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On December 7th, six people were arrested in coordinated busts in five states for their alleged roles in radical ecodefense actions. The FBI said that these arrests came after nine years of investigation. The six people arrested were Stanislaus Gregory Meyerhoff, who was arrested in Virginia; Daniel Gerard McGowan, who was arrested at his job in New York; Kevin M. Tubbs, who was arrested in Oegon, and William C. Rodgers, who was arrested in a raid on an Infoshop in Arizona; Sarah Kendall Harvey who was arrested in Arizona; and Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, of Oregon.

The defendants have been indicted by federal grand juries in either Oregon or Washington, on charges related to four separate fires in the Northwest and the destruction of a power tower-- events that date back to 1998. The FBI says that the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claimed responsibility for several of the incidents. Meyerhoff and McGowan were indicted in Oregon for alleged roles in the 2001 arsons at a lumber company and at the Jefferson Poplar Farm, which resulted in over $2 million in total damages. If McGowan and Meyerhoff are convicted, they would reportedly face the most severe sentences for non-violent sabotage in United States history- a minimum of 30 years per incident, which amounts to life sentences. Update from McGowan's 12/10 court date: He will be extradited to Eugene, Oregon to face the charges there while in Federal custody.

McGowan denies any involvement with arson, and denies membership in the ELF. McGowan was a spokesperson for the RNC Not Welcome campaign in New York City in 2004 (using the name Jamie Moran). Read more

Also on December 7th, Portland human, environmental, and animal activists Frank Winbigler and Shannon (Nonny) Urick were served with papers ordering them to be witnesses for a federal Grand Jury. They were also told that they are targets of the Grand Jury's investigation. Read more from Portland Indymedia Federal agents reportedly were in Boston this week, asking about the whereabouts of wanted California man Daniel Andreas San Diego. Read More

US DOJ Statement | What to do if the FBI "Drops By," from the National Lawyers Guild | New York Indymedia | US Indymedia

On December 6th, Environmentalists from groups including Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters, Earth First!, Humboldt Forest Defense, EPIC, We Save Trees and R.A.N. assembled in front of Senator Feinsteins's downtown office to protest against the logging of Ancient Redwoods in the Nanning Creek Grove.

Photos | Bay Area Coalition For Headwaters

A group of concerned local citizens and environmental groups have written to Pacific Lumber asking the company to suspend logging in an ancient forest until the community can raise the funds to buy a grove they consider priceless.

Nanning Creek Grove, one mile east of the logging town of Scotia, is the largest unprotected stand of primeval redwood forest in the world. It contains old-growth trees up to 15 feet in diameter standing over 300 ft tall, likely to be thousands of years old. Of the two million acres of original Redwood forests that existed when California gained statehood in 1850, less than three percent remain today.

Activist Julia Butterfly Hill said, "I risked my life every day for over two years to protect Luna and three acres around it. There are hundreds of trees as big or bigger than Luna in this forest. Every one of them should be protected."

Cindy Allsbrooks, whose son David Chain was killed while trying to protect ancient trees in 1998 said, "It is disheartening to hear about plans for more old growth to be chopped down. I sincerely hope that negotiations can take place to discuss a financial agreement to purchase the grove before it is too late. I believe we are obligated to at least try."

Video Read more: 1 | 2
Background on the "Bonanza" Logging Plan:1 I 2 I 3

This Thursday, November 10, Bay Area environmental and human rights activist will join others around the world in celebrating the memory of environmental and indigenous rights hero Ken Saro-Wiwa (October 10, 1941 - November 10, 1995). Saro-Wiwa, who was also a poet and playwright, co-founded and led a mass nonviolent resistance to Shell and other multinational oil corporations operating in the Ogoni homeland, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. In 1993, protests by MOSOP led Shell to "temporarily" abandon Ogoni territory, but it has not yet succeeded in returning. With weapons and money from Shell, the Nigerian military cracked down hard on Ogoniland, attacking and destroying scores of villages, killing more than 2,000 people and abusing thousands more.

Ten Ogoni leaders were put through a mockery of a trial and executed November 10, 1995. Apart from Ken, they are Dr. Barinem Kiobel, Saturday Dobee, Paul Levula, Nordu Eawo, Felix Nuate, Daniel Gboko, John Kpuinen, and Baribor Bera. Their arrest, torture and execution led to international condemnation of the Nigerian military regime, which was replaced by a 'civilian' government under western-educated General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1998.

Even at this high cost, the Ogoni resistance transformed the politics of the Niger Delta and galvanized indigenous resistance to oil extraction around the world.

Activists from Amazon Watch and Amnesty International will press Chevron to end its own practices of environmental and human rights abuse in the Niger Delta and else where at a protest at its world headquarters in San Ramon at 11am. Later, a vigil in memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa will be held at San Francisco City Hall at 6pm.

[Wikipedia: Ken Saro-Wiwa, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People| Saro-Wiwa & the Ogoni| Other Remembrance Events: 1 2| Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization: Ogoni Background]

17 October 2005: The U'wa people of northeast Colombia have again rejected the extraction of oil from their cloudforest home and refused to participate further in a "Prior Consultation" process to legitimize the process. The project in question is the Siriri oil block, abandoned by California multinational Occidental Petroleum under sustained pressure from the U'wa, campesinos and international supporters. The block is now being explored by the Colombian state firm Ecopetrol, with the assistance of Spanish multinational Repsol. When government representatives helicoptered in to U'wa territory on September 28, they were met by a clear rejection from the U'wa traditional government, which vowed never to allow oil drilling.
As part of a speaking tour across the United States, two representatives of the U'wa people visited the Bay Area October 10-16 to speak out against renewed oil drilling attempts in their territory. U'wa international representative and community organizer Daris Cristancho expressed her communities defiance against government threats to cut off social spending if the U'was do not permit drilling: "The laws of the U'wa do not change as the laws of the government do... We would rather live dignified lives deep in the mountains than be bribed [in exchange for drilling]."
[U'wa Website (es) | Amazon Watch: U’wa Grassroots Leaders Speaking Tour and Background on Siriri Oil Project | Colombia Indymedia U'was rompen silencio y dicen No]

It's been 13 years since the first “Commute Clot” brought together about 50 bicyclists at “PeeWee” Herman Plaza at the foot of Market Street in San Francisco. Within a few short months it had gained the moniker “Critical Mass” and the excitement and euphoria and sheer novelty of an “organized coincidence” that fills the streets with bicycles instead of cars was rapidly reproducing itself across the planet.

Now there are websites galore documenting Critical Masses in towns everywhere, from Australia to Italy, Chile to Canada. Of the more than 400 places where Critical Mass rides have taken place, hundreds continue to ride every month. In May 2005 an “Interplanetary Critical Mass” was held in Rome, Italy, drawing several thousand riders from around Italy and the world. On Earth Day this past April, 10,000 riders staged a “Critical Mass” in Budapest, Hungary. Hundreds of rides occupy the streets of US cities on the last Friday of each month, from big cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, to the smaller burgs in the hinterlands like Cincinnati, Ohio, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Portland, Oregon. And of course thousands are still riding after all these years at the birthplace here in San Francisco.

Read more I Photos I Video I Bicycle Film Festival

Pacific Lumber jumped the gun on logging operations in a controversial logging plan that contains a large stand of ancient redwoods which serve as habitat for an endangered seabird, the Marbled Murrelet. PL received a “Notice of Violation” Thursday from the Regional Water Board citing timber operations inside the so-called “Bonanza” timber plan that took place without a required waiver for waste discharge (sediment) into Nanning Creek.

According to the Environmental Protection Information Center, the Bonanza harvest plan contains the largest unprotected, contiguous, occupied marbled murrelet stand left on Maxxam/PL's land. Last year, a comprehensive Status Review for the murrelet, prepared by a blue-ribbon panel of top murrelet researchers, warned that if current trends continue, the endangered species faces a very high probability of extinction in California within a very short time.

The violation is the most recent incident in a string of clashes between PL and the Water Board, whom PL blames for it’s financial troubles. The Board denies such responsibility. PL’s latest failure to comply with water quality permits is likely to prolong the tension.

Read more.