ACTION ALERT: Snowbowl Arizona Aug. 4--9, 2011

San Francisco Peaks destruction for sewage water pipeline

News advisory
Contact: protectpeaks@gmail.com
(928) 600-0856
Website: www.TrueSnow.org

Week of Action Planned to Address Sacred Site Desecration
'Protect the Peaks' Events to be Held in Flagstaff, Arizona
Press statement

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – From August 4-9, 2011 events will be held in Flagstaff, Arizona to protest Snowbowl ski area and the Obama administration's US Forest Service sanctioned desecration of the holy San Francisco Peaks.

On May 25th 2011, authorized by the US Forest Service, owners of Arizona Snowbowl began further destruction and desecration of the Holy San Francisco Peaks. Since then Snowbowl’s hired work crews have laid over 5 miles of the planned 14.8 mile wastewater pipeline. They have cut a six foot wide and eight foot deep gash into the Holy Mountain.  Snowbowl is currently in the process of clear-cutting more than 30,000 trees and burning slash-piles. 

Although a current legal battle is under appeal, Snowbowl owners have chosen to undermine judicial process by rushing to construct the pipeline.

Encampments have been established on the holy Mountain in protest of the destruction and desecration.

 Events Schedule: August 4-9, 2011

Thurs. 4th - BANNER MAKING - 5:30PM
At Taala Hooghan Infoshop - 1704 N 2nd St.

Fri. 5th - AWARENESS MARCH - 5:30PM
Meet at Heritage Square downtown Flagstaff. We will walk through downtown and hand out flyers.

Sat. 6th - DAY OF PRAYER - ALL DAY
Organized by Youth of the Peaks. Pray where you are.
A gathering will also be held near Snowbowl parking lot by Humphrey‘s Trail at 11AM.
Sun. 7th - MARCH FOR THE PEAKS! - 12:30PM
Meet and start in Wheeler Park downtown Flagstaff, AZ. Bring banners and signs.

Mon. 8th - RALLY AT USFS OFFICE! - 12:30pm
At Coconino Forest Service Office - 1824 S. Thompson St. Flagstaff, AZ (Near AZ Daily Sun off of Old Rt. 66)  Come on your lunch hour.  Bring banners and signs. 

Tues. 9th -PROTEST HIGH DESERT INVESTMENT & CITY HALL!
PROTEST HIGH DESERT INVESTMENT - 12:30PM
504 E Butler Avenue (across from New Frontiers)

PROTEST CITY HALL - 4:00PM
Meet at Flagstaff City Hall on Rt 66 side.  Bring banners and signs, drums and song.

Background:   For more than a dozen years Indigenous Nations, environmental activists, and concerned community members have worked together to protect the holy site and surrounding area from further ecological destruction, public health threats, and spiritual desecration.
Arizona Snowbowl's development plans include clear-cutting 74 acres of rare alpine habitat that is home to threatened species, making new runs and lifts, adding more parking lots and building a 14.8 mile buried pipeline to transport up to 180 million gallons (per season) of wastewater to make artificial snow on 205 acres. The Peaks are central to the ways of life of more than 13 Indigenous Nations.  The use of wastewater undermines internationally recognized rights of Indigenous people; rights that the Forrest Service and administration is obliged to protect.

MORE INFO: www.TrueSnow.org
 

Natives in Alaska and Louisiana devastated by nation's largest oil spills

Native communities in Alaska and Louisiana devastated by oil spills and climate change

Article and photo by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Faith Gemmill/Photo Norrell

NEW TOWN, North Dakota -- Native Americans in Alaska and Louisiana have both suffered from the nation's largest oil spills, which have devastated Native communities who depend on subsistence from the land and oceans to survive.

Faith Gemmill of REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands) said oil spills and climate change should serve as a wakeup call in North America -- but this has not happened.

Gemmill is a Pit River/ Wintu and Neets'aii Gwich'in Athabascan from Arctic Village, Alaska.

Speaking at the 16th Annual Protecting Mother Earth Gathering of the Indigenous Environmental Network, Gemmill joined local Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara fighting massive oil and gas development here in North Dakota, and First Nations activists fighting dirty tar sands development in Alberta, Canada.

As the four day gathering here came to a close, Gemmill spoke of the similarities between the devastating oil spills in Alaska and Louisiana. She pointed out that climate change further wrecks Native villages on both coasts, where land is caving into the ocean.

"We all have the same story."

Houma Chief and Wixarika at Gathering

Houma Nation Chief Brenda Dardar Robichaux (shown on right) was among the presenters at the Protecting Mother Earth Gathering in North Dakota, July 28-31, 2011. The Houma were hard hit by both Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill.

Gemmill said when the oil spill devastated the Louisiana Gulf Coast, she was a member of a delegation from Alaska that traveled to Louisiana. They shared with the Houma, their own struggle in Alaska to recover from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Gemmill said she described to the Houma the years of litigations and the years of impacts for Alaska Natives, years of heartbreak that Louisiana Natives would now have to face.

"Years later we haven't recovered. The species haven’t recovered. There were a lot of similarities," Gemmill told the Gathering that attracted Indigenous Peoples from as far away as Guatemala, Mexico and Canada.

On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound. The Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the marine ecosystems on the North Slope. It killed birds, marine mammals and fish, devastating the ecosystem in the oil's path. The way of life of Native people was shattered and their food sources poisoned.

In Louisiana, where the Houma make their home on the Gulf Coast, BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers. The explosion was followed by months of oil leaking into the ocean, months of devastation for Houma who fish and shrimp the waters.

Gemmill said subsistence economies and subsistence communities are profoundly affected by oil spills and the degradation to their environments.

"They are profoundly affected for generations. We are oil states and we are severely impacted by climate change." Now, climate change is forcing Native Americans to relocate on the coast of Alaska. "Communities are caving into the ocean because of climate change."

As Native people struggle to survive, Gemmill said the US government is no help, in either Alaska or Louisiana.

"We thought that the Valdez oil spill would be a wakeup call. We thought leaders would change oil policy, we thought the United States would start moving forward."

Although Gemmill hoped the Valdez oil spill would be a wakeup call for clean energy, she said for the United States, that is not a reality.

Now, REDOIL is pressing for a moratorium on new oil, gas and coal extraction.

“It is going to take people calling for it in mass numbers to make that happen.”

Gemmill said all over Indian country, and throughout the world, the land is devastated by oil and gas drilling.

“We all have the same story."

REDOIL Background

REDOIL was created in June of 2002 when a group of Alaska Natives came together in Cordova to share knowledge, experience and strategies for addressing the detrimental impacts of oil and gas development in Alaska.

The following principles had been agreed upon by the participants of that gathering who have formed a new network, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands or REDOIL.

The Principles of the REDOIL network, a program of the Indigenous Environmental Network:

We adhere to the inherent right to self-determination for all indigenous peoples.
We reject the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act as an illegitimate infringement on our right to sovereignty and self-determination.
We are committed to a moratorium on all new exploration for oil, gas and coal as a first step towards the full phase-out of fossil fuels with a just transition to sustainable jobs, energy and environment. We take this position based on our concern over the disproportionate social, cultural, spiritual, environmental, and climate impacts on indigenous peoples, particularly in Alaska.
We are committed to creating sustainable economic solutions for our communities.
We are committed to upholding and promoting the integrity of our traditional cultures and values.
We are committed to an intergenerational approach, which honors the wisdom and guidance of our elders and that values the role of our youth.
We are committed to standing in solidarity with the members of this network and their struggles for self-determination and a sustainable future for the seventh generation to come.
All decisions of and direction for the network will come from the indigenous members from impacted communities. Non-indigenous supporters will be included at the prerogative of the decision-making members.
New members will be added to the network by consensus of the group based on adherence to our principles.
We welcome individuals and legitimate, empowered representatives of communities and organizations that accept and adhere to the principles.
REDOIL is honored to share, reach out and network with Indigenous peoples who want to defend their inherent way of life.
We believe that the working group has the potential to bring these critical issues to a head and address them with honor, science, and spirituality and to help build an alliance where our collective voice will be louder than broken promises

Greenwashing: Corporations target Indian country with scams

Indian country targeted: Carbon credits and waste incinerator scams

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
IEN Gathering photo by Marisa Joseph.

NEW TOWN, North Dakota -- Indian country leaders are being courted with "greenwashing," as corporations attempt to profiteer from the new Green Movement which seeks to halt global warming and create alternative energy sources. The scam of carbon credits, and waste incinerators disguised as renewable energy and recycling projects, are the latest corporate hoaxes.

Already Indian country has been targeted for decades as America's waste dump, with coal-fired power plants, massive oil and gas wells, uranium mining and toxic dumping.

Native Americans are now being duped into the carbon market, entering into the carbon credits scam, which allows the world's worst polluters to continue polluting. The carbon market scheme also seizes Indigenous Peoples forests and other resources around the world.
During the Indigenous Environmental Networks Protecting Mother Earth Gathering here, July 28-31, 2011, Bradley Angel of Greenaction described the latest Greenwashing scams. Angel said an action alert has been issued because of companies targeting Native Nations with proposed waste incinerators disguised as renewable energy and recycling projects.

On the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, the Oneida Seven Generations Corporation is promoting a project using pyrolysis technology. The pyrolysis incinerator is proposed in Green Bay, after their initial plan for a site on Oneida Indian Nation land was dropped.

"Not only does the Oneida Seven Generations Corp. want to have a facility in Green Bay, but it is also promoting this to other tribes, a potential disaster," Angel told Indigenous Peoples gathered from throughout the Americas.

Greenaction evaluated the project and advised the Oneidas to halt the Oneida Seven Generations Corporation Proposal for a pyrolysis gasification facility.

Greenaction found the facility was based on false claims of producing alternative energy and incorrect information about toxins that would actually be released into the air.

"We respectfully urge the Oneida Nation to reconsider this project that would pollute the environment and undermine true renewable energy efforts, and instead pursue safer, truly green and viable economic development projects," Greenaction told the Oneidas in the report.

The complete analysis by Greenaction of the Oneida Seven Generations Corp. is online at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61443867/Green-Action-Evaluation-of-Oneida-Pyrolysis-Garbage-Plant-Proposal-March-7-2011-Final
Greenaction has also released a separate action alert for Indian Country: "Incinerators in Disguise: New Toxic Threat to Indigenous Lands and People."

This action alert describes the plasma arc, gasification and pyrolysis technologies.

"It is important to learn about them because companies hoping to make millions of dollars are promoting these technologies to Native Nations and communities across the U.S. and the world, falsely claiming they can get rid of all types of waste with no pollution while generating “renewable energy.” Sound too good to be true?" Greenaction said.

1n 1990, indigenous peoples held the first Protecting Mother Earth conference in Dilkon, Arizona on the Navajo Nation. That conference happened because Indigenous lands were being targeted by companies trying to build giant incinerators and dumps that would burn or dump toxic waste, garbage, medical waste and nuclear waste shipped in from far and wide. Indigenous people learned the truth and defeated almost every proposal for incinerators and dumps.

Today, dozens of companies are promoting pyrolysis, gasification and plasma arc technologies as a way to allegedly eliminate and “recycle” all types of waste into what they claim is “renewable energy”. Many of these companies falsely claim their technology is “pollution-free,” and has “no emissions.” Companies claim these are not incinerators but are a “green” alternative to incineration.

Despite industry claims, the facts prove that these technologies are “incinerators in disguise” that heat the waste materials and then burn the gases that are called “syngas.” This combustion process is the incineration that results in emissions of toxic and criteria pollutants into the air, including dioxins, highly toxic chemicals linked to a wide range of illnesses including cancer, reproductive, developmental and immunological diseases. Greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and global warming would also be emitted.

In the U.S., there have been only two commercial facilities that used these technologies for treating wastes, and both were failures and closed. Similar problems have been documented worldwide.

 Incinerators in disguise threaten to pollute our air, water, land and all living things.

 Incinerators threaten to turn Indigenous lands into a dumping ground for dangerous wastes that the industry and government officials would not want where they live.

 Incinerators undermine recycling, pollution prevention and renewable energy programs,

The Indigenous Environmental Network is working with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives to stop incinerators in disguise and to promote truly renewable energy and zero waste programs. Please keep your eyes and ears open and alert us if you learn about incinerators in disguise being promoted in your area.

Visit Greenaction’s website to read reports, power points and case studies about incinerators in disguise:

www.greenaction.org (415) 284-5600 x 102 greenaction@greenaction.org

Indigenous Peoples: Civil disobedience to halt dirty Tar Sands pipeline in US

At the Protecting Mother Earth Gathering in North Dakota, First Nations activists announce civil disobedience to halt dirty Tar Sands pipeline in US

Article and photo by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

NEW TOWN, North Dakota --The resistance to the dirty Tar Sands announced plans for civil disobedience in Washington to send a message to the Obama Administration to halt a plan for use of the dirtiest oil on the planet, which threatens natural resources and humanity in North America, including Indian country.

Speaking at the Protecting Mother Earth Gathering, Clayton Thomas Muller said civil disobedience is planned for Washington to challenge the Obama Administration and US State Department, now presiding over a key decision regarding dirty oil from the tar sands pipeline, the proposed TransCanada Corp. Keystone XL pipeline.

Muller said if this pipeline is allowed to proceed from Canada to the Gulf Coast, it would cross sacred lands and endanger Indian country resources, including the Lakota aquifer.

“It is an absolutely insane plan, especially in a time of climate change,” Muller said, adding that already Gulf Coast industries are getting ready for this dirty oil.

Muller spoke to Indigenous Peoples gathered from as far away as Guatemala, Mexico and Canada, at the Indigenous Environmental Network’s 16th Annual Protecting Mother Earth Gathering, July 28-31, 2011, in New Town, North Dakota, which included two workshops on halting destruction from the Alberta Tar Sands.

Navajos came who are fighting coal-fired power plants and the draining of their aquifers by Peabody Coal, while Wixarika (Huicholes) came to join forces to halt mining by First Majestic Silver Corp. in Vancouver, BC, from destroying their sacred mountains.

The Gathering was held on the land of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, where local Native Americans are fighting a plan approved by the BIA for 3,000 oil and gas wells. Already, the air, water and land are devastated here by massive oil and gas wells, with drilling, truck traffic and an explosion of oil and gas workers, wrecking the environment, economy and daily lives of the people.
With the goal of shutting down the fossil fuel industries and halting the dirty Tar Sands in Alberta, and its pipeline in the US, Muller spoke of the recent victory for the Caribou.

In Canada, Federal Court Judge Justice Peter Crampton gave Environment Minister Peter Kent until Sept. 1 to release his promised national recovery plan for the caribou. Justice Crampton said the federal government must revisit its refusal to issue an emergency order aimed at protecting the endangered caribou in the Alberta oil sands region, the Edmonton Journal reported.

Earlier, the minister failed First Nations and concluded that there are no imminent threats from the oil sands to the national recovery of boreal caribou.

In the US, US Congressman Alcee Hastings warned that “the risk of an oil spill from these tar sands pipelines is very real," according to the Globe and Mail.

“The oil eats away the pipelines, compromising them and leading to frequent spills,” he said during a debate on the proposed TransCanada Corp. Keystone XL pipeline, which will bring oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast if it is approved. That echoes a February report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, an influential U.S. environmental group, which called oil sands crude a “highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable” substance that “may be putting America’s public safety at risk.”

Chief Allan Adam, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation at Fort McMurray, said earlier that the decisions by Alberta's Department of Sustainable Resource Development, headed by Minister Mel Knight, threatens Treaty Rights of traditional hunting, trapping and gathering.

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation said in a statement that the “provincial government consistently fails to meet even our basic needs when it comes to air, land and water within the region and fails to meaningfully engage First Nations in land management decisions in accordance with our aboriginal and Treaty Rights."

"Until Alberta makes meaningful efforts to protect land, regulate industry and ensure that First Nations are at the table as full partners to develop solutions to the serious environmental challenges that government and industry are creating, they can count on our opposition to further development within the region.”

In Canada, First Nation's Leslie Cardinal said, “The government of Canada formally endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in a manner that is consistent with Canada’s Constitution and laws. The UN Declaration is clear that Indigenous people have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations.

The Beaver Lake Cree Nation launched a massive civil lawsuit claiming unbridled oil and gas development in their traditional territory renders their treaty rights meaningless.

The statement of claim lists more than 15,000 approved or proposed developments in their traditional lands, near Lac La Biche. The band said “developments have forced band members out of traditional areas, degraded the environment and caused a decline in wildlife, making it impossible for them to meaningfully exercise their Treaty 6 rights to hunt, trap and fish,” the Edmonton Journal reported.

The crude oil that is pulled from Canada’s oil sands is thick and heavy, a black tar-like substance that takes large amounts of energy and effort to make into end products like gasoline and diesel. Even some people in the Alberta energy industry describe it as “nasty” stuff, the Globe and Mail reported

Oil sands extraction projects threaten the land when the bitumen is initially mined with large deposits of toxic chemicals. The oil sands extraction threatens the water during the separation process and through the drainage of rivers. Further, the air is polluted due to the release of carbon dioxide and other emissions. Additional indirect environmental effects from the petroleum products are produced when they are burned, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Heavy metals are present in oil sands, according to Wikipedia.

LISTEN: Anishinabe Water Walker Josephine Mandamin

Listen to internet radio with Brenda Norrell on Blog Talk Radio

Tom Goldtooth/Josephine Mandamin/Photo Norrell

LISTEN (15 minutes) At the Protecting Mother Earth Conference in North Dakota, Josephine Mandamin, Anishinabe Water Walker, Three Fires Midewiwin Society Society, shares why she walked around the Great Lakes. Introduction by Ben Powless, Mohawk, at the Indigenous Environmental Networks's 16th Annual Protecing Mother Earth Gathering, this year on the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations.
Music by Arikara Drummers/Canyon Records.

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