Tag Archives: Standing Rock

7/5 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Hello friends! Hope you all had a great 4th and are recovering well enough. As I catch up on the news this morning I’ll post the better findings in the comments and encourage you to do the same (as well as to write your own posts)! Until I figure out whats slowing us down I’ll skip the video of the day in the main-post to see if that helps a bit. Any issues can be reported in the comments, TPW-Mail, or tpwhelpdesk@[google].

Starting off with:

Local boy petitions Senator Ron Johnson for lifesaving health care

While the Republican bill in the United States Senate continues to suffer from recent setbacks, residents of Wisconsin have remained committed to stop the Ryan-Trump Health Care Plan. At stake is the loss of health coverage for 22 million Americans, with a direct impact to Milwaukee’s underserved population.

One of the challengers for Paul Ryan’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic congressional candidate Cathy Myers, launched a petition drive to stop the roll back of vital ACA protections. The 1,600 signatures were collected to urge a No vote by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson.

“The Ryan-Trump Health Care Bill stacks the deck against working people, middle-class families, and anyone who has a pre-existing condition. Whether your health care covers patients with genetic disorders as rare as Jack’s or people who have undergone routine C-sections like myself. The bottom line is that this bill touches all of our lives, and so many stand to lose.”

Among those supporters delivering the petition was a 9-year-old boy named Jack, who Myers met on a motorcycle trip through Wisconsin in early June. Jack suffers from a rare genetic disease, and his situation highlights the dangers proposed by the pending bill, which would end his medical treatments.

“I was born with this pre-existing condition that makes me have no antibodies. It’s called Bruton’s X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia, or XLA,” said Jack. When asked what would happen if he lost his health care, he added, “Basically, I dіе.”

Cathy for Congress

6/29 News Roundup – Bayou Bridge & Keystone XL Pipeline Resistance, Turner Takes Over As Our Revolution president & More

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Resistance Grows Against Bayou Bridge Pipeline

Native communities and environmental justice advocates in Louisiana opened a new resistance camp Saturday to oppose the proposed Bayou Bridge Pipeline project. Called L’eau Est La Vie, or Water is Life, the camp will consist of floating indigenous art structures on rafts and constant prayer ceremonies during its first two weeks.

The Bayou Bridge project, owned in part by Dakota Access Pipeline owner Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), would transport crude oil over 163 miles of natural heritage swampland to a terminal in St. James Parish in Louisiana. St. James residents and environmental advocates recently filed suit to overturn the pipeline’s permit, claiming that the state did not adequately address impacts of a potential spill on the community or surrounding wetlands.

“Once again Indigenous communities are being put in harm’s way and over 700 bodies of water will be threatened by one of the worst environmental offenders known to date,” said the Indigenous Environmental Network in a statement. “We stand with the Water Protectors here in southern Louisiana to protect these critical wetlands that serve as protection for the people of this region from floods and storms.”

The Indigenous Environmental Network announced the opening of the camp with the video above explaining why completion of the Bayou Bridge pipeline must be stopped.

Meanwhile In Nebraska:

Hundreds again pack meeting room, again disagree on Keystone XL

Nebraska residents again pack a room and Nebraska residents again offer drastically different views of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Hundreds attended the third public meeting held by the Nebraska Public Service Commission on TransCanada’s application to cross the state and complete the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline. This time the setting was the Divots Conference Center in Norfolk.

Becky Van Housen, who farms in York and Polk Counties, told commissioners she worries about the impact on the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies ten wells on her farm.

“This proposed Keystone XL pipeline cannot be allowed to cross the Ogallala Aquifer,” Van Housen stated. “A spill to the Ogallala Aquifer would not only threaten the drinking water of millions of Americans, but threaten the livelihood of hundreds and thousands of farmers and ranchers.”

More news/video/etc. in the comments, see you there!

6/10 The People’s Summit, Evening 2 in Progressive Land & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Good Evening! It’s been quite a conference so far. And McCormick is a huge convention center! I just saw Rob Quist and Rep Pramilla Jayapal. Great talk. More in the comments! Nina is busy at her new job with The Real News. This evening’s keynote speaker is Senator Bernie Sanders.   The title of the program is The Political Revolution Now.   It’s scheduled for 7-8:30PM. The livestream link is below, once you click on it, it takes you to a yet link. People’ Summit via Our Revolution … Continue reading →

5/11 News Roundup & Open Thread – The DAPL Is Already Leaking, Sanders To Debate Kasich, Quist Gains Ground & More

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Dakota Access pipeline has first leak before fully operational

The Dakota Access pipeline has suffered its first leak, outraging indigenous groups who have long warned that the project poses a threat to the environment.

The $3.8bn oil pipeline, which sparked international protests last year and is not yet fully operational, spilled 84 gallons of crude oil at a South Dakota pump station, according to government regulators.

Although state officials said the 6 April leak was contained and quickly cleaned, critics of the project said the spill, which occurred as the pipeline is in the final stages of preparing to transport oil, raises fresh concerns about the potential hazards to waterways and Native American sites.

“They keep telling everybody that it is state of the art, that leaks won’t happen, that nothing can go wrong,” said Jan Hasselman, a lawyer for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has been fighting the project for years. “It’s always been false. They haven’t even turned the thing on and it’s shown to be false.”

..

Standing Rock Sioux tribe chairman Dave Archambault II said the spill is another sign that the courts should intervene.

“Our lawsuit challenging this dangerous project is ongoing, and it’s more important than ever for the court to step in and halt additional accidents before they happen – not just for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and our resources but for the 17 million people whose drinking water is at risk,” he said in a statement.

The company and the state made no announcements about the spill after it occurred.

More from CommonDreams:

The ‘Told You So’ Everyone Was Dreading—First DAPL Spill Reported

“As far as this happening during the start-up, I don’t want to make it sound like a major event, but the fact that you had oil leaving the tank says there’s something not right with their procedures,” longtime pipeline infrastructure expert Richard B. Kuprewicz said to Dakota Media Group. “They might have been trying to hurry.”

Joye Braun, of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe (one of those still engaged in a legal battle to shut down the pipeline), cited Kuprewicz when explaining why the news was so concerning.

“This leak hits close to home, my home,” Braun said. “We have always said it’s not if, but when, pipelines leak, and to have someone like Richard B. Kuprewicz—a pipeline infrastructure expert and incident investigator with more than 40 years of energy industry experience—question the integrity and building practices of Dakota Access says something pretty serious could go wrong.”

“That worries me,” she continued. “South Dakota already faces water shortages and our livelihoods depend on water, from ranching and farming to healthcare. Do we have more spills just waiting to happen? This is our home, our land, and our water. This just proves their hastiness is fueled by greed not in the best interest for tribes or the Dakotas.”

News from elsewhere in the country this week hardly helps ETP’s case.

Following two spills of millions of gallons of drilling fluids into Ohio wetlands last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has “curtailed work” on ETP’s Rover gas pipeline, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

A lot more news in the comments. Hope to see you there!