Tag Archives: extractive capitalism

Defend Public Lands

Now comes Earthjustice, with a call to action to defend public lands that in many cases are also sacred to First Nations communities:

The attacks on our national monuments continue at a relentless pace. At the behest of industries such as coal and hardrock mining and politicians like Senator Mike Lee of Utah, President Trump just dramatically shrunk Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by over 90%. This move could enable drilling, mining, and other harmful activities on these iconic public lands. We need your help to tell Congress to defend these national monuments.

Loved by Utah residents and outdoor enthusiasts across the country, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments have been stewarded by Indigenous people for centuries.

Reducing protections would:

  • Risk outdoor access for hunters, hikers, and campers
  • Threaten a combined 3.2 million acres of wildlife habitat
  • Open the door for mining, drilling, and development – which will harm the landscape and reduce public usability

Growing influence from extractive industries threatens monuments and other public lands that belong to us all. This follows a pattern of administrative and legislative attacks on our public lands, like the recission of the Roadless Rule, the withdrawal of the 20-year mining ban next to the Boundary Waters, and the opening up of marine monuments to commercial fishing.

What’s more, this attack could open the door for similar attacks on national monuments across the country.

We need you to tell Congress: hands off our national monuments!

Let’s be clear: These attacks are illegal and deeply unpopular. But we know this fight is winnable because we’ve been here before: The first Trump administration tried to strip protections from half of Grand Staircase-Escalante and nearly 90% of Bears Ears National Monument. We, alongside our tribal partners, immediately filed lawsuits on behalf of conservation groups. President Biden then restored them in 2021.

Tell Congress today: Reject these attacks and defend our public lands!

 

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Here Come the Carbon Bombs

This week, we urge careful consideration of timely and essential reporting from The Guardian, detailing a series of fossil fuel “carbon bomb” projects presently underway, or in advanced stages of planning.

These hyper-extractive projects, launched beneath the cover of a looming world war, threaten to push us well past irreversible tipping points, into the terminal stage of global environmental breakdown.

A few graphics relayed below; they speak for themselves.

 

 

Standing against the impending environmental bombscape, we find brave activists such as the formidable Janet Alkire, Chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who sent us the below update earlier today:

 

 

Aŋpétu wašté. I bring you an update today about our fight to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). As you’ll see in our new video, the Tribes of the Oceti Sakowin are united in this mission, and with organizing help from the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance, we recently gathered to strategize about the best way to achieve our goal of stopping DAPL before it spills and poisons our water. I also recently met with Assistant Secretary of the Army Michael Connor to discuss the disturbing lack of progress and demand transparency with DAPL’s environmental process.

Watch: leaders from across the Oceti Sakowin came together recently to discuss our #NoDAPL strategy.

So far, none of our concerns are being addressed, and the process is compromised by secrecy. Standing Rock has requested a number of basic documents and plans, such as DAPL’s oil spill response plan for the Missouri River. We have received no information whatsoever, and the failure to cooperate with our Tribe and our emergency managers is unacceptable. DAPL, of course, continues to operate illegally, with no permit for its crossing under Lake Oahe on Standing Rock Nation’s doorstep.

I also called upon the Army to consider the Notice of Violation issued by federal regulators against the pipeline’s parent company, Energy Transfer LP, for its repeated violations of pipeline safety rules with DAPL. The only right course of action is for the Army Corps of Engineers to shut down the pipeline now and properly address these violations in the upcoming Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

For now, the EIS is mysteriously stalled, even as Energy Transfer and its related companies continue to display a distressing pattern of oil spills and safety violations. Over a recent 8-year period, nine pipelines owned and controlled by these companies experienced nearly 300 spills — including 50 large spills in High Consequence Areas such as Lake Oahe.

You can see why Tribal leaders are unified in our concern about protecting our water and our resolve to do something about it. I ask you, as a friend in this fight, to stay connected with us and ready to take action as soon as the EIS is released. You’ll be hearing more from me soon. By staying strong together, can we still win justice for Standing Rock and all of the Oceti Sakowin. Mni wiconi — water is life.

Wopila tanka — thank you for staying united with us!

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