“This is clear evidence of the collusion between TransCanada and the federal government assisting local police to unlawfully monitor and harass political protestors,” said Lauren Regan, legal coordinator for Tar Sands Blockade and executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center. “These documents expose the truth that the government is giving the nod to unlawful corporate spying. By slinging false allegations against peaceful activists in this presentation, TransCanada puts them at risk of unwarranted prosecution.”

Although TransCanada’s presentation to authorities contains information about property destruction, sabotage, and booby traps, police in Texas and Oklahoma have never alleged, accused, or charged Tar Sands Blockade activists of any such behaviors. Since August 2012, Tar Sands Blockade has carried out dozens of successful nonviolent direct actions to physically halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in Texas and Oklahoma. All of these acts, as well as every pipeline protest in Nebraska, have maintained strict commitments to nonviolence.

“Try as TransCanada might to slander Tar Sands Blockade and our growing grassroots movement, we know who the real criminals are.” said Ron Seifert, a spokesperson with Tar Sands Blockade who was pictured in the slideshow. “The real criminals are those profiting from this deadly tar sands pipeline by endangering families living along the route and pumping illegal levels of air toxins into fence-line communities.”f anything, this shows the effectiveness of campaigns to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and fossil fuel extraction as a whole,” said Scott Parkin, an organizer with Rising Tide North America and a non-violence trainer also pictured in the slideshow. “We’ve been fighting coal, oil and natural gas for a long time using these time-honored tactics and strategies. We’ll continue to use them precisely because they have been so effective in making change throughout American history.”

Grassroots resistance to Keystone XL is growing in Texas and Oklahoma where TransCanada is currently digging up freshly laid sections of the pipeline that failed integrity inspections. The East Texas Observer reports that at least 70 “anomalies,” including dents and shoddy welds in the pipe, were identified in a 60 mile span, and in some areas these imperfections occur at a rate of three per mile.

“A discovery like this presentation reveals that TransCanada has no problem lying to authorities and intentionally misleading the public in pursuit of its own private gain,” says Seifert. “If TransCanada officials cannot be trusted to tell the truth about the peaceful nature of Keystone XL protestors, why should we believe they’ve told the truth about the integrity of their pipeline and the real threats it poses to the hundreds of rivers and creeks that it crosses?”

Here is the full slideshow obtained through FOIA request:

TransCanada Presentation on Security to Local Law Enforcement (Part 1 of 3)

Contact: Ron Seifert, Tar Sands Blockade, 940-268-5375, kxlblockade@gmail.com

No related posts.

June 11^th is the International Day of Solidarity with Marie Mason, Eric McDavid, and other political prisoners. The day of solidarity began as support for CLDC client Jeff Luers, who on June 11^th, 2001 was sentenced to 22 years and 8 months in prison (later reduced to 10 years as a result of a successful appeal) for setting fire to three SUVs at a car dealership in Eugene, OR. The action hurt no one and was intended to raise awareness about the detrimental impact of humans on the environment, yet the government took the opportunity to make an example of Jeff and attempt to chill activism. Jeff wasn’t alone; in a campaign of blatant repression targeting environmental and animal liberation activists known as the “Green Scare,” the government has continued to hand out lengthy prison sentences to other activists, including Marie Mason and Eric McDavid.

Marie Mason was sentenced in 2009 to almost 22 years in prison for her involvement in burning an office containing Monsanto-funded GMO research and destroying a piece of logging equipment. Like in Jeff’s case, the actions did not hurt or kill anyone, but the State reacted harshly to the threat to corporate interests and has thus far upheld Marie’s draconian sentence. Marie is a longtime environmental, animal, and labor activist, and the mother of two children.  Her ex-husband, Frank Ambrose, informed about her to the FBI in a pathetically weak attempt to reduce his own sentence. As a result of her acts to protect the earth, it will still be many years before she can stand amongst trees or tend to her children as a mother should be able to. Learn more about Marie, her case, and how to write her a letter here. (http://supportmariemason.org/)

Eric McDavid was sentenced in 2008 to 20 years in prison for conspiracy, the result of being entrapped by a paid government informant known as “Anna.” For over a year, Anna worked with the FBI to craft a crime in which they implicated Eric. Never having carried out any actions, Eric was victim to an Orwellian charge of thought-crime and the State’s crusade to chill political activism and young anarchists. Eric has continued to resist the government, and he is currently in the final process of appealing his conviction and sentencing that came as a result of a trial filled with errors. Learn more information about Eric, his case, and how to write him a letter here. (http://supporteric.org/index.html)

Please use this June 11^th—and every other day—to show your solidarity with Marie Mason, Eric McDavid, and all political prisoners in the fight against the government’s attempts to stop political activism. Organize or attend an event, write a letter to a prisoner, donate to their support accounts or prison commissary accounts, educate your community, and continue to work for social change. Rather than allow the State to silence dissent, let us be inspired by Marie’s and Eric’s resistance and create a never-ending echo with the strength of our voices.

For more information about June 11^th and to find a solidarity event in your area, visit here. (http://june11.org/)

No related posts.

Every week, you receive an email from us, alerting you about critical issues we face, as activists.

Whether you are on the frontlines defending our climate from destructive companies like TransCanada, fighting in a localized struggle to protect our forests from bad logging, or wholeheartedly supporting the movement by applying yourself to another amazing project, we know you care about justice, our rights, and our shared future.

Today, we are reaching out to you for urgent help. We need you to collectively provide grassroots funding support for our work, because without it, we could cease to exist.

As you may know, the CLDC is 100% committed to protecting our right to civil liberties. Every day, we work with unfettered commitment to defend our rights, and our people.  Whether it’s through challenging government agencies constantly peeping into our lives or by providing free legal representation to activists on the frontlines of the movement, or offering our bilingual Know Your Rights trainings to communities who need it most, we work.

Did you know that since our founding in 2003, we’ve defended more than 800 activists? That’s 800 people working for social change and to protect our ecosystems from the worst corporate actors, 800 people who received top-notch legal defense for free. If 800 of you were to donate today, we know we could continue to fight.

You probably know that we are rooted in Oregon, our home. But did you know that we support non-violent direct action activists in Oklahoma, and in one of the most challenging legal environments in country, the state of Texas? We go where the help is needed.

What do you think all of this work – to protect free speech and our very right to dissent­­ – is worth?

We feel that pushing back against the status quo builds movement power and is critical work. We need to continue fighting corruption, abusive corporations and runaway government power. We want to continue our work, with activists like you in mind, but we truly need your support to do it. We are at a critical juncture and need financial support from our broad base right now.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that large foundations and mainstream flows of funding are inhibited to freely offer large sums for our edgy legal activism, even though we are a federally recognized, 501(c)3 non-profit. We can live with that, because we believe that with just a nominal donation of $50 to $100 per year, our courageous support base could provide much of people-powered funding needed for us to continue to thrive.

Once again, your donation would be funding free legal representation, Spanish and English Know Your Rights trainings, strategic advice for organizers and historic court cases, challenging repressive actions by the government.

What would you do, if you couldn’t call the CLDC, when you knew you faced legal trouble? What would others do, if they couldn’t receive the basic information that could keep them from being deported? Can you contribute to the people power funding with $50 today?

We know the work is important, and we are proud to be a part of your movement, providing our specific, specialized role. But now we need you to show us, through a generous donation today, that you can make a small sacrifice and fight for us, too.

Of course there are a myriad of ways to support the movement, to be engaged and be effective agents of change. But without an influx of Yankee dollars right now, our grassroots legal lifeline faces grave threats — that could have disastrous impacts on our people on the frontlines, for our home communities and for our very freedom.

We know we are needed, but now we need you. Please donate the very most you can, today.

Solidarity for Justice,

Lauren Regan
Staff Attorney, CLDC

No related posts.

May 13, 2013

Our friends at Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance interrupted work at a Keystone XL construction site again this morning in Oklahoma. Today marks the eighth such action by the coalition. We’ve re-posted their action below but for more up-to-date info, check their website. Follow Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance live on their Facebook and Twitter.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE: We are speaking with Bob right now.  It seems the firefighters were using both sides of an axe in the extraction process and Bob chose to unlock as a result of duress and concern for his safety.  We full heartedly support his decision to exercise agency in regards to his own safety in the face of danger.

UPDATE: 8:50am - Bob has been extracted and arrested.  He is being taken to Hughes County jail.

UPDATE: 8:10am - Holdenville Fire Department has arrived on site to extract Bob.

UPDATE: 6:45am -Workers have arrived onsite

________

Wewoka Oklahoma-Monday, May 13th, 7AM -  Early this morning Bob Waldrop, 60, fourth generation Oklahoman and prominent Oklahoma City community member walked onto an active construction site for the Keystone XL pipeline in Seminole County and locked himself to an Excavator, a piece of heavy machinery used in the construction of the pipeline. Waldrop took a stand today in defense of the land and the human and non-humans that depend upon it to survive.

Waldrop, as a founding member of the Oscar Romero Catholic Workers House, is a part of Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, a growing coalition of groups and individuals dedicated to stopping the expansion of Tar Sands
infrastructure throughout the Great Plains. His action follows an escalating number of work-stopping actions, of which there were five in April alone, in Oklahoma.

Raised on a farm in rural Oklahoma, Waldrop believes “All farmers know that if you don’t take care of your land, your land can’t take care of you. And I’m here today because this pipeline is an enormous attack on the land. Here in Oklahoma and all the way up the Great Plains and into Canada giant earthmoving machines are destroying ecosystems. They are uprooting trees, murdering birds and destroying habitat, killing little critters. They are trampling on the rights of Indigenous people of the area whose treaties are being violated and abrogated by the greed of TransCanada and its stockholders.”

“I’m here in part because of my religious faith. I’m a devout Roman Catholic, and I’m following in the example of Jesus himself who took a stand against every form of evil. Jesus set a model for all of us when he took a whip and drove the moneychangers out of the temple. I’m sure that was against the city ordinances of Jerusalem but he did not hesitate. I’m here today to show TransCanada that they can’t just run over everybody and the environment. There are people that are willing to stand up for their rights and the rights of the planet.”

Lifelong Oklahomans and Texans with Tar Sands Blockade and Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance have been constantly engaged in work stopping direct actions against the inherently dangerous KXL since August. The Keystone I, built in 2010, has spilt 17 times so far, including 12 in its first year of operation. The 2010 Kalamazoo river spill that has cost nearly a billion dollars in ongoing cleanup and the recent spill in Mayflower, AR that has left evacuated residents unable to return home nearly 6 weeks after the disaster show the dire consequences of inevitable spills of heavier than water bitumen diluted with a toxic cocktail including benzene.

There is staunch resistance to the expansion of Tar Sands mining and infrastructure growing on the heartland, long considered a sacrifice zone by the petro-chemical industry. The rise of Idle No More in defense of indigenous sovereignty across Turtle Island is in large part to protect lands and waters from toxic industries. Peoples of the Great Sioux Nation and tribal governments in “South Dakota” have avowed opposition to the Keystone XL, joining international treaties such as the Mother Earth Accord and Protect the Sacred. The Unis’tot’en Camp in northern B.C has entered the third year of their blockade of the Pacific Trails Pipeline, and a growing grassroots coalition in Utah has avowed to stop the first Tar Sands Mine in “The United States”. Many of these groups have banded together to usher in a #Fearless Summer, a coordinated direct action initiative against industrial extraction.

No related posts.

“You’re not welcome here… We’ve said no from day one.”

And with these firm words the TransCanada representatives were kicked out of Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation last week. The seemingly aloof TransCanada officials showed up at the Tribal Office in Eagle Butte, South Dakota in an attempt to win the tribe over to the pipeline, but were met with a swift, firm response. Robin LeBeau, Cheyenne River Sioux Councilwoman for District 5, saw them in the parking lot and promptly told them off.

The encounter was caught on video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fUIDg7YfVnI

Robin LeBeau:

“I don’t want no TransCanada people here…I’m going to fight hard and if I find anyone else here I’m going to bring more people in abundance to tell you guys to leave.” 

“This pipeline is the most destructive pipeline. You’re going to rape, steal and destroy everything that is for us….everything, our land, our culture, our water.”

And what do the TransCanada reps suggest the Tribe do with these valid concerns? Write a letter to the CEO. What’s his name, again? Their response:

“I don’t even know the guy’s name….. um…they have a website…”

Really?! Thats the best these guys can do? Like writing a letter to Russ Girling is going to convince this multinational corporation to stop building their multi-billion dollar project and respect the lives of indigenous peoples. This corporation has demonstrated numerous times that they only care about their profits and will bully and bankrupt anyone who stands in their way.

Tribal members know it. They aren’t buying TransCanada’s false promises and understand the threat that toxic tar sands pose to their Sacred Water, burial grounds, and historic landmarks. The Keystone XL pipeline would cut right through their Treaty Territory and some of their most Sacred Sites. (You can watch part 2 of the video here.)

Cheyenne River Crossing: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
Google Earth map depicting proposed Keystone XL Pipeline crossing Cheyenne River at Milepost 430.07. Cheyenne River Indian Reservation is indicated. Source: NCAI Analysis – figure 4.

The last several months has seen the indigenous resistance along the proposed KXL Northern segment continue to grow. Just this last week the Native News Network reported that the National Congress of American Indians, “the nation’s oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country,” publicly released a statement of opposition to Keystone XL and criticized the State Department’s flawed “Environmental Impact Statement”.

Additionally, the Moccasins on the Ground Tour of Resistance will travel to Cheyenne River in mid-June to continue to build this resistance and unite the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota peoples against this toxic intruder.

By now Russ Girling shouldn’t need a handwritten letter to know the message coming from Red Nations along the pipeline route: “Go Away!”

No related posts.