Feature Archives

A Day of Action to Shut Down PG&E's Hunters Point Power Plant was held on April 11th. People gathered at 12:00pm on Evans Street at Middlepoint Road. After eight years of broken promises, Bayview Hunters Point residents and community organizations continue to demand that the power plant be closed, and that the neighborhood be given clean energy and restoration, rather than redevelopment and gentrification. The protest included a non-violent action and legal protest in front of the Power Plant to demand that PG&E stick to its latest closure date.
Video | Report From BeyondChron

Marie Harrison's article from the Bayview Reporter | Greenaction website | Indybay's past coverage of the PG+E plant struggle

A former Pacific Lumber (PL) official has filed a wrongful-termination suit alleging he was ordered to conceal waste including asbestos and oil residue from Water Quality officials when seeking environmental permits for the company’s new $30 million sawmill. According to the suit, former business and community development director Jimmy Dan Cook was told "to not report the contamination and to keep the information in-house."

The lawsuit alleges Mr. Cook suffered "repeated verbal abuse and threats from (PL CEO Robert) Manne because of (Mr. Cook’s) resistance to follow orders he believed to be unlawful," and that a runoff-retention pond was built on the contaminated site which has "resulted in dangerously polluted water leaching and/or overflowing into the Eel River."

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The East Bay Permaculture Guild organized a Sunday, March 19th Sustainable Caravan to permaculture sites in East Oakland. The tour started at 10:00am and last until 1:00pm. A caravan left Fruitvale BART at 9:30am. The caravan planned to "journey along the streets and watersheds of the East Oakland Hills, deep into the heart of the Dimond District and San Antonio neighborhood, to welcome the beginning of Spring." Participants visited East Oakland gardens and parks that feature examples of urban farming, green and natural building, remediation and restoration, graywater systems, neighbor cooperation, and community activism. The caravan consisted of bikes, biodiesel, and ride sharing, demonstrating a range of sustainable transportation.

Some permaculture resources: Permaculture Activist Magazine | Permaculture.net | City Repair | East Bay City Repair Oakland | Sustaining Ourselves Locally | Permaculture Design Institute | Alameda Point Collaborative | Urban Permaculture Guild | Urban Ecology

As the federal government continues its aggressive "green scare" by sweeping environmentalists into prison, constitutional rights come under fire. The February 22, 2006 arrest of Rod Coronado at his workplace in Tuscon, Arizona by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) for a speech he gave in San Diego in 2003 will test a rarely-used law, as well as the government’s apparent desire to criminalize free speech.

San Francisco civil rights attorney Ben Rosenfeld said “the government has turned speech into violence.” A legal memo issued by Rosenfeld said “the federal government has been chomping at the bit to put Rod Coronado back in prison since the moment he got out, and his indictment in San Diego for an exercise of pure speech is a flimsy pretext to do just that. Make no mistake. This is a pure free speech case.”

Read more here, here and here. More info: Arizona Indymedia
Listen to an interview with attorney Ben Rosenfeld

In a unanimous and unambiguous decision, the California State Supreme Court has ruled against the Pacific Lumber Company, determining that the Forest Practices Act in no way limits the authority of the State and Regional Water Boards to impose additional requirements on approved Timber Harvest Plans. The decision upholds a previous ruling against Palco by the State Court of Appeals.

According to the decision, "Pacific Lumber's position boils down to the view that the Forest Practice Act implicitly precludes the Water Boards from exercising their authority under the Porter-Cologne Act to impose monitoring requirements (on an approved THP.) Section 4514, subdivision (c) expressly provides that the contrary is true, that the Forest Practice Act in no way limits the Water Board's authority in this respect."

Remarking on some of Palco's arguments, the ruling states "This interpretation makes no sense." The ruling goes on to say "Pacific Lumber's construction also ignores the obvious meaning of the directive that "[n]o provision of this chapter" will limit the power of a state agency. We take the phrase "no provision" to mean what it says, that nothing within the Forest Practice Act. implicitly bars the Water Boards from fulfilling their independent obligations."

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In early January, three people were arrested in Auburn and accused of "conspiring to damage or destroy by explosive or fire" cell phone towers, power plants, and US Forest Service facilities. One of these eco-defense arrestees, Lauren Weiner, was granted bail on January 26th, but as of January 28th she was still in jail waiting for paperwork to be completed. Codefendants Zachary Jenson and Eric McDavid were denied bail. Eric McDavid's attorney plans to appeal this decision, and has also been trying to get fair treatment such as showers, meals he can eat, and exercise. The "CS" (confidential source or "confidential snitch") in this case has been identified by her former friends and acquaintances as a young woman named Anna.

Support needed: Zachary Jenson and Eric McDavid follow vegetarian and vegan diets, respectively, but need phone calls to the jail to demand that they be given food that they can eat. They also want better treatment in terms of access to showers and exercise. They would both like to receive letters and books. Read more In addition, Sacramento Prisoner Support is asking for people who have met the CS to contact them at sacprisonersupport[at]riseup[dot]net.

Read more on Indybay's Police and Prisons News Page

On January 27th, Native Americans and their supporters from across the country gathered at the Calpine energy company headquarters in San Jose to protest the company’s proposed plans to build power plants and drill for geothermal energy in the culturally important Medicine Lake Highlands, located in Northeastern California. The tribal members and supporters demand that Calpine immediately cease and desist from its proposed energy extraction plans as this would devastate the Native cultural and natural environmental landscape around Medicine Lake.
Photos

The Highlands comprises the largest shield volcano on this continent and is home to many rare birds and animals that live in the lava tubes, obsidian flows, old-growth forests and craters. The spring waters in this area are some of the clearest and cleanest in the country. This area, used since time immemorial for healing, ceremony and other cultural purposes by Native peoples, is sacred to the tribes of the Pit River, Modoc, Shasta, Karuk, Wintu and many others. Calpine has federal energy development leases that cover eight square miles, and if built a nine-story high power plant complex would annually produce tons of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas and other heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury. The sacred and natural area would be clearcut to make space to build toxic slump ponds, roads, pipelines, cooling towers, and the tallest building in northeastern California, which would be fully lit around the clock. This project threatens the underlying aquifer which is California’s largest spring system. Native peoples, homeowners, environmentalists and other concerned citizens have been opposing this project since it was first proposed. Ironically, the geothermal energy extracted from the area would be bought and sold as “green energy”
International Indian Treaty Council Statement | SacredLand.org | CalWild.org