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Support Action to Protect Medicine Lake
Protest at Calpine against Power Plant Proposed
at Sacred Medicine Lake near Mt. Shasta
Pit River Indian Tribe members to be joined by community and environmental justice groups in protest and cultural gathering at Calpine corporate offices
Friday, January 27, 2006, high noon
Calpine Headquarters, 50 W. San Fernando Street in San Jose
at Sacred Medicine Lake near Mt. Shasta
Pit River Indian Tribe members to be joined by community and environmental justice groups in protest and cultural gathering at Calpine corporate offices
Friday, January 27, 2006, high noon
Calpine Headquarters, 50 W. San Fernando Street in San Jose
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Mark LeBeau 916.801.4422; Chris Peters 707.825.7640; James Hayward 530.604.9478
Morning Star Gali 510.862.1941 Ginger Mike-Mercado 530.336.7136/5776
Natives To Protest at Calpine against Power Plant Proposed
at Sacred Medicine Lake near Mt. Shasta
Pit River Indian Tribe members to be joined by community and environmental justice groups in protest and cultural gathering at Calpine corporate offices
Friday, January 27, 2006, high noon
Calpine Headquarters, 50 W. San Fernando Street in San Jose
San Jose, CA -- Native Americans and their supporters from across the country will gather at the Calpine energy company headquarters on January 27, 2006 at high noon 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.
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. Initial drilling calls for ten to twelve swells to depths of nine thousand feet. 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!”
Tribal members declare that Native cultures and their sacred places are worth more than gold or geothermal energy and must be protected. We will let Calpine and any other energy company considering such development know that when the snows melt and the lake is once again accessible we will further demonstrate our opposition by demonstrating in the Highlands in a non-violent, but culturally assertive and appropriate way.
Sponsors of the event include Da'hu La'h As Sacred Sites Defense, Seventh Generation Fund, Greenaction for Health & Environmental Justice, International Indian Treaty Council, Indigenous Environmental Network, Citizens of the Pitt River Nation, Indian People Organizing for Change, Vallejo Inter-tribal Council, Native American Sisterhood Alliance of Mills College, Tierra Viva of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Youth United for Community Action and California Communities Against Toxics. Come rain or shine we’ll be there!
XXXXXX
Contact: Mark LeBeau 916.801.4422; Chris Peters 707.825.7640; James Hayward 530.604.9478
Morning Star Gali 510.862.1941 Ginger Mike-Mercado 530.336.7136/5776
Natives To Protest at Calpine against Power Plant Proposed
at Sacred Medicine Lake near Mt. Shasta
Pit River Indian Tribe members to be joined by community and environmental justice groups in protest and cultural gathering at Calpine corporate offices
Friday, January 27, 2006, high noon
Calpine Headquarters, 50 W. San Fernando Street in San Jose
San Jose, CA -- Native Americans and their supporters from across the country will gather at the Calpine energy company headquarters on January 27, 2006 at high noon 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.
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. Initial drilling calls for ten to twelve swells to depths of nine thousand feet. 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!”
Tribal members declare that Native cultures and their sacred places are worth more than gold or geothermal energy and must be protected. We will let Calpine and any other energy company considering such development know that when the snows melt and the lake is once again accessible we will further demonstrate our opposition by demonstrating in the Highlands in a non-violent, but culturally assertive and appropriate way.
Sponsors of the event include Da'hu La'h As Sacred Sites Defense, Seventh Generation Fund, Greenaction for Health & Environmental Justice, International Indian Treaty Council, Indigenous Environmental Network, Citizens of the Pitt River Nation, Indian People Organizing for Change, Vallejo Inter-tribal Council, Native American Sisterhood Alliance of Mills College, Tierra Viva of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Youth United for Community Action and California Communities Against Toxics. Come rain or shine we’ll be there!
XXXXXX
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It comes as no shock to many of us that respect Mother Earth when some vested interests will do anything for money and greed.
The time has come to send a strong signal to those that think they can get away with murder - time and time again. This Calphine Power Plant Project must stop - now.
Power plants bring burst of bad enegy and dangerous particulates that kill. Fine particles that adversely affect millions as the years go by. These particles go into the body and are very difficult to flush out.
Electromagnetic Fields kill and embrace Cancer. They say the science it not there - but it is there for those that have been there and done investigative reporting.
The greedy Calphine Project should be stopped and united as a Force we can put an end to this nonsense.
California Independent Systems Operator (CAISO) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) better pay respect and honor the sensitivity of the First People.
Again and again in the year 2006 it is a shame that we have to educate the ignorant.
We must learn from the mistakes of Enron and Greed.
The mistakes of so many in the region that killed the First People without reason to make money. Always, it is about money. Never a word about Spirituality. Never about Respect. Never about Truth. Never about Honor. Always about speaking in Fork Tongues!
In the first place the land was stolen - all of it. This is a fact.
Up until 1924 it was OK for Whites to kill and get $5 for a scalp.
Those First People that rest in peace should be left alone and land that is honored should not be polluted.
First they kill the people. Then they steal the land. Then they abuse the land. It is always about abuse never about respect.
Yet they call themselves civil!
Now some folks want to add insult to injury by disrespecting Mother Earth and all those Sacred Burial Grounds precious and worthy to those that know better - the First People.
Stay away for forever hold your peace.
Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy
4909 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94124
The time has come to send a strong signal to those that think they can get away with murder - time and time again. This Calphine Power Plant Project must stop - now.
Power plants bring burst of bad enegy and dangerous particulates that kill. Fine particles that adversely affect millions as the years go by. These particles go into the body and are very difficult to flush out.
Electromagnetic Fields kill and embrace Cancer. They say the science it not there - but it is there for those that have been there and done investigative reporting.
The greedy Calphine Project should be stopped and united as a Force we can put an end to this nonsense.
California Independent Systems Operator (CAISO) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) better pay respect and honor the sensitivity of the First People.
Again and again in the year 2006 it is a shame that we have to educate the ignorant.
We must learn from the mistakes of Enron and Greed.
The mistakes of so many in the region that killed the First People without reason to make money. Always, it is about money. Never a word about Spirituality. Never about Respect. Never about Truth. Never about Honor. Always about speaking in Fork Tongues!
In the first place the land was stolen - all of it. This is a fact.
Up until 1924 it was OK for Whites to kill and get $5 for a scalp.
Those First People that rest in peace should be left alone and land that is honored should not be polluted.
First they kill the people. Then they steal the land. Then they abuse the land. It is always about abuse never about respect.
Yet they call themselves civil!
Now some folks want to add insult to injury by disrespecting Mother Earth and all those Sacred Burial Grounds precious and worthy to those that know better - the First People.
Stay away for forever hold your peace.
Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy
4909 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94124
This is not just a "Native American" issue of the destruction of Sacred Sites. It involves all of us, regardless of race or religion. Our environment is being destroyed. One day there will be no land left to develop, no clean water to drink, no fresh air to breathe, nowhere left to go to renew your spirit. All of us, including our children yet to be born, are affected. Please join the fight to stop the power plant proposed at Medicine Lake. My parents first took there when I was a child. I still remember awe I felt. We must preserve this site. We do not want our children's children to lament that we could have prevented this destruction.
Some other risks from Calpine's geothermal development;
Hydrogen sulfide contamination of the headwaters of the Pit and McCloud River from explosions needed to harness geothermal energy, release of toxic hydrogen sulfide into these pristine rivers via aquifer..
Medicine Lake is sacred for the water's healing qualities and the value of a communal lake shared by many of NorCal's indigenous peoples. This isn't just "new age" theory, there are many vital elements and minerals found in the volcanic caldera water of Medicine Lake that can heal various ailments of the human body. This has not yet been studied by science and dismissed is irrelevent, thought the fact that this sacred lake is shared by everyone without the commercial privatization of many other springs also makes it a unique bridge between cultures. If we could all learn to respect, honor and love Mother Earth together, the petty differences of race and class could be left in the past..
We have the choice to allow Medicine Lake to remain in it's pristine condition as a healing body of water and communal meeting between cultures, or to allow Calpine to destroy the sacred healing waters of Medicine Lake with their geothermal harnessing underground explosions that risk bringing hydrogen sulfide to the surface waters of Medicine Lake, rendering the formerly healing waters a toxic soup unfit for human or animal. All this to export energy to corporations in Reno and elsewhere for profit..
Also remember Enron was one of Calpine's largest customers..
"AS the Enron Corporation collapsed, filing for bankruptcy protection exactly one week ago, companies that had done business with the fallen giant or that had emulated its once-enviable business model rushed to distance themselves from the wreckage. One of the biggest is the Calpine Corporation, the nation's largest independent power producer and a favorite on Wall Street."
"Enron became a very big customer of Calpine this year. For the first three quarters, Enron accounted for $1.33 billion, or 23 percent, of Calpine's revenue. As a percentage of Calpine's commodity trading revenue, deals with Enron accounted for approximately 2.3 percent of sales in the first nine months of 2000 and 37.2 percent in the period this year."
http://www.wildcalifornia.org/pages/page-119
Arnold, Ken Lay and Calpine. They fit together like birds of a feather (maybe vultures? no offense to the avian community for the comparison). Anyone wonder why the recent permits for Calpine to drill Medicine Lake were issued after the "total recall" where Arnold siezed the reigns in CA?
luna moth
Hydrogen sulfide contamination of the headwaters of the Pit and McCloud River from explosions needed to harness geothermal energy, release of toxic hydrogen sulfide into these pristine rivers via aquifer..
Medicine Lake is sacred for the water's healing qualities and the value of a communal lake shared by many of NorCal's indigenous peoples. This isn't just "new age" theory, there are many vital elements and minerals found in the volcanic caldera water of Medicine Lake that can heal various ailments of the human body. This has not yet been studied by science and dismissed is irrelevent, thought the fact that this sacred lake is shared by everyone without the commercial privatization of many other springs also makes it a unique bridge between cultures. If we could all learn to respect, honor and love Mother Earth together, the petty differences of race and class could be left in the past..
We have the choice to allow Medicine Lake to remain in it's pristine condition as a healing body of water and communal meeting between cultures, or to allow Calpine to destroy the sacred healing waters of Medicine Lake with their geothermal harnessing underground explosions that risk bringing hydrogen sulfide to the surface waters of Medicine Lake, rendering the formerly healing waters a toxic soup unfit for human or animal. All this to export energy to corporations in Reno and elsewhere for profit..
Also remember Enron was one of Calpine's largest customers..
"AS the Enron Corporation collapsed, filing for bankruptcy protection exactly one week ago, companies that had done business with the fallen giant or that had emulated its once-enviable business model rushed to distance themselves from the wreckage. One of the biggest is the Calpine Corporation, the nation's largest independent power producer and a favorite on Wall Street."
"Enron became a very big customer of Calpine this year. For the first three quarters, Enron accounted for $1.33 billion, or 23 percent, of Calpine's revenue. As a percentage of Calpine's commodity trading revenue, deals with Enron accounted for approximately 2.3 percent of sales in the first nine months of 2000 and 37.2 percent in the period this year."
http://www.wildcalifornia.org/pages/page-119
Arnold, Ken Lay and Calpine. They fit together like birds of a feather (maybe vultures? no offense to the avian community for the comparison). Anyone wonder why the recent permits for Calpine to drill Medicine Lake were issued after the "total recall" where Arnold siezed the reigns in CA?
luna moth
Water is one of the sacred big four. Earth, wind, fire and water. Water has memory and its molecular bonds can change in response to human prayer and ceremony and to pollution or negative emotions. Recently the operators of the Snowbowl, just north of Flagstaff AZ got permission to make snow out recycled waste water. This, like the Medicine Lake situation, threatens the spiritual-energetic healing archeotype of the waters on the San Francisco Peaks sacred mountains. I have found it very difficult to argue successfully with government officials and their environmental contractors because they do not have experience in ceremony and medicine ways. They think in terms of Newtonian solid physics and cannot/will not grasp subtle reality. There is a body of evidence which gets bigger each year, however. EG: If you have not seen Masaru Emoto's book "The Message from Water" I suggest that you find a copy. Others like the author Schwartz have been testing water in ceremonial situations etc.. and documenting the results. Perhaps enough of this new evidence can be brought to bear on public officials to change their thinking.
Medicine Lake:
Note on Hydrogen Sulfide: It is very toxic and can paralyze the sense of smell at very low concentrations. This makes it especially dangerous because a person or an animal may sense it in the air then loose the sensation and think it's safe to continue into areas with higher concentrations. There is no antidote for H2S poisoning. It replaces the oxygen on the hemoglobin and will cause suffocation. I believe that the government has not taken this threat seriously enough at Medicine Lake. I know for a fact that some of the federal employees who worked in or near the oil fields in Kern County carry an H2S detector, even though the concentrations around well heads are supposed to be non-lethal because the human sense of smell is not effective against this poisonous gas.
Medicine Lake:
Note on Hydrogen Sulfide: It is very toxic and can paralyze the sense of smell at very low concentrations. This makes it especially dangerous because a person or an animal may sense it in the air then loose the sensation and think it's safe to continue into areas with higher concentrations. There is no antidote for H2S poisoning. It replaces the oxygen on the hemoglobin and will cause suffocation. I believe that the government has not taken this threat seriously enough at Medicine Lake. I know for a fact that some of the federal employees who worked in or near the oil fields in Kern County carry an H2S detector, even though the concentrations around well heads are supposed to be non-lethal because the human sense of smell is not effective against this poisonous gas.
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