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Indybay Environment & Forest Defense Features
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/01/10/18861790.php
UC Berkeley Moves to Kill People's Park ForeverWall of Shipping Containers Intended to Keep the Public Out of People's Park2024-01-10T08:21:21Z2024-01-10T08:21:21Zen-US
Even as an outstanding case awaits a final decision from the California Supreme Court regarding student housing, UC Berkeley intends to build on the land. The university went in for the kill on People's Park shortly before midnight on January 3, sending in hundreds of police to clear the park of people and to make way for wall of shipping containers stacked two-high around the entire perimeter of the park. Cops from the University of California, California State University, California Highway Patrol, Alameda County Sheriff, and San Francisco County Sheriff participated in the raid, drawing crowd control weapons on those inside the park and on those protesting outside. As soon as police had control of the park, chainsaws began removing trees, bulldozers wrecked existing structures, and cranes pushed around dirt and debris.
Protesters were ready for the raid, with knowledge that UC was about to move on the park, but police closed nearby streets and set up barricades to prevent more from coming to defend the park. Several demonstrators were arrested. Protests have continued on Telegraph Avenue and other surrounding areas while UC finished the wall, which now features security cameras.
A call went out for an immediate escalation in the fight for the future. Four activists, banners in hand, then marched across the demarcation line at the Schneider gate of Beale Air Force Base. Military police attempted to forcibly remove the activists from the base by shoving and pushing them back towards the line. Three were detained and marched into the gate building, where they were held for over an hour. Outside of the gate, eight other climate activists renewed the blockade in front of the now-closed gate and held the line until those detained were released. Two were charged with trespassing.
Three Activists Detained at Climate Protest at Beale Air Force Base |
Wells Fargo's Fossil Fuel Investments Protested in Market Street Action]]>Anti-War and MilitarismCaliforniaCentral ValleyEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageU.S.image/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/09/29/18859257.php
Thousands March in Sacramento to Demand End of Fossil FuelsCalifornia Climate Justice Actions in Coordination with Massive New York City March2023-09-30T03:03:23Z2023-09-30T03:03:23Zen-US
Showing that activism can be effective, California's Governor Gavin Newsom's administration has sued the major oil companies for the damage caused by fossil fuel induced global warming and for knowingly deceiving, for decades, the public about the dangers. Nonetheless, while Newsom and Biden tout their environmental bone fides, both have issued thousands of oil drilling permits.
From the tenor of the demands expressed by the many organizations participating the event, it was clear that the environmental movement will not settle for a nicer, "greener" oil industy. They want an end to fossil fuel use. Totally.
See Also:
Do You Hear Us? UAL Flight Attendants March Against Union Busting & Join SFO Unite Here |
STOP Union Busting At SFO! Unite Here 2 Members Protest SFO Management Failure To Enforce |
Oakland Airport Expansion is a Threat to Climate Change Goals, Environmental Coalition Warns |
France Bans Short-haul Flights to Cut Carbon Emissions]]>East Bay AreaEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront Pageimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/07/19/18857416.php
Wells Fargo Headquarters Blocked to Stop "Business As Usual"Halt to Fossil Fuel Funding Demanded as Wells Fargo Operations Shut Down2023-07-19T19:53:11Z2023-07-19T19:53:11Zen-US
With the 333 Market St. headquarters entrance locked to the public with many police inside, the San Francisco Fire Department were called to cut off the demonstrators' homemade locking pipes and separate the connected protesters. Using power tools and keeping a medical gurney at the ready, they attempted to hide the procedure behind a large tarp. As people outside the bank's glass wall banged on the wall shouting "drop the tarp" and "what are you hiding," the whole affair lasted well over two hours. The six, greeted by cheers of encouragement from supporters, were then led out of the building to be photographed, fingerprinted and cited. Their court date is set for August.
Related Feature:Climate Justice Protest at Wells Fargo Rages as Major Storm Slams San Francisco
]]>City of San FranciscoEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGlobal Justice and Anti-CapitalismU.S.image/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/27/18856364.php
Enviro Law Restrictions Proposed to Expedite Favored ProjectsLong-Time Industry Goal Is to Hamper CEQA by Expanding Exemptions, Limiting Challenges2023-05-28T06:27:51Z2023-05-28T06:27:51Zen-US
CEQA is a landmark environmental law that the construction industry, Big Ag, Big Oil and other Big Money interests have been trying to eviscerate for years in order to shorten the contracting process for bridge and water projects, limit timelines for environmental litigation, and simplify permitting for complicated developments in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and elsewhere throughout California.
On May 25, the California Senate Budget Committee, in a 3-0 vote, temporarily blocked Gavin Newsom's legislative plan, ending the proposal for this legislative year.
California Senate Committee Blocks Governor's Plan to Gut Environmental Law |
Governor guts landmark environmental law to expedite the salmon-killing Delta Tunnel |
CalMatters analysis of proposal
]]>CaliforniaCentral ValleyEast Bay AreaEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGovernment & ElectionsNorth Bay / Marinimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/04/17/18855508.php
Oil Companies Greenwash Reputations Through the News MediaBig Oil Sponsors Dinners and Awards for California Journalists, Gets Favorable Mentions2023-04-18T02:28:14Z2023-04-18T02:28:14Zen-US
Further examples abound. The WSPA sponsored a "media dinner" in Sacramento on February 28 as part of a business conference known as "BizFed Sacramento Days." Speakers at the dinner included editors and bureau chiefs from the the Sacramento Bee, the LA Times, and the Orange County Register.
And, when the Sacramento Press Club announced that the WSPA would be the "Lede Sponsor" of their Journalism Awards Reception on March 29, the press club wrote, "WSPA is dedicated to guaranteeing that every American has access to reliable energy options through socially, economically and environmentally responsible policies and regulations." That greenwashing language was lifted directly from WSPA's own public relations copy on their website.
Meanwhile, Big Oil spends millions of dollars lobbying California politicians every economic quarter and it pays off. A total of 897 oil drilling permits have been approved since the start of the year by CalGEM, the state’s oil and gas regulator.
Read More
]]>CaliforniaCentral ValleyEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGovernment & ElectionsIndependent Mediaimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/03/25/18855138.php
Street Theater Depicts Apocalyptic Vision of Climate DestructionClimate Justice Protest at Wells Fargo Rages as Major Storm Slams San Francisco2023-03-26T04:31:01Z2023-03-26T04:31:01Zen-US
Just one day earlier, the United Nations released its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the state of the earth's climate and current greenhouse gas emissions, emphasizing the need to act quickly to avert the worst of climate change. The decade of 2030's will be a tipping point, the report said, and the time to make major changes is now.
"It's high time to push hard with our demands," said demonstrators in Third Act. Their name comes from life stages: Your first act is age up to 30, second act is 30 to 60, and everyone else is in their "third act." Older people are worried about the situation that future generations will face, and said they chose Wells Fargo as their target because it is a key funder of the oil industry.
Under a new law passed in 2022, the Oil Refinery Cost Disclosure Act, SB 1322 (Allen), Chevron and other California refiners will be required to report monthly the cost of the crude oil they buy versus the wholesale price of the gasoline they sell and their profits made per gallon.
Now, the legislature is considering new legislation, SBx12 (Skinner), to establish a windfall profits cap on how much oil refiners can make in profit per gallon of gasoline. Consumer Watchdog has suggested penalties kick in after 50 cents per gallon.
See Also: Big Oil spent over $34.2 million lobbying California officials in the 2021-22 session
]]>CaliforniaEast Bay AreaEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGlobal Justice and Anti-CapitalismGovernment & Electionsimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/09/28/18852295.php
Oakland Youths Join Global Climate Strike ProtestsAs Extreme Climate Events Increase, Demand for Change Intensifies2022-09-28T20:35:10Z2022-09-28T20:35:10Zen-US
Three days earlier at San Francisco's Chase Center, runners in the bank's PR "Corporate Challenge" event saw "kayaktivists" in the water off the third street bridge holding signs demanding Chase stop fossil fuel funding. Adjoining the running track "Lamentors" were there proclaiming the dire effects of global warming.
A cardboard bank featured a large pipe gushing oil (coffee). At the finish line a large banner read "Stop Funding Fossil Fuels" and as darkness fell, messages calling out the bank's fossil fuel lending were projected on to the side of their building. An announcer at the event actually characterized the event as a "celebration of corporate camaderie."
Related Features:
Wells Fargo Protested for Funding Fossil Fuels — Again |
Bay Area Organizing to Stop Line 3
]]>City of San FranciscoEast Bay AreaEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageU.S.image/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/09/24/18852210.php
No Quarry on Mutsun Sacred GroundsHundreds Rally for Protection of Sacred Tribal Land from Mining Project2022-09-24T19:48:53Z2022-09-24T19:48:53Zen-US
The proposed sand and gravel mine in the county would significantly damage the sacred Native American site and historic artifacts. Speakers said the mining which would extract minerals for 30 years on a 300-acre site destroying indigenous history. Valentin Lopez, Amah Mutsun tribal chairman, said that the tribe went through three periods of brutal colonization and that destroying the sacred site would bring further devastation. Lopez called the rally "a call for cultural survival."
The Environmental Impact Report for the project states that, if approved, ceremonial areas used for healing and harvesting, burial sites, and sacred live oak trees, could be destroyed. In addition, the mining would eliminate precious grassland and oak woodland habitat, and disrupt a critical wildlife movement corridor.
Related Features: Campaign to Protect Juristac Gains Support of Santa Cruz City Council (2020) |
Amah Mutsun Tribal Band Fight to Protect One of Their Few Remaining Sacred Lands (2018)
]]>Environment & Forest DefenseFront PageGovernment & ElectionsRacial JusticeSanta Cruz / Monterey Bay AreaSouth Bay Areaimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/08/08/18851478.php
Resistance to Save People's Park Continues Despite Police AssaultAfter Court Ruling, Police Move in to Make Way for Construction in People's Park2022-08-09T01:10:01Z2022-08-09T01:10:01Zen-US
Not wasting any time, UC Berkeley police, with mutual aid from CHP, CSU PD, and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, moved in en masse to push folks out of the park just after midnight on August 3, making way for bulldozers and other equipment, and for new fencing to deny public access. Resistance came almost immediately. Park defenders committed civil disobedience to block lights and heavy equipment from being installed. Construction crews were able to cut down numerous trees in the park before dawn. Police arrested seven protesters on charges of resisting arrest, trespassing, and battery on a peace officer.
As a growing crowd of protesters continued to fight to save the park, police withdrew less than twelve hours after their initial raid and the new fencing was torn down. Following the halt on construction, protesters began to rebuild, using logs and barriers left behind as blockades to prevent construction from resuming. The city of Berkeley considered officially lifting its ban on chemical munitions so such weapons could be used to attack park defenders.
Related Features: University of California Puts Up Fencing and Takes First Steps to Privatize People's Park (2021) |
Two-Week Celebration of Resistance Marks 50th Anniversary of People's Park (2019) |
Berkeley's Historic People's Park Facing Attacks from Police and Tree Cutters (2018)]]>East Bay AreaEducation & Student ActivismEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PagePolice Stateimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2021/09/20/18844987.php
Wells Fargo Protested for Funding Fossil Fuels — AgainClimate Protest Signs and Street Theater Shut Down San Francisco's Montgomery Street2021-09-20T18:23:31Z2021-09-20T18:23:31Zen-US
An enormous sign demanding the bank stop funding Line 3 was hung from the building's roof. A protester cut up her Wells Fargo ATM card.
Figures draped in apocalyptic burlap enumerated the calamities wrought by fossil fuels. Dancers in hazmat suits wove through the crowd and Jes Richardson's GhandiMobile urged all to move their money out of Well Fargo.
A "Global Climate Strike for Intersectional Climate Justice" is planned for September 24:
San Francisco |
Oakland
Related Features: Bay Area Organizing to Stop Line 3 |
California Oil Among the Most Climate-Damaging on Earth
]]>City of San FranciscoEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront Pageimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2021/08/17/18844355.php
Endangered Orcas’ West Coast Habitat Receives New Federal Protection15,910 Square Miles of Critical Habitat Added to Existing Salish Sea Protections2021-08-17T21:39:09Z2021-08-17T21:39:09Zen-US
The final rule, which is more protective than the one proposed in September 2019, follows an April 2019 court-ordered agreement achieved after the Center sued the Trump administration in 2018 for failing to issue habitat protections required by the Endangered Species Act. The expanded critical habitat covers important foraging areas, river mouths and migratory pathways along the Pacific Coast from the Canadian border to Big Sur, California. Added to the current habitat protections in Washington’s inland waters, the total designation encompasses more than 18,000 square miles of marine habitat.
While these orcas spend much of the summer in the Puget Sound and Salish Sea (areas protected as critical habitat in 2006), they travel extensively along the West Coast during the winter and early spring, congregating near coastal rivers to rest and feed on migrating salmon.
Related Feature:Lawsuit Forces Protection for Endangered Orcas' West Coast Habitat]]>Animal LiberationCaliforniaCity of San FranciscoEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageNorth Bay / MarinNorth CoastPeninsulaSanta Cruz / Monterey Bay AreaU.S.image/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2021/07/28/18844041.php
Bay Area Organizing to Stop Line 3Construction of Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Violates Treaty Rights of Minnesota Tribes2021-07-28T23:12:16Z2021-07-28T23:12:16Zen-US
Enbridge is more than 60% done constructing their proposed Line 3 project, and on July 15 the last restrictions keeping them from drilling under waterways where wild rice grows were lifted. The Anishinaabe women of the RISE Coalition are now calling on people to join them in northern Minnesota to protect the wild rice waters July 19-31. Since June, hundreds of Water Protectors in Minnesota have been participating in lockdowns and blockades to stop the advancement of construction.
Climate and Indigenous rights activists in the Bay Area again stood up in solidarity with a National Day of Action on August 13 to stop the construction of Line 3.
The report finds that the already profound carbon intensity of California crude is growing at twice the rate of all oils refined in California — and nearly three times the rate of oils produced outside of California. It also finds that the increasing carbon intensity of California oil is helping cancel out climate benefits from a decline in oil production.
See Also: California to ban new fracking permits by Jan. 2024, phase out oil extraction by 2045 ]]>CaliforniaEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront Pageimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2021/07/27/18844025.php
"A Wake for the Whales" Marks Bay Area Deaths, Calls for ProtectionsDead Whales Washing Up on Bay Area Beaches Is a Wake-up Call2021-07-28T05:38:09Z2021-07-28T05:38:09Zen-US
Against the backdrop of the Golden Gate, through which container ships and fishing boats pass regularly, speakers at the event called for a mandatory 10-knot speed limits for ships passing through whale habitat along California’s coast and the conversion of California’s trap fisheries to new ropeless gear to prevent deadly entanglements. They also called for strong national action to address climate change, which can cause malnutrition as whales’ food sources are decreased or moved, sometimes bringing whales into areas where they’re more likely to be entangled or hit by ships.
“Dead whales washing up on Bay Area beaches is a wake-up call. We answered that call at this event by demanding action to address ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear and climate change,” said Steve Jones with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Whales are essential to healthy oceans because they spread nutrients and store carbon. The more we can do to protect them as their populations recover, the better off we’ll all be.”
Read More with Photos |
A Wake for Whales: Protest for Endangered Marine Life on Int'l. Oceans Day]]>Animal LiberationCaliforniaCity of San FranciscoEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront Pageimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2021/07/27/18844024.php
New Wolf Pack Confirmed in California’s Plumas CountyPhotographs of 'Beckwourth' Pack Captured on Trail Camera2021-07-28T05:33:10Z2021-07-28T05:33:10Zen-US
“With states like Idaho and Montana racing to slaughter their wolf populations, this is such wonderful news,” said Amaroq Weiss, senior West Coast wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “These beautiful newcomers are proving that California has great habitat for wolves, as scientists have said all along.”
California currently has two other existing groups of wolves: the Lassen pack, confirmed in 2017, and the Whaleback pair, which is not yet a pack, confirmed in late 2020. California’s only other known wolf pack in modern times, the Shasta pack, was confirmed in summer 2015 but disappeared a few months later.
See Also:Wolf Update: California’s Lassen Pack Grows ]]>Animal LiberationCaliforniaCentral ValleyEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront Pageimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2021/07/27/18844012.php
Mindful Intelligence: Alan Clements on his New Book and FilmAuthor Delves into Dark Satire in Latest Book "Extinction X-Rated"2021-07-27T18:50:42Z2021-07-27T18:50:42Zen-US
His latest book — Extinction X-Rated — was written during the pandemic and according to Clements was “LSD inspired.” He describes the book as part autobiography and partly an “auto-fictional dark satire about good and evil.”
Since the 1970’s Clements’ life has been intertwined with the Buddhist country of Burma/Myanmar. Clements was a monk there for four years and then alerted the world to a modern genocide when he wrote Burma: The Next Killing Fields? (1990) He did a series of interviews with democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has often been imprisoned for her activism and those conversations later became the 1997 book Voice of Hope. Clements was kicked out of Burma and banned from traveling there until 2012. In recent years he returned to interview hundreds of activists, teachers, artists and lay people about on-going resistance to authoritarianism, chronicled in a four-volume set, Burma’s Voices of Freedom. (2020)
Read More and Listen to the Interview]]>Arts + ActionCaliforniaEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGlobal Justice and Anti-CapitalismInternationalSanta Cruz / Monterey Bay AreaU.S.image/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2021/01/27/18839618.php
People's Park in Berkeley Faces Greatest Danger YetUniversity of California Puts Up Fencing and Takes First Steps to Privatize People's Park2021-01-28T07:44:06Z2021-01-28T07:44:06Zen-US A park defender writes: If you have told yourself, "I'll show up when the fences come," well it's happening. The fences are starting to arrive. It's now. It's real. People's Park needs you. According to UC Berkeley, the construction at People's Park won't start until 2022. However, here and now in 2021, the pre-construction work is commencing. The UC is now slowly introducing fencing, slowly starting to nudge people away from the area, and starting to drill for the soil stability and hydrology tests....
If you can get to People's Park physically, be on the ground and get involved. Now is the time for civil disobedience. Now is the time to start documenting the UC police. Now is the time for mutual aid and resistance.
UC Fencing at People's Park Torn Down and Delivered to Sproul Hall |
UC Students Remove Fence from People's Park |
Rally to Save Peoples Park (1/29) |
People's Park Fenced Off by University of California Berkeley |
UC Places Initial Fencing Around People's Park, More to Come]]>East Bay AreaEducation & Student ActivismEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGovernment & ElectionsHealth, Housing, and Public Servicesimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/10/15/18837578.php
Library/Parking Garage Is Litmus Test for the Future of Santa CruzCity Council and City Manager Advance Construction Projects Under False PretensesErica Aitken of Reimagine Santa Cruz writes: The next City Council elections will decide the future of Santa Cruz. Do we open our doors to Silicon Valley with luxury rentals and our very own Santana Row? Or do we take control and build beautiful affordable housing for those who work and would like to live here? If we ask ourselves this question, it is because we have recently been the victims of a particularly galling breach of trust from our current City Councilmembers.]]>2020-10-15T23:37:33Z2020-10-15T23:37:33Zen-USErica Aitken of Reimagine Santa Cruz writes: The next City Council elections will decide the future of Santa Cruz. Do we open our doors to Silicon Valley with luxury rentals and our very own Santana Row? Or do we take control and build beautiful affordable housing for those who work and would like to live here? If we ask ourselves this question, it is because we have recently been the victims of a particularly galling breach of trust from our current City Councilmembers who voted 4 – 2 to replace our current library with a multi-purpose, six-story parking garage flanked by a new library, right where our farmer’s market stands.
The advocates of this project used Measure S, passed in 2016, to morph what was a mandate to upgrade and fix our libraries, into a monstrous block of concrete that would never have been approved by the voters. Even though the Nelson/Nygaard study advised against the garage, the City Council voted for it, ignoring the advice of the study they themselves had commissioned. And we don’t need additional parking spaces. Downtown parking is not only underused but we, as environmentally concerned citizens, want to reduce our dependence on cars.
Related Feature:Facebook Bans Multiple Anarchist and Antifascist Pages]]>Environment & Forest DefenseFront PageHealth, Housing, and Public ServicesIndependent MediaInternationalPeninsulaRacial JusticeU.S.image/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/14/18836614.php
"These Are Climate Fires"Climate Change Takes Center Stage as the West Coast Burns and Burns2020-09-14T09:39:18Z2020-09-14T09:39:18Zen-US
Wetter weather earlier in the year results in greater brush growth which then dries out when hotter-than-usual weather later in the year turns it into fuel. Climate scientists predicted that “a much greater number of extremely wet and extremely dry weather seasons” will “have a major effect on the lives of Californians.”
President Trump has said little about the wildfires raging in California, Oregon and Washington for weeks, other than to suggest poor forest management was primarily to blame. “These are climate fires,” says Timothy Ingalsbee, an Oregon-based wildland fire ecologist and former wildland firefighter who now directs Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology. “Though some scientists hesitate to attribute a single event to climate change, these are exactly the conditions predicted by climatologists.”
Related Feature: Clean Air and Fire Safety Concerns at Mendocino Wood Pellet Plant |
Fires & Blackouts: Californians Call for Public Takeover of PG&E (2019) |
Fire Season of 2018 Brings Historic Devastation |
PG&E's Role in Deadly Wildfires Questioned (2017)]]>CaliforniaEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGlobal Justice and Anti-CapitalismHealth, Housing, and Public ServicesNorth Bay / MarinNorth CoastSanta Cruz / Monterey Bay Areaimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/01/18836370.php
Undam the Klamath RiverDams on Klamath River Have Devastating Consequences2020-09-01T20:27:06Z2020-09-01T20:27:06Zen-US
Billionaire Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway's subsidiary PacifiCorp has the opportunity to move forward with dam removal and has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from shareholders and tax payers to protect its customers and shareholders for the purpose of dam removal. Now PacifiCorp is threatening to back out of the dam removal agreement.
Most experts view dam removal as the lynchpin for solving the water crisis that plagues the drought-prone Klamath Basin almost every year. Shallow, stagnant reservoirs breed toxic algae and decimate water quality, pushing Klamath River salmon to the brink of extinction. Decades worth of spawning gravel have accumulated behind the dams, preventing proper habitat conditions downstream. Anadromous species that historically migrated to the Upper Klamath Basin have lost access to over 420 miles of spawning grounds and habitat. Upriver Tribes like the Klamath Tribes of Oregon have not had access to salmon in over 100 years.
Read More]]>Environment & Forest DefenseFront PageNorth Coastimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/08/31/18836346.php
Protest at Wood Pellet Plant near UkiahClean Air and Fire Safety Concerns at Mendocino Wood Pellet Plant2020-09-01T00:25:32Z2020-09-01T00:25:32Zen-US
Following a Prayer to the Seven Directions, demonstrators walked a short distance from the post office to MFP’s distribution center and wood pellet plant. They carried a white banner with a statement in black declaring, “shut down the pellet plant!” Other folks held signs with messages such as, “We Demand Clean Air,” “The Pellet Plant is a Fire Hazard," “Our Children Can’t Breath," and “The Air Quality District Has Betrayed The Public Trust.”
Recent Harvard studies have shown a strong correlation between high levels of particulate matter and toxic substances in the air, and dramatically higher rates of Covid infection. Those most affected are Native Americans, essential workers living in low income communities, the elderly and those with disabilities and breathing difficulties such as asthma and COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
Related Feature:Wood Pellet Plant in Mendocino County Threatens Public Health
]]>Environment & Forest DefenseFront PageHealth, Housing, and Public ServicesNorth Coastimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/22/18832567.php
Wood Pellet Plant in Mendocino County Threatens Public HealthMendocino Community Organizes to Protect Public Health from Wood Pellet PlantTerra Verde radio program interviewed community activists from Mendocino County. Host Gary Hughes spoke with Polly Girvin and Maria Gilardin about the threats posed by a wood pellet processing facility in Calpella, six miles north of Ukiah. Polly and Maria are members of Social, Environmental and Indigenous Justice (SEIJ), an affinity group waging a campaign to protect rural and indigenous communities from pollution emitted by Mendocino Forest Products and their wood pellet fuel plant.]]>2020-04-22T22:33:37Z2020-04-22T22:33:37Zen-USTerra Verde radio program interviewed community activists from Mendocino County. Host Gary Hughes spoke with Polly Girvin and Maria Gilardin about the threats posed by a wood pellet processing facility in Calpella, which is located on the Russian River six miles north of Ukiah.
Polly and Maria are members of Social, Environmental and Indigenous Justice (SEIJ), an affinity group waging a campaign to protect rural and indigenous communities from pollution emitted by Mendocino Forest Products (MFP) and their wood pellet fuel plant. According to the MFP website, “CalPellets™ fuel pellet products are produced out of a fir-redwood blend.”
Polly described some of the many concerns community members have with the Calpella Distribution Center, "There were mountains of plastic bags filled with wood pellets. It was going night and day this smokestack, belching out huge clouds. One time I noticed it was very rancid and it stank, and it was going down the valley towards Ukiah."
Read More |
Northern California Indian Tribes Oppose Calpella Wood Pellet Plant]]>Environment & Forest DefenseFront PageHealth, Housing, and Public ServicesNorth Coastimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/08/18832187.php
California Approves New Fracking During COVID-19 PandemicCOVID-19 Targets Communities with Respiratory Illnesses from Air Pollution2020-04-09T00:42:41Z2020-04-09T00:42:41Zen-US
Fracking opponents strongly condemned the approval of new fracking permits at a time that the state is virtually shut down, and people are dying everyday from the COVID-19 virus. In a statement, Food & Water Action California Director Alexandra Nagy blasted Governor Newsom in response to the approval of new fracking operations during a pandemic.
“By allowing a sudden return to fracking in the state, Governor Newsom has shown his true oily colors,” said Nagy. “Despite his pledges to ban fracking and bring California into a clean energy future, Newsom has quietly fallen into line with the corporate fossil fuel interests that have been polluting this state’s air and water for decades.”
Related Feature:Trump Opens 725,500 Acres of California’s Central Coast to Oil Drilling]]>Central ValleyEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGovernment & ElectionsHealth, Housing, and Public Servicesimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/03/05/18831313.php
Westlands Water District Signs "Permanent" Water Contract with Bureau of ReclamationRestore The Delta Vows Litigation Against Illegal Water Contracts2020-03-05T22:46:26Z2020-03-05T22:46:26Zen-US Westlands Water District describes itself as “the largest agricultural water district in the United States, made up of more than 1,000 square miles of prime farmland in western Fresno and Kings counties. Westlands provides water to 675 family-owned farms that average 600 acres in size.”
However, critics of the contract’s signing strongly disagree with this assessment that this land is “prime farmland,” noting that the district is located on arid, drainage-impaired land located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Fishing groups, Tribes, conservationists, family farmers and environmental justice advocates have been pushing to retire much of this land from agricultural production for many years.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, stated,
“At a time of unprecedented climate changes and droughts we should not be circumventing the law and promising by federal contract far more water than actually exists to one large irrigation group at the expense of others.”
See Also:Native American and Salmon Activists asks Governor, AG to Stand Against Trump Water Plan]]>CaliforniaCentral ValleyEnvironment & Forest DefenseFront PageGovernment & Electionsimage/png
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/29/18831209.php
Extinction Rebellion Action Closes Chase BankDemonstrators Tell Chase to Stop Banking on Fossil Fuels2020-03-01T03:08:19Z2020-03-01T03:08:19Zen-US
Meanwhile, outside the bank, demonstrators sang and danced while offering water, cookies, chair massages, blankets and throw pillows. A flash mob dressed in disco outfits danced to “staying alive.” Those who participated in the dancing and singing were of all ages. As rush hour traffic drove by, motorists honked their horns in support while creative participants chalked the walkways outside the bank with many messages.
Related Feature:Protesters Tell Wells Fargo "Quit the Dirty Energy Business"]]>Environment & Forest DefenseFront PageGlobal Justice and Anti-CapitalismSanta Cruz / Monterey Bay Areaimage/jpeg
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/28/18831117.php
Protesters Tell Wells Fargo "Quit the Dirty Energy Business"Silicon Valley Demonstrators Demand that Wells Fargo Stop Funding Climate Change2020-02-28T09:12:34Z2020-02-28T09:12:34Zen-US
In San Jose on February 20, about twenty demonstrators marched into the Wells Fargo branch. They quickly deployed banners and signs throughout the bank’s customer area, then sang and chanted the message that Wells Fargo’s $172 billion a year financial support of the fossil fuel industry is destroying our environment. When they tried to deliver a letter to the bank manager, employees said that person was not available, then called the police. It took about forty minutes for law enforcement to arrive, giving the protesters time to chant, sing and distribute flyers, which they passed out to bank employees and customers alike. When police arrived and issued an "official” trespass warning, demonstrators continued their protest outside.
At Mountain View branch the following day, administrators called police, who arrived in about 20 minutes. The manager on duty refused to accept a prepared letter addressed to corporate headquarters, prompting demonstrators to stage a die-in to make their point.
350 Silicon Valley recently changed its name to SV-CAN (Silicon Valley Climate Action Network). They planned and executed the coordinated dual front action; there were no arrests at either location. Organizers with the group said they plan even bigger actions in the coming months.