It’s Getting Hot In Here

Energy Action Coalition Co-Director Courtney Hight responds to President Obama’s weekend off-shore drilling announcement, cross-posted from WeArePowerShift.org

Gas prices are at an all-time high; Big Oil is receiving massive taxbreaks on top of record profits, while middle America struggles to get by; and the Gulf Coast is still suffering from the BP drilling disaster. So what to do?

President Obama’s most recent response? Promote Big Oil’s false solutions, despite overwhelming support for standing up to Big Oil, reigning them in, and making them pay their fair share.

The President is faced with some tough choices; I heard them from him first-hand in a meeting one month ago. As 10,000 people descended on Washington, DC for Power Shift 2011, eleven young grassroots leaders and I were invited to the Roosevelt Room to meet with senior White House officials.

When we showed up at the White House we didn’t expect the President to be in the meeting, but when he walked in holding a copy of that day’s Washington Post story about the 10,000 young people arriving at Power Shift 2011 (“Youth at environment summit unhappy with Obama policies”), we knew we had an opportunity.

President Barack Obama drops by a meeting with PowerShift Leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, April 15, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

We sat down face-to-face with President Obama for a full half-hour, debating our nation’s energy future, and ultimately laying down the conclusion we need an 100% clean energy economy, and drawing our line in the sand: “If it’s not clean energy, don’t call it that.”

In the month since meeting with the President at Power Shift 2011, we’ve seen the President speak forcefully and repeatedly about the need to eliminate handouts for Big Oil and shift those subsidies to clean energy investments.

However, as we told President Obama in that meeting, our generation will not be satisfied by rhetoric, to win over young people we need to see action. This weekend was a perfect example of the President’s contradictory dance with Big Oil that is frustrating his base.

On Friday night I was excited to receive an email from Obama Campaign Director Jim Messina talking about the need to stand up to Big Oil and build a movement to change the way Washington works.

So when I woke up Saturday morning and heard the announcement that under pressure to relieve gas prices President Obama is expanding and speeding up dangerous offshore drilling — despite his own acknowledgement that it won’t do a thing to bring down gas prices — I was infuriated.

Just as it feels like we’re building a movement to stand up to Big Oil in Washington, DC to end billions in tax-breaks and handouts, President Obama decided to play politics as usual. Just as we’re about to have votes in Congress that will expose those standing with Big Oil vs. whose standing with the American public, President Obama hands away a bargaining chip that shouldn’t be on the table to begin with.

Now let’s be clear, the environment in Washington is ugly.

Big Oil’s cronies like Majority Leader John Boehner have been working nonstop to force through a Big Polluter agenda, funded by dirty corporations like the big oil baron Koch Brothers, seeking to undermine critical public health safeguards like the Clean Air Act. Now they are desperately spreading lies about the cause of high gas prices in an effort to maintain the $4 billion in handouts that line their piggy banks.

The correct response isn’t to try to assuage the public’s concerns with ineffective measures that continue to threaten the health of the Gulf, the American public and the planet — the correct response is to continue to stand up to Big Oil, speak the truth and advance policy that can really address the American people’s needs and concerns.

Thousands of Americans, including the 10,000 young people at Power Shift 2011, are calling for this, only to be overshadowed by the special interest agenda.

If President Obama is unsure about what real action for clean energy looks like, he should look to the young people who also took action this week, and follow their lead.

This Saturday, graduating seniors at Worcester Polytechnic Institute jeopardized their ability to walk in commencement to stand up against Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson speaking at their graduation. They were tired of his lies being unchallenged, so they arranged for an alternative commencement speaker who would bring some truth and integrity to the ceremonies.

And, as the HuffingtonPost reported on Friday, when charges were dropped against 21 young people who staged a sit-in at the Department of Interior, they didn’t celebrate, they started planning their next action.

Young people remain determined and ready to confront the Big Polluters and their cronies and we will continue as long as the atrocious practices and policies that threaten the health of people, communities and the planet persist.

We wont give up on ending Big Oil handouts. This week the Senate is expected to vote on a proposal to end them, and young people will be there to voice our demands. On Tuesday, we’re delivering the voices of thousands of people who have called for an end to Big Oil handouts. We’ll be there on the steps of the Capitol calling for it today, and we’ll be out there organizing for it tomorrow. The question is will the President be with us?

When BP, a UK-based company, came to the US and devastated the Gulf Coast, the company was forced to pay $20 billion to clean up and compensate the victims of its pollution. When Chevron or any other American company goes to a foreign country and does the same thing, we should hold it to the same standard.

Chevron was found guilty of deliberately dumping over 18 billion gallons of toxic oil waste in the Ecuadorean Amazon and ordered to pay $9 billion to clean up its mess. But the company has vowed never to pay.

That’s why I’m standing up to Chevron to demand justice in Ecuador. I’ll be attending the protest outside Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting next week, demanding accountability from the company not just in Ecuador, but also in Richmond, California; in Nigeria; in Australia; in Kazakhstan; and in countless other communities around the world that have been impacted by Chevron’s reckless pursuit of profits.

A delegation of Ecuadoreans will be coming up for the shareholder meeting so that they can take their calls for justice directly to Chevron’s shareholders, management, and board members. They’ve just issued a passionate appeal to Americans to stand in solidarity with them. Together with the folks at Amazon Watch, the Change Chevron team at Rainforest Action Network is trying to get 30,000 Americans to sign this petition, one for each of the Ecuadoreans affected by Chevron’s business operations — and we only have a week to do it! Chevron’s shareholder meeting is happening on May 25th.

Check out the “Open letter to America” video below, and sign the petition. The Ecuadorean delegation will be delivering this petition with all its signatures to Chevron’s management at the shareholder meeting.

We can only hold Chevron accountable if we all stand up together. Please sign the petition so the Ecuadorean delegation can deliver your call for justice directly to Chevron on May 25th. And if you’re in the Bay Area, come to the protest outside Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting.

Endbridge – Why The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Proposal And All Tar Sands Expansion From Alberta To The B.C. West Coast Will Be Stopped In Its Tracks By The Unity Of Indigenous Nations

If you have ever driven on most of the northern highways in northern Alberta you will be presented with a picture of a tame prairie terrain, with sprawling fields and farms holding cows and the occasional conventional oil pump jack. A few kilometers on any of the gravel access roads however and you will see a much more bleaker picture of out of control industrialization and poisoning of the land. This is unless of course you witness the tar sands machines of death on Highway 63 near Fort McMurray and Fort McKay, or the massive underground mining operations in the Peace River and Cold Lake regions disrupting and contaminating underground water. What most modern thinkers fail to understand is thousands years of history from the ancestors of Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Nakoda and Metis people. Living nations of people who simply cannot afford the luxury of packing up and moving as settlers when there is no longer work. These lands are home to these nations and are not sacrifice zones. And like a deadly contagious all-consuming disease, what has been done to Alberta by the oil industry cannot be allowed to spread to other parts of the world killing indigenous ways of life and jeopardizing the future for all.

Enbridge, and the expansion of the Alberta Tar Sands Gigaproject, is attempting to retrace the steps taken by the Hudson’s Bay Company with classic colonial strategy. The Hudson’s Bay Company was the first corporation on Turtle Island, here in North America. The Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading forts also became the first settler governments for the British Empire. In Alberta, the first settlement and colonial government in Alberta was in Fort Chipewyan, which would today is seen as the international poster community for a Cree, Dene and Metis community directly impacted by 40 years of out of control open pit tar sands mining. The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline is renewing a pipeline proposal and expansions originally proposed nearly 10 years ago and is supported by the Stephen Harper Conservative Canadian Government.

Just one week after the largest oil pipeline spill in Alberta in 30 years in unceded Lubicon Cree Territory, a spill that took six days for the Alberta government to respond in a half-assed, indifferent manner, starting with faxing a one-page “fact sheet” update about the disaster, a large contingent from the Yinka Dene Alliance from the northwest interior of B.C. were arriving in Calgary to confront Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project and tanker traffic.

On May 11th, 2011, on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy in Calgary, Alberta, a historic solidarity statement of opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal was signed by leaders of the Blood Tribe, Alexander First Nation, Lubicon Lake Nation, Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation, Sai’kuz First Nation, Nadleh Whuten, Takla Lake First Nation and the Nakazdli First Nation.

The day after the Enbridge AGM a rally was held in Prince Rupert, B.C. on May 12th, outside a meeting sponsored by Enbridge for the Northern BC Municipalities Convention. With a historic turn-out of over 500 Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents of the island of Lach Kaien, known in the mainstream society as Prince Rupert, publicly and loudly demonstrating their opposition to the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline proposal as well as any tar sands tanker traffic that would support the industry of dirty crude oil and liquid condensate.

Lach Kaien, or Prince Rupert, is known to the Tsimshian as the “Cradle of Tsimshian Civilization,” according to a hereditary chief of the Gits’iis tribe, Sm’ooygit Nisyaganaat. The Prince Rupert Harbor contains the most dense archaelogical sites north of Mexico City and is the second deepest harbor in the world. Lach Kaien is surrounded by Tsimshian communities traditionally comprised of 11 Tsimshian villages, as well as neighboring nations from the Haida, Haisla, Heiltsuk, Gitksan, Nisga’a, Tahltan, and Tlingit. To this day the indigenous population of the town of Prince Rupert is still between 40-50%, with all industries heavily dependent upon the commerce, labor and resources of Indigenous coastal nations.

A few coastal communities however have not yet made a clear position on whether or not to support the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project and any western tar sands crude oil expansion. These include among the largest of coastal communities of Lach hlgu K’alaams (Lax Kw’Alaams) or Port Simpson, and Gitkxaahla (Kitkatla), where the still active traditional laws and feasting systems of hereditary chiefs is still strong and holds much influence over the non-surrendered tribal territories in the region of Prince Rupert, Hecate Strait, and the Skeena and Nass Rivers.

These are nations still waiting to awaken to take their place and decide for themselves what is allowed into the lands and waters of nations that have lived and thrived on this edge of the world for thousands of years. To uphold the traditional laws and protocols of respect and responsibilities known as Ayaawk and Gugwiltx Yaans and not be steered by any settler government, environmental group, or any funding body with non-Indigenous agendas. Especially is true that Indigenous grassroots leaders are still fighting the oppression of the Indian Act system and the federal Canadian employees of many Band Councils maintaining the silencing of traditional hereditary leadership systems through which the sole jurisdiction of all territories flows through.

Indigenous lands and waters are to be spoken for and by Indigenous minds and communities. Enbridge Northern Gateway, and all tar sands pipelines and expansions such as the Kinder Morgan TMX Northern Leg Extension, the Pembina Pipeline, the PNG KSL Pipeline, the Kitimat and Prince Rupert Liquid Natural Gas Terminals, and the Prince Rupert “New World” Container Ports are just a few of the many modern obstacles in the path of standing up the original structures and ways of life with which to free Indigenous nations on this edge of the world.

Links to the rally and demonstration held in Lach Kaien and declarations of war against Enbridge -

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/enbridge-pipeline-faces-prospect-civil-disobedience-500-strong-crowd-rallies-outside-1514236.htm

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/121784899.html

http://www.muskegnews.com/protest-enbridge0512

http://wcel.org/media-centre/media-releases/coastal-first-nations-tanker-ban-creates-new-legal-risks-and-uncertainty

http://savethefraser.ca/

Statement of Solidarity of Indigenous Nations opposed to Enbridge Northern Gateway -

May 10th, 2011 – Calgary, Alberta, territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy

WE THE UNDERSIGNED INDIGENOUS NATIONS STATE IN SOLIDARITY:
Our Nations are bound together by the water which is our lifeblood. We have protected our lands and waters since time immemorial, each according to our laws and traditions. The waters of Indigenous peoples throughout the lands known as western Canada are being threatened by fossil fuel exploitation and transportation.

We exercise our rights to sustain our cultural and economic well-being. The laws of each of our peoples are deeply embedded in our cultures and practices. These laws have never been extinguished and our authority continues in our lands. Our peoples continue to live by them today.

We have come together on May 10, 2011 in the city of Calgary, Alberta, in the traditional territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy, to declare to the governments of Alberta, British Columbia, as well as Enbridge Inc., all of its subsidiary bodies, and the domestic and international financial institutions supporting Enbridge, THE FOLLOWING:

The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and tankers project will expose Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities from the Pacific Coast across to Alberta to the risk of pipeline and supertanker oil spills, just as we have seen recently with Enbridge’s massive spill in Michigan, the recent devastating spill in Lubicon Cree territory, the recent TransCanada pipeline spill in North Dakota, as well as the effects of the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon disaster. Tar sands bitumen has been demonstrated to corrode pipelines more rapidly than conventional oil, increasing the likelihood of catastrophic spills. Given the seismic volatility of the region, the recent earthquake in Japan also underlies our grave concerns about the risk of oil spills.

The urgency of global climate change, and the fact that Indigenous peoples are among those most impacted by climate change, also compels us to act.

We have witnessed the Coastal First Nations Declaration banning crude oil tankers on the Pacific North Coast, and the Save the Fraser Declaration banning crude oil transportation through the Fraser River watershed. Each of these Declarations is based in Indigenous law and is an expression of Indigenous decision-making authority.

Enbridge states that it intends to proceed with its Northern Gateway pipeline and tankers, with or without First Nations consent. A decision by Canada to approve this project, without the free, prior and informed consent of affected Nations, will be a violation of our Treaties, our rights, and our laws, and will be in breach of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international accords.

THEREFORE we stand in solidarity with the Coastal First Nations, and the Nations who have signed the Save the Fraser Declaration, and are united in stating that Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and tanker project, as well as other fossil fuel development projects including Keystone XL, must not proceed without obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of all affected First Nations.

AND FURTHER if such consent is not obtained, no construction of such projects shall proceed.

SIGNED in the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, at the city of Calgary, May 10 2011

Sai’kuz First Nation

Nadleh Whut’en

Takla Lake First Nation

Nakazdli First Nation

Blood Tribe

Alexander First Nation

Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation

Lubicon Lake Nation

Community leaders, union members, celebrities and conservationists will honor labor struggles and call for an end to surface mining during a fifty mile march through southern West Virginia.

Spokespeople:

Denise Giardina, – Award winning West Virginia novelist

Terry Steele – Mingo County WV, Retired UMWA underground coal miner, member of Matewan Local 1440

Wilma Steele – Mingo County, WV, Elementary school art teacher and member of Friends of Blair Mountain

Erica Broach – Big Stone Gap, VA – Member of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards

Blair Mountain Coalition and Appalachia Rising Media Phone: (304) 518-0696
Email: blairmarchmedia@gmail.com
Website: marchonblairmountain.org, appalachiarising.org

CHARLESTON, WV –  A mass march against mountaintop removal (MTR), preceded by a benefit concert in tribute to the late Hazel Dickens, will take place June 6 through 11 in southern West Virginia.  Hundreds of participants of “Appalachia Rising: March on Blair Mountain” are expected to peacefully walk fifty miles from Marmet, WV, to Blair Mountain, WV, where a culminating rally and concert will occur.

Marchers will follow the same route that union miners took on their historic march to Blair Mountain in 1921.  The ensuing battle between 10,000 coal miners and the coal industry’s hired gunmen is remembered as the largest armed uprising in United States history since the Civil War, and a landmark event in the labor struggles of the early 20th century.

Currently, Blair Mountain is under threat of destruction by mountaintop removal.  It was briefly placed on the National Register of Historic Places, until it was removed due to coal operator pressure on state agencies.

Grammy award-winning musicians Emmylou Harris, Tim O’Brien, and Kathy Mattea are all   expected to perform in support of the march.  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will speak at the final rally in Blair, WV, on June 11th.

“We are announcing a new march on Blair Mountain in early June, and we invite our fellow citizens to join us. We call for protection for Blair Mountain from mountaintop removal; indeed, an end to all mountaintop removal. We call for protection of our streams and our drinking water. We call for our politicians to protect people and the environment”, said WV author Denise Giardina.

Community members, religious leaders, union members, environmentalists, and others will honor the history of the Battle of Blair Mountain and call for an end to MTR; the preservation of Blair Mountain; a strengthening of labor rights; and a transition to a sustainable economy.

Terry Steele of Mingo County, WV, cited statistics demonstrating that MTR actually reduces the number of mining jobs available to West Virginians, while increasing corporate profits. He stated, “To make the argument that we’re costing people jobs is an argument that can’t be made to me by any intelligent human being.” Steele, who worked twenty-six years underground as a UMWA miner, explained that in Boone County, WV–the largest coal-producing county in the state–underground mining supplied 2,053 jobs and produced ten million tons of coal, while surface mines provided 1,086 jobs and twelve million tons of coal.

Fundraisers, concerts, and rallies are planned for the weeks leading up to the march.  Residents of Mingo County, WV, are organizing a bluegrass concert to raise funds for the march, to be held in the Matewan, WV, UMWA Local Hall on the evening of May 14th.  The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS) a Wise County, VA, grassroots community group, will hold a march and rally on May 27th in opposition to a 1200 acre surface mine permit located in the center of Appalachia, VA.

Chuck Keeney, great-grandson of Frank Keeney, the UMWA District 17 leader during the original march on Blair Mountain, called on his fellow Appalachians to join him in Marmet in June, stating, “If you stand for more jobs instead of fewer jobs, you stand for Blair Mountain. If you stand for preserving our cultural heritage instead of destroying it, you stand for Blair Mountain. If you stand for honoring the memory of the miners who fought and died there; educating our children; and building a better future for West Virginia and all Americans, then you stand for Blair Mountain. We stand to preserve the Blair Mountain Battlefield for all of those ideals, and we ask that all of you stand with us.”

For a complete schedule of events, list of spokespeople, and other information, please visit: marchonblairmountain.org or appalachiarising.org

On Friday two bank branches in downtown Portland, one belonging to Bank of America and the other to Wells Fargo, were visited by around 30 activists concerned about the banks’ investments in dirty energy projects.  If you didn’t already know, both banks are major lenders to Arch Coal, the second biggest coal company in the United States.  Along with Austrialia-based Ambre Energy, Arch is responsible for  a proposed coal export terminal on the Columbia River which would send tens of millions of tons of coal abroad each year through a port in Longview, Washington.  Arch also owns the Otter Creek coal mine in Montana, which the company hopes to use as a source of coal to be exported.

Train loads of coal on their way from Otter Creek and other mines to the proposed coal port in Longview would expose Northwest residents to coal dust, diesel fumes, and noise pollution.  It’s thus only fitting that on Friday two of Arch Coal’s major financers got a taste of what it feels like to have a coal train arrive on your home turf.  A multi-car human ”coal train” assembled by Reed College students burst through the doors and made the rounds of the bank lobby area, temporarily disrupting business as usual inside.  Climate activists chanted “Hey hey, B of A: Stop investing in coal today!”  And later, “Hey hey, Wells Fargo: You say coal, we say no!”  Here’s what it looked (and sounded) like:

Just in case bank customers and employees were unclear about the reasons for the visit, a representative of the group read aloud a statement explaining how Wells Fargo and Bank of America are enabling Arch Coal’s dirty energy binge.  Bank managers were also handed a letter from Reed College students asking the banks to pull their financing of coal export projects. 

To me one of the best things about Friday’s action, which was a joint project of Portland Rising Tide and the Greenboard student group at Reed College, was the positive reception we got from people while marching from Portland’s Pioneer Square to the two bank branches, and even once inside the banks.  Though I’m sure the action ruffled a few feathers in the banks’ management (that is sort of the point, after all), many customers seemed downright intrigued.  We even got some interested smiles from bank customer service employees – who are not responsible for their employer’s decision to invest in coal, and may not even know the company they work for is financing coal export projects.

At no point on Friday did the atmosphere become seriously tense or antagonistic.  Though Bank of America apparently had got word we were coming and posted a security guard outside, the guard made no attempt to stop us from entering the bank, and never challeneged the right of activists to express their displeasure with the Wall Street player’s invetsments.  Yet while Friday’s action turned out to be a fun time for most people involved, the message climate activists were delivering is deadly serious. 

To residents of the town of Longview and other communities impacted by coal export terminals and associated rail traffic, the fight against Arch Coal and Ambre Energy is no laughing matter.  Organizers in these frontline communities are actively resisting the export proposal, and we activists in urban centers like Portland owe it to them to do our part.  Sometimes this means working directly with frontline communities like the one in Longview.  Sometimes it means zeroing in on the companies financing coal projects and holding them accountable.

That, of course, is exactly what Rising Tide and Reed College students did on Friday.  Though we’re a long way from ending the destructive financing of Big Coal, a couple of bank branches in  Portland certainly got the message that afternoon.  And oh, yeah – now that Reed students have a human coal train costume in storage, downtown banks just might expect to see it again….

On May 5 activists with Katuah Earth First! managed to sneak a banner intoDuke Energy’s annual shareholder meeting in Charlotte, NC. Just as the question and comment session was wrapping up, the activists unfurled a large banner reading, “Carbon Free, Nuclear Free” in an act of protest against Duke’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels and nukes.

To the activists surprise, they were not bothered by security and were able to eventually leave the building without arrest, where they joined a crowd of about 50 protesters demanding that Duke rapidly shift to sustainable energy sources.

Duke is apparently suffering some setbacks for both its planned nuclear and coal plants. The nuclear disaster in Japan has helped to derail legislation in NC that would have made it easier for Duke to finance its nuke plants. And in Indiana Duke is facing mounting costs to finish its Edwardsport coal plant. Duke is also being investigated for “undue influence” (ahem, bribery) of politicians in Indiana. The scandal has already cost 3 Duke executives there jobs.

Eco-activists weren’t the only ones out protesting Duke. Protestors with the conservative group FreedomWorks turned out to oppose Duke’s $10 million contribution to host the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in 2012. Well, there is one thing we can agree on with the FreedomWorks folks. We don’t want those spineless, corporate ass-kissing Democrats throwing their party in our state either!

Yesterday many of us were up in arms at a new Peabody Coal initiative “Coal Cares” that appeared to be aimed at helping kids with asthma, not by reducing pollution, but rather by making it a cool thing to do. While the website and media campaign were a stunt, they still served to highlight the absurdity that the coal industry is allowed to run rampant polluting our air and water and costing us millions of dollars in healthcare costs while they pocket the profits.

Here’s more on the project:

A charitable initiative by the world’s largest coal company to provide free “novelty-themed” inhalers to asthmatic children may have seemed for a moment like a (somewhat misguided) breath of fresh air, coming as it did from an industry whose emissions are directly linked to childhood asthma, and which is fighting to gut clean air legislation that would save children’s lives.

Coal Cares™ (www.coalcares.org) purported to “make asthma cool” with decorative and pop-culture inspired inhalers (“The Bieber,” “Harry Potter,” “My Little Pony,” and “My First Inhaler” were particular favorites). The site also announced that Peabody would offer $10 coupons towards asthma medication (about 5%-20% of the cost) for families living within 200 miles of a coal-fired plant. It featured a “Kidz Koal Korner” with asthma-related games for tots, an extensive asthma trivia section and FAQ (Peter the Great was asthmatic, who knew!), and a thorough condemnation of solar and wind alternatives.

It was, of course, a hoax, and it was aimed at Peabody Coal, which is lobbying ferociously against new pollution standards for power plants proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), standards the agency says will prevent 120,000 cases of childhood asthma each year in the United States. Peabody spent over $6 million lobbying Congress last year, and the industry has created a dizzying array of fake “grassroots” front groups to distort the public debate and fight legislation. Continue reading ‘Tackling Childhood Asthma Not Coal Industry Priority After All’

via Shadia Fayne Wood

Update from Washington D.C.: The Department of Interior dropped charges for the 21 arrested during Reclaim Power March April 18.

On April 18th, a thousand people marched to the Dept. of Interior in an unpermitted march, organized by Rising Tide North America and Peaceful Uprising, singing “We Shall Overcome.” Hundreds stormed the building’s lobby for a multi-hour occupation which resulted in 21 arrests.

Today was their arraignment. All 21 were in court for our arraignment from all over the country. Some planned on going to trial.

But then there was a strange turn. The Dept of Interior essentially dropped all charges.

Here’s a first hand account from one of the DOI 21:

“The court called us up front and, one by one, called us up to the clerk who gave us a paper which said, in part, “The US Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia or the office of the Attorney General for the D. of C. has declined to proceed with prosecution against you for the incident that led to your arrest for the offense of UNLAWFUL ENTRY. This means that your arrest has been NO PAPERED. However, the prosecuting attorney could seek to proceed with prosecution at a later date.” Continue reading ‘Breaking: Dept of Interior Drops Charges Against 21 Arrested During Reclaim Power’

Guest post by Tabitha Skervin, one of the 9 arrested at the Capitol April 15 at the “Citizens Filibuster“

Late Wednesday night, after our last final, Jordan and I drove out to DC to make our court date Thursday morning. The commute is a hard one and my little PT Cruiser wasn’t much help, but we’ve sort have become pros at it- after all, we did the same exact thing a few weeks back when we decided to disrupt the House with a song. Thursday night, April 14th we headed out to DC to meet up with youth activists from all around the country who were ready to take a risk to inspire the 10,000 students attending Powershift that weekend. We sang an alternative version of the Star Spangled Banner, one that called for our congressmen to start standing up for our future- our right to clean air, water, and food- not big oil, gas, and coal. Disrupting congress is an arrestable action, something that we knew going in. But even though we were arrested and stayed in jail for over 6hrs, we had accomplished our goal. That Monday, hundreds of activists stormed the Department of the Interior and stayed despite the threat of arrest. 21 stayed for arrest even after being threatened with felony charges.

This past week, the nine of us who were arrested that friday all had to come back to DC for our arraignment. For some of us, that meant flying in from Utah, long train or bus rides from Massachusetts, Maine, etc. For Jordan and I it meant pulling another all-nighter to drive in from Michigan. At 8am, Thursday morning, we met with our lawyers and we ended the day with a drug test at around 3pm. This is the not-so-sexy side of civil disobedience, the part where sacrifice starts to kick in and we are forced to face financial, personal, and professional consequences for our action. But at the same time, these past couple of days have been the most encouraging for me.

I see the beginning of a culture within our movement that is willing to support those who decide to take action even at the expense of their own future. I am beginning to see a movement with people that can find it in their hearts to give the little that they have to support those who they can call allies. I’m beginning to see a movement that is becoming financially independent, and with financial independence comes true mobility. Is the movement strong enough to support one another? Is it capable of making things like money less of a concern when taking action? I think it is.

Going to court on Thursday wasn’t a walk in the park. I saw too many of my less fortunate black brothers and sisters in that room and too many people there for minor drug charges. The failure of our court system was hard to ignore- the true victims of our unjust society were criminalized while the true criminals were no where to be found. Yet there was still hope because in the middle of this scene was a row of individuals who were crazy enough to think that they could take on this institution…and there are hundreds who were starting to stand behind them and their action.

Even though Thursday I was surrounded by those who force their laws on us, It also wasn’t scary, nerve racking, or daunting- it was liberating. I am not alone. I have countless of people- some I don’t even know personally- who are there to back me up. I want to see more of those seats filled with activists standing up for what is right. I want them to feel the same sense of relief that, despite the outcome, there is a whole movement of like minded individuals ready to bring about support in any way that they can- whether it be with time, money, or just encouragement. I believe the nine of us and the 21 who got arrested in the department of Interior are continuing to play a part in inspiring others to join us in tactful civil disobedience. A movement that has learned how to sacrifice individually and for one another is powerful. It’s a force to be reckoned with!

A few weeks ago, Glenn Beck warned his Fox News audience of a grave new threat: you!

Beck cautioned his viewers that the 10,000 young people organizing for a clean energy future at Power Shift 2011 were “radicals” being brainwashed to “kill their parents”. Naturally, we were alarmed, but after carefully reviewing the Power Shift agenda we concluded that no workshops on Matricide were secretly added to the program.

Send your mom a Power Shift e-card to wish her a radical Mother’s Day! Continue reading ‘Glenn Beck Says You Don’t Love Your Mom’