane to raise a banner that bore the slogan "Unfair Grain, Unsafe Oil, Community Under Attack." Members of ILWU Local 4 have been locked out of the port at which their union has worked since 1937, due to a labor dispute. Meanwhile, the port is working with oil company Tesoro to build a dangerous new oil-by-rail loading terminal. "Longshoremen would be the guys" loading that oil, said Clager Clabaugh, president of Local 4, who disapproved. "We don't believe in jobs at any cost."

Those union workers were likely reminded of the cost in the July 24 incident in Seattle, six days after their protest, when two full tanker cars and one box car tipped over on their sides - likely avoiding breaking open and spewing oil only because the train was traveling at a slow speed of 5 miles per hour. "Thursday's derailment was the last straw," said resident Jan Woodruff, one of the July 28 protesters, as reported by Eco-Watch. "If federal and state regulators won't stand up to the fossil fuel companies endangering our communities, then we, the people of these communities, will do so," Woodruff said.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray voiced his concerns over Big Oil in a statement, remarking, "Even though [the trains] travel through our city, we do not have control over how the railways are used, and we must rely on the safety standards set at the federal level." He continued, "This is an important safety issue facing Seattle and I will continue to advocate for less oil and coal coming through our city."

City Council member Mike O'Brien said in a press release, "Dozens of people have died in crude-by-rail accidents when tank cars have been punctured and spilled flammable crude. The catastrophic explosions can be triggered by a single spark and yet these trains travel on tracks underneath downtown [Seattle]. ... We cannot afford to sit idly by with public safety at risk."

Adam Gaya, one of the blockading protesters, told Eco-Watch, "It's no surprise that an industry willing to sacrifice the entire planet to climate change doesn't see a few vaporized towns and cities as significant." He also voiced his displeasure with Tesoro's upcoming new terminal in the Port of Vancouver, noting, "With recent disasters and the accelerating climate crisis, we shouldn't even be considering new oil infrastructure."

Eco-Watch quoted Annette Klapstein, a retired lawyer and another of the protesters, saying Tesoro should not be able to get away with such a venture. "If any other group of people exposed us to these risks, they'd be locked up," she said. Referring to the blockade, she added, "This kind of resistance may seem extreme, but these are extreme times. And the resistance to this craziness won't end with us."

Photo: Activists protest Big Oil by blockading train tracks in Seattle. PortlandRisingTide.org

Global agricultural model in bitter balance

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 13:37:00 +0000

"Our current agricultural model is exhausted. We must change course," said Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, as he leaves his post after six years and two terms. He is being succeeded by the Turkish academic Hilal Elver, a specialist in environmental issues.

Olivier de Schutter called into question the current standards of agriculture based on intensive farming - in other words, the use of fertilizers and synthetic pesticides. He also leveled the criticism that further industrialization will undermine small farmers. Interviewed by the French periodical La Terre in 2008, when he first took office, Olivier de Schutter was already warning against the need to constantly increase yields to keep prices low, a "low cost" approach to agriculture which limits the income of small farmers. A new way to feed the world's ever-increasing population must be found. The former rapporteur does not have much faith in official responses: "I no longer think we should wait for governments to act on their own. Obstructions are too numerous, pressures too real and those actors impeding change too powerful" - he said in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde.

He also strongly condemned the World Trade Organization: "The WTO continues to defend an outdated system based on the division of labor and distribution of agricultural products," he lamented. Trade liberalization has weakened developing countries. Products are imported at a very low cost which local producers cannot match. "Of all the international agencies concerned with agriculture and food, the WTO is the only one which has not awakened to the recognition of the need for each country to ensure food production," bemoans Olivier de Schutter.

However, he is not completely fatalistic. To him, the development of local initiatives can make a difference: "Citizens are tired of being treated as mere consumers," he explains, "they are trying to invent more responsible ways of production and consumption."

More from Olivier de Shutter's final report:

"It may cost Governments slightly more to source from a range of smaller-scale, sustainable operators than from major suppliers, but the investment is worth it. It will not only have positive outcomes in terms of health and education, but will also help promote a viable and sustainable small-scale farming sector," noted the UN expert. Data on UK school feeding programs suggests a return of 3-to-1 for additional spending on sustainable and local procurement. Another study estimates that the total benefits of supplying 50 million African school children with locally produced food could reach around $1.6 billion per year.

The UN expert also welcomed recent progress in developing countries such as Brazil, where price premiums to organic suppliers have been put in place, and 30% of the school feeding budget has been reserved for sourcing from family farms. Meanwhile, municipal and state governments, schools, producers, companies, parents and students have been brought into the design of school meals that now cover nearly 50 million children.

"Reliable demand at fair prices could provide a lifeline to the small-scale farmers in developing countries struggling to compete against transnational food producers, processors, traders and marketers. The full transformative potential of state purchasing must be exploited to drive a genuine transition to pro-poor food and farming models," concluded De Schutter.

(*) Read the report The Power of Procurement: Public Purchasing in the Service of Realizing the Right to Food. This report is the final publication by Olivier De Schutter as UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. His final official report to the UN Human Rights Council (March 2014) on transforming food systems can be found here.

Reposted from l'Humanité in English with additional text from the UN website.

Original French article: Le bilan amer du modèle agricole mondial, translated by Meghan O'Shea

Photo: Wheat field.

Germany to ban fracking, or so it says

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 16:31:00 +0000

The German government says it will soon move to ban fracking in the country until 2021, which would make it the latest nation (after France and Bulgaria) to eliminate the destructive natural gas drilling process. In a press briefing, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Environmental Minister Barbara Hendricks noted that legislation will be drawn up and approved in the final half of the year.

"There won't be fracking of shale gas or coal gas for economic reasons in the foreseeable future," confirmed Hendricks. However, one can read in between the lines and see that there is still room for exploitation by natural gas corporations. Case in point: there are a number of "special circumstances" which would allow fracking to circumvent the legislation. An example is that the law's language states that "unconventional" fracking cannot take place more than 3,000 meters below the surface - but "conventional" fracking can. While this will still effectively prevent fracking from, in most cases, contaminating groundwater, it will not prevent it from triggering small earthquakes.

Political parties including the Green Party have reacted with strong criticism; the chairman of the Greens' parliamentary group, Oliver Krischer, went as far as to call it a "fracking-enabling law," recognizing the distinction between this potentially deceptive proposal and an actual fracking ban - "a regulation that does not allow fracking in Germany and without loopholes that are as big as a barn door."

Hubertus Zdebel of the Left party agreed, noting, "Fracking must be banned in Germany without any exceptions. To say that there is a fracking ban in the paper is window dressing. They want to enforce a regulation which mostly allows fracking under the guise of an alleged ban." Citing estimates obtained from the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources, he added, "The planned restrictions will still allow the exploitation of half of all unconventional natural gas deposits in Germany." He also said there are other potential risks associated with allowing deep fracking, including uncontrolled methane gas emissions.

Francisco Szekely, writer for EnergyBiz, remarked that the legislation is likely a play to quell environmentalists' fears while also reducing Germany's dependency upon Russia for gas imports. He said, however, "This decision is not a sustainable solution. The temporary relief of geopolitics should not be achieved at the long-term cost of environmental degradation. To put our economy and our world on a path to sustainability, governments and companies need to focus on doing real good for society and not just doing less harm, as seems to be the case" with this fracking issue.

"With evidence of climate change becoming clearer than ever," he added, Germany should be "thinking carefully before allowing fracking in their territory. Moreover, whatever short-term promise fracking offers is also taking our sense of urgency away from transitioning to more renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar power."

So in short, one might conclude, Germany's "fracking ban" may be little more than a smoke-and-mirror tactic. Said Szekely: "To quote Albert Einstein, 'We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.'"

Photo: AP

Birds feeling the sting of bee-killing pesticides

Tue, 15 Jul 2014 16:02:00 +0000

For some time, the bee population has been steadily declining worldwide, and this is most directly attributed to the negative impact of pesticides. Now, there's a lot of buzz around a recent study by Dutch researchers, which has found that the toxic chemicals we use are having a ripple effect farther up the food chain, causing insectivorous birds to rapidly decline in number.

The study was the collaborative effort of researchers with the Radboud University Institute of Water and Wetland Research, the Dutch Center for Field Ornithology, and Birdlife Netherlands. In a joint statement, the researchers declared, "Neonicotinoid insecticides have adverse effects on non-target invertebrate species. Invertebrates constitute a substantial part of the diet of many bird species during the breeding season and are indispensible for raising offspring. In the Netherlands," for example, "local bird population trends were significantly more negative in areas with higher surface-water concentrations of imidacloprid," a type of pesticide.

"At imidacloprid concentrations of more than 20 nanograms per liter, bird populations tended to decline by 3.5 percent on average, annually," they continued. The overall results of the study, they said, shows "that the impact of neonicotinoids on the natural environment is even more substantial than has recently been reported and is reminiscent of the effects of persistent pesticides in the past. Future legislation should take into account the potential cascading effects [of insecticides] on ecosystems."

Neonicotinoids are interesting in that their origins lie with two corporations already strongly linked with outright for-profit environmental destruction: Royal Dutch Shell and Bayer. These insecticides, which are chemically similar to nicotine, were first developed and used in the 1980s by the Shell, and in the 1990s by the German chemical and pharmaceutical company. In 2009, on the specific neonicotinoid called imidacloprid that the Dutch researchers referenced, Bayer made a profit of over one billion alone, according to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

There is, however, a loss occurring, albeit an ecological one, not a financial one. Such was the conclusion of the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, which conducted another recent report on the matter. They explained, "Neonicotinoids persist for months and in some cases years, and environmental concentrations can build up. This effectively increases their toxicity by increasing the duration of exposure of non-target species. The effects of exposure [in wildlife] range from instant and lethal to chronic." Effects could include "altered feeding behavior and reduced food intake [in birds], reduced foraging in bees, and altered tunneling behavior in earthworms."

Dr. David Gibbons, head of the Center for Conservation Science at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, remarked, "This elegant and important study provides worrying evidence of negative impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides on birds. Usage of these pesticides has been particularly high in some parts of the Netherlands. Monitoring of pollution in soils and waterways is urgently required, as is further research into the effects of these insecticides on wildlife."

Photo: Insectivorous birds like hummingbirds (pictured) have largely declined in number as a result of various pesticides. These include, in particular, neonicotinoids and specifically imidacloprids, which have already been associated with the bee die-off known as colony collapse disorder. Terry Sohl/AP

Editor's note: There's no question that hummingbirds make use of plant nectar as a source of quick energy. But while they're visiting those flowers, they also eat tiny insects and spiders--both excellent sources of protein. In fact, some authorities think of hummingbirds as insectivorous birds that happen to also eat plant nectar

Ohio town grapples with fracking: housing troubles, rent gouging

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 14:18:00 +0000

CARROLLTON, Ohio - Concerned citizens crowded into a local church here July 10 for a town hall style meeting. They were there to hear Cody Coleman-Chrisman, founder and executive director of Ohio Valley Renters Advocates (OVRA), with a panel of experts who came to advise on fracking's latest but not least harmful effect on our eastern Ohio communities: housing shortages and the rent-gouging that followed.

This meeting had been organized by OVRA and Caitlin Johnson of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. The featured panelists were: Emily Collins, executive director, Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services; Dave Armstrong, attorney from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law; and Spencer Wells, community manager, Rental Housing Information Network of Ohio. Also speaking were Erin Gray, co-founder of OVRA, Scott Trekel from the Carroll County Labor Council, and Paul Feezell who gave an overview of the fracking process.

Fracking involves fracturing shale beneath the earth to extract oil and natural gas. It is not a new technology but, until recent developments combining vertical with horizontal drilling, it was not efficient or cost-effective. The recent fracking crisis here began around 2010 with the quest for oil and natural gas from the Utica Shale field's massive deposits in eastern Ohio.

When most people think of fracking, they either anticipate the economic opportunities promised by the energy companies or they are apprehensive about fracturing's impact on the environment, including the very water they drink and the air they breathe.

Many wage-earners in our area have already found the promise of well-paying jobs (for them) to be illusory as they watched pickup trucks with out-of-state license plates invade their communities and take the new jobs they thought would be theirs. They have come to realize that there may indeed be more jobs but, for most of them, those will be low-wage jobs (in food service, hotels, etc.). Others worry about reports from other communities, ahead of them in fracking, that tell of burning water taps, poisoned water-tables, drinking water that is no longer fit to drink, disposal of the irreparably contaminated water used in the fracking process, ripped-up local roads, gas well explosions, and even earthquakes.

There are, of course, those who still enthusiastically favor the arrival of the fracking industry to our area. Some will always be deluded by the operators' promises and/or the local capitalist media. But some stand to gain from this noxious industry: politicians who have their own motives, landowners who look to sell their mineral rights and/or land for what they hope will be a tidy sum, local businesses anticipating a boom, landlords seeking gain from extracting exorbitant rates from the new renters, and slumlords seeking windfall profits from renting out substandard housing.

That last problem was the subject of the Carrollton meeting. The average local renter, who previously was barely able to make ends meet, is now faced with paying rent way beyond his or her means for a rat-hole or being homeless or just plain being thrown out in favor of new renters.

Beyond these housing conditions, fracking has brought other problems not much seen in our area before: increased drug usage along with meth labs, prostitution and human trafficking, and a general increase in crime. The increased truck traffic adds wear and tear to roads not made for heavy use, not to mention accidents involving those trucks.

A school-age girl asked a thoughtful question about what happens when the gas is gone and the energy companies have moved on. The prognosis was bleak. While the operations may last longer, most average around eight years and leave the communities in even worse economic and ecological shape than before they came.

The complaint procedures and legal solutions presented seemed fraught with frustration, delays, and the possibility that little or nothing may be accomplished in the end. Chrisman, however, offered a more activist approach. She called for citizens to become informed, call meetings, create tenants' unions, and organize into organization like OVRA, for which she left membership applications.

Photo: A for-rent ad posted in a gas station in nearby Scio, Ohio, that illustrates the high rent being asked for a two-bedroom mobile home. Courtesy Cody Coleman-Chrisman.

North Dakota pipeline spews saltwater into Native American reservation

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 15:57:00 +0000

An underground pipeline in Mandaree, North Dakota spilled one million gallons of tainted saltwater after it leaked sometime during the fourth of July weekend. The saltwater is a byproduct of oil and natural gas production, and contains traces of chemicals used in fracking. The mess has since stretched 8,240 feet - down a steep ravine and dangerously close to a lake that serves as the natural water source for a Native American reservation.

Lake Sakakawea, a reservoir of the Missouri River, provides drinking water to several communities on the Fort Berthold Native American reservation including the Manda, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes.

The pipeline is owned by Arrow Pipeline LLC, a subsidiary of Crestwood Midstream Partners, Inc. Company officials have admitted that the spill has already severely damaged trees, shrubbery, and grasses with possible negative health effects on local wildlife still being ascertained. The area is considered one of the worst spots for such a spill, because of the rough topography and sensitive ecosystem. In fact, the inaccessible terrain has forced crews to carry cleanup equipment to the area by hand, slowing the recovery process.

The EPA arrived to assess the site on July 10, in order to make sure the saltwater had not reached the lake, which is essentially the lifeblood of the reservation. Officials with the agency said beaver dams had been poisoned by the mixture, and that it had pooled up on the ground and soaked into the soil. It was predicted that cleanup will likely take many weeks.

However, the fact that the saltwater has not reached the lake is not due to the help of Crestwood. The Three Affiliated Tribes, an organization that represents the three local tribes, took it upon themselves to erect a barrier between the toxic spillage and their pristine water. "We have a berm and a dike around Bear Den Bay," which leads to Lake Sakakawea, "to keep it from going into the lake," said Three Affiliated Tribes chairman Tex Hall.

Kris Roberts, an environmental geologist with the North Dakota Department of Health, said the spill was significant and damaging. He remarked, "We've got dead trees, dead grasses, dead bushes, dying bushes."

The area involved is in the hear to the state's oil boom patch. The number of saltwater spills in the state has grown in tandem with its oil development, as well as the rate of pure oil spills. In 2012, there were 141 pipeline leaks reported - 99 of them spilled 8,000 barrels or more of saltwater. For the Native Americans' part, this latest incident has rattled them - and a worse one could happen and end up truly polluting their only clean water source.

"Along with many others in Western North Dakota, I drink water from Lake Sakakawea," said Theodora Bird Bear, a Dakota Resource Council member from the area. Her view of the matter, like that of many others, was not optimistic. "With 13 oil pipelines crossing the bottom of the lake," she said, "I expect it is a matter of when, not if, there's a major spill."

Photo: Bear Den Bay - the only thing currently separating the saltwater spill from the sensitive Lake Sakakawea. AP

Insider trading ties Gov. Scott to fracking

Thu, 10 Jul 2014 14:13:00 +0000

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- As Gov. Rick Scott's financial ties to big energy begin to surface, Florida's citizens and environmentalists start to turn up heat.

The governor's investment in the French energy company Schlumberger is in the six-figures. At the same time, it is Gov. Scott and his Cabinet that oversee the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and are tasked to regulate oil drilling in Florida. This is obviously a conflict of interest if the governor has investments in businesses that should be regulated by DEP and other state agencies.

According to Steve Bousquet of the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau, Scott put his assets in a blind trust in 2011 to "avoid conflicts" after the public began to question he and his wife's ties to the health care industry.

Scott last week said, "I put everything in a blind trust, so I don't know what's in the blind trust." All while the original blind trust from 2011 showed an investment of $135,000 in Schlumberger Ltd. - which happens to be the world's largest oil services company.

Bousquet continued saying that the Schlumberger Ltd. "stock has risen steadily over the past year and trades at $107 a share, but the blind trust prevents the public from knowing whether Scott still has a stake in the company - or whether it has grown."

The Dan A. Hughes Co., a Texas oil company who recently was fined and told to halt fracking operations in Southwest Florida, was aided by Schlumberger Ltd. In their application process with the Florida DEP according to Bousquet. Bousquet went on to say Schlumberger Ltd. has been surveying abandoned oil wells and conducting groundwater tests for Collier Resources who maintain the mineral rights of the drilling sites.

According to Stephen Harris of Schlumberger Ltd., "Schlumberger Water Services has been involved primarily in the permitting of the saltwater injection wells for Dan A. Hughes and has assisted with the oil well permit application."

In an interview with Bousquet, Joe Mule, president of Preserve Our Paradise (an organization opposed to drilling and fracking in South Florida) is one of many Floridians shocked by Gov. Scott's continuing financial ties to Schlumberger. Mule said, "This makes a huge difference to me," and that now he is "more suspicious of DEP's layoffs of dozens of employees charged with regulating polluters in 2012."

Alexis Meyer of the Sierra Club program that is charged with protecting panther habitats in Southwest Florida said that "It's very two-faced...and to have a governor who invests our money for Everglades restoration but also supports a company that wants to drill in the Everglades makes me very uncomfortable."

Recently, Carl-John X Veraja of the Nightly Citizen (a citizen watchdog blog) posted a list of Gov. Scott's insider ties that began in 2011. Here is just a small sample of 2014. Click here for entire history.

-January 14. 2014: FGCU employee, Rep. Ray Rodrigues, pushes his fracking bills at the Florida House of Representatives.

-March 11, 2014: DEP doesn't tell public about the fracking by Dan A. Hughes despite hours of discussion at the Golden Gate Estates Community Center.

-March 8 -30, 2014: As it turns out, Rep. Ray Rodrigues' campaign manager, Terry Miller, works for Strategic Advocacy. Strategic Advocacy is part of an organization that writes legislation to create loopholes for frackers. They change their webpage after I report this. The organization in question has ties with the Koch brothers.

-March 31, 2014: DEP doesn't tell public AGAIN about fracking at the Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee. It votes to stop drilling...

-April 15, 2014: DEP decides against the Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee, saying it's BEYOND OUR PURVIEW". And then, 3 DAYS LATER-

-April 18, 2014: DEP finally tells the public Dan A. Hughes fracked Florida. Dan A. Hughes finally signed consent order.

-April 4, 2014: I am asked for $725.00 for a public records request relating to these matters. The charge is for the material to be redacted by lawyers, so I'd be paying to not see what I ask for.

-April 22, 2014: Stonecrab Alliance and John Lundin get Collier County commissions to consider a petition against DEP and Dan A. Hughes.

-May 30, 2014: Jeff Littlejohn turns in his resignation letter. He intends to resign June 6, 2014. He writes to Herschel Vinyard about his "more consistent" regulatory process, and about rules.

-June 3-6, 2014: Jeff Littlejohn spends his last days trying to derail the Collier County Commissioners petition against the DEP.

-June 10, 2014: New Deputy Secretary Clifford Wilson III interrupts a Collier County Commission meeting with a threatening email, the Commissioners express outrage and proceed with the petition.

-June 13, 2014: Herschel Vinyard steps in to arrange closed meeting with Tom Henning.

-June 15, 2014: Rick Scott shown to have a financial stake in fracking Florida.

-June 17, 2014: Ethics complaint filed on Rick Scott after it is revealed he invested in Schlumberger, international fracking material supplier.

-June 18, 2014: Herschel Vinyard sends letter to Collier Resources and Dan A. Hughes asking them to answer public's questions, but making no indication of other conditions on the industry, or of specific promises of the manner of water testing that will be conducted.

Photo: Gov. Rick Scott. Chris O'Meara/AP

Pipelines vs. community rights: a New England democracy lesson

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 16:04:00 +0000

ASHFIELD, Mass. - This part of western Massachusetts is dotted with small towns - villages, really - and a population of farmers, retirees, dairy owners, writers, artists and artisans, and small business people who run stores or do landscaping, construction and home repair. Most of them live here because they like the quiet lifestyle integrated with the rural area's beautiful four seasons. The mills and factories that once hired sizable local workforces all closed generations ago.

A peaceful, tolerant, mind-your-own-business kind of folk far removed from the agitations of everyday existence in the cities - hell, there's not even cell phone service in Ashfield! What could disturb this bucolic image from a Saturday Evening Post illustration by Norman Rockwell?

A massive, high-pressure pipeline proposed by Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, carrying shale gas - produced with the controversial fracking process - through 76 Ashfield properties, that's what. And through other towns in Franklin County, and a whole parade of counties across the northern tier of the state, extending out to ports on the Atlantic coast. Our much vaunted "national energy independence" is little more than a patriotic slogan to disguise mega-oil profits from fossil fuel export abroad, leaving towns like Ashfield vulnerable to industrial disasters it never asked for.

Folks have been taking action. Back in February a map of the proposed pipeline turned up on the Internet. Since then, among these neighboring towns, more than a dozen so far have called town meetings and voted to reassert community rights as the ultimate authority before approving such projects.

One balmy Monday evening in late June, over 250 residents of Ashfield (out of a total town population of 1,800), packed the town hall to discuss and vote on two articles: one on the principle of community rights, and the second opposing and prohibiting Kinder Morgan's pipeline plan.

This is old New England, where town hall democracy is taken literally and seriously.

The proposed articles would not become law, or legally binding. They would only carry the strong statement of an advisory recommendation. State and federal law still retain the power to override community sentiment. The pipeline also crosses some public lands, parks and forests, and those terms would have to be negotiated in any event. A state senator and representative, as well as a staff member for the area's U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, attended the meeting. Their future actions will be carefully scrutinized.

Town citizens got up to say things like, "As you all know, I have never agreed with anything said by the previous speaker. But this is bigger than us. We must come together on the decisions that affect our lives." After some vague language was deleted, Article I passed by a large majority.

As to the second article, on the pipeline itself, one older woman, seeking to sell her 40 acres so she could move in with her children, told of a buyer all lined up: a couple who saw her land as the perfect site for a boutique dairy enterprise. As soon as they heard about the pipeline, they withdrew the offer. What would happen to property values in the town?

A young fireman spoke: "We are simply not trained for these kinds of eruptions, explosions, and catastrophes." How many leaks do we need, how many homes will need to be torn down, before Kinder Morgan says, "Oh, maybe this was a bad idea."

Many in the audience wondered what one man expressed: "Why do I feel I have no control?" Another reminded the crowd, "The water that is contaminated here is the same water around the world."

An eloquent speaker summed up the deep emotions of the crowd. "This vote is not just about us here today," said Jane Shaney. "This is about every child and those to come, in this town and countless others across the country, who will be left with what we leave behind. We are, ultimately, visitors here. We would like to make sure we leave it intact, so that others may too experience what we so value today."

Article II passed with a thunderous collective "Aye." Only two timid souls faintly uttered their "Nay" votes. Without further business, the Ashfield town hall meeting adjourned, and everyone went home, an informed, activated citizenry whose voice insists on being heard.

Two websites are covering the pipeline story: www.massplan.org and www.nofrackedgasinmass.org.

Photo: Area residents kick off a 20-day relay-style march from Richmond to Dracut, Mass., to oppose the proposed Kinder Morgan/TGP pipeline, which would transport fracked natural gas to the Atlantic coast, July 6. Julia Blythe/Rolling March to Stop the Pipeline Facebook page

Corrected 7/9/14: A staff member for Rep. Richard Neal attended the town hall meeting, not a staffer for Rep. Jim McGovern as stated in a previous version. Rep. McGovern has said he strongly opposes the pipeline.

Environmental news roundup: Massive Peoples Climate March at UN Sept. 21

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 10:59:00 +0000

On Sept. 21 at the United Nations in New York City, there will be a massive People's Climate March to coincide with a summit of world leaders called by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Moon called this summit because thus far the negotiations set up by the UN to finalize a climate change agreement have floundered.

Called by 350.org, the online environmental activist website founded by Bill McKibben, the demonstration promises to be massive. As more and more people become convinced that climate change is real, is caused by human activity, and must be addressed by public policy, they are looking for actions to impact the public debate.

As Al Gore says in his recent Rolling Stone essay, "I believe there is a realistic hope that momentum toward a global agreement will continue to build in September and carry through to the Paris negotiations in late 2015." Since action is necessary on local, national, and global stages, a large turnout for this demonstration can impact the struggle everywhere.

There is an unholy coalition between climate change deniers and corporate interests who benefit from maintaining business as usual.

On the environmental front, there is a confusing and contradictory mix of bad news along with progress to celebrate.

First, some of the bad news. May 2014 was the hottest May ever recorded. Greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing. A new study predicts that large swaths of the U.S. will, by the end of this century, be so hot and humid that many people will suffer from heat stroke from as little as one hour in the sun. One hundred percent of California is in the middle of a drought emergency. And Republicans are taking aim at EPA funding and another government shutdown over new EPA rules on existing coal-fired plants. A documentary filmmaker reports that 95 percent of Alaska's glaciers are melting at "an unnatural and unprecedented pace." In Antarctica, the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet is now "irreversible."

Internationally, along with progress in renewables in many countries such as Germany, other countries are taking steps in the wrong direction, particularly Canada and Australia, where right-wing governments are backing away from previous commitments, even as temperatures in Canada are increasing faster than the global average and Australia continues to face devastating and long-term drought. Globally, greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, accumulating in the atmosphere so that humanity will be forced to deal with global warming for decades if not hundreds of years to come, even if we make a significant turn right now to curb emissions.

On a related environmental issue, EPA scientists are calling for more stringent rules on smog which has been shown to be more risky to human health than previously thought.

The exception to the increasing awareness of the reality of climate change seems to be the House Republican caucus, ironically especially in their leadership of the Science Committee in the House.

Second, some good news. In addition to the EPA regulations on existing and projected power plants, the Obama administration is taking other steps on climate change. Obama is using his bully pulpit to shame the deniers. His administration is working to address ocean acidification. Mayors are taking action to prepare cities for the impacts of climate change. As Gore notes, the market price and efficiency of solar energy is improving rapidly, such that the gloomy predictions from a few years ago about how long it would take until solar and wind were actually price competitive with coal-generated electricity are now way out of date. If we eliminate the subsidies, both overt and covert, of traditional energy production, the transition to renewables will happen more quickly. The Supreme Court recently decided, in a 7-2 decision, to uphold most of the authority of the EPA to regulate carbon pollution.

Cities are contemplating and taking independent action. Many prominent business people are waking up to the financial difficulties already caused by climate change. As Al Gore notes in the previously cited Rolling Stone article, the costs for solar and wind power are coming down as the efficiency is going up, making renewable energy more competitive with coal-based power.

Scientists are getting more aggressive about challenging climate change denialists. They understand that it is not just a lack of knowledge causing U.S. Congressional inaction but even more the purposeful and intentional misunderstanding being promoted as a legitimate part of the public debate.

The best news is that the struggles to address climate change and other environmental hazards are gaining strength.

- The movement to divest from fossil fuel companies is gaining speed, with Union Theological Seminary and the University of Dayton recently deciding to divest, and high-visibility struggles have taken place though not victorious yet, such as one at Harvard. This is a worldwide campaign, and victories in other countries are also being won.

- The fight against the Keystone XL pipeline continues to grow. The Cowboy and Indian Alliance, which sponsored inspiring demonstrations in Washington DC in May. This alliance between farmers, ranchers, Native American tribes, and environmentalists is beginning to transform politics in unexpected places like Nebraska and Wyoming, as well as on the national stage.

- The Blue Green Alliance, started by the Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, now totals ten unions and four major environmental organizations.

- There is a proposed public works program to employ low-income youth doing home weatherization. This would put people to work, would weatherize buildings so that less carbon dioxide would be emitted from the energy used to heat and cool them, they would require less energy in the first place, and would save consumers money.

- The Idle No More movement, initiated by Canadian First Nations activists, is part of a worldwide surge of indigenous peoples working to address many issues including environmental ones.

And most encouraging of all, the Sept. 21st NYC demonstration. Previous demonstrations sponsored by 350.org in Washington DC, mainly opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, have drawn up to 40,000. This September demonstration promises to be the largest climate change event in the U.S. There will be companion demonstrations around the U.S. in many cities, and as well companion demonstrations around the world.

Photo: May 2014 was the hottest May ever recorded in history. It is merely one example of how climate change is altering the world. AP

Louisianans march for clean water, demand oil companies own up

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 16:29:00 +0000

Beginning June 20 and ending June 28, Louisiana citizens and environmental activists staged a 155-mile march from Grand Isle to Baton Rouge. The event was in protest of the continuous poisoning of the state's water by the ever-greedy oil and gas industries.

The march was prompted when Gov. Bobby Jindal, R.-La., signed SB 469 into law earlier this month. The bill was a direct reaction to a lawsuit filed against 97 oil and gas companies by the South Louisiana Flood Protection Authority (SLFPA), which correctly asserted that oil and gas canals and pipelines have destroyed much of the Louisiana coastal lands. SB 469 would prohibit certain state groups, like the SLFPA, from filing such lawsuits, effectively saving the skins of oil and gas execs - or so many state Republicans had hoped.

On the first day of the march, June 20, the Louisiana Levee Authority in New Orleans voted to allow the SLFPA to continue pursuing the lawsuit, overriding the bill's authority and giving the group another chance at forcing fossil fuel corporations to own up to the damage they have caused.

With that spark to ignite their enthusiasm, the marchers began the long trek, marching along Louisiana Highway 1. The journey was largely a team effort. Environmental and civic activist Mike Stagg, who organized the event, told the People's World that the walkers had no formal support from any environmental group for the march itself, but each of the participants are active members of groups ranging from the Louisiana Bucket Brigade to Restore Louisiana Now (RLN) to 350.org to the GreenARMY.

The march culminated in a June 28 demonstration - the Flood Into Baton Rouge - at Gov. Jindal's mansion. Stagg noted, "The Flood Into Baton Rouge, which is where the march ended, had support and participation from a number of environmental groups including the Gulf Restoration Network, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, and a number of other local grassroots environmental action groups from across south Louisiana." He stated he considered the march to be a success, both on the local and national level. "Most importantly," he said, "we advanced the ongoing coastal conversation about land loss, rising seas, and who will pay for coastal restoration - if it gets done at all."

While SB 469 will certainly prove to be a roadblock in future efforts by state groups to fight the crimes of oil and gas companies, RLN president John Barry remarked, "Although the legislative battle is over, the war isn't. To quote the classic words of John Belushi, 'It ain't over 'till it's over.'" Meanwhile, he said, "is there a single person in Louisiana who believes the governor is putting the state's interest ahead of his personal ambition? At last count, 106 legal scholars warned that signing the bill would put at risk claims against BP" for damages done during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. "The attorney general, the president of Jefferson Parish, the New Orleans City Council, and others all called upon the governor to veto the bill. I think he signed it because they were just the beginning of a broad chorus from around the state, and he wanted to cut that off before the chorus became deafening." And this bill, moreover, will affect future claims against BP and other oil corporations, he added, "if, for example, a pipeline ruptures in the coastal zone."

The march and Flood Into Baton Rouge, Stagg added, were very much intended also to draw attention to Jindal's signing of SB 469. "The bill was so hastily drawn and poorly written that it might jeopardize the state's share of the BP environmental damages resulting from the 2010 Gulf gusher," he said. "The stated purpose of the legislation was to retroactively kill" the SLFPA's lawsuit, which was "insane enough." But even worse, he noted, was "their rush to spare the most profitable industry in the history of the world the legal liability growing from their actions."

The aftermath of that catastrophic BP spill is still being felt today, and is just one of the many reasons for the marchers' push for clean water and coastal reparations.

Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, remarked, "Years after the initial explosion, the effects of the BP disaster continue to unfold." A recent study by the group found that the Gulf toxicity is still having a severely negative effect on the wildlife populations there - and particularly on dolphins. "These ongoing deaths, especially in an apex predator like the dolphin, are a strong indication that there is something amiss in the Gulf ecosystem."

Sacrificing the state's ability to hold BP accountable for such devastation, many feel, is unjustifiable. Stagg concluded, "Louisiana has a long history of making environmental trade-offs. So many of these trade-offs have been made that the cumulative effects have not been considered. Those effects are clear now and we cannot afford to continue down the path that has brought us here."

Photo: "Go Captain Planet" Tumblr page