Author: earthfirst

Three Activists Killed Before Human Rights Day

MANILA – One farmer and two environmental advocates have been killed in two separate incidents on December 7.

MANILA – One farmer and two environmental advocates have been killed in two separate incidents on December 7.

Rolando Quijano, a farmer and active member of Alliance of Farmers Union in Zamboanga Del Sur (AFUZS) was shot to death at around 12:00 noon last Friday at purok 4, Ocapan village, San Miguel town in the province of Zamboanga Del Sur by suspected elements of the 53rd Infantry Battalion – Philippine Army, according to initial data gathered by Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

Antonio Flores, KMP spokesman, said: “Quijano’s relatives and colleagues believe his death was due to his active opposition to large-scale mining and illegal logging in Zamboanga Del Sur.” KMP said 53rd IBPA has built a military detachment inside the village.

On the same day at around 6 p.m., two anti-mining advocates– Cheryl Ananayo, a member of Didipio Earthsavers’ Multipurpose Association (Desama), and her cousin-in-law Randy Nabayay — were also killed by unidentified assailants in Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya.

According to initial data gathered by the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (PNE), Ananayo was carrying her three-month-old baby and her four year-old child when the assassins attacked. Both children are unharmed.

Desama is a people’s organization opposed to the ongoing implementation of the 17,626-hectare Didipio gold-copper project in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya owned by Australian large-scale miner OceanaGold Corporation. The Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) of Oceana Gold in Didipio commenced only this November.

“Oceana Gold’s crimes to the environment and the people started way before its commencement this last November, and it continues to grow,” Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan PNE. “As early as during its mine development stage, it has already caused massive siltation that led to the disappearance of aquatic species in some affected rivers. Its campaign of attrition towards the indigenous people’s communities included threats of bulldozing homes, actual demolition operations, and letting loose gunfire upon civilians. We can think of no other person or institution with a track record and motive.”

“The climate of impunity remains and it’s a blood-stained Human Rights Day for the Aquino administration,” Flores said.

Impunity

“It seems that the mining regime perpetrated by the Aquino government is not content with the death toll of environmental activists this year, now pegged at 15 cases in 2012 alone. Is this how Aquino wants to celebrate Human Rights Day, with more impunity towards our beleaguered environment defenders?” said Fr. Oliver Castor, spokesperson of Task Force-Justice for Environment Defenders (TF-JED).

“We cannot continue turning a blind eye on the killings of environmental advocates. We have seen how destructive large-scale logging and mining activities have resulted in the intensified disaster impacts of hazards such as the most recent Typhoon Pablo that hit Mindanao. If we allow this impunity towards the likes of Ananayo to continue, who will be left to ensure the integrity of the environment that nurtures and protects us?” Bautista said.

Meanwhile, KMP’s Flores noted that Quijano’s death occurred while 74 farmers and Lumad from Mindanao are here in Manila for Manilakbayan (Journey to Manila) to protest the unabated killings linked to the large-scale mining in the South.”

Aida Seiesa, secretary general of KMP-Southern Mindanao, expressed outrage over the killing of Quijano.

“While we are here calling on government agencies to stop the killings in Mindanao, state security forces killed one of our colleagues,” Seiesa said in Filipino in an interview with Bulatlat.com.

She said she and Quijano attended a Congressional inquiry on the spate of extrajudicial killings held in Davao City a few months ago. “We came face to face with the military higher-ups,” she said.

Oplan Bayanihan

The KMP attributed the killing of Quijano as part of the Aquino administration’s counter-insurgency operation plan Bayanihan.

“Oplan Bayanihan enjoy the blessings of the haciendero president because it conceals the escalating terror and human rights abuses perpetrated by the military against farmers with the very same anti-peasant peace and development projects by the government,” Flores said.

According to the yearend report of Karapatan, of the 129 victims of extrajudicial killings since July 2010 to October this year, 71 were peasants and 25 were indigenous peoples.

“Aquino’s human rights record is tainted by the blood of the Filipino peasantry,” Flores said. “We hold Aquino as commander-in-chief of the armed forces responsible for the death of Quijano and all other farmers killed under his administration.”

Accused Environmental Warrior Rebecca Rubin Surrenders at US-Canada Border

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A 39-year-old woman accused of eco-sabotage in three Western states turned herself in to U.S. authorities at the Canadian border on Thursday morning.

Rebecca Jeanette Rubin, a Canadian, had been on the run for a decade before surrendering in Blaine, Wash. She is accused of multiple counts of arson as part of a conspiracy with 12 other people from 1996 to 2001 in five Western states.

The charges against Rubin include a Nov. 30, 1997, arson at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Facility in Harney county near Burns and the Dec. 22, 1998, attempted arson at the offices of the U.S. Forest Industries, Inc., in Medford. She’s also accused of involvement in the Oct. 19, 1998, arson attack that destroyed the Two Elk Lodge and other buildings at the Vail ski resort in Eagle County, Colorado.

 

Rubin faces federal charges in California as well in the attack Oct. 15, 2001, of the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Corrals near Susanville, Calif.

Federal authorities say Rubin was part of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, both underground movements that the government has labeled terrorist organizations. She was indicted on federal charges in Oregon along with 12 others in January 2006 in connection with a coordinated campaign that caused an estimated $23 million in damage between 1996 and 2001 in Oregon, California, Washington, Wyoming and Colorado.

When the indictment was issued eight had already been arrested in a nationwide sweep in the most extensive bust of suspected eco-saboteurs in U.S. history.

The group took oaths of secrecy and called itself “The Family.” They built firebombs, scouted their targets, took dry runs then dressed in black, donned masks and carried two-way radios during attacks.

Rubin shares a name with an 18-inch American Girl doll, produced by a Middleton, Wis., company which was released in 2009. The FBI hoped publicity from the doll would help bring Rubin to justice, according to a story in The New York Times.

“Any publicity that gets the word out that our Rebecca Rubin is wanted on various charges is certainly beneficial,” said Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the F.B.I. in Oregon.

In August 2007, 10 other defendants were sentenced to prison terms from about three to 13 years after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Eugene to conspiracy and multiple counts of arson. Two defendants — Joseph Mahmoud Dibee and Josephine Sunshine Overaker — are still at large.

Rubin will make an initial court appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle and then will be transferred to Oregon to face trial.

First Nation Leaders Enter Parliament and Scuffled by Security

December 4, 2012….Traditional territory of the Algonquin Peoples (Ottawa, Ontario)…Okimaw (Chief) Wallace Fox lead a procession of over 300 First Nation Chiefs, leaders, elders, women, youth and community members during an impromptu rally on Parliament Hill today. The First Nations movement is a result of frustration over the Canadian government’s current legislation. Bill C-45 is being debated in the house and Chiefs wanted to take part in the discussions of what will ultimately affect the future of their Peoples.

“We put Canada on notice today that we are a Sovereign Nation and that we won’t be intimated by them cause we know who we are and the Rights we have as Indigenous Peoples. We are disgusted by this governments lack of respect shown to us today when trying to enter into the House. We were pushed and shoved by security and told we weren’t welcome there. When a pipe is present in which it was today, no force is intended or appropriate. We are asserting our voices as Indigenous Peoples.”

This warning comes after an incident at Parliament today when MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-Kapuskasing) invited Chief Fox and nine other First Nations leaders to enter into Parliament to call out Minister of Indian Affairs, John Duncan and Minister of Natural Resources, Joe Oliver to listen and respond to their concerns over C-45 and the debate that was taking place in the house today.

“We tried to enter into the house in order to deliver our message to all Members of Parliament and Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a peaceful way that our Inherent and Treaty Rights aren’t negotiable. We weren’t consulted on C-45 which outlines a new legislation on land surrender and wanted to be included in these discussions. These actions have strained a already fragile relationship. We have no other choice now but to take a course that will have impacts on all Canadians, ” stated Okimaw Wallace Fox.

Onion Lake Cree Nation is an Indigenous Nation which believes in Sovereignty and the Protection of Inherent & Treaty Rights. The Cree Nation has over 5000 members and is governed by their own Cree Governance Structure. Onion Lake Cree Nation is located 30 minutes north of Lloydminster on highway 17 and is in Treaty No.6 territory.

 

News from the Hambach Forest: Eviction and resquatting

During the last week a lot has happend. On the 13th of November the police started to evict the camp area near the hole. It took till saturday 17th early in the morning to get out the last people.

During the last week a lot has happend. On the 13th of November the police started to evict the camp area near the hole. It took till saturday 17th early in the morning to get out the last people.

There was some attention localy and in the whole press and TV in this language zone. On a press conference we gave on the 19th of November we anounced the we have since squatted for quiet a while another area. South of the forest. So we wern't really completly evicted and resquatted inside a week:) On Wednsday 21th of November police came to evict this new area, but didnt have any paper work, it happend that the owner of the area came to see his land , during this police action.

He was taken into custody by police, this resulted in pretty bad press for the police 🙂 It seems he got angry with the police and RWE as a result of this and doesnt want to evict us from his ground.

These days its windy and security cars are going in the neigbourhood, there are even more people supporting, and more would be welcome.

Squat more. Resist here and everywhere.

Any time they hit us we come back much stronger 🙂

Two People Barricade Themselves Inside Keystone XL Pipe To Halt Construction

WINONA, TX – MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2012 7:30 AM – Several protestors with Tar Sands Blockade sealed themselves inside a section of pipe destined for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to stop construction of the dangerous project. Using a blockading technique never implemented before, Matt Almonte and Glen Collins locked themselves between two barrels of concrete weighing over six hundred pounds each. Located twenty-five feet into a pipe segment waiting to be laid in the ground, the outer barrel is barricading the pipe’s opening and neither barrel can be moved without risking serious injury to the blockaders.

The barricaded section of the pipeline passes through a residential neighborhood in Winona, TX. If TransCanada moves ahead with the trenching and burying of this particular section of pipe, it would run less than a hundred feet from neighboring homes. Tar sands pipelines threaten East Texas communities with their highly toxic contents, which pose a greater risk to human health than conventional crude oil. TransCanada’s existing tar sands pipeline, Keystone XL’s predecessor, has an atrocious safety record, leaking twelve times in its first year of operation.

“TransCanada didn’t bother to ask the people of this neighborhood if they wanted to have millions of gallons of poisonous tar sands pumped through their backyards,” said Almonte, one of the protesters now inside the pipeline. “This multinational corporation has bullied landowners and expropriated homes to fatten its bottom line.”

Recently, over 40 communities worldwide planned actions with Tar Sands Blockade during a week of resistance against extreme energy extraction and its direct connection to the climate crisis. A growing global movement is rising up against the abuses of the fossil fuel industry and its increasingly desperate pursuit of dangerous extraction methods.

“I’m barricading this pipe with Tar Sands Blockade today to say loud and clear to the extraction industry that our communities and the resources we depend on for survival are not collateral damage,” said Collins, another blockader inside the pipe and an organizer with Radical Action for Mountain Peoples Survival (RAMPS) and Mountain Justice, grassroots campaigns in Appalachia working to stop mountaintop removal coal mining.

“This fight in East Texas against tar sands exploitation is one and the same as our fight in the hollers of West Virginia. Dirty energy extraction doesn’t just threaten my home; it threatens the collective future of the planet.”

“At this late stage, doing nothing is a greater danger than the risks of taking direct action to stop destructive projects like Keystone XL,” said Ron Seifert, a spokesperson for Tar Sands Blockade. “That’s why folks working with groups like RAMPS, the Unist’ot’en Camp fighting a natural gas pipeline in British Columbia and Tar Sands Blockade are willing to use everything including their own hands and feet to ensure we all have a safe climate and healthy, thriving communities.”

Today also marks day 5 of the Houston Hunger Strike in which Gulf Coast activists with Tar Sands Blockade are going without food to demand that Valero divest entirely from the Keystone XL pipeline and invest in the health and wellbeing of the communities it’s poisoning.

UPDATE: 7:30 am – Workers arrive. Construction is effectively halted.

Twenty-two trucks and over thirty workers are on the scene with nothing to do.

UPDATE: 8:45 a/m – Sheriffs arrive on site and are consulting with workers and talking into the pipe.

UPDATE: 9:00 am – Police warn blockaders to leave the pipe or face arrest.

Police are demanding that the blockaders leave the pipe or be arrested. The blockaders refuse to comply.

UPDATE: 9:20 am – Police threaten to use tear gas on peaceful protesters

Several sheriffs are shining flashlights into the pipe and threatening to use tear gas on the people inside. The blockaders are standing strong and remain barricaded inside the pipe. Holding fast to their principles of nonviolent resistance, Matt and Glen respond: “we will not be deterred by threats of violence.”

UPDATE: 9:50 am – Officers are threatening to send a police dog into the pipe

Police are saying that they will send a canine unit into the pipe after the protesters. There are no dogs on scene but the police claim that they are having them brought to the scene.

UPDATE: 10:40 am – Police threaten to lift pipe and dump out Glen and Matt

Police are continuing to threaten tear gas and canine units. They are also saying that they could raise the pipe and dump out the blockaders. Doing so would cause serious harm or even death; Matt and Glen are locked between two barrels of concrete which weigh over six hundred pounds each.

UPDATE: 10:55 am – Crowd gathers to support blockaders inside Keystone XL pipeline

People driving by the scene are showing their support by honking and stopping to talk to protesters about the dangers of toxic tar sands. Despite threats of violence, spirits are high; the crowd and Glen and Matt are singing together.

UPDATE: 11:20 am – Police attempting to block view of pipe and move supporters further from scene

Police have moved several trucks and vans in order to obstruct the view of the pipe in which Glen and Matt are locked. They have threatened arrest and forced supporters off the property immediately adjacent to the pipeline easement, despite the fact that the homeowner gave protesters explicit permission to be in her yard. Police are also forcing protesters to move further along the public road along which they were standing.

 

The Clause 21 Growth and Infrastructure Bill Threat: More Info

 

THE LOOSE ANTI OPENCAST NETWORK

IF THE GOVERNMENT GETS ITS WAY, ARE WE LIKELY TO SEE MORE ‘MOTHBALLED’ OPENCAST SITES POCK-MARKING OUR COUNTRYSIDE?

 

THE LOOSE ANTI OPENCAST NETWORK

IF THE GOVERNMENT GETS ITS WAY, ARE WE LIKELY TO SEE MORE ‘MOTHBALLED’ OPENCAST SITES POCK-MARKING OUR COUNTRYSIDE?

LAON PR 2012- 16                                                               1/12/12

The hidden topic so far, in all the discussion about the Energy Bill is what will be its impact on the UK Coal Industry. This is a much shrunken industry, producing around 18m tonnes of coal a year. Last year 59% of that coal was produced by opencast methods. This year, as the deep mining sector continues to suffer from problems and cost pressures are closing mines (on a temporary basis) at Maltby and Aperpergwm and Daw Mill, our largest pit is almost certain to close, domestic coal production is becoming ever more reliant on surface mining – in the July to September quarter, of the 4m tonnes of coal the UK produced, 65% now came from surface mines.

But even the surface mine sector of the coal industry is not immune to the cold winds of economic realism coming from across the Atlantic, as US coal producers, desperate to find a market for their coal now that it can no longer compete with gas in the US domestic market because of the ‘fracking revolution’, send shiploads of coal to Europe at prices that make UK coal production uncompetitive. As a consequence, ATH Resources, a major surface mine operator has put itself up for sale and stopped development work on its new sites and Scottish Coal has asked its workforce to take a 10% pay cut and mothballed its large Blair House opencast site in Scotland indefinably. It’s just left it as large hole.

Furthermore, the Energy Bill, introduced into Parliament this week is intending to create a low carbon generating system which is design to squeeze out coal from being part of the fuel mix unless Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) prove itself to be commercially viable. The Bill will provide for financial disincentives to make it more costly to burn coal in power stations without CCS, whilst, at the same time, provide financial incentives for existing coal fired power stations to be fully converted to burn biomass. The result is that Coal Operators in the UK are for the foreseeable future likely to see their market for coal shrinking dramatically.

All that may sound good to you, if you worry about protecting the countryside from being treated as one large coal bunker, or you are concerned about climate change.

Except it is not all good news. The expected decline in the use of coal for power generation purposes is going to take years to achieve. In the meantime, we may be starting to witness an increase in planning applications for new opencast mines across the UK, as Coal Operators realise that they must try to cash in on the investments they have already made before the coal market dries up.

This month LAON can report, in its 7th Review of Opencast Sites available here:

https://nottingham.indymedia.org/articles/3309

 that two new proposals have been made recently, one for a new 10m tonne site called Cauldhall, near Rosewell in Midlothian (ironically by Scottish Coal) and the other at the Deanfield site for 1.18m tonnes at Sharleston near Wakefield, where UK Coal, another coal company which nearly went into administration this year, intends to surface mine. As a consequence, The Stop Opencast in Sharlston (SOS) group has joined the Network

That is not the only bad news about the surface mining of coal in England. The Government is proposing, through the Growth and Infrastructure Bill (Clause 21), to make it easier to dig up coal in England, just when they are planning to reduce the role coal plays in producing electricity through the Energy Bill. This clause of the Bill is likely to be debated by the Growth and Infrastructure Public Bill Committee, along with our evidence, on Tuesday 4th December.

LAON’s concern about these policy changes is this. Given the economic difficulties that the UK Coal Industry finds itself in, is this the right time to be changing the planning system to make it easier for Coal Operators to get permission for new opencast mines? This is increasing the risk that many more opencast sites are left ‘mothballed’ and pock-marking our country-side if UK Coal Producers find that they are increasingly priced out of their own declining domestic market. In our view, this is not the time to relax planning controls at all for new surface mines in England

We are hoping that the Government realises the inconsistencies in its current policy proposals and whilst it continues with its plans to decarbonise the generating sector, it revises its plans and not allow any plans to surface mine coal in England to be treated as a Major Infrastructure Project.

A referenced version of this press release is available by contacting LAON at the email address below.

About LAON

The Loose Anti-Opencast Network (LAON) has been in existence since 2009. It functions as a medium through which to oppose open cast mine applications. At present LAON links individuals and groups in N Ireland (Just Say No to Lignite), Scotland (Coal Action Scotland), Wales (Green Valleys Alliance, The Merthyr Tydfil Anti Opencast Campaign), England, (Coal Action Network), Northumberland, (Whittonstall Action Group, Halton Lea Gate Residents)) Co Durham (Pont Valley Network), Leeds, Sheffield (Cowley Residents Action Group), Kirklees, (Skelmansthorpe Action Group)  Nottinghamshire (Shortwood Farm Opencast Opposition), Derbyshire (West Hallum Environment Group, Smalley Action Group and Hilltop Action Group) , Leicestershire (Minorca Opencast Protest Group), Wakefield (Stop Opencast in Sharlston) and Walsall (Alumwell Action Group).

Contacting LAON

Steve Leary LAON’Ss Co-ordinator, at infoatlaon@yahoo.com

You can now follow LAON on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/Seftonchase

Fracking Lord’s Chelsea Mansion Drilled

The Big Rig Revolt kicked off at 8am Saturday with Frack Off London paying a surprise visit to the Chelsea Mansion owned by Lord Browne of Riverstone and Cuadrilla. The Fracking Lord’s malign influence has spread throughout the government since he was appointed to the role of recuiting business leaders to advise government departments. A variety of other actions are planned across the country throughout the day.

Unconventional gas, including Shale Gas, Coal Bed Methane (CBM) and Underground Coal Gasification (UCG), are threatening to spread thousands of wells across the British Isles. The first application for an unconventional gas development in Britain, 14 sites with 22 wells and over 20km of pipelines, was submitted to Falkirk Council by Dart Energy. Most areas off the country face some sort of threat and the climate implications of these processes are frightening.

Dressed in orange boiler suits and wearing gas masks 6 campaigners from Frack Off London erected a 20ft drilling rig outside the home of Lord Browne to highlight the peer’s involvement in UK unconventional gas development. The government has just announced that they are ending their gentleman’s agreement with Cuadrilla to suspend fracking operations in Lancashire and it could start again in Lancashire within months.

The government has plans to sell off large parts of the country next year for unconventional gas exploitation. The Chancellor, George Osborne, is also expected to announce the setting up of an Office of Shale Gas to expidite the process of fracking the country. The government is also plotting to short circuit local planning proceedures and green-light applications directly from central government, ensuring local communities have no chance to object.

Dozens Wounded in Mayanmar Coppermine Protest

Security forces used water cannons, tear gas and smoke bombs to clear protesters from a copper mine in northwestern Myanmar, wounding villagers and Buddhist monks in the biggest use of force against demonstrators since the reformist government of President Thein Sein took office last year.

Security forces used water cannons, tear gas and smoke bombs to clear protesters from a copper mine in northwestern Myanmar, wounding villagers and Buddhist monks in the biggest use of force against demonstrators since the reformist government of President Thein Sein took office last year.

Monks and other protesters had serious burns after the crackdown at the Letpadaung mine near the town of Monywa. Protesters who oppose the mine’s impact on villagers and the environment had occupied the area for 11 days.

The police action risks becoming a public relations and political fiasco for Thein Sein’s government, which has been touting its transition to democracy after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

Photos of the wounded monks showed they had sustained serious burns on parts of their bodies. It was unclear what sort of weapon caused them, or whether the burns were caused by their shelters catching fire from whatever devices police used.

Activists interfere with international mining conference in Finland

“There is no such thing as socially and environmentally sustainable mining!”

Today in Espoo, Finland, a meeting of bureaucrats and industrialists  entitled Confe

“There is no such thing as socially and environmentally sustainable mining!”

Today in Espoo, Finland, a meeting of bureaucrats and industrialists  entitled Conference on Socially and Environmentally Responsible Mining was disrupted by the group Hyökyaalto (“Tidal wave). The following statement was released today:

With the Northern mining boom the mining industry, famous for itÂ’s chemical emissions, is threatening waters and ecosystems in various locations, where clean nature offers the most possibilities for local people. It is grotesque that the people involved gather to discuss the mining industry as a sustainable activity while every emergency dam in the Talvivaara mine is leaking poisonous waste into Vuoksi waters.

The action is a protest against the industry and the state’s attempt to legitimize mining by discussing its “sustainability”. Protesters are reminding people that no such thing as “responsible”, “sustainable” or “green” mining exists. The Talvivaara mine in Sotkamo, Eastern Finland is a clear example that the only green things caused by mining are the polluted swamps and waters. The mining industry, famous for its chemical emissions, threatens the waters and other ecosystems crucial to everyone living in the surrounding areas. The action is arranged in solidarity with the Stop Talvivaara movement and all the people to whom mining industry causes suffering around the world.

The environmental activists feel that direct action is the only strategy left to make a difference since the Finnish government has decided to support mining and ignore the critical voices from the people completely. Thus, the public opinion has no impact in the parlamentary system. A revealing example of this is that the opening speaker for the two-day greenwashing conference is Heidi Hautala from the Finnish Green party.

The organising group of this protest, Hyökyaalto demands immediate shutdown of Talvivaara mine and abandoning all other mining plans.

www.hyokyaalto.org

Stop the mining boom!

Activists Lock Themselves to Trucks Outside Valero’s Houston Refinery

Activists Begin Sustained Hunger Strike, Demand That Valero Divest from Keystone XL Pipeline

HOUSTON, TX – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012 8:00AM –

Activists Begin Sustained Hunger Strike, Demand That Valero Divest from Keystone XL Pipeline

HOUSTON, TX – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012 8:00AM –-Longtime Gulf Coast activists Diane Wilson and Bob Lindsey Jr. have locked their necks to oil tanker trucks destined for Valero’s Houston Refinery in solidarity with Tar Sands Blockade’s protests of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. Valero Energy Corp. is among the largest investors in TransCanada’s toxic tar sands pipeline that will terminate near the community of Manchester, located in the shadow of Valero’s refinery. Not only are Wilson and Lindsey blockading the Valero refinery, the two lifelong friends have also vowed to begin a sustained hunger strike demanding that Valero divest from Keystone XL and invest that money into the health and well-being of the people of Manchester.

With a 90% Latino population, Manchester’s relationship with the Valero refinery is a textbook case of environmental racism. Residents there have suffered through decades of premature deaths, cancers, asthma and other diseases attributable to the refinery emissions. With little financial support for lawsuits and without the political agency necessary to legislatively reign-in criminal polluters like Valero, the community suffers while Valero posts record profits.

“All my life the Gulf Coast has been an environmental sacrifice zone, and enough is enough,” declared Diane Wilson, who spent over twenty years organizing to stop chemical plants from dumping toxins directly into Gulf waters. “Keystone XL will bring to dirtiest fuel on the planet right down to the Gulf, where already overburdened communities like Manchester will be forced to suffer even more. After decades of toxic air in Manchester, I refuse to just let them continue to punish this community. I won’t eat until Valero divests from Keystone XL.”

Wilson, a fourth-generation Gulf Coast shrimper, is no stranger to civil disobedience. After years of fighting industrial pollution in her hometown of Seadrift, TX, her willingness to use civil disobedience in the struggle for clean water and the successes it wrought for her community changed the landscape of environmental justice along the Gulf Coast.

Newly designated by the Waterkeeper Alliance as the San Antonio Bay Waterkeeper, Bob Lindsey Jr. was born and raised in Calhoun County, which has highest rate of cancer of any county in TX. Lindsey also has a shrimping heritage stretching back five generations. His sister has had four episodes of cancer, and his father and nephew both died of rare disorders while in their forties. All of these diseases are traceable to the chemical facilities around which Bob’s family members lived and worked.

“Me? I’m healthy. They’re the ones I’m fighting for. We have to be prepared to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves or who are too afraid to fight for themselves. That’s why I’m here.”

“Diane and Bob’s decision to hunger strike in protest of TransCanada’s Keystone XL and challenge Valero’s longstanding disregard for the health and safety of the people of Manchester pushes the boundaries of the Gulf Coast environmental movement yet again, explains Ramsey Sprague, a Louisiana Gulf Coast-born Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson. “Manchester deserves justice as do all communities treated as energy sacrifice zones. Corporations like Valero and TransCanada cannot seem to function without violating the health and safety of the people everywhere from Alberta to Manchester.”