See RAN’s shocking new Cargill fact sheet here.

Citing multiple corporate crimes ranging from slave labor, driving climate change and monopolizing the food chain to putting profits before food safety, the 99% took moral law into their own hands to perform a “Citizens’ Arrest” of Cargill, Inc. An Occupy Cargill protestor at the rally explained it this way: “Corporations aren’t people, but if they have the same rights as a person, shouldn’t they have the same responsibilities? So, can’t we arrest them for their criminal behavior?”

Cargill, Inc. is the largest privately held corporation in the world. The corporation’s annual revenue of $119 billion is higher than 70% of the world’s countries GDPs and the family that controls it is the richest in America. Cargill, Inc. is plagued with worldwide controversy around many of its commodities, including palm oil, salt, cotton, chocolate and grain as well as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and carbon trading.  Agricultural free trade policies that benefit Cargill come at a high price for family farmers, food sovereignty, human rights, and the climate.

Departing from the former Occupy Minneapolis encampment site known as People’s Plaza, citizens marched in a “search party” to find this fugitive suspect, Cargill, Inc., to bring this corporate “person” to justice. Multiple speakers at the rally railed against Cargill’s corporate personhood and its extensive lobbying of governments for free trade policies that benefit its profits at the expense of people and planet.

Unable to find this corporate “person,” activists posted the arrest warrant at the last-seen location of Cargill, Inc.: The Minneapolis Grain Exchange. If I were this criminal, I would turn myself in to the 99% and beg for mercy.

While one-percenters gathered for their $175-per-plate luncheon, more than 30 festively dressed Charlotteans serenaded attendees with Christmas carols modified to call attention to Bank of America and Duke Energy’s destructive funding and burning of dirty coal, practices which cause severe damage to human health and the environment.

As carolers in white beards and Santa hats sang a Rudolph-inspired ‘Brian the Big Coal Funder’ tune, RAN organizer Todd Zimmer explained, “Brian Moynihan and Bank of America have given billions of dollars to the coal industry to blow up mountains, poison our air and water, and worsen climate change. For this bad behavior, they deserve nothing more than a giant lump of their own coal.”

While CEO Jim Rogers mocked customers’ resistance to Duke and BoA’s arbitrary fees and rate increases inside, Charlotte activists playing the two naughty CEOs presented a Christmas gift to the city: a giant inhaler wrapped in a big red bow. Protestors gave the dirty energy executives lumps of coal in return, before launching into a round of “We Wish You a Coal-Free Christmas.” Eventually, the Santa-clad protestors moved uptown to the Bank of America Corporate Center, where they caroled, gave out lumps of coal, and engaged with passersby, many of whom pledged to close their Bank of America accounts on the spot.  Ho ho ho, dirty CEOs!

I’ve been having some wonderful conversations and plotting sessions with a new crew of allies here on Wall Street. RAN has been focused on banks, demanding social and environmental justice, for many years. But now it finally feels like we’re part of a large and growing movement. It’s very exciting. I could say so much more, but Adrienne Maree Brown already said it so well in her blog post, “from liberty plaza.”

I had the honor of addressing Occupy Wall Street last night. Just thought I’d share the video with you so you could see the communal spirit and passion that is keeping this occupation going strong:

(If you’re ready to stop doing business with Bank of America, sign the Not One More Dollar pledge now.)

I was particularly struck by the creativity in all the handmade signs. Here are three that spoke to me.

“#Occupy Earth” – Makes a link between taking back our own communities, wherever we may live, and taking back our natural resources from corporate control.

“Obama Stop Milking the Bull” – A reference to the famous Bull sculpture that lives on Wall Street. Right now, none of us can get anywhere close to this bull, as it stands surrounded by an army of NYPD and their barricades. These public servants appear to be deployed to protect the private interests, rather than the taxpayers.

“Too Big to Fail is Too Big to Allow” – A heartfelt cry for a serious overhaul of the financial system that has allowed such a small number of oversized banks to seize control of our economy — and trash it.

Projection on Seattle Bank of America Branch. Photo by Marcus Donner/RAN

Last week, Rainforest Action Network’s guerrilla projections team rolled around Seattle raising the profile of coal exports in the Pacific Northwest.

Coal companies like Peabody Energy and Arch Coal are lobbying hard to build coal export terminals in Bellingham, WA and Longview, WA. And there are rumors that more such proposals will be popping up in other port towns up and down the Oregon and Washington coasts. The industry hopes to ship tens of millions of tons of coal through those terminals. The coal will be bound for power plants in overseas markets like China and India and will significantly contribute to global climate change. Furthermore, the mining and shipping of the coal will impact eco-systems and communities from Montana to the coast, and of course in Asia.

As we highlight the controversies around coal exports, we don’t want one of the worst culprits behind this potential environmental and human rights disaster to get away with anything.

That culprit is Bank of America.

The bank has been in the news a lot lately. It is the biggest forecloser of homes in the U.S. It pays its executives more in bonuses than it pays the government in taxes. It is rapidly downsizing its operations by laying off 30,000 employees and closing 600 branches. It is, at least partially, responsible for the economic disaster besieging the country right now.

Bank of America is also the money backing the ecological disaster unraveling before our very eyes — climate change. In short, Bank of America is the largest funder of coal in the U.S. And because BoA is the financier of both Peabody Energy and Arch Coal, it’s also one of the biggest funders of the great coal export build-out as well.

Earlier this week, RAN activists “bird-dogged” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan in New York while our projections team created controversy around coal exports in the northwest. Part of the projections work was a little artistry with Bank of America branch logos and the projections. Our goal was to connect Bank of America to the northwest coal exports.

Life is not going to get easier for Mr. Moynihan or Bank of America as long as they continue to finance the coal industry. Just a heads up, things are about to get interesting.

Projection by Seattle Space Needle, Photo Credit: Marcus Donner/RAN

Holy Coal Hard Truth, Batman!

This week, I’ve been riding around the streets of Seattle with a guerrilla projection team. We’ve been shining a massive Bat Signal-like light on iconic locations around town to get our message about coal exports out to Seattle’s citizens.

For almost a year now, one of the biggest environmental stories in the Pacific Northwest has been the coal industry’s attempts to establish a coal exporting foothold along the Washington and Oregon coasts. Companies like Peabody Energy (the biggest coal company in the world) and Arch Coal (the second largest coal company in the U.S.) want to ship that dirty black rock they’ve dug out of the ground in Wyoming and Montana to overseas markets for power generation.

Arch Coal and their Australian business partners Ambre Energy have applied for permits to build a coal export terminal on top of an old aluminum smelting plant along the Columbia River in Longview, WA.

Up north on Puget Sound near Bellingham, Peabody Energy has partnered with SSA Marine (the world’s largest port logistics company) to build an export terminal on Cherry Point.

Both of these projects would ship tens of millions of tons of coal a year, wreaking havoc on local ecosystems, local communities and the global climate.

The fight has thus far been waged in political, regulatory and legal arenas. And we’re winning. But Old King Coal is determined to reap profits from mining and power plants and isn’t giving up so easily.

So we are using more street and creative actions to elevate the profile of coal to folks in the Northwest. The Pacific Northwest has a long of history of environmental resistance and we’re turning up the heat.

via RAN Photo Credit: Marcus Donner

A revolt is in motion in many parts of the country. It’s crossing issues and bringing together unlikely allies to challenge corporations and politicians acting against the needs of their citizens. In November 1999, RAN joined a diverse and lively global justice movement, which included environmentalists, labor, students, people of faith and people from many walks of life, to shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle.

via RAN Photo Credit: Marcus Donner

This week, again in Seattle, under the banner of “Welcome to the Port of Poverty and Pollution,” activists with RAN joined immigrant truck drivers, port communities impacted by economic and clean air issues, Teamsters, and faith leaders standing in solidarity in downtown Seattle at the annual Port Authorities convention.

Actions all week have been directed at the Port of Seattle and its leadership. The Port of Seattle is responsible for inadequate wages and poor working conditions. Environmentally, the port authority is responsible for air and water pollution up and down Puget Sound, impacting communities living near the Port and SeaTac Airport. The Port of Seattle consistently sides with corporations in these matters. Ironically, the tone of the convention has been portraying the Port of Seattle as an environmentally responsible engine for job creation.

Furthermore, many of the same corporations participating in the convention are actively building or promoting the construction of coal export terminals in the Pacific Northwest. SSA Marine has sought permits to build one such facility in Bellingham, WA. Another convention participant is Burlington Northern, which ships coal from Montana to Washington’s ports.

RAN has formed a guerrilla projections team that has been traveling around Seattle after-hours, beaming images in solidarity with this week’s protests. Tomorrow, there will be a mass rally outside the convention.

Twelve years ago, we were part of an anti-corporate globalization movement fighting privatization and resource extraction abroad. Today we’re part of an anti-corporate movement fighting privatization, resource extraction, and climate change at home. We saw it earlier this year when thousands occupied the capitol building of Wisconsin over attacks against public sector unions. We saw it all summer as environmentalists marched, locked down, danced, scaled trees, went to prison and sat-in fighting Big Oil and Big Coal. We’re seeing it as community groups and labor are fighting against home foreclosures and tax dodging by the wealthiest companies on the planet.

A few weeks ago, labor, faith, student and many more joined with environmentalists to call on Obama to stop the Keystone XL pipeline by sitting in at the White House. Cities across the country are seeing coalitions form and fight back against local issues of “poverty and pollution” more and more. This convergence is what frightened the powers that be in 1999. Now we’re back again.

I wrote a post last Wednesday discussing the anger, frustration, and unwavering resolve that the Ecuadoreans expressed upon leaving the shareholder meeting. Servio Curipoma, a farmer who lost both his parents and his sister to cancer after Texaco, which Chevron bought in 2001, dumped a massive amount of oil pollution near their home in the Ecuadorean Amazon, gave the most impassioned and moving speech of the day. See for yourself (Servio starts speaking at about 00:40):

What was Chevron’s response when confronted with the very face of the human suffering it has caused in Ecuador? CEO John Watson responded that it is the oil giant that is the victim in Ecuador. Then, in an even more cowardly move, the husband of a senior Chevron employee posing as an independent journalist emailed some donors to RAN and Amazon Watch to get quotes for a hit piece he was planning on publishing.

Humberto Piaguaje, a leader of the Secoya people in the Ecuadorean Amazon, stood up at Chevron’s shareholder meeting to tell Watson and Chevron’s shareholders, ‎”I want to remind you that our fight in Ecuador is for life and justice. You must own up to your responsibility to the people in the Amazon.” As the SF Chronicle reported, Watson later responded to these pleas for justice by saying that Chevron is the one “being victimized.”

It was a shameful attempt to distract from the overwhelming evidence of Chevron’s guilt — evidence that led to a conviction in February and a judgment of $18 billion that the company has been ordered to pay to clean up its mess in the Amazon. But it was only one of the heartless and cowardly responses Chevron cooked up last week.

Servio Curipoma outside Chevron AGM. Click image to see more photos from the protest.

As reported by Triple Pundit, Alex Thorne — husband of Kristen Thorne, Chevron’s senior policy advisor on environment and energy issues — “decided that he would help his wife out” by emailing donors to RAN and Amazon Watch while representing himself as an independent journalist to ask them if it was time to reconsider their support of both organizations given the fraud allegations made as part of Chevron’s attack-the-victims legal strategy. Thorne conveniently left out his last name and didn’t mention the publication he was writing for in his emails.

Thorne’s came out the next day and it was every bit as factually challenged and one-sided as you’d expect. There’s no doubt he was working purely to regurgitate Chevron’s talking points, whether he is actually paid by Chevron or not. The piece was so bad, in fact, that Thorne didn’t even put his name on it. He also didn’t allow comments on the post. What does it say about Chevron’s PR and legal strategy when even the guy doing the company’s dirty work won’t put his name on it or allow feedback from his audience? I think we all know exactly what that says.

This was no doubt retaliation by Chevron after some of the truths RAN and Amazon Watch have helped expose about the company led to several influential investors calling on Chevron to settle with the Ecuadoreans. “In failing to negotiate a reasonable settlement prior to the Ecuadorian court’s ruling against the company, we believe that Chevron displayed poor judgment that has led investors to question whether our Company’s leadership can properly manage the array of environmental challenges and risks that it faces,” the investors wrote in a letter to Chevron.

All of which just supports what I described last week as “my main takeaway” from the protests inside and outside of Chevron’s shareholder meeting: There is no amount of human suffering so great that Chevron can’t ignore all that in its quest for power and money.

A delegation of Ecuadoreans will be coming up for the shareholder meeting so that they can take their calls for justice directly to Chevron’s shareholders, management, and board members. They’ve just issued a passionate appeal to Americans to stand in solidarity with them. Together with the folks at Amazon Watch, we’re trying to get 30,000 Americans to sign this petition, one for each of the Ecuadoreans affected by Chevron’s business operations — and we only have a week to do it!

Check out the “Open letter to America” video below, and sign the petition. The Ecuadorean delegation will be delivering this petition with all its signatures to Chevron’s management at the shareholder meeting.

Why am I standing up to Chevron? Because it’s the right thing to do. When BP, a UK-based company, came to the US and devastated the Gulf Coast, the company was forced to pay $20 billion to clean up and compensate the victims of its pollution. When Chevron or any other American company goes to a foreign country and does the same thing — and in this case, the pollution was DELIBERATELY dumped in the Ecuadorean Amazon — we should hold it to the same standard.

I’ll be attending the protest outside Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting next week, demanding accountability from the company in Ecuador; in Richmond, California; in Nigeria; in Australia; and in countless other communities around the world that have been impacted by Chevron’s reckless pursuit of profits.

We can only hold Chevron accountable if we all stand up together. Please sign the petition so the Ecuadorean delegation can deliver your call for justice directly to Chevron on May 25th. And if you’re in the Bay Area, come to the protest outside Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting.

Here’s the transcript of the open letter in English:

To the citizens of the United States,

We are the mothers of families.
We are fathers who work very hard every day.
We are grandparents who hold on to many memories.

We imagine that you are the same as us,
With hearts that beat,
With eyes that appreciate the beauty of the world around us,
With feet that walk on the same planet as ours.

We would like to share with you a story
that you all should know.

It occurred in a place called the Ecuadorean Amazon almost 50 years ago.

We had clean water, a healthy source of food, medicinal plants to cure our ailments.

In other words, we lived with dignity and in harmony with nature.

But in that moment an oil company arrived whose name we remember well: Texaco.

We were not familiar with oil.
They told us that oil was good, that it would bring progress for the future.

We remember the oil spills, almost daily.
The crude oil would come down the rivers like black sheets.
We remember the toxic waters they dumped in our rivers.
We remember the pain our children felt after bathing
in the rivers contaminated with oil.
We remember the illnesses, the deformations, the cancer.

We remember those who died.

We do not know you.
We only know the company Texaco, now called Chevron.

We are a people of great courage and humility who have been in a struggle for many years to demand justice, asking that the company take responsibility for all the harm they have caused.

Last February, Chevron was found guilty by an Ecuadorean court for the harm they caused to our people, and to our lands.
But the company has said it will never respect the court’s decision, that it will never take responsibility for the damages,
and that it will keep fighting until Hell freezes over.

We want to reach your hearts, so that you know the truth.
Chevron has poisoned us. It has also poisoned the image of the United States and of its citizens.

On behalf of the thousands of victims in Ecuador, we write this letter to you, so that you can do something, now, and demand that Chevron clean up the poison that they left in our Amazon, and clean up the image of you and your country.

Thank you.

“Hundreds of cops have just marched into the Wisconsin state capitol building to protest the anti-Union bill, to massive applause. They now join up to 600 people who are inside.”

Ryan reported on his Facebook page earlier today:

“Police have just announced to the crowds inside the occupied State Capitol of Wisconsin: ‘We have been ordered by the legislature to kick you all out at 4:00 today. But we know what’s right from wrong. We will not be kicking anyone out, in fact, we will be sleeping here with you!’ Unreal.”

You can find more updates from Ryan Harvey on Twitter @ryanharveysongs and his blog Even If Your Voice Shakes.

UPDATE: This video says it all. It makes me proud of my neighbors. “Let me tell you Mr. Walker, this is not your house, this is all our house.”

UPDATE 2-27: I’ve got to say a huge thank you to Ryan Harvey for the incredible on-the-spot reporting from inside the Wisconsin state capitol. Keep ‘em coming Ryan!

In this next video, Ryan interviews Brian Austin of the Madison Professional Police Officers Association, who is featured in the video above.

Not only are police officers on the side of labor inside the capitol, so is the chief of police. Bill Glauber reported this evening from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

“The people who are in the building will be allowed to stay,” Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said Sunday night. “There will be no arrests unless people violate the law.”

Tubbs…announced the decision to let the protesters stay after he saw how they moved aside while work crews went about cleaning the Capitol, including mopping and polishing floors.

“People are very cooperative,” the police chief said. “I appreciate that.”

As this long night comes to a end, I leave you with this final piece of good news from Ryan’s Twitter feed:

“Huge news! Republican senator dale shultz has announced that he is switching sides and opposing the bill!!! 2 more to go!”

Rock on Wisconsin. Remind the politicians who have forgotten, and the corporations in denial, and any folks out there who aren’t sure their voice really counts, that the true power of these United States is with The People.

And it’s time to get used to the idea.

Bev May, one of the stars of the documentary film Deep Down, holds a jar of contaminated water while at the KY governor's office for the sit-in to protest mountaintop removal coal mining. Click image to see more pics.

**UPDATE: 14 Kentuckians to remain occupying Gov’s office over the weekend in anticipation of I Love Mountains day on Monday.

Watch Live Streaming Here.

Sit-In at Ky. Governor’s Office Demanding an End to Mountaintop Removal. Participants include acclaimed author Wendell Berry, retired coal miner Stanley Sturgill, activists Teri Blanton, Bev May and Mickey McCoy.

Pictures here.

Follow Twitter.com/deepdownfilms for updates.

Actions spoke louder than words in the capitol of the Bluegrass State this morning as 20 Kentucky writers, grassroots activists and coalfield residents staged a sit-in at Ky. Gov. Steve Beshear’s office. The group of local residents, grassroots activists and noted writers demanded an end to mountaintop removal and protection for their land, water and health. Kentucky residents have long lobbied their state government to act in their best interests, yet been consistently ignored by an administration in the pocket of King Coal.

This sit-in is another escalating action in a multi-state campaign that has spanned West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Washington D.C., North Carolina and many other places for the past several years calling for an end to mountaintop removal coal mining.

Among those risking arrest are acclaimed author Wendell Berry, 76, who has decried mining abuses for 50 years, as well as several grassroots activists, mountaintop residents and Kentucky writers.

“The office of the governor must be held accountable,” they citizens explained in a joint statement. “We are once again asking Gov. Beshear for help.”

Direct actions against mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired power plants are certain to increase this year as it becomes more and more apparent that challenging King Coal legally, legislatively and in the regulatory process only go so far and that a radical and effective direct action strategy must be utilized as well. In other words, look for more groups of concerned people taking actions like this, not less.

Press Release: Group of Kentuckians Demand End to Mountaintop Removal Mining in Governor’s Office Sit-In

February 11, 2011

Contact: Silas House/Jason Howard 606.224.1208

FRANKFORT – A group of twenty Kentuckians has gathered at the state Capitol in an attempt to meet with Gov. Steve Beshear to discuss the issue of mountaintop removal mining. They plan to remain in his office until the governor agrees to stop the poisoning of Kentucky’s land, water, and people by mountaintop removal; or until he chooses to have the citizens physically removed.

Among the group are Wendell Berry, 76, the acclaimed writer who has decried mining abuses for the past fifty years; Beverly May, 52, a nurse practitioner from Floyd County; Erik Reece, 43, who has written extensively about the coal industry; Patty Wallace, 80, a grandmother and long-time activist from Louisa; Mickey McCoy, 55, former educator and mayor of Inez; Teri Blanton, 54, a grassroots activist from Harlan County; Stanley Sturgill, 65, a former underground coal miner of Harlan County; Rick Handshoe, 50, a retired Kentucky State Police radio technician of Floyd County; John Hennen, 59, a history professor at Morehead State University; and Martin Mudd, 28, an environmental activist.

While these Kentuckians realize they are risking arrest by refusing to leave the governor’s office, they say they have repeatedly petitioned Gov. Beshear for help, yet their pleas have been ignored. This action is a last resort to seek protections for their health, land, and water.

In a letter to Gov. Beshear, the citizens expressed their desire to communicate “respectfully and effectively” with the governor about the urgent need to stop the destruction of mountaintop removal mining. Among their requests were the following:

• Accept a long-standing invitation to view the devastation in eastern Kentucky caused by mountaintop removal mining.
• Foster a sincere, public discussion about the urgent need for a sustainable economic transition for coal workers and mountain communities.
• Withdraw from the October 2010 lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, in which the Beshear administration partnered with the coal industry to oppose the EPA’s efforts to protect the health and water of coalfield residents.

“The office of the governor must be held accountable,” the citizens explained in a joint statement. “We are once again asking Gov. Beshear for help.”

Had the action gone ahead as planned it would have stopped around 150 thousand tonnes of carbon emissions from being released into the atmosphere, while drawing attention to the failure of provided democratic channels. If found guilty, the defendants could face up to three months in jail.

The case has now been in court for three weeks, with the defendants presenting compelling evidence from leading scientists, including NASA’s James Hansen, that climate change is real and man-made, of the devastating impacts of climate change, and of the failures of the democratic process — our elected Governments — to address climate change. Using this type of logic in a trial is sometimes referred to as a “necessity defense”.

Having heard all the evidence, today, the Judge concluded his summing up and directions to the jury.

Alan ‘Tash’ Lodge is an English photographer who has been covering the British environmental direct action movement for several decades. His excellent blog is a recommended read. Tash has been in court with the Radcliffe defendants and provides the following summary:

“His Honour Judge Teare concludes his summing up and directions. He reminds the jury that from the evidence presented, you might conclude that climate change is happening, it is human driven and the associated effects of it are as has been described. The burning of fossil fuels is mainly responsible and that coal is the biggest contributor. Further Ratcliffe is the 2nd largest producer of such emission in the UK.

The Judge suggests to the jury that to get any action on the issue the choice is between democratic methods, the difficulties of which have been presented Vs. the necessity of action.

So was it to save someone’s life on the planet or not? Please return a verdict on which you are all agreed. A majority verdict is not acceptable in this case.

At 10.20am, the jury retires to consider their verdict.

Having spent the day deliberating, the court was reconvened twice during the day in order to answer jury questions. The first concerned the details of evidence given by former Nottingham MP Alan Simpson about EU directives. The second concerned defining exactly which lives the defendants needed to be protecting in order to justify their actions being necessary in law. The judge explained that the lives did not need to be local to the power station or Nottingham, but could be anywhere in the world. The trial has heard factual evidence from people suffering from the worst excesses of climate change, in locations ranging from Hull to Bangladesh.

The jury will return to court at 10am on Monday

This case is important for the freedom to protest. The activists on trial are ordinary people experiencing the failures of the present political system who remain determined to see action taken on climate change. As yet another global climate summit fails to reach agreement, and as our countries consistently fail to pass legislation to restrict our carbon emissions at the levels we need to avert catastrophe, we are compelled to use a broader range of tactics to defend the planet.

Like RAN, EQAT felt this was a positive move, but that PNC needs to go further and completely pull their financing of these companies.

Here’s what the EQAT team had to say about their protest:

We had a wonderful action in Philadelphia with over 40 in attendance, Quaker and non-Quaker.  Swarthmore students put on a rousing performance of street theater outside the Environmental Protection Agency  (You can see “Federal EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson” preparing to tear up coal mining permits in the pictures!), and then EQAT went to PNC — as a team of marathon runners — to celebrate our victory, commend the bank on taking a “first step”, and to push them to pull financing from all MTR.

We were barred from entry to the bank, because the Head of Security mentioned that “they had already had a little trouble in Washington, D.C.” and that they “didn’t want that happening here” — proof of the power of our actions at Appalachia Rising!

After our victory lap, The Head of Security accepted about 30 runners’ marathon numbers — as personal pledges to support PNC in “going the distance” to end mountaintop removal, and commitments to use non-violent direct action if PNC doesn’t bank with integrity.”

The original post can be found here on the EQAT blog

RAN Chicago Rallies at Canadian Consulate

Following three significant spills of tar sands oil from aging pipelines in the Midwest, RAN Chicago took action. An afternoon protest was themed around pushing back on Canada’s tar sands and kicking our addiction to oil. Of the various placards on display (stop the serial spiller!), the hypodermic needle filled with oil was my personal favorite.

If oil is like a drug, then the Canadian Consulate in Chicago has become the kingpin of US tar sands trafficking. The Consulate has teamed up with oil companies to push through new tar sands pipelines, and strong-arm companies into keeping tar sands crude flowing into Midwestern refineries.

Activists Dump 1000 Lbs of Coal Waste at EPA Headquarters

Today RAN and our friends in DC dumped 1,000 pounds of Appalachian dirt onto the front lawn at the EPA’s headquarters. Our message? “EPA: Don’t let King Coal dump on Appalachia.” This is part of our effort to compel the agency to veto the 2,278-acre Spruce mountaintop mine project in Blair, W.Va., which is the largest mountaintop mine project ever proposed.

With mountaintop removal becoming increasingly controversial, the Spruce 1 battle is being closely watched as a bellweather for the mining practice’s future. As we see it, vetoing the Spruce mine is a critical nail in mountaintop removal’s coffin. So far, the EPA has asserted that the Spruce mine project would irrevocably damage streams and wildlife and violate the Clean Water Act. However, just last week the Obama administration announced that it would delay making a decision on whether to veto the Spruce mine project until late September. Our fear is that pressure from the coal industry and coal state politicians may be influencing the administration’s decision during the election season.

That is why last Friday we went down to the coalfields of West Virginia to collect a big old pile of dirt – mud from a forest and mountain that will be sacrificed if the coal industry gets its way with Appalachia. We’ve brought this mud to the EPA’s headquarters to highlight the critical importance of its decision about the Spruce No. 1 coal mining permit.

The Spruce Mine will be the largest mountaintop removal (MTR) site in West Virginia and, if mined as planned, it would bury more than seven miles of headwater streams, directly impact over 2000 acres of forests, and degrade water quality in streams adjacent to the mine.

Thousands of you have already contacted the EPA to demand they issue a full veto on this permit. We’re here today to make sure they haven’t forgotten. You can do the same today by calling EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to ensure her agency stands up to King Coal and on the right side of history.

We’re not going to be quiet about this until MTR is over. We’ll be back in DC later this month, with thousands more friends, as part of Appalachia Rising to call for the end of mountaintop mining.

Meanwhile on the other coast in British Columbia, RAN’s Eriel Deranger joined over 300 at a march in support of First Nations opposed to the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline in Prince George British Columbia.  The proposed pipeline would move up to 525,000 barrels of oil a day from the tar sands in northern Alberta to tanker port in Kitimat, BC.  The project would cross unceded territories claimed by over 20 First Nations.  It would also cross 785 watercourses, fragment wildlife habitat and impact fragile salmon fisheries.  Enbridge has a long history of pipeline spills and other accidents, including the one million gallon spill of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in July—one of the largest spills in U.S. history.

The pipeline protests come just one week after a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that the tar sands industry is poisoning the Athabasca River. The study confirmed worries about elevated rates of cancers by communities downstream.

The Church of Life After Shopping Visit Kayford Mountain

A few weeks ago, Massey Energy went on a PR offensive to promote the concept that the worst US mine disaster in 40 years – at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine in April – was an ‘Act of God’.

First Massey General Counsel Shane Harvey told a Wall Street Journal reporter on a press conference call on July 22 that it was a “distinct possibility” that “a natural event beyond the control of the company could have caused this event.”

And on the same day, Massey CEO Don Blankenship told a luncheon at the Nationl Press Club:

“I believe that the physics of natural law and God trump whatever man tries to do. Whether you get earthquakes underground, whether you get broken floors, whether you get gas inundations, whether you get roof falls, oftentimes they are unavoidable just as other accidents are in society.”

Don is famous for his arrogance, but this was a step too far. The message did not go down well with the media or public, so much so that Massey issued a retraction in a press statement on July 23:

“Massey Energy has not used the phrase ‘Act of God’ when referring to the April 5 accident at the UBB mine”

While I realize that ‘Act of God’ is legal terminology to describe acts that occur without human intervention, Mr Blankenship’s choosing to reference to his own spiritual beliefs in a space where so many are looking for him to take responsibility for his actions, make me feel uneasy.

So, for a little balance, I would like to use this space to acknowledge a few of the many groups of faith who are channelling the strength from their spiritual beliefs into protection of Appalachia’s mountains and community:

Christians for the Mountains “is a fellowship rooted in the love of Christ, devoted to cultivating social justice, healthy communities, and the care for God’s creation throughout Appalachia.”

Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship. “The primary ministry of LEAF is to draw attention to the scriptural call for Creation Care in East Tennessee’s Christian churches… Most of all, LEAF feels called to educate Christians about the devastation caused by mountain top removal coal mining.”

West Virginia Council of Churches. “As people of faith, called upon by our covenant with God and each other to safeguard and care deeply for what God has created, we cannot stand by while our mountains are being devastated.”

EarthQuaker Action Team “is a new group of Friends and friends of Friends who join millions of people around the world fighting for our threatened planet…Our first campaign: Bank Like Appalachia Matters (BLAM!)”

Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping “In our Church, we respond to the words MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL like thousands of others. We hear the words of the people in those mountains and that is enough to get to work. Mountaintop Removal is unbelievable and we respond to the idea of it with belief. We will rise and rise and rise on the slopes of where the mountain is returning.”

Below is their vision statement.

Appalachia Rising:

Mobilize to End Mountaintop Removal!

September 25 – 27, 2010, Washington DC

Appalachia Rising is a mass mobilization in Washington DC on September 27, 2010 calling for the abolition of mountaintop removal and surface mining. It is a culmination of the national movement against surface mining and a foundation upon which to build a pan-Appalachian movement for prosperity and justice. Coalfield citizens and organizers envision a vibrant mobilization of thousands – coalfield residents, students & youth, Christians & people of all faiths, families, celebrities, underground miners, activists, artists, and all who yearn for justice – to converge on Washington DC for a day of non-violent action and dignified civil disobedience targeting the politicians and agencies who could abolish surface mining with the stroke of a pen.

Appalachia Rising declares that we are not a national sacrifice zone. We will not stand idly by as we see our past and future blasted to rubble, our communities and mountains eliminated, and our neighbors poisoned as coal executives and their shareholders grow rich. Appalachians are not, and never will be, collateral damage. We are proud of our coal mining fathers, hard-working neighbors, and Appalachian past, present and future!

Appalachia is endowed with abundant resources too long plundered by outside interests. We call for the abolition of surface mining, a just transition for coalfield communities, and renewed investment in a prosperous and just economy in Appalachia.

We invite all who share our vision to join with us on September 27, 2010 in our nation’s capitol for an end to mountaintop removal, surface mining, and a renewed vision of Appalachia.

Bo Webb, Naoma, Coal River Valley, WV

Judy Bonds, Rock Creek, Coal River Valley, WV

Junior Walk, Whitesville, Coal River Valley, WV

Andrew Munn, Rock Creek, Coal River Valley, WV

Danny Chiotos, Charleston, WV

Jessie Dodson, Richmond, VA

Vernon Haltom, Princeton, WV

Chuck Nelson, Sylvester, WV

Lorelei Scarbro, Rock Creek, WV

Joe Gorman, Morgantown, WV

Photo by Rachel Sarah Blanton

Concerned citizens rallied in downtown Lexington today to express their anger at PNC Bank for financing mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. PNC is now the biggest US financier of MTR. Local activists were joined by members of the group Mountain Justice and residents from mountaintop communities, who spoke out about the direct impact that this destructive form of mining has on their community, health and environment.

“Several banks have realized that they shouldn’t be involved with companies that are causing the total annihilation of a culture by their use of MTR. It’s unfortunate that PNC, like Massey, is putting profits over people and over God’s creation,” said Mickey McCoy, a Martin County resident whose community was affected by a coal sludge spill in 2000.

Photo by Rachel Sarah Blanton

Also present at the protest were a colorful street-theater troupe of ‘clowns,’ who acted out a performance of a coal company blasting the top off a mountain, then extracting a bag of money and passing it between U.S. Banks like a hot potato, to symbolize PNC Bank doing business with companies that other banks have moved away from.

The protesters paid a visit to the PNC branch at Main and Deweese streets and released a banner inside attached to some helium balloons, which said “PNC + Your Money = Toxic Tap Water.” Activists also passed out literature about the issue to bank customers and employees and delivered a letter to the bank branch manager asking that PNC end their financing of mountaintop removal.

Check out a video of the clowns at PNC

“PNC Bank was a recipient of bailout funds, so their investments in MTR represent my tax dollars. I am vehemently opposed to the destruction of the mountains, forests and communities of Appalachia, and I’m concerned by the impacts of strip mining on water quality in central Kentucky,” said Martin Mudd, a Lexington resident and activist with Kentucky Mountain Justice.

Since January 2008, PNC has become the number one U.S. financier of mountaintop removal coal mining. The bank has provided more than $500 million in loans and bonds to six companies practicing mountaintop removal: Massey Energy, Patriot Coal, Alpha Natural Resources, International Coal Group, Arch Coal and Consol Energy (Source: Bloomberg). These six companies are collectively responsible for almost half of all mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

Photo by Rachel Sarah Blanton

“The idea of corporate responsibility has come up repeatedly in recent weeks following the coal mine and oil disasters. That responsibility extends beyond profits to the health and wellbeing of our communities. Some banks, such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo have made commitments to reduce and even end their funding of the dirtiest coal mining practices. By continuing to finance mountaintop removal coal mining PNC is throwing that responsibility aside,” said Amanda Starbuck of Rainforest Action Network, who is campaigning for banks to end their investments in the sector and shift their support to clean, renewable energy and green job creation.

PNC recently ranked bottom in a score-card report on MTR financing by Rainforest Action network and the Sierra Club. The bank earned an “F” for its total failure to take environmental risks into account in its lending practices.

A copy of the report card and supporting data can be found here: www.ran.org/reportcard

Photo by Rachel Sarah Blanton

Mountaintop removal mining is a devastating form of mining where companies blow the tops off mountains to reach a thin seam of coal and then dump the waste rock into valleys below. This destructive practice has buried nearly 2,000 miles of streams and threatens to destroy 1.4 million acres of land by 2020. The mining destroys Appalachian communities, the health of coalfield residents and any hope for positive economic growth.

One of the Internationals that were refused into the shareholder meeting was Guillermo Grafa, an Indigenous leader from Ecuador. “We don’t need empathy from Chevron, we need them to accept full responsibility for the pain and suffering they have caused our people and clean up Ecuador now,” said Grafta.

Also outside, Chevron arrested four shareholders and representatives who refused to leave Chevron property after they were denied access to the meeting. The 4 were arrested on trespassing charges and hauled into waiting police vans. The four arrested at the entrance were Juan Parras a long time environmental justice activist in Houston and founder of TEJAS, an EJ group fighting refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast; Rev. Jerome Davis a livelong civil rights hero who marched in Selma and has long fought for environmental justice in Richmond, CA; and Mitch Anderson and Han Shan from Amazon Watch, an organization working in solidarity with Indigenous communities fighting Chevron in Ecuador.

Much like the tone of the meeting outside, inside the shareholders meeting was filled with disrespect, outrage, and arrests.

Mariana Jimenez from Lago Agrio, Ecuador and Indigenous Kichwa leader Guillermo Grefa from Rumipamba Community

One of the few community members allowed inside the shareholder meeting was Mariana Jimenez, a 71-year-old grandmother from Ecuador. She spoke directly to Chevron’s CEO and Board and demanded an end to Chevron’s lies about the massive oil contamination in Ecuador that is destroying her community in the Amazon rainforest.

“In 1976, I lost two young children. In 1979, one of my daughters became very sick with an unknown illness on her throat and lost her voice for three months. People are still getting sick every day. There are children born with birth defects. I want him [Watson] to take responsibility for the crime that his company committed in my country.” Watson replied callously by calling Chevron empathetic to Ecuador’s pollution while saying that Chevron has been richly rewarded by the purchase of Texaco. (the original operator in Ecuador).

In addition to the arrestees outside the meeting, Antonia Juhasz of the Chevron Program at Global Exchange was also arrested inside the meeting. After delivering a scathing analysis of Chevron’s global environmental and human rights abuses she was forcefully removed from the meeting as CEO Watson abruptly ended the meeting nearly a full hour early.

The events that corresponded with Chevron’s attempted self-celebration of profit were a true indicator of the global coordination and resistance against Chevron’s operations world-wide. We will change Chevron, because energy shouldn’t cost lives

Pictures from the day can be found on RAN’s flickr feed HERE

Note: As of Thursday all arrested have been released and await their hearing on June 6.

Acivists with RAN attend the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Today, BP, and their contractors, Transocean and Halliburton, are testifying before Congress to determine who is at fault for the nearly 4 million gallons of oil wreaking havoc on the Gulf Coast. At this morning’s

Senate hearing the CEOs of each company – and the political benefactors of Big Oil’s big money like Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski – are asking us to believe that what is happening off the Gulf Coast is just one terrible accident or a few reckless companies who made some mistakes.

When it comes to the politics of Big Oil and its impact on our environment, our economy and our climate, we’re not talking about one bad apple we’re talking about a whole barrel of bad apples.

Washington’s response to the disaster in the Gulf cannot be limited to holding hearings and cleaning up the spill (although both are critical at this point). We must set our country on a course to fundamentally change how we produce and consume energy so we can end our dependence on oil and other dirty and dangerous fossil fuels once and for all. And we must stop Big Oil’s big money influence on our politicians and our elections.

In California, as these oil hearings are unfolding on the Hill, Big Oil bullies Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Exxon Mobil have joined with the California Chamber of Commerce to push a proposed ballot measure that would protect them from fees used to lessen their harmful effects on the environment. Chevron alone has spent over $250,000 on a measure that would protect oil companies from cleaning up oil spills and instead pass the costs on to taxpayers.

Which is why activists with the RAN joined BP, Transocean and Halliburton in today’s Senate committee hearings. Holding signs that read, “Big Oil profits, we pay” and with black, oily tears painted on their faces, activists were there to remind our decision makers that the underlying cause of this disaster is our dangerous and dirty addiction to oil as well as Big Oil’s slippery influence on politics, which is undermining our nation’s transition to a clean energy future.

Senator Cardin, who is co-chairing one of today’s hearings, put it perfectly in the Baltimore Sun:

“The catastrophic oil spill ravaging the Gulf of Mexico and bearing down on coastal states is another reminder: America’s current energy policy is a disaster. We need to break our dangerous addiction to oil and promote safe and clean sources of power and fuel — and we need to begin today.”

Lamar McKay, president and chairman of BP America, waits to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post

He took the words right out of my mouth – America’s current energy policy is a disaster. Big Oil and King Coal assert tremendous power in Washington, operating unchecked and unregulated, and wreaking havoc on our environment, public health and our climate. The oil spill in the Gulf is a tragedy, but it is not the only horrifying dirty oil disaster local communities are facing. From the devastating tar sands projects in Alberta to the oily mess Chevron left in Ecuador, across the globe the price of oil is too high.

With climate and clean energy legislation at the forefront of political debate, it is critical that we heed the larger lessons of this disaster. For starters, here is what I would suggest:

1. We must separate oil and state. Oil companies need to get out of the way of good government, and stop lobbying against necessary clean energy policies. And, perhaps more importantly, our politicians need to stop taking money from Big Oil, which is clouding their ability to regulate this dangerous industry and is one influential reason they have been unable to pass strong energy policy.

2. Oil companies must pay up for all the damage they have done to date. While we transition to a clean energy economy, oil giants like BP, Exxon and Chevron and their mercenaries-for-hire like Halliburton and Transocean must be held accountable for their role in environmental disasters and regulated more closely. History has taught us that Oil giants won’t take responsibility willingly. For decades, Exxon-Mobil dodged cleanup costs for the Exxon Valdez spill. Chevron is still fighting to avoid responsibility for the billions of gallons of oil-contaminated waste that were dumped into the Amazon watershed by Texaco, now owned by Chevron. Let’s make sure that BP isn’t allowed to follow in that dirty legacy.

Voters get it. In light of the oil spill, voters, one recent poll suggests, have come to understand the dangers of our dependence on oil and the need for comprehensive clean energy reform. Overall, 61 percent of 2010 voters support and just 31 percent oppose a bill “that will limit pollution, invest in domestic energy sources and encourage companies to use and develop clean energy.”

Let’s just hope Washington gets it too. Because clean, safe and renewable are three words the oil industry cannot say.