On July 22nd, San Francisco's Submission Gallery will host a benefit event in support of Marie Mason, a long-time activist in the environmental and labor movements from Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2008, Marie was arrested on federal charges of property destruction that occurred in 1999, and in 2009 she was sentenced to almost 22 years in prison. A mother of two children, Marie is currently imprisoned in Waseca, MN, and is appealing her sentence.

Three activists will share their experiences and perspectives on Marie Mason’s case: Linda Evans, sentenced to 40 years in prison in 1987 for her participation in radical resistance against U.S. imperialism as part of the Weather Underground Organization, and released in 2001 after presidential commutation; Jeff Luers, sentenced in 2001 to over 22 years for the burning of three SUVs in Eugene, Oregon, as a statement on global warming, and released in 2009 after a successful appeal; and Karen Pickett, a long-time Earth First! activist in the Bay Area and personal friend of Marie Mason.

Event details | Support Marie Mason

Street theater activists portraying British Petroleum and Chase Bank as being "too chummy" drew the attention of bank customers and foot traffic at a demonstration in Palo Alto on June 26th. Demonstrators encouraged customers to move their money to community banks or credit unions, telling passersby that not only did Chase take bailout money as a "too big to fail" institution, but that it is the chief depository bank for British Petroleum. The protesters sang songs and held signs pointing out that JP Morgan Chase got $25 billion in government bailout money and they grease the wheels for BP.

Photos: 1 | 2

A New Way Forward | Raging Grannies Action League

Since the April 20th BP oil spill began in the Gulf of Mexico, a number of related protests have been held across the country and locally. On June 11th, a group of bikers blocked entrances at a BP owned ARCO gas station at Fell and Divisadero in San Francisco. The demonstrators were protesting the environmental outrage in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a dangerous bike lane that is perennially blocked by cars lining up to enter the station.

Michael Steinberg reports: "The message is clear at the ARCO gas station at the corner of Fell and Divisadero streets in San Francisco: $2.99. That once extravagant price for a gallon of gas is now considered cheap, and continually draws heavily oil addicted drivers in need of a quick fix.

"In doing so, the drivers’ vehicles habitually sit in the bicycle lane that runs down Fell Street while awaiting entrance to the mainline pumps. This in turn forces bikers into the race car traffic roaring up Fell, and injuries to two wheelers are consequently also habitual.

"But that message changed today when dozens of protesters blocked the two entrances off Fell into the station. They filled the entrances with potted plants, blocked them with their bodies, with banners, with a bike powered sound system whose beats inspired dancing and whooping and carried their message to the neighborhood and beyond."

Read More | Video | Photo | Event Announcements: 1 | 2

Upcoming: Protest Big Oil at the Beach! June 26th | Check Indybay Calendar for More Related Events

Previous Related Indybay Feature: SF Protest Demands Government Seize BP and Its Assets; Berkeley Protest to Target UC & BP

GARBERVILLE, Calif.- The Environmental Protection Information Center and the Center for Biological Diversity vowed an all out legal challenge against a highway-widening project that not only threatens the ancient redwoods of Richardson Grove State Park, but could also change the rural character of Humboldt County.

On May 19th, the California Department of Transportation filed official notice that the project was approved, but the agency has not yet made its final Environmental Impact Report for the controversial project available to the public. The highway project is widely opposed by local residents, business owners, conservation and Native American groups, and economists as unnecessary and damaging to the state park, the venerable old-growth grove and its wildlife, tourism, and the coastal communities of Humboldt County.

"Anyone who cares about California's redwoods and the rural charm of Humboldt County should weigh in to stop this disastrous project," said Kerul Dyer, Richardson Grove campaign coordinator for the Environmental Protection Information Center. "The old-growth redwood grove within the state park is supposed to be fully protected and not vulnerable to destructive projects like this one."

Read more | Richardson Grove Action Camp! May 28-30 at the Grove | Redwood Saviors or Cyber Criminals? Center Supporters Update Democracy | Day of Climate Action in the Ancient Redwoods | Save Richardson Grove! | Saving Richardson Grove

On April 20th, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon's oil drilling platform killing eleven workers. The oil platform burned for more than a day before sinking on April 22nd, releasing 5 to 25 thousand barrels of oil daily into surrounding waters. At the time of the explosion, the rig was on BP's Mississippi Canyon Block 252, referred to as the Macondo Prospect, about 41 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

Transocean Ltd. owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon platform under contract to BP Exploration and Production Inc. A production casing was being run and cemented at the time of the accident. Halliburton has confirmed that it cemented the Macondo well but never set a cement plug to cap the bore as "operations had not reached a stage where a final plug was needed". Halliburton said that it had finished cementing 20 hours before the fire. The rig's blowout preventer, a "fail-safe" device fitted at the source of the well 5,000 feet below sea level, did not automatically cut-off the oil flow as intended when the explosion occurred. In the first two weeks after the rig sank, BP sent six remotely operated underwater vehicles to close the blowout preventer valves, but all attempts failed. On May 7th, BP tried to drop a 125-ton dome over the largest of the well leaks to pipe it to a storage vessel on the surface, but this failed due to buildup of frozen methane hydrate crystal. The well was still leaking as of May 13th and many are saying the spill could be the worst environmental disaster in US history.

On Wednesday, May 12th, Seize BP held a protest in front of the BP offices on New Montgomery Street in San Francisco to demand that the U.S. government seize BP and all its assets.

Video | Photos | Event Announcement | Seize BP

On Friday, May 14th at 5pm, Act Against Oil held a demonstration in Berkeley at the site of a new BP building under construction next to the UCB campus. Event Announcment

See Also: What caused the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon? | NRDC on the Ground Reports of the Gulf Offshore Oil Disaster | SPUSA: BP Oil Spill a Crime not a Disaster | Response, Restoration, Recovery, Reform | Lessons from the Gulf | BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster | Gulf Oil Spill: System Not Fit To Be Caretaker of the Planet | Gulf oil spill threatens economic, environmental catastrophe | Wikipedia: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Past Indybay coverage of BP: $500 Million BP-UC Berkeley Deal Draws Resistance | UC Berkeley academic senate deliberation on proposed BP deal

In an unprecedented victory for community and environmental groups, the California State Court of Appeals has upheld the majority of findings in a lower court decision that the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the expansion of Chevron's refinery in Richmond violated state environmental law. Community members have been campaigning to fight the proposed switch to refining dirtier, heavier oil for several years.

Environmental justice groups Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), and West County Toxics Coalition (WCTC), represented by Earthjustice, had sued the City of Richmond over its approval of the refinery expansion in 2008. Last year, a California Superior Court in Contra Costa County agreed, tossing out that EIR and issuing an injunction preventing further work on the refinery expansion.

The groups charged that the refinery would likely emit significantly more toxic pollution, including chemicals linked to cancer and respiratory ailments, if it begins refining dirtier crude. Opponents of the expansion also argued that the switch to heavier oil could significantly increase the facility's greenhouse gas emissions.

"This decision is a significant victory for environmental justice in the city of Richmond and beyond," said Dr. Henry Clark, executive director of West County Toxics Coalition. “African American, Latino and Asian communities near the refinery have borne a disproportionate burden of exposure to pollution from the refinery for decades. And the community has been fighting back for decades – this victory is huge.”

Read More | Community Wins Major Victory Against Oil Giant Chevron

Related Coverage: 31 Arrested in Protest at Chevron Headquarters in San Ramon | Climate Justice Boxer & Chevron Action | Mobilization: Chevron Killing People and the Planet for Profit

Protesters disrupted more than a dozen sessions at the “Navigating the American Carbon World” conference taking place at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco on April 15th. The demonstrators called for real and immediate cuts to carbon emissions, saying that the conference agenda is a distraction to the urgent need to end dependence on fossil fuels and work on true solutions to the climate crisis. One protester was arrested after causing a ruckus during the plenary session.

Meanwhile, outside the hotel, more than a hundred demonstrators sang songs led by the Raging Grannies. Several participated in street theater that included a snake oil salesmen trying to push his "solution" down the throats of an unwitting public.

A spokesperson for the group used a bullhorn calling out: "Attention, members of this conference. This is an intervention! You are addicts of fossil fuels and are exhibiting one of the most common signs of addiction, which is denial." In an ironic twist, the Marriott was hosting the annual meeting of the American Society of Addiction Medicine at the same time as the carbon trading conference.

Videos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3

Climate Justice West

On March 23rd some San Francisco Board of Supervisors, community groups, and local residents held a press conference on the steps of City Hall to denounce the "lies and manipulations" in Pacific Gas and Electric' mailers and television commercials over Proposition 16. Supervisors also took this time to re-iterate their commitment to Clean Power SF, which is a plan adopted in 2007 that will set San Francisco on the path to using clean renewable energy from cheaper sources.

The measure would require any public entity to win two-thirds voter approval before it could start, expand or finance a publicly owned power service as an alternative to private utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the state’s largest private utility — which put up $3.5 million to get the measure on the ballot and had just contributed $3 million more in the face of a letter from nine state legislators, including State Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg, questioning whether PG&E’s use of the initiative process violated state law.

Video | Read More | Clean Power SF

For over three years, the community of Chaco Rio, New Mexico, in the Diné (Navajo) Nation, has been blockading entry to the site of a proposed 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant. Desert Rock, a project of Sithe Global and the Diné Power Authority, would be the third coal plant within a 20-mile radius in a region already suffering from extreme levels of toxic emissions.

On December 12, 2006, members of the Diné Nation blockaded the road leading to the Desert Rock site, in protest of Sithe Global's failure to fully consult with members of the community. Ten activists with the group Doodá (absolutely no) Desert Rock set up a campsite on the road. On December 22, under threat of arrest, the campsite was moved to a nearby location, and company vehicles were once again able to access the site. This second campsite has been continually occupied ever since.

On March 17th, Elouise Brown, a Diné traditionalist and president of the Doodá Desert Rock committee, will launch an 11-day tour of California to speak about the dangers posed by the coal industry, the exploitation of indigenous land by energy companies, and the ongoing struggle to prevent the Desert Rock plant from ever existing. “We believe economic development must not come at the expense of the health of our children, the air we breathe, our sacred land and water, and our way of life,” says Brown.

The tour will visit Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento, San Francisco, Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Aptos, Watsonville, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Doodá Desert Rock

Santa Cruz Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District have embarked on a plan for a desalination plant, a highly energy intensive way to increase the water supply. The greenhouse gases that such a plant would produce have inspired opposition. A forum on Thursday, March 18th at 6:15pm at Live Oak Elementary School features Bill Kocher from the Santa Cruz Water Department and Debbie Cook, former mayor of Huntington Beach, and author of "Desalination, Energy Down the Drain."

The desalination plant would aim to serve Santa Cruz and Live Oak residents in dry years, and Soquel District customers in all other years. Soquel District wants to reduce pumping from the aquifer, which they report is in danger of seawater contamination from over-pumping.

Sarah Mansergh from the Santa Cruz Chapter of Surfrider Foundation explains, "Turning sea water into fresh water through this energy intensive process could be a significant new step for this community. It's important that people are fully informed of the possibilities." The organizers will poll people who attend on their opinions about the desalination plant as a core component of our local water policy.

Local environmentalist, Rick Longinotti says, "It’s important for water customers in Soquel Creek Water District to know that in 2009 the mild restrictions on water use resulted in a 14% cutback in water use. That’s almost the amount of conservation needed every year to bring water consumption in line with the sustainable yield of the aquifer. Would Soquel residents rather incur the financial and environmental costs of the desalination plant, or conserve every year like they did last summer?" Read more

The first annual Earth First! California Roadshow will be traveling through the state this month to build connections between bioregions and different ecological resistance groups, and to promote the upcoming Organizers' Conference and Winter Rendezvous in Santa Barbara. About a dozen events are scheduled from January 12th to 24th, including stops in Santa Cruz (Jan. 13), Santa Rosa (Jan. 15) and Fresno (Jan. 20), to feature skillshares, music and information about ecology-based resistance to hierarchical power structures. Read more

Wednesday at 6pm: Anarchism & Fiction / Earth First! Bio-Regional Resistance Tour

Looking back on a life growing up in East Palo Alto, 24-year-old Re'Anita Burns cannot remember a time when there was not a monster living her backyard. The monster was a hazardous waste disposal company, Romic Technologies, with billowing smokestacks that spewed foul-smelling chemicals into this low-income community of color.

After Re'Anita and other members of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA) helped shut down the monster, The Nation hailed their victory over Romic as one of the top 10 youth activism victories of 2007.

Now, entering a second decade of community organizing, Re'Anita fights in YUCA's battle for affordable, decent housing in East Palo Alto. Giant landlord Page Mill Properties went into receivership in 2009, which led to some long overdue changes fought for by YUCA members, including improved apartment complex maintenance. However, Page Mill raised rents in violation of the city's rent stabilization ordinance before its financial collapse. Re'Anita refuses to give up on the tenants who need relief, and is working to roll back rents in Page Mill apartments.

Read the article | Youth United for Community Action