TransCanada buying Culture

TransCanada Platinum Sponsor: Indspire Awards & Thundering Hills Powwow Immediate Release

TransCanada appears to be selectively distributing its funds into First Nations communities with its recent “partnership” in the Indspire Awards (formerly the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards) and its Platinum “sponsorship” of the upcoming Thundering Hills Powwow on July 5, 6, & 7th hosted by the Nekaneet First Nation.

Could TransCanada be seeking to stifle Indigenous communities’ opposition to the Tar Sands and the XL pipeline?

TransCanada is the Canadian oil and gas company behind the purposed XL pipeline that would bring Tar Sands oil from Alberta to Texas crossing First Nation and Tribal communities along the way.  Opposition to the Tar Sands and the XL pipeline has been strong from various grassroots Indigenous communities and environmental activists including a recent gathering of tribal Nations in Yankton to sign the “International Treaty to Protect the Sacred from Tar Sands and Keystone XL” and the 40,000 plus gathering of activists who descended on D.C. recently to call on President Obama to reject the XL pipeline.

We call on all Tribal Nations, to reject TransCanada’s attempts to “buy” support for its XL pipeline and other Tar Sands related projects.  Projects that not only will cause significant damage to the very tribal communities it is “investing” in, but cause irreversible damage to our planet and first mother Maka Ina.

Let us reject major corporations that are causing reprehensible damage to our communities, homelands, health and welfare from funding powwows, award shows, or any other related activities or events. Call on the Nekaneet First Nation to drop TransCanada as its Platinum sponsor.

http://lastrealindians.com/transcanada-platinum-sponsor-indspire-awards-thundering-hills-powwow-immediate-release/

4 Reasons Why a Settlement with BP is a Bad Idea

Thu, 2013-02-14 13:23

Sort of like OJ Simpson (Yes. I figure he did it), BP "got over" in the US Justice Department's criminal case against them. They didn't win, but they gladly settled for $4 Billion rather than face a full trial with full public disclosure of exactly what happened before, during and after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010.

So, kind of like the civil case that did tackle "The Juice" eventually, the Justice Department's civil case against BP must proceed to trial on February 25 - and not be "settled" for less money or less public scrutiny than what a full-blown trial would yield.

A sign-on letter requesting a full civil trial and not just another "settlement" will be delivered to US Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured) tomorrow.

Besides knowing that this glove fits BP, my four other reasons for signing are:

    •    Without a full and transparent Civil Trial, the truth regarding the causes and impacts of the largest environmental disaster in US history (Deepwater Horizon) will remain un-aired in any credible or transparent public forum, and remain obscured forever.

    •    A DOJ settlement with BP in lieu of a Civil Trial is very unlikely to result in BP paying the maximum fines allowed under law - a sum which the extremely costly restoration of our Gulf's damaged marshes, estuaries and open waters etc. requires.

    •    Neither egregious misbehavior by BP executives nor preventable disasters like Deepwater Horizon are likely to cease if the corporation and its top executives are not publicly scrutinized and held maximally accountable in a full and transparent Civil Trial. (BP has a long history of criminal offenses concerning environmental pollution and worker safety in addition to "Deepwater Horizon")

    •    Low-income and minority populations continue to bear the heaviest social, environmental and ecological burdens caused by BP's damage to Gulf Coast ecosystems and communities. A very wide range of unmitigated social and environmental impacts continues to fall disproportionately on tens of thousands of Native-, Vietnamese-, African-, Cajun-, Hispanic-, and other poor Bayou-American families and workers whose livelihoods, health, cultural identity and self-determination are the most dependent of anyone's upon the environmental resources that BP has damaged and/or ruined.

To see more on BP's history as a "Serial Polluter and Killer", take a look at this short video.

Derrick Christopher Evans is the director of Turkey Creek Community Initiatives and an adv

"Come and see for yourselves": My remarks at the BP shareholder meeting

Thu, 2012-04-12 16:45

Today, two community advocates and regional leaders from the Gulf Coast, Bryan Parras and Derrick Evans, brought an urgent message to BP's board and shareholders, at the corporation's annual meeting.  Here are Evans' remarks as prepared for delivery.  Evans is the founder of Turkey Creek Community Initiatives (TCCI), a Founding Advisor of the Gulf Coast Fund, and Bridge The Gulf advisor and contributor.  He is from Gulfport, MS.  Read more about the meeting here.
Good morning.  My name is Derrick Christopher Evans and I don't speak for the American government, but I am a citizen of the United States and a resident of the Gulf Coast.   I live in from Gulfport, Mississippi – which is midpoint between New Orleans, Louisiana; 60 miles west of Mobile, Alabama. More specifically, I hail from Turkey Creek – an African-American settlement founded by my former slave ancestors in 1866, and a tidal bayou connected to the northern Gulf of Mexico by Biloxi Bay and the Mississippi Sound.

My community embodies and exudes the same noble history and culture of self-reliance, neighborly good will, slowness to anger, and celebration of les bons temps shared by African-Americans, Native-Americans, Vietnamese, Cajuns and others across a cultural, and ecological region that spans five southern states. Strongly tied to our bayous, bays, wetlands and gulf, people in these communities still eat for lunch and supper what they catch that morning.

I am also a Managing Advisor with the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, a community-based regional philanthropy that has distributed some 4.6 million dollars to more than 250 organizations since Hurricane Katrina and the more recent BP Drilling Disaster.

I am here today on behalf of scores of thousands of everyday people in coastal Alabama,

Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Texas whose livelihoods, physical health, and inter-

generational way of life have been disrupted, compromised or outright destroyed by one or 

more of the myriad impacts caused by the 200 million gallon oil spill that 

commenced on Earth Day 2010. Unimpeded for three months, the Macondo Well hemorrhage and its multi-sector impacts remain an environmental and social catastrophe of epic proportions that does indeed necessitate an “unprecedented” expenditure of concern, time and money – as well as unprecedented honesty, good will and diligence.

I regret to report, however, that the Gulf is not clean, families and small businesses have not

 been made whole, and other far-reaching consequences are by no means “over” for anyone 

directly concerned – including you who are gathered here today. With dispersed, sunken, 

bulldozed, and buried Sweet Louisiana crude still washing ashore, the possibility of a future 

hurricane storm surge dredging and depositing yet more onto our land-based ecosystems and

 communities is real if not imminent.

So is the possibility that your stock values will suffer significantly once this happens, or once other unfortunate truths about the company’s behavior, impact or liability become more fully disclosed or manifested in ways that cannot be circumvented. False assurances that the oil is gone or that normalcy has returned to the gulf coast should not be taken with any greater confidence than past assurances of Deepwater Horizon’s safety, or of the blown out well’s rate of discharge into the Gulf.

I could easily contrast at great length and in vivid detail that which you and others have been expertly served by a supremely funded PR campaign charged with painting a rosy picture no matter what, but instead – in the name of resolution, good will and brevity - I simply ask if you would come and see for yourselves. On behalf of the Gulf Coast Fund, I invite you without malice – shareholders, board members, and officers alike – to tour gulf coast communities and ecosystems that the Fund exists to serve and renew, and that still suffer acutely from ecological and social impacts that ought not become permanent legacies of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Thank you.

Photo: Derrick Evans speaks outside of the 2012 BP Annual Shareholder's meeting in London, England.  By Liana Lopez.View more of her photos here.

*****
Derrick Evans is the director of Turkey Creek Community Initiatives and an advisor to the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health. Since 2001 he has worked to help protect and revitalize his coastal Mississippi community and sister communities throughout the region. Prior to that he taught civil rights history at Boston College and social studies in the Boston Public Schools.

http://www.bridgethegulfproject.org/node/608

CLIMATE CRISIS sparks people Nationwide

According to the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, 31 indigenous villages in the Arctic region of Alaska face imminent threats from climate change. As many as 12 have decided to relocate, and one, Newtok, has identified a site and will start building new homes this summer. Biologist Carl Wassilie, a Yup’ik Eskimo and one of the founders of Alaska’s Big Village Network, is in town for this Saturday’s Climate Crisis Summit in Chicago at IIT’s Kent College of Law. Today, he stops by Worldview to talk about the Alaskan villages facing imminent threat.

(CLICK BELOW)
https://soundcloud.com/wbez-worldview/melting-permafrost-creates-1/

By Matt Pearceails.

February 17, 2013, 4:10 p.m.

Climate activists descended on Washington, D.C., on Sunday in what organizers boasted was the largest climate-change rally in American history, claiming more than 35,000 attendees.

The Forward on Climate rally, as it was billed by environmental groups Sierra Club and 350.org, called forPresident Obama to take immediate action on climate change, with many calling for the government to block the construction of the oil pipeline known as Keystone XL.

Protestors marched through the streets bearing placards and massed on the National Mall, where speakers addressed the crowd. Washington police declined to provide a crowd estimate.

"Today was one of the best days of my life, because I saw the movement come together finally, big and diverse and gorgeous," 350.org President Bill McKibben tweeted after speaking at the rally.

Keystone XL has been a signature issue for climate-control activists, who caught policymakers and the pipeline industry off guard with 2011 protests against the proposed pipeline, which would bring so-called tar sands oil from Canada into the United States.

Although other proposed pipelines inside the U.S. would shunt larger amounts of oil around the country, the proposed TransCanada project must pass through a legal bottleneck in order to be built: U.S. law requires federal approval for new pipelines crossing international borders, making the pipeline more vulnerable to concentrated political pressure.

Opposition has since led the Sierra Club to lift a long-standing ban on civil disobedience for the sake of opposing the pipeline's construction. The club's executive director, Michael Brune, was arrested at a Wednesday protest outside the White House.

Obama is expected to make the decision whether to approve construction of the pipeline, which proponents have said would limit U.S. reliance on Middle Eastern oil.

Opponents believe the process to produce and refine tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, would be more carbon-intensive than typical oil production, potentially accelerating climate change.

According to a 2012 Gallup poll, 38% of Americans think global warming will harm them in their lifetimes, up from 25% in 1997. However, according to a January poll, 57% of Americans are satisfied with the environmental state of the nation, up 3 points from 2005.

Except for 1998, the Earth's nine warmest years on record have occurred since 2000, according to reports issued in January -- one by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the other by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Last year was reported as the warmest on record for the lower 48 states.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-climate-change-rally-washington-20130217,0,799969.story

Alaska lawmaker Feige introduces ‘Lucy Lawless bill

Actress Lucy Lawless with the New Zealand Greenpeace aboard a Shell drilling rig. (Photo courtesy Greenpeace New Zealand)

Feige introduces ‘Lucy Lawless bill’

An Alaska lawmaker has introduced legislation that would make it a felony to interfere with permitted oil and gas, timber or other development projects.
Rep. Eric Feige is calling HB92 the “Lucy Lawless bill,” after the actress last year boarded a Shell drill ship before it left New Zealand for the U.S. She and other activists were arrested.
Feige, a co-chair of the House Resources Committee, says Alaska has a good permitting process, through which the public can raise concerns or complaints. He says there seems to be an increasing tendency within the activist community to try to take the law in their own hands.
He says the bill is his effort to get ahead of any problems in Alaska, where Shell has begun exploratory drilling in the Arctic.
See the original article
Feige introduces ‘Lucy Lawless bill’
 ww.360north.org/2013/02/01/feige-introduces-lucy-lawless-bill/

Idle No More Anchorage, Alaska J28

Idle No More-  Anchorage    J28

No more global Fukashima nuclear meltdown disasters. Is America next?

No more global Fukashima nuclear meltdown disasters.  Is America next?

Protest against NRC's absurd rush to restore Entergy Palisades to top-notch safety status

Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps testifies at NRC public meeting in South Haven, MI on 12/11/12 regarding catastrophic risks at Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor. Credit Lindsey Smith / Michigan Radio.The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a public meeting in South Haven, MI on Tuesday, Dec. 11th in order to explain to the public its oversight role, Entergy's corrective actions at Palisades, and the reasons why the problem-plagued atomic reactor has been suddenly restored to top-notch safety status. NRC designated Palisades one of the four worst-run reactors in the U.S. last February, but restored its top-notch safety status on Nov. 9th -- under pressure from powerful U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who chairs the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee -- despite ongoing leaks, and a complete collapse of safety culture. The safety culture collapse was covered up by Entergy and NRC for months, but was recently revealed by Palisades' whistleblowers, their attorney Billie Pirner Garde, and U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA). The public isn't buying NRC's and Entergy's flip assurances, and marked the dog and pony show with a game of "Nukespeak Bingo," or "Blinky B'Lingo."



The coalition of concerned local residents and environmental groups put out a press release, as well as a "Blinky B'Lingo" board with 25 Nukespeak words or phrases, and a listing of their translations into plain English. The coalition included in its press packets an article entitled "No Word for Meltdown: The Return of Nukespeak," written just days after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe had begun, by Rory O'Connor and Richard Bell. Along with Stephen Hilgartner, the three co-authors had published the book Nukespeak: Nuclear Language, Myths, and Mindset in 1982, and re-issued an updated version several months after Fukushima began.



Michigan Public Radio reported on the Nukespeak bingo game in an article. Michigan Radio's "Environment Report" also published an on-air "Palisades: Year in Review." There have been so many "unplanned shutdowns" in 2011 (five safety-significant equipment breakdowns that required emergency shutdowns of the reactor) and "leaks" in 2012 (three so far), Michigan Public Radio created a timeline to keep track of it all.



South Bend's ABC57 television news also reported on this story, as did the Kalamazoo Gazette newspaper.



On the very same day as the NRC meeting in South Haven, David Lochbaum, the Union of Concerned Scientists' Nuclear Safety Project Director, published an "All Things Nuclear" blog entitled "Palisades Reprises Davis-Besse." He compared the primary coolant leaks from Palisades' control rod drive mechanisms to Davis-Besse's infamous Hole-in-the-Head fiasco of 2002.

No Donlin Gold Mercury Mine in Alaska: A mega mercury “gold” mine with a list of problems financed by Barrick Gold and Nova Gold

No Donlin Gold Mercury Mine in Alaska:

A mega mercury “gold” mine with a list of problems financed by Barrick Gold and Nova Gold

Contact:

Alaska's Big Village Network, Carl Wassilie 907-382-3403

Center for Water Advocacy, Nikos Pastos 907-764-2561

Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, Delice Calcote 907-563-9334

What: Donlin Gold Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Scoping Meeting

When: January 22, 2013 5:30-6pm demonstration; 6pm hearing

Where: Wilde Martson Theatre, Loussac Library 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage, AK

January 22, 2013

Anchorage, AK

Alaskan Tribal Communities, Yup'ik fisherpeoples and environmental groups warn Donlin Gold -- "No mercury poison in our waters and in our bodies!"

A group of concerned global citizens, indigenous peoples and Yup'ik fisherpeoples are demonstrating opposition to the proposed Donlin Gold mine in the Kuskokwim watershed.  The Army Corps of Engineers is holding a Donlin Gold Environmental Impact Statement public meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, today.  The groups have concerns about one of the world's largest proposed mega-gold mines whose 16,300 acre wetland footprint extends into the Alaska marine transportation corridor.

The proposed mine's impacts will result in permanent changes to the Kuskokwim River's Yup'ik peoples' cultural survival, subsistence resources, and health.  "The increased dredging, ports and barges carrying toxic materials in our Kuskokwim river will negatively impact our coastal and river villages' salmon fishing, food security, drinking water, future generations and cultural traditions," says Ole Lake of Alaska's Big Village Network.   

This mine will bring enormous cost to water, fish, wildlife, peoples and migratory animal pathways with massive amounts of contaminants such as mercury, arsenic and selenium, that will permanently leach into the Kuskokwim watershed. ["Dirty Metals: Mining, Communities and the Environment," A report by Earthworks and Oxfam America, 2004]

Donlin Gold is equally owned and supported by Barrick Gold Corp. and Nova Gold Resources.  Barrick and NovaGold both have a history of contaminating peoples' water supply on a global scale.

“Center for Water Advocacy (CWA) is concerned about the Human Rights implications of a mine of this scale to the amount of water that is withdrawn out of stream that would otherwise be used for subsistence purposes,” says Harold Shepherd of Center for Water Advocacy. “Furthermore, there exists the potential contamination of drinking water and subsistence food resources.”

NovaGold has a history of mishaps in Alaska including the complete shutdown of the Rock Creek mine in Nome, Alaska, in which "streamlined permitting" killed 2 workers and resulted in terrible planning for the water balance of the mining operation in 2007-8.[“Rock Creek Mine Problems,” report by Center for Science in Public Participation, April 2012]

Alaska Inter-Tribal Council (AITC) is concerned about the worst-case senario of a dam failure or barge accident along transportation routes that would lead to catastrophic releases of contaminants and toxic substances in the environment which impacts hundreds of villages along the transportation route.

“Shell's Kulluk grounding accident shows us the vulnerability, risks and threats to tribal communities that hunt, fish, gather, and harvest marine and aquatic subsistence resources along the coasts and inland waters,” says Delice Calcote, Executive Director of AITC. National Congress of American Indians has a resolution opposing development of the Donlin mine as it threatens Alaska's indigenous peoples traditional means of subsistence and implicates violations of international law. [National Congress of American Indians Resolution #NGF-09-005]

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is also a major concern of these groups in the proposed Donlin Gold mine. AMD can cause severe health, reproductive and developmental impacts to living organisms; including humans. Some of these concerns have been discussed extensively in the EPA's draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment of the Pebble Mine project.  In addition, Donlin proposes to install a 313-mile, 14-inch gas pipeline from Cook Inlet to the middle of a Kuskokwim wilderness area, an area with no infrastructure.  The municipality of Anchorage predicts a Southcentral Alaska natural gas supply crisis in Cook Inlet region by 2014. 

The groups are calling on Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska residents to get involved in the Donlin Gold EIS to oppose this badly planned mine that threatens Alaskans' air, water, land, animals and future generations.

###end end###

Alaska's Big Village Network
''creating communities of inclusion"