Earth First! disrupts Cemex Earth Day Presentation

On Earth Day, the Fresno County Economic Development Corporation, a non-profit agency that promotes regional economic development, hosted a presentation by Cemex. Cemex headquartered in Mexico City, is the largest cement producer in the world with operations in over fifty countries. They are proposing a one-hundred year long aggregate mining project that will shave 400 feet off the top of Jesse Morrow mountain, a major foothill mountain fifteen miles east of Fresno that lies directly north of freeway 180, the gateway to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.

National, regional and local officials of Cemex were on hand to lie and distort their way through a presentation that was laughed off the mountain by opponents. The air would be cleaner, the mountain would be no different, there would be no significant water impacts, development would be less costly if only Cemex, which has local interests at heart, would be allowed to blow up the mountain. With blasting, 900 truck trips a day, 24 hour operations with lighting at night, and 150,000 gallons of water usage per day, the lies were adding up fast. Local yokel Cemex man who was giving the presentation could not name a singe threatened or endangered species that would be harmed by the project even though their own environmental impact report names several including the Adobe Sunburst, the Tiger Salamander, Burrowing Owls, Golden Eagles, and the Elderberry Beetle.

Jody Osborne, from the Traditional Choinumni Tribe took exception when the local yokel Cemex good ole boy stated that the Indians used to have "fandangos" on the north side of the mountain. She pointed out that those are actually called ceremonies and included cry dances, a mourning ceremony for her ancestors buried there. In a nod to the history of genocidal, divide and conquer tactics Cemex paid off five Choinumni to state that the mountain had no cultural or historical significance. Local yokel told Jody that the Choinumni were contacted and that she should support Cemex if she wanted to protect her cultural heritage. Jody informed local yokel that she knew how to protect her heritage and that involved stopping Cemex from buying off a tiny faction of her people and blowing up a mountain sacred to her people where her own ancestors are buried. he also referred to Cemex's violation of state law in its falure to contact Choinumni elders named on the California Native American Heritage list.

The presentation got off on the wrong foot, at least for the first two or three minutes, until Earth First! activists interrupted the dog and pony show with banners and challenges to the Cemex clique. Cemex's Houston-based person told activists that they would have to leave, the activists told her that Cemex would have to leave. As the event was invite only Cemex lady said activists were now uninvited and would have to leave. Activists told Cemex lady that Cemex was uninvited and they would have to leave. Cemex lady threatened to call the sheriffs, and activists pointed out that armed force (and corrupt local"representatives") was exactly what multi-national corporations used to stop people from protecting their local land base. Sheriffs showed up, but no arrests were made.

Celebrate Earth Day! Blow up a mountain! Sponsored by Cemex. Rearrange the words.