With a growing movement to address the expansion of toxic tar sands, RAN was invited by the Calumet Project and Global Community Monitor to participate at Whiting, Indiana’s Earth Day event to call attention to BP’s refinery expansion to process toxic tar sands. BP Whiting, Indiana is the company’s second largest refinery, covering 1,400 acres with the capacity to process 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily. It’s the largest inland refinery and the fourth largest refinery in the United States. The expansion would release up to 2 million tons more carbon dioxide greenhouse gas per year, which cause asthma attacks, strokes, heart attacks and premature deaths.

Local organizer Bessie Dent from Calumet Project stated that “The Whiting area is already over burdened with pollution. BP tar sands pollution means more asthma and sickness for the community. We can have safe jobs and clean air when BP steps up to be a good neighbor.”

The community opposition to the refinery has been growing strong addressing the issues of toxins since the refinery is just within blocks of the community and is one of the biggest polluters of Lake Michigan and the region.

Under the Banner of “Clean Air, Clean Water, Good Jobs: Our Environment Working Together Without Pollution”, the Earth Day event kicked off with a press briefing that included Canadian based Macdonald Stainsby, of Oil Sands Truth, along with a San Francisco delegation of Denny Larson and Ruth Breech of Global Community Monitor and myself. Macdonald spoke about the atrocious extraction process of the tar sands, climate impacts and the movement developing in First Nation communities on stopping the project. Both Denny and Ruth, shared their years of experience with the best technological standards possible to reduce toxic emissions to the refinery through modernizing the facilities. My presentation focused on the growing climate movement, the chain of oil addiction from refining to transportation fuels, and discussing California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard which are guidelines to fight global warming by reducing the carbon intensity of the state’s transportation fuels.

And to mix it up little, I started off my presentation with a little chant that you all will have to hear some time but in the spirit of Earth Day I thought it was appropriate.
“My My My, we want to save the Earth Today
My My My, we want Clean Air Today (repeat).

After the media briefing, we headed to Whiting Park, for the Earth Day rally which is near the BP refinery. It was a little rainy but like the article from the staff reporter from Potter Post-Tribune, Rain didn’t halt BP protest. The highlight of the rally was that it was inter-generational. There were older individuals in their 70′s who use to work at the refinery who currently have respiratory complications to a young person who was only six years old. With up to forty people out for a rainy rally, I was impressed with the local organizers outreach efforts.

After the rally, we were led on a “toxic tour” viewing community environmental hot spots including BP, Arcelor-Mittal, Dover Chemical, INEOS, Praxair, and the Confined Disposal Facility (CDF). The BP plant is on the edge of Lake Michigan off of Burma Road, I thought this was fitting with all the issues happening in Burma right now. With our trusty protective masks, a caravan of nine cars and two police cars (following us every where we went), drove around the facilities. We thought the masks would be a minor prop, but the stench was so profound that some people stayed in their cars.

There were over three gas flares shooting out in the sky from elevated vertical stacks burning off unwanted gas and liquids released by pressure relief valves during unplanned over-pressuring of plant equipment. The community was told that these flares should not happen. I personally felt a little dizzy from the smell and could hardly breathe without my mask. Denny Larson, considered taking a air sample using the Bucket Brigade technique of monitoring air pollution. We also thought the fog was rolling in but it was a thick smoke from one of the neighboring facilities. Two young kids, who both have asthma were fully aware of the toxic smell and what seemed like a tour became a potentially life threatening event.

Based on the Chicago Tribune, the expansion plans at BP refinery would boost the facilities greenhouse gas emissions to 5.8 million tons a year, which is the equivalent to adding 320,000 cars to America’s highways. With other refineries expanding in the Midwest and throughout the nation, a growing network is challenging tar sands development.

Thanks to all the organizers in Whiting, Indiana for organizing the community event and many thanks to RAN’s staff in setting up the website. Stay tune and support RAN to stop the tar sands development.

Check out more photos.

The Whiting, Indiana Earth Day Event was co-sponsored by the following. Let’s keep organizing together!
Calumet Project
Chicago Audubon Society
Citizens Action Coalition
Coalition for a Clean Environment
Environment America
Environmental Integrity Project
Global Community Monitor
Global Exchange
The Heartland Center
Legal Environmental Aid Foundation
Northwest Indiana Environmental Justice Partnership, Department of Minority Studies, Indiana University-Northwest
Oil Change International
Oil & Gas Accountability Project, a program of EARTHWORKS
Rainforest Action Network
Sand Ridge Audubon Society
Sierra Club, Hoosier Chapter, Dunelands Group
Sierra Club, Hoosier Chapter, Winding Waters Group
Southeast Environmental Task Force

The video was presented at the Tranportation Challenge Weekend Getaway in Detroit, Michigan days before sixty plus courageous students from across Michigan rallied in the cold outside of the the Detroit Auto Show.

The background song in the video is by the Long Hair Collective (Joe Reilly and Will Coeplan), a progressive Detroit based hip hop and folk group whose “Burning” song was done in partnership with the Freedom From Oil Campaign to bring awareness to oil, no more war and climate actions occurring all over the country. Check out the video and share the video with others.

The emissions standards California proposed in 2004 — but never approved by the federal government — would have forced automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and light trucks by 2016, with the cutbacks to begin in 2009 models. That would have translated into roughly 43 miles per gallon for cars and some light trucks and about 27 miles per gallon for heavier trucks and sport utility vehicles. If the waiver had been granted and the 16 other states had adopted the California standard, it would have covered at least half of all vehicles sold in the United States.

With automakers praising the EPA for denying the waiver, the EPA itself will have a difficult time justifying their decision to the State of California. EPA’s administrator Stephen Johnson announced the decision in such a rushed fashion following President Bush’s signing of the energy bill this Wednesday that many of his key staff was cut out of the debate . According to House Oversight Committee chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and other sources, the decision was made almost entirely on political grounds. It’s also rumored that the EPA staff overwhelmingly believes that the waiver should be granted.

While the smoke clears with the State of California versus the EPA to grant the waiver, the Freedom from Oil team put out a press release slamming the EPA for Refusing to Allow California to Regulate Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

“The EPA might as well change its name to the Automakers Protection Agency.

“Let’s be clear: with this decision, the EPA is cowing to the influence of the auto industry rather than protecting the interests and health of the American people.

“We have a short window of time to get greenhouse gas emissions under control. With forty percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from transportation fuels, establishing vehicle emissions standards is an obvious first step toward protecting the climate and the public health of all Americans.”

With this in mind, we are taking action today at the EPA in downtown San Francisco to call attention to EPA rejection of the waiver for Clean Air and Clean Cars!

Nick (Global Exchange) and I got to the dealership about an hour before the rally to set-up the balloon banner. We used the largest helium tank ever—291 cubic feet! It took the whole helium tank to fill up the balloon. Shortly after, our key organizers arrived—Linda Nichols Linda Nichols from Plug in America and Wendell Covalt Wendell Covalt , RAN LA coordinator. I heard a lot about these two and how supportive they have been of RAN, but it was really nice to finally take action with them.

After some time, we finally deployed the balloon banner “Toyota: Driving Global Warming One Lawsuit at a time”, right in front of the Toyota dealership. Once the banner was up, we looked around and their was about thirty people participating in the action. After trying to meet at RAN’s REVEL event, it was good to finally see Linda in action. She drove up to the dealership in the electric Toyota RAV4 and immediately became one of the key voices in the rally. While Linda was coordinating, Wendell picked up the bullhorn (his first time ever using it) and blasted Toyota for fooling America with building Priuses as they build more gas guzzling trucks and SUV’s. I looked at Nick and thought to myself, “I love it” when folks get organized and take action. This was surely an intergenerational event and everyone was skilled organizers. It wasn’t just a bunch of youngsters at this rally.

Momentarily, Mike Sandler who currently works with Interfaith Power & Light in LA and I chatted for awhile. I’ve known Mike ever since I’ve been at RAN (almost three years). He’s a good friend of Toben, RAN’s communication coordinator. We have emailed, chatted on the phone several times but never met face to face. Then out of the corner of my eye, appeared Hollywood actress and star in “Who Killed the Electric Car”, Alexandra Paul. She looked like she was in some kind of disguise with her California shades but she was so ready to take on Toyota.

Before the end of the rally, we had each corner of the intersection plastered with banners and signs while we passed out fliers. Cars of all sizes cruised by honking us on. By the end of the rally, we gave a huge round of applause for everyone’s participation and took a group photo. After the action was over, we went to deflate the large balloon and Wendell told me “this is one of the best actions I been too”. I guess we all did a great job.

While we were deflating the balloon, Linda and our new friend from LA Progressive Democratic Party member and actor Ricco Ross, went inside and had a candid conversation with the dealer owner. Ricco and Linda are two savvy negotiators and after a brief conversation they were in the dealership hammering it out with the manager. Sympathetic of our concerns of California emission standards, the dealer recommended that we take our concerns to Toyota’s corporate headquarters. This is such a familiar tactic used by dealerships management. Disappointed with the dealer response, Ricco recommended that we contact him for the next action. He said he could get as many as 300 people out to a rally. Talk about clout. Next steps in dealing with Toyota is to draft a letter with Plug In America and Global Exchange and send it to the dealership and corporate headquarters. Then we are going take action against our next mega dealer, Penske Automotive Group by targeting Longo Toyota, the world’s largest dealership in the world.

Big shout out to RAN LA, Global Exchange, Plug in America, Interfaith Power and Light, and everyone else for participating in the action. Stay tune for more RAN LA action next month!

In one swift act on 11 a.m. on Monday, the UAW jumped from the behind the scenes negotiators to heavy hitting voices, sending all 73,000 UAW-GM members out on strike.

Two days later, General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement on an historic new labor contract, instantly ending the strike and paving the way for GM to pay the union to take over $50 billion in retiree health care obligations.

While American buyers grow hungry for foreign fuel efficiency nameplates like Toyota and Honda, GM meeting the UAW demands is just a baby steps to future job security concerns and one giant leap from another demand of putting cleaner cars on the road. By making these fuel efficient vehicles like Plug-ins, it would create and save thousand of jobs. These vehicles will also keep consumers money in their pockets for their families and community, instead of dealing with the cost of high gas prices. Ford is now up to bat with the UAW. Let’s see how long the workers negotiate with Ford and Daimler Chrysler before another strike begins.

With the current four-year contracts set to expire Sept. 14, the clock is ticking on whether GM, Ford or Chrysler will gain the inside track on setting the agenda for a new labor pact with the their specific competitive needs. Since July, the talks have been conducted under heavy secrecy at GM, Ford and Chrysler. Still, insiders say all three companies have pressed their cases to be designated as the lead company.

Over the past few years, UAW workers have suffered from nearly 100,000 job cuts, numerous plant closing and threats to slice workers and retirees health care cost. Yet, the Big Three bargaining goals are still to cut hourly labor costs — wages, benefits, pensions and retiree health care.

While the Big Three plans to cut workers labor costs to compete with top rival Toyota, auto industry expert like Walter McManus from University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has advocated for years that Detroit’s “overdependence on fuel-inefficient SUVs and pickup trucks have accelerated their financial freefall.” The findings of his reports have proven in sharp detail that Detroit automakers’ long-term vulnerability is the shortcomings of their overall fleet.

With so much riding this year for workers, the most obviously question in all of these talks is which company can get the UAW to agree to slash costs in exchange for preserving jobs for the future? If preserving jobs is the UAW’s chief goal, the Big Three are just as committed to dramatically cutting costs.

GM and Ford have already made economic offers to the union that would set up health care trusts that the UAW would administer for its active members and retirees. GM, in particular, is determined to remove tens of billions of dollars in future health care costs from its balance sheet.

Chrysler is seeking a so-called voluntary employee benefit association to handle health care for its union workers and retirees, according to people close to the company.

In 2005, GM and the union reached an unprecedented agreement to transfer some health care costs from the company to workers. UAW workers at GM approved the deal, but a similar agreement at Ford passed by a very narrow margin.

Either way, plant-level UAW locals are being told by national union leaders to get prepared for negotiations results. There has even been talk from each of the companies that strike authorization votes need to be completed by Labor Day weekend, which is common practice during labor talks and a largely symbolic show of support by members for their negotiating team.

Whichever company the UAW chooses to take on first, we can only hope that the trade offs between workers and the Big Three is in the interest of supporting workers instead of the pockets of the auto companies.

Overall the meeting resulted in an overwhelming rejection of eight ballot proposals, including a plan to set goals for reducing total greenhouse gas emissions from the company’s products and operations and require the board to publish annual reports on global climate change.

Jennifer Krill and Nile Malloy, from Rainforest Action Network, spoke on behalf of the global warming proposal. Nile Malloy stated, “over the last couple of years Ford has spent millions convincing the public we are committed to the environment with the success of building the Hybrid Escape and Mercury Mariner yet we are suing Vermont, California and nine other states to prevent the regulation of pollution from tailpipes,” highlighting Ford’s hypocrisy in being “green”. “This really is a critical moral issue facing all of us on this earth,” said Sister Patricia Daly, executive director of the New Jersey-based Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment.

While many shareholders went on with ‘business as usual’ a few shareholders voiced their displeasure with the company’s leadership, including Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. “Mr. (Bill) Ford’s tenure at the CEO position should have never happened. Many in the automotive circles and on Wall Street accurately described him as ‘The reluctant CEO.’ Under his watch, Ford Motor Company is now half its size, still not profitable and with everything in the U.S. mortgaged on a $23.5-billion note, stated one shareholder”.

Another shareholder opposed Bill Ford Jr. re-election to the board and accused him of wrecking the company. “Bill Ford is Toyota’s No. 1 reason for success. Ford is in utter chaos,” said Linda Joanette of Clarkston, Mich.

While Mr. Ford took on the criticism of the company, Mulally ended the meeting with a speech on Ford’s turnaround plan to slow ford’s current financial woes. His plan includes, shedding thousands of more workers, closing more plants, making more SUVs and trucks; and receiving a cool

Is Ford moving in the right direction? Not if the turnaround plan means less jobs for our country and no clear commitments to greenhouse gas reductions and/or investing in cleaner vehicles. What do you think?

Ben Namakin of the Pacific Island of Micronesia explained to Ford that his homeland is sinking under rising sea levels associated with global warming. Research released earlier this week by NASA revealed that human-made greenhouse gases have caused the Earth’s temperature to reach its highest level since the last ice age, 12,000 years ago. The temperature increase has led to the rapid melting of arctic ice caps, which in turn has caused sea levels to rise in the western Pacific Ocean around Micronesia. Ford’s industry-worst record on greenhouse gas emissions has contributed to the global climate change problem.

“Can you imagine seeing your home sinking?” said Namakin, a youth climate change leader with the Conservation Society of Pohnpei. “Kiribati, where I grew up, is only two to three meters high. We are already experiencing coastal erosion, contaminated drinking water, and landslides that killed people in Micronesia. If no action is taken by those automakers who keep America addicted to oil and exacerbate the effects of global warming all over the world, my home will be gone in the next 25 years.” 

Also at the meeting was Omoyele Sowore of Nigeria. Human rights groups estimate that in the last 10 years, military factions acting on behalf of multinational oil companies have killed more than 2,000 people in the Niger Delta. “Ford cars and trucks guzzle more than 1.8 million gallons of oil every day. Ford needs to commit to being an industry leader in fuel economy, or assume at least some of the responsibility for the death of my people,” said Sowore. 

“We hope that Ford’s new CEO, Alan Mulally, will make good on the promises of his predecessor to build a Ford for the future,” said Mike Hudema, a member of the Jumpstart Ford coalition and director of the Independence from Oil campaign at Global Exchange. Nile Malloy of Rainforest Action Network added: “Ford’s current financial woes and layoffs are the direct result of its failure to invest in innovative, fuel efficient technology. We can only hope that the leadership at Ford will start listening to the voices of those suffering around the world from oil-related problems. The health of the company and the planet depends on establishing freedom from oil.”

How would you push Ford to make even Bolder Moves?  In our continous efforts in drawing the connections to global climate change, human rights, job layoffs, and solutions to our oil addiction, we are ramping up Oil Addiction Anonymous groups across the country.  If we can change the debate, maybe we can really move the auto industry forward.

August 29^th, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, was a time to mourn, reflect and memorializing the dead. For me, it was important to be in solidarity with allies from Common Ground Lower Ninth Ward Project, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, Labor Community Strategy Center, People’s Institute, and others around New Orleans. We marched from the Lower Ninth Ward to Congo Square. The sounds of big brass instruments, drums banging, stilt walkers in bright outfits, and singing flooded the air with dancers headed down to the square. As I walked along this parade route, the traditional route for Martin Luther King, Jr. parades, I couldn’t help but consider how racial politics has played a role in the recovery process.

Recovery and rebuilding has been painfully slow, similarly to local, state and federal government response to the storm itself. Neighborhoods that are low-income and predominately African-American were the most devastated by the failed levee system and continue to be the most disenfranchised in the rebuilding process. One year later there is no comprehensive rebuilding plan for New Orleans, rent has increased 50%, there are still neighborhoods without electricity, public housing is still closed, hospitals remain in shambles, collapsed houses and tons of debris clutter the streets. Neighborhoods in the lower ninth ward appear to be in a time warp, like Katrina happened yesterday.

Grappling with all these images and devastating stories, the keynote speakers, Beverly Wright Director, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Bill McKibben environmentalist and author, and Jerome C. Ringo, President of the Apollo Alliance captured the hope and fear of the future of cities in the Gulf Coast.  In the process of Rebuilding New Orleans, there are large challenges from toxic debris to the politics in building in poor communities.  Katrina hit one of the largest oil producing and chemical plants regions in the world.  Cancer Alley, which is a 100 mile corridor, with 136 petrochemical plants, that has devastated the wetlands with over 500 miles of dead zone off the gulf coast due to toxic sludge leaked into the cost  Katrina caused six major oil spills releasing 7.4 million gallons of oil. The Hurricane also hit 60 underground storage tanks, five superfund sites, and numerous hazardous waste facilities.  Katrina is seen as one of the worse disasters in U.S. history.  It was these statistics that resonated with this faith-based community that fighting global warming and the health of the planet is a “moral” right.  Check out the photos.

While I was there, I also met up with the Common Ground Collective and the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund who are organizing in the area to build long term support in rebuilding the communities affected by Katrina and Rita.  They showed me around the recent development of a health clinic, discussed the politics of New Orleans, and spoke with several youth and other member’s about the limitations of FEMA to address all the communities in the area needs.  I also spoke visited a few gutted homes and spoke with some community members about the feeling of coming home. 

Overall, many people that I spoke to felt that the impacts of Katrina is nothing new.  This hurricane exposed some of the most grotesque social, economic, and environmental injustices in America.  It exposed human right impacts within our borders and unwillingness in supporting all community members.  

There is no doubt that there will be more super storms this year.  But how will we respond?  To many people who were displaced and returning back to New Orleans, remember the saying “they don’t care about us” that circulated the airwaves.  This year, let’s hope that communities will be better organized, and that the city and federal government positively support building these communities who are so valuable to the tradition of New Orleans.  

Speaking of taking action, the trainings had over 150 attendees and at least 40 college and high school students who will be joining us for our April 1^st Fossil Fools Day Actions. We got great feedback from our role-playing, chants, historical reflection and other activities during the NVDA training and equally got a great response from our corporate campaigning strategy that featured great tactics that college students can take on campus. Mike and I offered some stories about our activist experiences, political theatre and organizing lessons and learned a lot about the power of the creative spirit in the youth clean energy movement.

Besides all the amazing trainings their were three keynote speakers: Sowore Omeyele, a Nigerian Activist, offered a critical analysis of human rights and environmental impacts in the Niger Delta; Steve Kretzman, Executive Director of Oil Change International, discussed the chain of oil destruction and political work behind the Separation of Oil and State; and Joel Rogers co-founder of the Apollo Alliance highlighted the coalition efforts of the Apollo plan to create millions of green jobs. The combination of each of the speeches and all of the trainings shows me that there is hope among some alliances that are coming together as we work for a more ecological and socially just world. How do you think non-violent direct action can be a useful tool to make an ecological change for the health of the planet?

Nigeria is U.S. fifth largest oil importer. The Nigerian government and the oil companies gross over $100 million dollars from pumping oil out of the Delta; and every day, Nigeria pumps around 2 million barrels of oil.

The people in the Delta receive none of this economic wealth. Instead, they endure extreme poverty, environmental devastation, climate change and conflicts despite the billions in oil revenues that have been extracted from their land. Who benefits from these conflicts?

In the past, the region had the heroic efforts of Ken Wiwa, who him and eight others was assassinated for non-violent peaceful actions for ecological justice by the Nigerian government. Then and now, oil extraction still destroys the health of the people in Delta.

Nigeria’s current conflict is an example of oil companies like Shell and Chevron being complicit in overthrowing the past peaceful means by supporting Nigerian and Western oil profits. The result is today’s desperate battle to recover basic human and economic rights that are playing out right now in Nigeria. U.S. oil addiction and the worse gas guzzler in the auto industry, Ford Motor Company is fueling violence and unrest in Nigeria, the fifth largest oil producer. Shame on Shell, shame on Chevron, and shame on Ford Motor’s Company.

This form of unrest has been in the region for decades, but it reached maturity when environmental and community activist, Kenule Saro-Wiwa and eight of his compatriots were executed by the military government of Nigeria in 1995. The reason for the execution was because of their non-violent campaign to protect the rights, livelihood and environment of the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta.

Despite the executions, western oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell, which controls nearly half of Nigeria’s output, and Exxon Mobil still reap extraordinary corporate profits, while communities in the delta region (who are in resistance to oil extraction) continue to suffer from extreme environmental consequences from oil spills, climate change, gas flaring pollution as well as political repression.

With more gas flares in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world, our administration and major corporations are faced with crucial choices between choosing between increasingly more profits as oil prices rise or to support the health of humanity and the planet.
Now that “Oil Addiction” is on center stage, there is no better time to connect the intimate dots in the chain of oil destruction than now. The U.S. consumes more oil than any other nation and more than two-thirds of all the oil we use is for transportation. While the rest of the world deals with the tensions in oil rich regions like Nigeria, we should adopt a 12 step plan that includes Jumpstarting Detroit and steering the worse oil addict in the auto industry, Ford Motors Company in the right direction.

Starting today, let’s get in the business of supporting alternative ideas for our oil independence, instead of investing in 30 second, “Kermit the Frog” greenwashing.