April, 21 2014, 03:18pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jamie Henn, jamie@350.org, 415-601-9337
Jane Kleeb, jane@boldnebraska.org, 402-705-3622
Reject & Protect: Farmers, Ranchers, and Tribes Protest Keystone XL with Week-Long DC Encampment
This April 22-27, the Cowboy and Indian Alliance (CIA), a group of ranchers, farmers and indigenous leaders, will host an encampment on the National Mall for a week's worth of "Reject and Protect" actions against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
WASHINGTON
This April 22-27, the Cowboy and Indian Alliance (CIA), a group of ranchers, farmers and indigenous leaders, will host an encampment on the National Mall for a week's worth of "Reject and Protect" actions against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
The encampment will feature 15 tipis and a covered wagon, and begins on Tuesday with a 40-person ceremonial horseback ride from the Capitol down the National Mall. Ranchers from Nebraska, tribal leaders from Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas, actor Daryl Hannah, the Indigo Girls, environmental and social justice leaders, and others will take part at the encampment over the week.
Over 5,000 people are expected to join the Cowboy Indian Alliance for a ceremonial walk by the Capitol on Saturday, April 26. The CIA will finish the procession by delivering a tipi, painted by the week's participants, to the Museum of the American Indian in honor of President Obama. The tipi is a symbol of respect, as well as a symbol of the tipis and other encampments they will erect along the pipeline route if the Keystone XL is approved.
As the National Interest Determination process comes to a close and pipeline opponents look to the president to reject the tar sands pipeline, the "Reject and Protect" events serve to remind President Obama that his decision will have real consequences for those families in the tar sands region of Canada, along the pipeline route and in refinery communities--in addition to long-lasting climate impacts for generations to come.
Reject and Protect is led by the "Cowboy Indian Alliance," a group of ranchers, farmers, and tribal communities from along the Keystone XL pipeline route to urge President Obama to reject Keystone XL and protect land, water, climate and tribal rights.
For more information, visit www.rejectandprotect.org
Full Schedule of Reject and Protect Events
Tuesday, April 22: Opening Day
10:00-10:30am: Interviews at the Capitol: Interviews with R&P participants available at the Capitol, 3rd St. NW between Madison and Jefferson drives.
10:30am: Opening ceremony: Tribal leaders host a traditional opening ceremony to begin the ride.
11:00am: Horseback ride: 24 ranchers and indigenous leaders from the Cowboy and Indian Alliance ride their horses from the Capitol to the Reject and Protect encampment on the National Mall between 7th and 9th.
12:30-2:00pm: Opening the Encampment: Cowboys and indigenous leaders will officially open the encampment, raising a final ceremonial tipi to join the 29 other tipis already assembled on the mall, the Indigo Girls will perform. Interviews will be available at the encampment.
2:00-6:00pm: Painting Obama Tipi: The general public is invited to join the encampment, speak with participants, and add their thumbprint to a ceremonial tipi for President Obama that will be accepted on his behalf by the Museum of the American Indian at the end of the encampment.
6:00-8:00pm: Dinner, Music: Participants will share a meal of bison raised along the pipeline route provided by one of the ranchers from Nebraska. Music performances and speeches will take place throughout the evening.
Wednesday, April 23: Day Two at the Encampment
9:00-10:00am: Traditional water ceremony: Indigenous representatives will lead the encampment in a traditional water ceremony that will highlight the threat Keystone XL poses to water sources, especially the Ogallala Aquifer, along the pipeline route.
4:00pm-6:00pm: Environmental and Progressive leaders visit encampment: Leaders from national environmental and progressive groups will visit the encampment.
Thursday, April 24: Day Three / Bold Action During the Day
9:00-10:00am: Traditional water ceremony
Time TBD: Bold Action in DC: CIA representatives will be taking part in a bold and creative action in DC to highlight the threat Keystone XL poses to their homes and their land, water and climate. Details will be announced immediately before the action.
8:00pm Projection at the EPA: Activist group The Other 98%, in support of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance, will project messages rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline directly onto the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Using a large-scale, high-intensity projector, the Other 98% will broadcast comments from ordinary Americans asking the EPA to tell the U.S. State Department to reject Keystone XL.
Friday, April 25: Day Four / Action at Sec. Kerry's House
9:00-10:00am: Traditional water ceremony
11:00am-12:30pm: Action at Secretary of State John Kerry's House: The CIA will host an event outside Secretary Kerry's house, including a traditional ceremony praying that the Secretary listen to his conscience and the science and reject Keystone XL.
6:00-8:00pm: TEDx Style Tar Sands Presentation at the Encampment: Renowned photographer Garth Lenz and indigenous activist Crystal Laneman will host a TEDx style presentation on the Canadian Tar Sands. Lenz's "True Cost of Oil" TEDxVictoria presentation has been viewed online over 500,000 times.
Saturday, April 26: Procession on the Mall & Tipi Delivery
9:00-10:00am: Traditional water ceremony
10:00-11:00am: Painting of Obama tipi: The public will add their hand and thumbprints to the traditional canvas liner of the tipi for President Obama, which will be accepted on his behalf by the Museum of the American Indian.
11:00am-2:00pm: Ceremony and Procession by the Capitol: More than 5,000 people are expected to join the Cowboy Indian Alliance in a ceremony at the encampment and then a procession by the Capitol to demonstrate opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. At the end of the procession, tribal leaders will present a tipi to the director of the Museum of the American Indian, painted by the week's participants to honor President Obama.
Sunday, April 27: Closing Ceremony
9:00-10:00am: Traditional water ceremony
11:00am-12:00pm: Closing Ceremony: Tribal elders will lead the Cowboy and Indian Alliance and supporters in a traditional closing ceremony to end the encampment. The ceremony will include a commitment to further opposition to Keystone XL and all tar sands pipelines.
###
Statements in support of Reject and Protect:
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader among the Dakota, Lakota, Nakota people:
"Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of mankind. Do you think that the creator would create unnecessary people in a time of danger? Know that you are essential to this world. The biggest cancer spreading upon Mother Earth is the tar sands."
Tom Genung, Nebraska Landowner:
"As a land owner and a pipeline fighter, it is an honor and privilege to stand together with tribal brothers and sisters. It is our duty to protect the sacred for the seven generations to come. We stand together as one people working together to help President Obama take measures for clean environmental decisions which includes denial of TransCanada's permit which has no legal route in our great state of Nebraska."
Chief Reuben George, Tsleil-Waututh:
"One thing I can say right off the bat is that we are winning. When we come together like this, we become stronger. There is no price for our water and lands. The lessons we receive from Mother Earth is to become better human beings. We give back to the earth and the land. The pipelines do not do that. We are going to win!"
Hilton Kelley, Founder and Director of Community In-Power and Development Association:
"The people living on the Gulf of Mexico in the City of Port Arthur, TX and Houston, TX are disproportionately impacted by refinery and chemical plant emissions. A large number of our residents at this present time are suffering from respiratory issues, cancer and liver and kidney disease, If the tarsands material is piped into our community for refining at the neighboring plants, there will be a serious increase in the emission levels into the very air we breathe. Our state government has not been much help in supporting our efforts to reduce the toxins in our air; we most certainly hope that we can depend on our federal Government to protect those in the low income and people of color communities as well as all others."
Bill McKibben, 350.org Founder:
"It was native people and Nebraska ranchers that really started this battle, and so it's so fitting that they're the ones leading this last appeal to the president to do the right thing. We've gone wrong in this country before when we didn't listen to its original inhabitants; let's hope Keystone becomes the opportunity to show we're wising up."
Faith Spotted Eagle, Yankton Sioux:
"We are writing a new history by standing on common ground by preventing the black snake of Keystone XL from risking our land and water. We have thousands of Native sacred sites that will be affected adversely. The Americans facing eminent domain now know what it felt like for us to lose land to a foreign country. There is no fairness or rationale to justify the risk of polluting our waterways with benzene and other carcinogens. Native people are ready to speak for the four-leggeds and the grandchildren who cannot speak for themselves. The answer is no pipeline."
Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director:
"The April 26 'Reject and Protect' march will focus on the communities on the front line of the Keystone XL tar sands fight. Dirty tar sands threaten our climate, and they threaten the health and well-being of the people who live along the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline route. For these families, nothing short of their water, land, and their children's safety is at stake. The Sierra Club is proud to stand with these communities and call on President Obama to reject dirty and dangerous tar sands once and for all."
Roger Milk, Rosebud Sioux:
"This just isn't an Indian thing. We all drink the same water."
Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska Executive Director:
"Tribal and ranching communities protect our neighbors first and foremost. That is at our core. We will bring our pipeline fighting spirit to Washington, DC in order for President Obama to see our faces so he knows he is not making a decision about a line on a map, he is making a decision about our families and our neighbors. The President said he wants to be able to look at his daughters and say 'yes he did' do everything he could to combat climate change. We intend to ensure he honors his word."
Gary Dorr, Nez Perce, Shielding the People Media Coordinator:
"We will Stand the Line."
Maura Cowley, Energy Action Coalition Executive Director:
"Indigenous communities and ranchers are fighting to stop Keystone XL as a matter of survival, and it's time that we and President Obama stand with them to stop this dirty and destructive project from ruining their land and water. For too long indigenous communities have encouraged us to look out for future generations and our country has ignored them. This must end with the Keystone decision, nothing short of our future is at stake."
Becky Bond, CREDO Political Director:
"People literally living on the frontlines of our fight against Keystone XL will be taking their case directly to the president in April. We stand in solidarity with the ranchers and tribes whose lands and waters face imminent danger from the imposition of a dirty pipeline by a foreign oil company. And CREDO joins over 86,000 people who are willing to risk arrest if necessary to back up that solidarity with action."
###
List of endorsing organizations and tribes (which is being added to every day): https://rejectandprotect.org
Pictures open for press to use:https://www.flickr.com/photos/boldnebraska/sets/72157642071331564/
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
'Should Be a Global Wake-Up Call': Coral Reefs Suffer Fourth Mass Bleaching Event
"The announcement of the fourth global bleaching event is an urgent call to do two things: reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work together to prioritize resilient coral reefs for conservation."
Apr 16, 2024
Scientists said Monday that the world's coral reefs are facing a fourth global bleaching event as the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency pushes ocean temperatures to record highs, imperiling the critical underwater ecosystems that sustain thousands of species.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)—which NOAA co-chairs—said they documented coral bleaching in the northern and southern hemispheres of every major ocean basin on Earth between February 2023 and April of this year. It could be the worst global bleaching event on record.
"Since early 2023, mass bleaching of coral reefs has been confirmed throughout the tropics including Florida in the U.S.; the Caribbean; Brazil; the eastern Tropical Pacific (including Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia); Australia's Great Barrier Reef; large areas of the South Pacific (including Fiji, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Samoas, and French Polynesia); the Red Sea (including the Gulf of Aqaba); the Persian Gulf; and the Gulf of Aden," the organizations said in a statement.
"NOAA has received confirmation of widespread bleaching across other parts of the Indian Ocean basin as well, including in Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Tromelin, Mayotte, and off the western coast of Indonesia," they added.
"More than half the reefs on the planet have basically experienced bleaching-level heat stress in the last year."
Derek Manzello, coordinator of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch, said that "as the world's oceans continue to warm, coral bleaching is becoming more frequent."
Excessively warm water causes corals to expel algae from their tissues, causing the organisms to turn white. While they can recover, such bleaching is evidence that corals are under significant stress and at risk of death.
The latest global bleaching event is the second in the last 10 years and "should be a global wake-up call," Manzello toldThe Washington Post.
"More than half the reefs on the planet have basically experienced bleaching-level heat stress in the last year," said Manzello.
NOAA and ICRI's statement comes as scientists around the world are voicing growing alarm over high ocean temperatures. Research released last month showed that global ocean surface temperatures had broken records every day of the year up to that point, underscoring the need to aggressively rein in fossil fuel production and use.
"Temperatures are off the charts," Emily Darling, director of coral reefs at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said Monday. "While many corals are suffering from extreme heat stress and bleaching, some locations and species show different types of natural resilience. Finding and conserving these priority coral reefs are critical to any global strategy to safeguard the planet's oceans and blue economies."
"The announcement of the fourth global bleaching event is an urgent call to do two things: reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work together to prioritize resilient coral reefs for conservation," Darling added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Green Group Slams EPA Failure to Curb 'Dangerous Levels of Air Pollution'
"Air pollution standards must protect endangered plants and wildlife, but the agency failed to follow the law, or the science, to fully address this toxic air pollution's harms to the environment," said one attorney.
Apr 15, 2024
The Center for Biological Diversity on Monday lamented what it called the Biden administration's failure to improve "outdated" limits on nitrogen and soot air pollution.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed keeping existing secondary national ambient air quality standards for sulfur and nitrogen oxides after estimating that new benchmarks previously put forth would result in reduced pollution from sources including coal-fired power plants.
However, Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) staff attorney Ryan Maher argued that "the EPA failed to seize this important opportunity to better protect plants and animals from these toxic pollutants."
"Since the EPA's last review of these pollution standards, the science showing the ecological harm from soot, sulfur, and nitrogen air pollution has become more certain."
"Since the EPA's last review of these pollution standards, the science showing the ecological harm from soot, sulfur, and nitrogen air pollution has become more certain," Maher added. "Rather than aligning its standards with this new research, the EPA has chosen to perpetuate dangerous levels of air pollution."
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to set primary, or health-based, and secondary, or welfare-based, "national ambient air quality standards" for pollutants including sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter—better known as soot. However, the EPA has failed to update the secondary standards for nitrogen and sulfur air pollution for more than half a century. Key portions of the EPA's secondary soot standards also haven't been updated in decades.
According to the CBD:
The agency published today's proposal under an agreement that resulted from a 2022 lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health. That agreement requires the agency to finalize its decision on the air quality standards no later than December 10, 2024.
The agency will hold a virtual public hearing on the proposed rule on May 8.
Critics have also called out the EPA for not completing a mandatory Endangered Species Act consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Services about how pollution levels allowed under the proposed standards could harm endangered plants and animals.
"Air pollution standards must protect endangered plants and wildlife, but the agency failed to follow the law, or the science, to fully address this toxic air pollution's harms to the environment," Maher noted.
Separately, green groups including Earthjustice, Sierra Club, California Communities Against Toxins, and Southwestern Environmental Law Center on Monday welcomed the EPA's decision to deny an industry petition to delist energy turbines as a major source of air pollution.
"Today's decision upholds critical environmental protections that are essential for safeguarding public health, particularly in communities that have historically borne the brunt of industrial pollution," Earthjustice director of federal clean air practice James Pew said in a statement.
"Keeping pollution control requirements in place is not just a matter of regulatory compliance; it's a fundamental environmental justice issue," Pew added. "EPA did the right thing by rejecting industry's attempt to dodge these requirements and get a free pass to pollute."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Sunrise Protesters Arrested at VP's House Demanding Biden Declare a Climate Emergency
"We deserve an administration who will fight for us, but instead of declaring a climate emergency, we are seeing Biden and Harris expand oil and gas production to record levels."
Apr 15, 2024
Six young activists were arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris' Los Angeles home on Monday while calling on the White House to declare a climate emergency, according to the youth-led Sunrise Movement.
Harris and President Joe Biden–Democrats who are seeking reelection in November—campaigned as climate champions in the 2020 cycle but have had a mixed record on the topic since entering office.
"My generation is spending our teenage years organizing for climate action because people like Kamala Harris have failed us," said Adah Crandall, one of the activists arrested after blockading the street outside her California residence overnight.
"We're ready to do whatever it takes to win a climate emergency declaration—we will camp out overnight, we will get arrested, we will mobilize our peers by the thousands to win the world we deserve," the 18-year-old continued. "The Biden administration are cowards for not standing with young people."
"The Biden administration are cowards for not standing with young people."
The White House has been praised for climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act as well was a recent pause on liquefied natural gas exports. However, the president has also faced criticism for continuing fossil fuel lease sales, backing the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Willow oil project, and skipping last year's United Nations summit.
Just last week, the Biden administration approved a license for a pipeline company to build the nation's largest offshore oil terminal off of Texas' Gulf Coast—despite surging fossil fuel pollution that is pushing up global temperatures.
Sunrise last week condemned the approval as "very disappointing" and also joined with Campus Climate Network and Fridays for Future USA to announce Earth Day demonstrations intended to pressure Biden to declare a climate emergency.
Biden
claimed last year that "practically speaking," he had already declared a national climate emergency; however, as campaigners and experts have stressed, actually doing so would unlock various federal powers to tackle the fossil fuel-driving crisis.
"Our communities in California breathe toxic air from fossil fuels and face fires that destroy our homes," noted 18-year-old Ariela Lara, who was arrested at Harris' home.
"I'm on the frontlines raising my voice for my Black and Latine families and friends," Lara added, "because I know that we deserve to have affordable housing and healthcare, we deserve an administration who will fight for us, but instead of declaring a climate emergency, we are seeing Biden and Harris expand oil and gas production to record levels."
The action targeting Harris came after a February protest at Biden's campaign headquarters in Delaware that also led to arrests.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular