and why we should all be concerned about prison time for peaceful protestors.
By Ceri jones
Fracking splits opinions, but even more so today. It’s true that, for the time being at least, we need hydrocarbons. Regardless of partial or ‘some day’ alternatives in the energy mix, right now we’re dependent on affordable sources of dirty energy.
But today marks the first time since 1932 that an environmental protester has been sentenced to jail .
Anti-fracking protestors held red roses in support of the men.
Fracking in the UK
Energy company Cuadrilla was granted a licence to drill for shale gas near Preston New Road in the north of England in October 2016. Operations kicked off to construct a fracking pad at the site near Blackpool in January 2017, then on 25 July a convoy of lorries moved in to deliver drilling equipment.
While many members of the local community were up in arms over the decision, four protestors took direct action by climbing on top of lorries – Simon Roscoe Blevins from Sheffield, Richard Roberts from London, Richard Loizou from Devon and Julian Brock from Torquay.
Unable to proceed, the lorries came to standstill and the men sat tight, supplied with food, drinks and blankets by other protestors. Of course, this couldn’t last forever and eventually Loizou descended, closely followed by Blevins and Roberts, and Brock the following day. All were arrested.
Sentencing protestors
Today in Preston Crown Court, Judge Robert Altham sentenced Blevins and Roberts to 16 months in prison, Loizou to 15 months in prison, and Brock to a 12-month suspended sentence, a hefty price for a combined 276 hours sitting atop lorries.
Altham said that, despite their serious concerns for the environment, the defendants saw the public as “necessary and justified collateral damage”. This collateral damage was reported by prosecutor Craig MacGregor as travel disruption, disruption to local residents and loss of trade for businesses over a period of less than four days. However, this translated to police costs and loss of money for Cuadrilla – the biggest factors – totalling £12,000 and £50,000 respectively.
Reminding the court of citizens’ rights to peaceful protests, and that no persons or equipment were damaged, Kirsty Brimelow QC, representing Roberts, pushed the men’s good intentions and said, ‘It is relevant that there is a huge amount of scientific study that points to the damage of increasing climate emissions,’ and she indicated intergovernmental climate panel findings that climate change would displace 75 million people by 2035 and lead to the extinction of one in four species by 2050.
Your opinion on fracking
Whatever your opinion on fracking, an open dialogue cannot be had unless all factors are taken into account, including our urgent and growing need for energy security and that studies have proven that fracking produces radioactive waste.
Added to this, local authority Lancashire County Council opposed the drilling and more than 300 protestors have been arrested since operations started. So it seems that those most likely to be affected by the fracking are the ones not being allowed to exercise their freedom of speech, or had their concerns fall on deaf ears.
Whereas, the government and Cuadrilla stand to earn a great deal of money in their determination to tap that gas.
Industry, economy, business - when is it ever simple? However, it’s essential to keep the conversation open to find a better way to power the country without compromising the people prepared to protect it.
Broomfield: Question 300 would impose a five-year prohibition on all fracking.
Fort Collins: Its measure would create a five-year moratorium on fracking and storage of waste products related to the oil and gas industry in town.
City of Boulder: 2H proposes a five-year moratorium on oil and gas exploration.
Lafayette: Question No. 300 would ban new oil and gas wells in town. [As well as] prohibit “depositing, storing or transporting within city limits any water, brine, chemical or by-products used in or that result from extraction of oil and gas.”
my wife worked on an oil rig in Wyoming out of high school because there aren’t a lot of jobs that pay that well for someone without access to college. She was a driller and then a supervisor after the crew supervisor was killed during their shift. She saw multiple people die and loose limbs and she got pretty bad ptsd from watching a friend get decapitated by a chain that went loose and catching his head in her hands.
Shifts are often 20+ hours at a time with an 8-10 hour break between shifts for at least two weeks at a time and then a week off. Rigs are normally understaffed which make it worse and a lot of people on rigs turn to drug use just to be able to stay awake during their shifts. But it’s a job that pays a lot in rural and low income communities for people who don’t have a lot of options. A lot of people go in knowing they’ll maybe die but at least their families won’t have to work afterwards because of life insurance policies from the companies they work for.
I know this post was probably just meant as a joke post the whole thing with Joe Biden and fracking but like sometimes it shows that people who post these things don’t know a ton about what they’re talking about. It remains one of the most lethal jobs worldwide. Switching from oil/natural gas to sustainable energy sources will take time to transition and right now we have millions working in drilling with odds stacked against them. Republicans don’t care about oil workers’ lives because they can be used to make a profit and the left hates them because of a career they didn’t have a lot of choice in choosing.
The oil field is like the military where largely low income and marginalized individuals get preyed upon by an organization that doesn’t care if they live or die. Fracking and drilling being bad for the planet and needing an end and oil workers being worthy of concern because their lives are treated as disposable are two ideas that can coexist.
This year Seattle and Minneapolis proclaimed the second Monday in October Indigenous Peoples’ Day. They are the latest U.S. cities to join the trend that began in Berkeley in 1992 to supplant Columbus Day with a formal recognition of the people who have survived over five centuries of genocide, war, dislocation, discrimination, and social exclusion in the nations that were subsequently developed in the Americas. Multinational corporations have replaced kingdoms, empires and the Catholic Church as the prime agents of devastation and wealth extraction, but the exploitative dynamic remains fundamentally the same 522 years after Christopher Columbus first dropped anchor in the Caribbean. http://goo.gl/KaO3D8
President Joe Biden just signed “an executive order to supercharge our administration’s ambitious plan to confront the existential threat of climate change.”
He is pledging a million new jobs in the US automobile industry which will be generated by the federal government switching its entire fleet to electric vehicles.
This all is amazing but he then stated again that he will not ban fracking…
Switching to electric cars is great if your (or in this case the government’s) cars are old and need to be changed anyways. It’s also important that the energy they run on doesn’t come from non-renewable sources.
Is this move doing more harm than good by replacing functional vehicles with new electric cars? This executive order seems at best symbolic and at worst damaging.
It’s amazing that he tries to tackle climate change (unlike Trump who refused to acknowledge its existence), but if he truly wants to help he must do it in an effective way that goes beyond his public image.
“We’re sort of new to this stuff, hydrofracking, in Pennsylvania. And [environmentalists are] preying on the Northeast, saying, ‘Look what’s going to happen. Ooh, all this bad stuff’s going to happen. We don’t know all these chemicals and all this stuff.’ …Let me tell you what’s going to happen. Nothing’s going to happen, except they will use this to raise money for the radical environmental groups so they can go out and continue to try to purvey their reign of environmental terror on the United States of America.” -Rick Santorum in Oklahoma City, February 8, 2012.
fracking- extract (oil or gas) by injecting liquid into a subterranean rock formation, borehole, etc. at high pressure.
sidenote: I didn’t know what fracking was and was pretty confused when they kept mentioning it in the presidential debate so thought I’d share ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Members of Tahltan Nation, above, shut down Fortune Minerals to protect sacred sites – Photo via Reclaim Turtle Island
All across Turtle Island and around the world Indigenous peoples are taking direct action to protect their lands by any means necessary. Together we are resisting colonialism by defeating corporate Imperialism, preventing resource extraction, asserting our sovereignty, and fighting White supremacy and legacies of racism. So much has happened and Indigenous peoples are rising up!
Below is a brief synopsis of Land Defense and Sovereigntist struggles across Turtle Island that burned bright this 2013. It is in no particular order and by no means complete. From disrupting tar sands megaloads and pipelines infrastructure, to mining blockades, logging blockades, kicking out Nazis, rescuing our kidnapped children, continued Idle No More demonstrations and reclaiming territories, our spirits of survival and responsibility are so strong.
If there is one thing we can take away from 2013: everywhere our people are fiercely fighting colonial expansion and resource extraction. We are rejuvenating our cultures, our languages, and our lifeways. It is through asserting our relationships to our territories that we gain strength. #2014WarriorUp
Special shout out to Warrior Publications for cataloguing so much of our peoples’ resistance.
1. Algonquin’s of Barriere Lake erect Land Protection camps to stop logging and deforestation in their unceded territories. Algonquin peoples haulted logging equipment and forced the occupying government body (Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources) to stop development as they continue to monitor their territory and seek to hold the illegal colonial Ministry accountable.
2. Members of Umatilla Nation and supporters stop tar sands megaloads from reaching the Umatilla port.Delaying the megaload transportation by several days, Indigenous peoples and supporters stood in solidarity against tar sands genocide.
3. Unist’ot’en Clan of Wetsu’wet’en Nation, affirm their sovereignty and resistance to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. In their 4th year in reclaimed territory – effectively stopping roughly 8 proposed pipelines (both tar sands and fracked gas) – the Unist’ot’en camp announced continued resistance to the Northern Gateway despite unlawful colonial approval from National Energy Board. View full statement here.
4. Secwepemc stop TransKanada HWY expansion and protect their Ancestor’s remains. Secwepemc people established a Sacred Fire and evicted TransKanada workers who had unearthed resting places of their Ancestors.
5. #Elsipogtog blockades against SWN, explodes in RCMPig raid, unites Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and settlers against fracking. Mi’kmaq erect rolling blockades (3 separate highways), seize seismic testing equipment, and continue anti-fracking resistance. October 17, RCMPigs raid the site: video here.
Court Updates:6 Warriors were held without trial, as Prisoners of War, and were assaulted by police and put into solitary confinement. 2 received bail. Of the remaining 4, Coady Stevens plead guilty to 1 count assault police, 2 counts obstruct police and 1 count of uttering threats to an officer and has been released. Jim Pictou also entered a guilty plea for 1 count each of uttering threats to officer, mischief, not keeping the peace, obstruction at large, assault with bear spray, and uttering threat to a police dog and has been released. Aaron Francis and Germain “Junior” Breau have entered not guilty pleas to 16 and 19 charges respectively. They have both been denied access to spiritual practices and Junior has been targeted for solitary confinement. Trials coming this spring.
Write to a Warrior: Aaron Francis | Germain “Junior” Breau, S.R.C.C., 435 Lino Rd, Shediac, NB, E4P 0H6, Kanada
6. Tsilhqot’in and Yunesit’in stop forestry vehicles and equipment across their territory. Tsilhqot’in and Yunesit’in peoples blocked highway access stopping Tolko and West Fraser illegal logging operations, protecting territorial forests and moose habitats.
7. Innu communities in Nitassinan territory stage blockades against Hydro-Québec construction under Plan Nord development plans. The blockades followed the continuation of the construction project despite Hydro-Québec making a show of saving colonial face with Innu communities in Uashat and Mani-Utenam.
8. Lubicon Cree tell Penn West Petroleum to frack off. The Cree of Lubicon Lake enforced their Laws against PENN WEST PETROLEUM LTD on an oil lease site located in their territory by occupying a nearby access road.
9. Red Lake Chippewa Blockade Enbridge Pipeline. Nizhawendaamin Indaakiminaan, a group of grassroots Anishinaabe from Red Lake and supporters, occupied land directly over multiple Enbridge pipelines operating without permits on Red Lake lands in occupied-Minnesota, and demanded that the flow of oil through these pipelines be stopped.
10. Direct Action Shuts Down First U$ Tar Sands Mine in the occupied territories of Utah. Dine’ Land Defenders, Lakota Warriors, and supporters, including a Land Defender of the Yagua Nation, shut down the tar sands mining site in so-called Utah, and the corporation’s (U$ Oil – actually a Kanadian company) stock dropped 13% on day of action. Footage from this action is featured in our film Kahstastenhsera. Dine’ land defenders are working towards a sovereignty camp.
11. Tahltan Protect Sacred Sites and Takeover Mine to Shut Down Fortune Minerals. Members of the Tahltan Nation order workers off of a Sacred Site being explored for the purpose of exploitation and desecration by Fortune Minerals. Tahltan peoples, lead by Elders part of the Klabona Keepers, take over the site, protecting their Sacred Headwaters and establish a blockade to prevent illegal mining of their territories.
12. Tsleil-Waututh Nation assert traditional lifeways, protest Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline. Members of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation brought out traditional canoes to protest pipeline expansion as they sail through waters now occupied by Marine Terminals and supertankers.
13. Thunderchild First Nation stand up for Sundance grounds against fracking exploration. Cree peoples from Thunderchild First Nation opposed seismic testing adjacent to their Sundance grounds, but face legal challenges from the Indian Act systems and colonial courts.
14. Tar Sands Megaloads blocked by members of the Niimíipu Nation (Nez Perce). Niimíipu Elders, mothers, children, community members and their supporters block the highway where tar sands megaloads seek to pass as 20 people were arrested.
15. Sinixt Nation assert their sovereignty in the face of colonial erasure. Sinixt Nation establish a reclamation site for cultural practices and call for support in the wake of Colonial forces denying their existence and occupying their territories. Full statement from the Sinixt Nation.
16. Lakota & Dakota Grandmothers Kick Out Nazi Scumbags! Hundreds of Lakota & Dakota peoples and their supporters lead by Grandmothers asserted their sovereignty by protecting their territories from White supremacists in a small-settler town outside of the reserve. Stand off between Warriors and Grandmothers against members of the Nationalist Socialist Movement resulted in the confiscation of the Nazi flag and continued confrontations to squash Nazi scumbag organizing on stolen lands! Full story.
17. Lakota fight White KKKlay genocidal chemical warfare. Lakota Warriors, Elders, youth, and supporters stop illegal activities on their territories, combating chemical warfare known as alcohol. Lakota and supporters march on White Clay, NE to stop illegal activity by bar owners. Illegal activities include: Selling to intoxicated and minors, allowing drinking on offsale property, bartering for pornography and Sexual Favors and offering welfare checks debt for alcohol to name a few.
18. Saugeen territory reclaimed. An Anishinaabe-kwe reclaims Saugeen territory from Crown occupation and builds her own home along her traditional trapline.
19. Innu protect stolen children, barricade windows of Family Serviecs Office. Innu people barricaded the windows and blockaded the office of Sheshatshui Child, Youth, and Family Services, demanding the return of kidnapped children, including 30 children recently taken.
20. Gitga’at First Nation evicts Northern Gateway crew conducting spill response survey. An Enbridge survey crew trespassed on Gitga’at territory, and after a meeting were told to leave. Members of the Gitga’at Nation have said they will not allow tankers to pass their territory.
21. Anishinaabe of Aamjiwnaang disrupt pro-Tar Sands Conference and stand up against the “Chemical Valley.” Lead by Anishinaabe-kwe’s, youth and Elders, Aamjiwnaang community members and supporters rallied against environmental racism, standing up against new development in the “Chemical Valley” and shut down the pro-tar sands conference.
22. Inuit of so-called Labrador oppose Hydro Project, arrested asserting Sovereignty. Eight Inuit people including elder James Learning were arrested for asserting their inherent responsibilities over their traditional territories. They are fighting the Muskrat Fall Hydroelectric project that will disrupt their hunting, fishing, and trapping grounds.
23. Dakelh people from Ts’il Kaz Koh First Nation (Burns Lake) blockade Band Office, evicted by RCMPigs.Three adults and one child were removed from the Burns Lake Indian Band offices by 50 RCMP officers with shotguns and riot gear. The protesters had blockaded themselves in the building after hearing of shady financial transactions by local Indian Act Officials.
24. Attawapiskat launches multiple fierce and effective blockades against De Beers Diamond Mine, causing “irreparable financial damages.” Anishinaabe community members of Attawapiskat hit De Beers mine with a road blockade, and another blockade shortly after in order to halt operations and stop the exploitation of their lands and peoples.
25. #INM National Day of Action springs multiple rail blockades across Klanada. Border crossings, passenger train and commercial freight lines were stalled, blocked and halted by Indigenous peoples from across Klanada as part of Idle No More calls to action.
26. Haudenosaunee from Six Nations of the Grand River embark on caravan of protection, hitting over half a dozen wind turbine sites, asserting themselves over their treaty territory. Six Nations community members stood up against illegal development in their territory, as a wind-turbine companies (NextEra Energy Kanada and Capital Power Corp) displaced the nest of an Akwek’s (Eagle) family.
27. Grassy Narrows community continues to fight logging, mercury poisoning, and more. A march lead by Grassy Anishinaabe-Kwe’s raises awareness about violence against Indigenous women, as the community celebrate the 11th anniversary of the clearcut blockade and continues campaigns of resistance against new plans to resume clear-cut logging in their territory.
28. Racist newspaper letter sparks protest and backlash in occupied Suneymuxw territory, socalled Nanaimo, BC. The Nanaimo Daily News posted a racist letter laced with hate speech and ignorance against Indigenous peoples. A protest lead by Suneymuxw First Nation people and supported by the community demanded the firing of the paper’s Editor and a front page apology.
29. Innu continue resistance to Plan Nord, maintain blockades and plan for future actions. People of the Innu Nation continue to protect Nitassinan, their traditional territory, against Quebec plans for energy infrastructure including hydro dams which will devastate the natural balance of the lands, waters and impact the practices of traditional lifeways.
30. Imperial Metals AGM shut down by Neskonlith, Secwepemc, Ahousaht and Nuu Chah Nulth peoples! Protectors from Neskonlith, Secwepemc, Ahousaht and Nuu Chah Nulth Nations asserted their collective sovereignty to defend their lands by condemning Imperial Metals stating their are not welcome.
31. Journey for the Earth Walkers embark on A Sacred Journey for Future Generations, follow the Nuclear Cycle. Cree, Dene, Metis and Anishinaabe walkers joined at different spots along the route and continued on deliver notices to GE-Hitachi, walk the nuclear fuel chain to stop uranium use.
32. Aamjiwnaang 13-day rail blockade against CN rail. Just slipping into 2013, Kanadian National railines suffered financial loss as the Anishinaabe of Aamjiwnaang First Nation established a rail blockade as part of Idle No More, asserting their sovereignty and resisting the exploitation of Kanadian occupation and the impacts of Chemical Valley on their lands and peoples.
33. Mi’kmaq community members from Listuguj block Eastern railines. L’nu (Mi’kmaq) people erected a blockade of a main rail artery in protest of Omnibus Bill C-45, supporting Idle No More.
34. Dine’ peoples stand strong to protect their Sacred Sites and confront PeaBody Coal Mine from exploiting their lands and peoples. Several were arrested in street confrontations, including banner drops, at the PeaBody AGM as Dine’ (Navajo) community members from Black Mesa, joined by several groups of supporters condemned the PeaBody operation in support of Indigenous self-determination. Demonstrations were also held to further condemn PeaBody Coal’s desecration of Burial Sites on Black Mesa, as well as ongoing campaigns to Protect the Sacred Peaks, to keep the ban on Uranium mining and push for cleanup, as part of the legacy of continued resistance against ongoing land theft within Dine’tah.
35. Kanien’keha:ka of Akwesasne takeover U$ / Kanadian border bridge in opposition to fracking. Kanien’keha:ka community members of Akwesasne seized a border crossing, firmly asserting their sovereignty in the midst of Imperial borders, sending a strong message to colonial occupiers about burgeoning Haudenosaunee resistance to fracking on our territories.
36. #ShutDownCanada call to support Mi’kmaq Warriors see’s international actions. SWN CEO lawn demonstrations, major commerce Port shutdowns, rail and highway blockades, banner drops and more actions poured in from europe, across Klanada and the U$ in support of Elsipogtog resistance to fracking.
37. Lubicon Lake Nation Standing Strong Against Fraudulent Election, Demands Aboriginal Affairs Cease Assimilation Tactics in Nation. Lubicon Cree traditional leadership condemns the Imperial tactics of Indian Act governance, charging Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AAND-C) with interfering with sovereign affairs and firmly rejecting Indian Act calls for elections.
38. #Oct7Proclaim Idle No More Day of Action sparks over 50 actions globally. Including rallies, highway blockades and the delivery of an Eviction Notice from Mi’kmaq Warriors to SWN headquarters to occupied Houston, TX, actions ignited across Turtle Island in spite of the 250 years of the Crowns colonial lies.
39. Moccasins on the Ground, Direct Action training camp in Lakota territory. Lakota warriors, community members and supporters participated in training communities along the Keystone XL pipeline route. Everyone was encouraged to warrior up for Unci Maka. The Lakota have made it clear TransCanada is not welcome on their Treaty territory.
40. Cree walkers arrive in unceded Algonquin territory, so-called Ottawa on Idle No More trek. Cree youth from the community of Whapmagoostui and their supporters walked 1,600 miles from their community near so-called James Bay, QC to unceded Algonquin territory in so-called Ottawa, in support of the Idle No More Movement.
41. Why we call them RCMPigs: Mounties raped and abused West-Coast Indigenous women and girls. Feb 14th Annual Memorial Marches Continue. Human Rights Watch investigations in 10 Indigenous communities have found that RCMPigs are and have historically rape and abused Indigenous women and girls. Women and girls have gone missing so frequently on HWY 16 in occupied-British Columbia that the road it is called The Highway of Tears. Across Klanada, on February 14, there is an annual march to commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women.
42. Campaign against racist slurs puts the R-word under heat. Across Turtle Island rallies of hundreds of people have come together to protest the continuation of the use of the R-word in football and sports teams. One such campaign was successful in occupied Algonquin territories, of so-called Nepean, ON where DJ NDN from A Tribe Called Red was successful in pressuring a name change of the local football team.
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A shame that they don’t show any pics here, but recently I found out that in September of 1969, the US Government and a Texas oil company decided to experiment in my home state with two rather problematic technologies, namely, fracking for natural gas with nuclear weapons.
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to advertise for this ahead of time to get more Virginia residents to come out, but last weekend at Virginia Power Shift was terrific. I went because of the large environmental activist representation, but it was truly an event for all social activists to learn about issues from racial equality, to fracking, to LGBTQ concerns.
I encourage any residents of Virginia (or non-residents, there was one guy from Vermont) to come out to the 2016 Power Shift for a great time of learning and tackling large issues as a community. While mostly a college student event, other members of the community were warmly welcomed and anyone can buy a ticket (only $11 for a weekend of inspiration O:) . This year it took place at The University of Mary Washington and the next location is pending. I will definitely be going again as long as a terrible conflict doesn’t arise, so you should come and say hi! (In the second photo I am against the middle window to the right. There is my moment of fame)
The Trump administration is planning to allow oil and gas drilling on ancestral territory in New Mexico despite pledges to seek additional views from tribes.
“Expanded fracking in Greater Chaco further threatens irreplaceable cultural resources, as well as the health and safety of nearby communities,“ Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Organizer Miya King-Flaherty said in a press release on Tuesday. "It is unacceptable for Secretary Zinke to pay lip service to the need for cultural review and consultation while still charging ahead with plans to auction off this sacred landscape to the fossil-fuel industry.”
TheAll Pueblo Council of Governors, which represents the 20 Pueblo tribes in New Mexico and Texas, and the Navajo Nation are among the opponents of development near Chaco. They have called for a moratorium on development in order to protect an area where their ancestors built communities, held ceremonies and laid their loved ones to rest.
It turns out that oil companies in California didn’t inject wastewater into of usable aquifers, with the state’s permission, hundreds of times — it was more like thousands.
Lvl 3 - Oil Boy This reckless boss monster uses its special claws to perform its signature “fracking attack” to drain life out of his opponents. After fracking the heck out of the ground, Oil Boy can call earthquakes at his will.
![“We’re sort of new to this stuff, hydrofracking, in Pennsylvania. And [environmentalists are] preyin](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz6sphxIjf1r9ekh2o1_1280.jpg "“We’re sort of new to this stuff, hydrofracking, in Pennsylvania. And [environmentalists are] preyin")
