Obama Administration Approves Oil Drilling in Arctic

Arctic oil drilling plan approved
10 Dec 2009, 7:08 PM
Photo: Inuit/Red Oil

By Red OIL

COPENHAGEN -- Alaska Natives from the Chukchi Sea, in Copenhagen for the Climate Talks, are reeling today after an announcement that the Obama administration has approved Royal Dutch Shell Plc's (RDSa.L) plan to drill for oil off Alaska's northwest coast as early as next summer. In a move revealing of the US agenda at Copenhagen, the Department of the Interior has endorsed drilling for fossil fuels in the climate-effected ecosystems of the Arctic, where global warming already impacts Alaska Natives and entire villages are in danger of losing their lands and way of life.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar addressed the COP 15 conference on Thursday at 12:45 local time at the US Center Meeting Room in the Bella Center.
"Shell says 'the Chukchi Sea could be home to some of the most prolific, undiscovered hydrocarbon basins in North America,' but we're here to remind Salazar and Shell that it is our home and our lives that will be devastated by the drilling," said Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of REDOIL, who is attending the Copenhagen Climate Talks. "More fossil fuel drilling will only bring more pollution to the Chukchi Sea, and ultimately, more devastating climate change to the world. Salazar should know: We must leave those fossil fuels in the ground and invest in real renewable solutions that uphold Indigenous Peoples rights."
The effects of global warming in Alaska include thawing permafrost, melting sea ice, declining fish populations, migratory and habitat disruptions of key subsistence resources -- all direct, disruptive impacts that Alaska Natives are already experiencing. Alaska Native communities are struggling with forced relocation as coastlines no longer protected by sea ice erode, and are now, in essence, "climate refugees."
"As Alaska Natives, our ancestral ways of life and homelands are imperiled by devastating proposals for fossil fuel drilling and development," said Colleen Swan of Kivalina, a community located adjacent to the Chuckchi Sea who is in Copenhagen this week on her first international journey. "These fossil fuels are carbon that will compound climate change, and the ecological devastation we see is also compounded by the impacts of climate change, and so it is a lose-lose. That's why we are here in Copenhagen to tell the world our story, and demand real action by the Obama Administration."

REDOIL is a network and movement of Alaska Natives who are challenging the fossil fuel and mining industry and demanding our rights to a safe and healthy environment conducive to subsistence. The REDOIL network consists of grassroots Alaska Natives of the Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Gwich'in, Eyak and Denaiana Athabascan tribes. We aim to address the human and ecological health impacts brought on by the unsustainable development practices of the fossil fuel and mining industry. REDOIL strongly supports self-determination rights of tribes in Alaska, as well as a just transition from fossil fuel and mineral development to sustainable economies, and promotes the implementation of sustainable development on Alaska Native lands. Visit: http://www.ienearth.org/redoil


Related articles:
Arctic drilling approved without consideration for environment:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2009/12/arctic-drilling-approved-without.html
Shell wins oil drilling contract in Iraq:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8407274.stm
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Indigenous Peoples protest at US Embassy Copenhagen

Nikke Alex's photos sent via phone from Copenhagen

DEMOCRACY NOW!

Indigenous Activists March on US Embassy in Copenhagen Urging Obama to “Stop the US Energy Industry’s War on Native Peoples and Lands”
Shortly before President Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, a coalition of North American indigenous groups marched to the US embassy in Copenhagen calling on Obama to stop what they described as the war on native peoples and lands waged by the US energy industry. Speakers at the protest included Faith Gemmill from Arctic Village, Alaska and Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Canadian-based Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign. [includes rush transcript]
Filed under Copenhagen Climate Summit
AMY GOODMAN: Shortly before President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize today, a coalition of North American indigenous groups marched to the US embassy here in Copenhagen, calling on Obama to stop what they described as the war on native peoples and lands waged by the US energy industry.
Speakers at the protest included Faith Gemmill of Arctic Village in Alaska—she works with the group Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands—and Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Canadian-based Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign.
FAITH GEMMILL: We’re here today to send a message to the US government that no longer can their energy policy and their unsustainable development practices threaten the future of indigenous peoples. This is what’s happening in America. All these indigenous communities are under threat by fossil fuel extraction and the fossil fuel issues that affect us, the energy issues.
Alaska is ground zero for US energy policy. Many of our indigenous homelands, our ancestral territories, are under threat, and it threatens the very existence of our communities. We live a subsistence way of life that’s very, very much connected to our homelands. And for us to live that way of life, our homelands have to be intact.
CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER: You know, today President Obama accepts his Nobel Peace Prize, when we all know that it’s just representing such immense hypocrisy, with calling out 30,000 US troops to continue to go into Afghanistan and oppress peoples in the Middle East.
The administration continues to oppress indigenous peoples and racialize communities in the United States and in Canada through their energy and climate policies. So we’re here in Copenhagen at the United Nations international climate negotiations to call out the US government and their little bully brother, the Darth Vader of Copenhagen, the Canadian government, in their ridiculous and oppressive energy policies and to say we want a just and clean future, a new economic paradigm that doesn’t sacrifice our communities at the altar of irresponsible policies for the economic benefit of the select few who pull the political strings.
AMY GOODMAN: The indigenous activists then delivered their letter to the US embassy in Copenhagen.
INDIGENOUS ACTIVIST: …the United States respect the rights of indigenous peoples and that they endorse the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
TERENCE McCULLEY: As you know, the United States has a very large delegation here at COP15. The United States is committed to active participation in this dialogue. I have a Cherokee background myself, and it’s an honor for me to accept your statement, which I will ensure gets to the ambassador.
AMY GOODMAN: Indigenous leaders delivering a letter to the US embassy in Copenhagen. They delivered it to Terence McCulley, the chargé d’affaires of the embassy.
Related stories
•“We Are Having a Hard Time Surviving” Gwich’in Elder Sarah James on How Climate Change Is Altering Life in the Alaskan Arctic
•Amidst Uncertainty on US Role in Upcoming Climate Talks, 350.org Holds International Climate Action Day in 170 Nations
•Naomi Klein on Climate Debt: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations To Poor Countries For The Climate Crisis.
•Climate Countdown: Largest Climate Summit in World History Opens in Copenhagen
•Ahead of Copenhagen Talks, Tens of Thousands Protest Across Europe Calling for Climate Justice

Australian Aboriginals Voices at Climate Change Film Festival in Copenhagen:
http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/australia/australias-indigenous-voices-on-climate-change-to-appear-at-copenhagen-film-festival-18530.html

VIDEO: Brazil's Indigenous: Climate Change



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LISTEN: Big Mountain Message to Copenhagen

Louise Benally on global warming and apartheid at Black Mesa
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photos: Dan Harrison/Clan Dyken Thanksgiving Black Mesa

BIG MOUNTAIN -- As snow covers the land, Louise Benally sends a message to Indigenous Peoples and world leaders gathered in Copenhagen on Censored News Blog Radio. Benally begins with thanks to musicians Clan Dyken and friends for the Thanksgiving food boxes they brought to Big Mountain.
Benally, Navajo resisting relocation at Big Mountain, describes the ongoing harassment by Hopi BIA Rangers. Livestock are being confiscated and Navajos resisting relocation have to buy back their sheep, goats, cattle and horses. The suffering continues for the people who depend on their livestock for survival on Black Mesa, where it is a 130-mile drive to a grocery store. Navajos on Black Mesa have been abandoned by the Navajo Nation government.
Speaking to the global leaders in Copenhagen, Benally said world leaders should reconsider fossil fuel and coal mining. Pointing to the destruction by Peabody Coal on Black Mesa, Benally said, “They have depleted a lot of the groundwater.” She said the coal mining continues to pollute the air, land and water, especially in cold weather when respiratory problems increase.
“Right now this whole planet is being contaminated by fossil fuel development," she said, urging alternative energy.
“Reverse the greed for natural resources that are fossil fuels and apply pressure toward renewable energy,” she said in her message to Copenhagen. Benally said there is no such as clean energy from coal and uranium. There is no safe place to put nuclear waste and uranium mining has caused generations of death and disease for Navajos. “Leave it in the ground.”
Benally described how global warming is obvious on Big Mountain. Last summer's squash were unable to cross pollinate and the corn popped inside its husk.
“This indicates to me there is a big imbalance in nature and the heat is extreme.”
On Big Mountain, vegetation is now burnt by the sun.
Benally described her visit to the Arctic Circle. At Point Hope, the people were very concerned about the melting ice and the vanishing resources for survival.
With the Arctic faced with more mining and drilling, Benally said corporations target Indian territories. “These people have no mercy and these people will not fix problems they create.”
Benally remembered the animals in the Arctic who will have no place to survive if their ice homeland melts.
She also described her testimony in Washington DC to the UN Rapporteur on the desperate need for housing on Black Mesa, where people are unable to repair their homes under federal law. Apartheid has continued on Black Mesa since 1974, she said.
Benally encouraged Indigenous Peoples gathered in Copenhagen, the Indigenous Environmental Network, AIM West and other Native peoples, to continue to advocate for the people back home and a green future.

LISTEN: Louise Benally, Navajo resisting relocation at Big Mountain, speaks on Black Mesa, relocation and global warming. Special message to Indigenous Peoples gathered at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen.
Censored News Blog Radio:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell
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Clan Dyken Thanksgiving Food Drive for Black Mesa
"With your help we raised a vibe and brought it along with thousands of pounds of food, supplies and firewood and served over 110 families. Our crew of about thirty people coordinated with over one hundred activists organized by Black Mesa Indigenous Support network who provided work parties as well. The days were warm, the nights clear and cold, the circle strong and time was irrelevant. The future is now and we are making it." Read more, with more photos and video at:
http://www.clandyken.com/cd/
Clan Dyken music video on Black Mesa 2009, with introduction by Tim Johnson at Dove Springs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ARXBI6ty8&feature=player_embedded
Black Mesa Indigenous Support, updates and information:
http://blackmesais.org/

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US Coyote at Work: Trust Fund Settlement Scam

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Updated with responses Dec. 13, 2009

The same US government that brought us the home mortgage, seize-everything-you-have scam, and the bail-out-the-billionaires programs, now says it will benevolently buy up Indian land and give it back to Indians?
Right.
In the so-called settlement of the US Trust Fund lawsuit, the US says it plans to buy up Indian parcels and give the land back to Indian Nations.
The US has also made a big deal out of $1,000 or $1,500 payments to land owners for all the resources it has stolen.
What a joke. It is a bizarre agreement which prevents the US from paying Indian people what they are owed.
To sweeten the deal, the US says it will set up an Indian education scholarship fund. Yes, that one has been used before too, by Ben (Nighthorse) Campbell, who eventually admitted it was a scam.
Who would monitor all this benevolence? The US of course.
This "sweet" deal, which still must go before Congress and a federal judge, comes on the heels of the IRS auctioning off Crow Creek Sioux land.
Now, the US says: "Just trust us."
The US wasn't the only one benefiting from the stolen resources and missing funds from Indian energy resources.
Thanks to Interior Department whistleblowers, we know that the underpayment for energy leases on Indian lands meant enormous wealth for energy companies, including oil and gas corporations drilling on Navajo Nation land in southeastern Utah.
While the money disappeared in Interior sinkholes, and energy corporations became fat cats, Navajos living around the oil and gas drilling became sick from the toxins in their land, water and air. Many Navajos still live without running water and electricity.
Another scam carried out was by power plant coal companies whose weight scales showed less coal than was actually being taken from Navajo lands in New Mexico. This fact was exposed by a former director of the Arizona Dept. of Weights and Measures.
With this history, why would anyone trust the US government and the Interior Department?
Reader responses to settlement:
--Beads and trinkets ... We asked for tribal leadership and the best legal minds and this is what we received? Sad day for Indian Country.
--Cowboy Banks Get Big Bucks as Indians Get Little:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&sid=am2L.MPQibzY
--Very sad and an embarrassment to all who have any sense of right and wrong.
--Only 300,000 Native Americans holding IIM trust fund accounts will share this settlement, if you don't receive an annual 27 cent lease check, you receive nothing. I assume that the period starts when the BIA took over mismanaging the lease income. It doesn't include any other controversies involving treaty violations, it only applies to the BIA's ... See Moremismanagement of these IIM accounts.
I remember clearly that when Ms. Cobell started this lawsuit, no one said a word; I voiced my concerns about its effect on treaty claims. If you read the report on her website, you'll see that it only deals with BIA mismanagement of IIM trust funds.
And when the Cobell checks are disbursed, the people don't have to sign them if they don't agree with the Cobell checks.
My next question that I'll have to ask is whether the land that the tribes have been buying from individual Indians means that the tribe will receive Cobell checks.
--I think the settlement is seriously flawed and is a ripoff for our ancestors who waited ... waited ... and waited for their lease checks only to discover it was a small amount. My mother and father went through this every year before Christmas. They were surely disappointed because they had to feed 13 children for the year.
Response to NARF, Native American Rights Fund, applauding the agreement:
--Saw where John Echohawk is pleased with this settlement. Amazes me. Our people get ripped off and our "leaders" are "pleased." Now on to deal with the tribal trust funds that have more than 5 times that amount involved. Lets see if these leaders get tickled white over it. Stunned by the acceptance of this theft. Our people have been turned into beggars for their own money and "leaders" are pleased. Decolonialize your mind ... its our peoples money and your are pleased that 34 billion was successfully stolen ? Whose side you on? Take of that colonial suit and be indigenous. As long as we respond and act like beggars we will be teated like beggars.
--Good for NARF ... a lot of the people don't agree. When you have the attitude that it is better than nothing you leave your self open to always taking better than nothing -- a beggars stance. A lot of our people are not beggars and rightly see a 1/10 award with 30+ billion left on the table as more theft. When leaders condone more theft they ask for more theft. Yes the tribal trust is coming and it will be more theft if this is any indication ... leader approved fat takers. I applaud those who have their own minds still and see it for what it is: A knife in the back ... pulled ten percent out and called progress.
--$47 billion gonna pay $1.4 and then use $2 billion to buy our lands ... dayum ... the fat takers are at work!!
--Sounds like "fork tongue"
--The answer would be, NO. Trust fund of a broke government. Heck of a deal!
--$2 billion to buy land from us? How much more land do they want to take away from us? They need to give back what was taken already, not thinking of making our reservations even smaller. --fat takers
--Affirmative! They can start by transferring national forest/federal lands adjacent to reservations back into tribal trust lands
--Do we have any tribal leadership that is going to back our interests? Or is it status quo?
--That is just a drop in the bucket as far as I am concerned. That is only a portion of the interest that they are paying. The caretakers say their rent is way over due.
--What is the "buy land from Native Americans" mean ... or is it "naive" american's
--What about (1) the interest lost and (2) a penalty of mismanagement! Did I read individuals will receive $1,500? I wonder how much the lawyers will get off the top?
--Hey, you know that's a fat chunk off the top but let's get the land back to start with eh.
--A prophecy says we will get our land back. It is just detail right now.
--This deal smells as sweet as cow patties.
--This had to come at some point, and of course Indians are getting the fuzzy end of the lolly pop! Was there ever any question about the outcome?
--I'm surprised they didn't throw in pox blankets with this one.

News article on settlement:
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20091209/NEWS01/912090301/1002/news01/Parties-reach-deal-in-Indian-trust-suit