By Jack Healy and Nicholas Fandos CANNON BALL, N.D. — The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won a major victory on Sunday in its battle to block an oil pipeline being built near its reservation when the Department of the Army announced that it would not allow the pipeline to be drilled under a dammed section of the Missouri
MORE »Year: 2016
Even as Trudeau Reaches Out to First Nations, Mercury Rises, New York Times ($)
OpinionOP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Stephen Marche · New York Times · Nov. 27, 2016 Billy Gauthier, an Inuk artist who lives in Labrador on Canada’s remote northeastern coast, began his hunger strike on Oct. 13 after a plate of salmon. The meal was highly symbolic. The Nunatsiavut government in Labrador had released a study from a Harvard mercury researcher on the effects
MORE »How Benicia Valero Crude By Rail was Defeated, Benicia Independent
Three (or 10 or 12, or maybe 40?) factors… What happened in Benicia was amazing. It’s well worth our time as community activists and organizers to reflect a bit on how David went up against Goliath and won. I was there from the beginning in this Benicia episode, so I have a story to tell.
MORE »Canada’s Big Dams Produce Clean Energy, and High Levels of Mercury, New York Times ($)
By Ian Austen • Nov. 10, 2016 OTTAWA — Protests. Hunger strikes. Sit-ins that disrupt construction. At the immense Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam project in a remote and rugged part of Labrador, the indigenous people who live nearby have been raising louder and louder alarms. But it is not about the dam itself. The controversy is
MORE »How Dams Risk Poisoning Indigenous Diets, The Atlantic ($)
A new hydroelectric facility in Canada could push dangerous amounts of methylmercury into communities that rely on seafood. Joshua Sokol · November 9, 2016 On October 13, Billy Gauthier, an Inuk sculptor in Labrador, Canada, uploaded a picture of what he called his “last meal” to Facebook. It showed the split head and tail of a smoked
MORE »Indigenous leaders tell Muskrat Falls protesters to ‘go home’, Globe and Mail ($)
The Canadian Press • Published: October 26, 2016ST. JOHN’S, N.L. Indigenous leaders and the Newfoundland and Labrador government are telling protesters at the site of the Muskrat Falls hydro project they can “go home.” The leaders emerged from a marathon meeting with Premier Dwight Ball early Wednesday touting significant progress made to address environmental concerns with the
MORE »Scientists back Inuit in efforts to limit mercury poisoning risk from Muskrat Falls hydro project, CBC
Agreement between N.L. and Inuit leaders a victory for ‘evidence-based decision-making,’ geographer says Sheena Goodyear · CBC News · Posted: Oct 26, 2016 4:56 PM ET | Last Updated: October 26, 2016 An almost two-week occupation at the site of a multibillon-dollar hydroelectric project in Labrador is winding down after Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball vowed to make all future
MORE »Methylmercury levels expected to rise at Muskrat Falls reservoir: Nalcor, Globe and Mail ($)
The Canadian Press · Published: October 19, 2016ST. JOHN’S, N.L. Methylmercury levels are expected to rise in the reservoir created by construction of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador, officials with Nalcor Energy confirmed Wednesday, saying local residents can eventually expect an advisory warning them to limit their consumption of fish. The prediction came
MORE »Inuk artist on hunger strike to push for clearing of Muskrat Falls reservoir, CBC
‘Without Lake Melville, my family couldn’t have survived in this area,’ says Billy Gauthier CBC News · Posted: Oct 14, 2016 12:47 PM NT | Last Updated: October 14, 2016 An Inuk artist from Labrador says he’s going on a hunger strike until Nalcor commits to fully clearing the Muskrat Falls reservoir. Billy Gauthier ate what he
MORE »N.L. promises to re-examine Muskrat Falls reservoir clearing as Indigenous groups push for change, CBC
Muskrat Falls will ‘lose everything’ if initial flooding doesn’t proceed as planned: Environment Minister Bailey White · CBC News · Posted: Oct 04, 2016 8:28 AM NT | Last Updated: October 4, 2016 After months of protest from Inuit and other Indigenous groups over Muskrat Falls flooding — including a demonstration this past Monday at the construction site — the province’s minister of environment
MORE »Council denies Valero Crude-By Rail Project, Benicia Herald
By Donna Beth Weilenman • Martinez News Gazette Benicia City Council has unanimously denied a use permit for the controversial Valero Crude-By-Rail project, citing a federal board decision as well as a June 3 derailment that spilled 42,000 gallons of crude oil and caused a fire that burned 14 hours.But the matter didn’t end Tuesday
MORE »Benicia: Valero crude oil-by-rail facility rejected by City Council, Mercury News
BENICIA — Environmentalists hoping to defeat Benicia’s crude-by-rail project scored a huge victory Tuesday night, handing Valero Refining Company a significant defeat in the process. In a unanimous decision from Mayor Elizabeth Patterson and the City Council, Valero’s application for a conditional use permit for a crude oil off-loading facility was denied. Vicki Dennis, who moved to
MORE »Benicia nixes Valero plan to run crude oil trains through Sacramento, Davis, Roseville, The Sacramento Bee ($)
By Tony Bizjak | UPDATED SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 3:28 PM The Benicia City Council on Tuesday unanimously rejected a controversial plan by the Valero Refining Co. to ship crude oil aboard trains through Sacramento and other Northern California cities to its bayside refinery. The 5-0 vote, taken after four years of bitter debate, represents a
MORE »Gambling with House Money, Earthjustice Blog
Go inside the trial of Tesoro-Savage, a crude oil shipping terminal proposed for the banks of the Columbia River. By Kristen Boyles & Janette Brimmer | Northwest Office When is a proposed project too risky, too much of a roll of the dice? Put another way, how much risk should communities and the environment be expected to bear
MORE »Pacific Northwest Weighs Response to Risks Posed by Oil Trains, New York Times ($)
By Kirk Johnson | July 31, 2016 MOSIER, Ore. — The Chinook salmon that Randy Settler and other Yakama tribal fishermen are pulling from the Columbia River are large and plentiful this summer, part of one of the biggest spawning runs since the 1960s. It is a sign, they say, of the river’s revitalization, through pollution
MORE »EFSEC hearings: Oil terminal opponents have their turn, The Columbian
Merits, risks continue to be weighed at adjudication hearings for Vancouver Energy proposal. By Brooks Johnson, Columbian Business Reporter | Published: July 16, 2016, 5:22pm The bells rang on the first round of oil terminal hearings this week as opponents started calling witnesses in the trial-like process guiding the fate of the Tesoro Corp. and Savage Cos. proposal.
MORE »Quebec’s Jean Charest had private meeting with pipeline watchdog after TransCanada hired him, National Observer ($)
By Mike De Souza | News, Energy | July 7th 2016 Jean Charest gave political advice to members of a federal panel reviewing a major TransCanada Corp. pipeline project in a private meeting while he was under contract with the Alberta-based company, says Grégory Larroque, the spokesman and counsel for the former Quebec premier. The meeting, held at the downtown Montreal
MORE »Liberals kick off widespread review of how natural resource development projects are approved, CBC
2 expert panels and 2 parliamentary committees to review laws and assessment processes Peter Zimonjic • CBC News • Posted: Jun 20, 2016 3:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 20, 2016 The Trudeau government has begun a review of the processes and methods it uses to decide which natural resource development projects will be approved or rejected. The
MORE »PennEast Pipeline In A Tailspin Of Delay And Uncertainty As Opposition By Legislators, Regulators, And The Public Grows, Cision PR Newswire
Multiple Gas Pipelines in the U.S. Halted as Difficulties Abound for Beleaguered Fossil Fuel Projects News Provided by ReThink Energy NJ • Jun 09, 2016, 12:40 ET STOCKTON, N.J., June 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — According to ReThink Energy NJ, PennEast’s proposed pipeline project in NJ and PA is considerably delayed in gaining necessary approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory
MORE »California Attorney General Kamala Harris challenges Benicia oil plan, The Sacramento Bee ($)
By Tony Bizjak, April 14, 2016 4:29 PM • Updated April 15, 2016 7:21 AM California Attorney General Kamala Harris weighed in on Benicia’s ongoing oil train debate on Thursday, arguing that the city has a legal right to reject a local refinery’s oil train plan and the obligation to review environmental risks. The debate involves
MORE »California planners reject Valero oil-by-rail project, Reuters
By Kristen Hays HOUSTON (Reuters) – Valero Energy Corp’s proposed oil-by-rail project at its northern California refinery was quashed by local planners this week, the first such facility on the U.S. West Coast to end a years-long wait for permits with a rejection. The Benicia Planning Commission late Thursday unanimously renounced Valero’s request to build the
MORE »South Dakota: Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Renewed, New York Times ($)
By The Associated Press • Jan. 5, 2016 State regulators on Tuesday again approved the section of the Keystone XL oil pipeline that would go through South Dakota, despite the project’s stalled status at the federal level. The Public Utilities Commission’s decision also hinges on a requirement that TransCanada Corporation receive a presidential permit for the
MORE »