Court Invalidates Trump Administration's Keystone XL, Blocks Construction

November 8, 2018 Contacts:  Margie Kelly, Natural Resources Defense Council, (541) 222-9699, mkelly@nrdc.org Mark Hefflinger, Bold Nebraska, (323) 972-5192, mark@boldalliance.org Gabby Brown, Sierra Club, (914) 261-4626, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org Jared Margolis, Center for Biological Diversity, (802) 310-4054, jmargolis@biologicaldiversity.org Patrick Davis, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org Dustin Ogdin, Northern Plains Resource Council, (406) 228-1154, dustin@northernplains.org Dena Hoff, Northern Plains Resource Council, (406) 939-1839 In Blow to Pipeline Project, Court Invalidates Trump Administration's Keystone XL Environmental Review, Blocks Construction GREAT FALLS, Mont.— A federal judge ruled today that the Trump administration violated bedrock U.S. environmental laws when approving a federal permit for TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project. The judge blocked any construction on the pipeline and ordered the government to revise its environmental review. The decision is a significant setback for a pipeline that investors are already seriously questioning. TransCanada has not yet announced a Final Investment Decision on whether to move forward and build Keystone XL should it receive all the necessary permits. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris found that the Trump administration's reliance on a stale environmental review from 2014 violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. This ruling follows the court's previous decision on August 15 to require additional analysis of the new route through Nebraska. The court required the U.S. Department of State to revise the proposed project's environmental impact statement to evaluate the extraordinary changes in oil markets that have occurred since the previous review was completed in 2014; to consider the combined climate impacts of approving both the Keystone XL and other tar sands pipelines; to study the many cultural resources along the pipeline's route; and to examine the harmful risks of oil spills on nearby water and wildlife. The State Department must also provide a reasoned explanation for its decision to reverse course and approve the permit, after the Obama administration denied it just three years ago on the same set of facts. Based on these violations, the court ordered the State Department to revise its environmental analysis, and prohibited any work along the proposed route — which would cross Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana — until that analysis is complete. Keystone XL would have carried up to 35 million gallons a day of Canadian tar sands — one of the world's dirtiest energy sources — across critical water sources and wildlife habitat to Gulf Coast refineries. Plaintiffs Northern Plains Resource Council, Bold Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club filed the lawsuit in March 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Quotes "Today's ruling is a victory for the rule of law, and it's a victory for common sense stewardship of the land and water upon which we all depend. Despite the best efforts of wealthy, multinational corporations and the powerful politicians who cynically do their bidding, we see that everyday people can still band together and successfully defend their rights. All Americans should be proud that our system of checks and balances can still function even in the face of enormous strains," said Dena Hoff, Montana farmer and member-leader of the Northern Plains Resource Council. "Farmers and our Tribal Nation allies in Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana celebrate today's victory foiling the Trump administration's scheme to rubber-stamp the approval of Keystone XL. This now ten-year battle is still far from over. We'll continue to stand together against this tar sands export pipeline that threatens property rights, water and climate at every opportunity, at every public hearing. People on the route deserve due process and the Ponca Trail of Tears must be protected," said Mark Hefflinger, communications director for Bold Alliance. "Today's ruling makes it clear once and for all that it's time for TransCanada to give up on their Keystone XL pipe dream," said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Doug Hayes. "The Trump administration tried to force this dirty pipeline project on the American people, but they can't ignore the threats it would pose to our clean water, our climate, and our communities." "This is a complete repudiation of the Trump administration's attempts to evade environmental laws and prioritize oil company profits over clean water and wildlife," said Jared Margolis, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Keystone XL would devastate species and put communities at risk of contamination. There's simply no excuse for approving this terrible project. We need to move away from fossil fuel dependence, not support more devastation." "Keystone XL would be a disaster for the climate and for the people and wildlife of this country," said Jackie Prange, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "As the court has made clear yet again, the Trump administration's flawed and dangerous proposal should be shelved forever."        "Today's ruling is a decisive moment in our fight against the corporate polluters who have rushed to destroy our planet," said Marcie Keever, legal director at Friends of the Earth. "Rejecting the destructive Keystone XL pipeline is a victory for the grassroots activists who have worked against the Keystone XL pipeline for the past decade. Environmental laws exist to protect people and our lands and waters. Today, the courts showed the Trump administration and their corporate polluter friends that they cannot bully rural landowners, farmers, environmentalists and Native communities."

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

AIM West Red 'n' Blues Concert San Francisco 2018

Mohawk Nation News 'Face of a Traitor'

Read article in MNN
.http://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2018/11/08/face-of-a-traitor/

Young Kanak Movement in Paris -- Struggle for Independence in New Caledonia

COLONIALISTS WIN REFERENDUM IN KANAKY ("NOUVELLE CALEDONIE") REPRESENTATIVE OF YOUNG KANAKS IN FRANCE SPOKE AT CSIA DAY OF SOLIDARITY

By Christine Prat

November 4^th, 2018
Christine's blog in French:
http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=4752&fbclid=IwAR1FACO_tQS-Dv1PR2sownqAPdZEIszW8AjEFJw8IjLZDveUCJ01OQIPYF4

Censored News

Today, November 4^th 2018, the colonialists won the referendum by which, inhabitants of Kanaky – so-called New Caledonia – had to decide for or against Independence. Supporters of colonialism won with much fewer votes than expected. However, settlers of European origin being now in greater numbers than Indigenous people, they could still win.

A few decades ago, tensions raised, as France was encouraging massive European immigration. Violent incidents took place in the 1980s. Two agreements were signed, in Paris in 1988, and in Nouméa in 1998. This agreement decided that several referendums would be held, in which only people already living in Kanaky in 1998 and their descent could take part. However, the immigration policy had started earlier, so that settlers arrived before 1998 are more numerous than Indigenous people.

Kanaky – 'Nouvelle Calédonie' – is on top of the United Nations list of countries to be decolonized. However, it is one of the biggest nickel producers on earth. Indigenous people and environmentalists say that digging mines for nickel is destroying the country, which is home to rare species, to exceptional fauna and flora. Those who oppose independence claim that, if France pulled out, the country would necessarily fall under Chinese influence. But this would mean that the world and Kanaky would remain submitted to capitalism, that will go on exploiting nickel until the land is totally destroyed.

On October 13^th 2018, a delegation of young Kanaks, led by Yvannick Waikata, spoke person for the Young Kanaks Movement in France, was invited to the Annual Day of Solidarity organized by CSIA-nitassinan, the French Committee for Solidarity with Indians of the Americas. This year, Native Americans from the USA, Chili, Argentina and "French" Guyana were speakers at the event.

The Young Kanaks offered a traditional dance to welcome the Indigenous guests from the Americas.

Yvannick first explained the meaning of the dance. He said the purpose was to bow before the guests and audience, as, in their country, doors are low so that they must bow to enter someone's house. Bowing also means that they apologize as they are going to make noise. Originally, the purpose of the dance is to initiate young men to the art of war. It is also meant to show 'their face'. Thus, the purpose of this dance was to show 'their face', their identity, for which they have been struggling since 1853. Yvannick said "since that old cloth is flown above our stone (Kanaky), the flag of that colonial empire".

Yvannick spoke for the Young Kanaks in France. He spoke about the referendum that was to take place on November 4^th, explaining: "Why a self-determination referendum? Because we are in a situation of colonizer to colonized. Those who will take part in this referendum are the colonized, us, the Kanaks. 'Kanak' is a Hawaiian word meaning 'human being'."

Then he went on summing up their history: the colonial conquest began in Tasmania, and in Hawaii. The French colonial empire started in "New Caledonia", an island thus named by James Cook in 1774. The French conquered it in 1853. The goal was, ultimately, the end of the Kanak People.

This is because of the denial of the Kanak People that they danced that day. "… when we dance somewhere, it is to show our identity, and that we are still alive". Since 1774 and 1853, and later the policy of European immigration, the French have been trying to drown the Indigenous claim. So, they dance, to say they are still there, they still exist.

Yvannick reminded the audience that the murdered leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, had organized the Festival 'Melanesia 2000'. For that festival, the Indigenous people decided that they would no longer limit their sacred dances and cultural practices to ceremonies, but that they would show them publicly to affirm their existence. They wanted to break completely with what had been shown in France before, during 'colonial exhibitions'. He stressed that it was important for them to dance in Paris before the referendum, to show their faces, their culture, their identity and their history. "Our history does not start with French colonization". So, since 'Melanesia 2000', their struggle was "to place the Kanak claim for identity, the cultural field, into the political field".

After that summary of the history from the 1980s to today, Yvannick said "We, the young people, are the generation born from those peace agreements. There have been two agreements, that of Matignon in 1988 et that of Nouméa in 1998. We are the generation that lived through that peace. For the November 4 referendum, the Young Kanaks Movement creates spaces to speak, to awake the awareness among our people. Of course, we did not live the civil war situation in 'Nouvelle Calédonie', those 'events', as historians put it, but it was a war, it actually was an independence war".

The Young Kanaks Movement works to awake awareness about the Kanak People history, in particular that of the heroes of the struggle, as the French National Education does not do anything, does not even mention the Kanak People.

What the Young Kanaks Movement wants is an identity revival. Yvannick says "for us, it is important that you can identify us and see who we are. Not reduce us to what colonial exhibitions produced in the collective imagination of the French People. So, it is important to dance and show our culture. To come nearer, to learn to know each other. We do not blame the French People at all, we blame the colonial administration." He added "you are also human beings, like us, so we can reach you". The colonial exhibitions created an imaginary Other, supposed to be a savage. "At the last colonial exhibition, there was Christian Karembeu's – star of the French National Football Team – grandfather. His grandfather was a school master in "Nouvelle Calédonie", but he came here to impersonate a savage!"

"When we come to dance here, it is to decolonize ourselves. The message we bring is to learn to know each other, through the Kanak People's struggle. I want to thank you for being here and I hope we shall remain connected. We still need you, we still need solidarity. Thank you."

Copyright Christine Prat