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Today, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with pesticide manufacturer Bayer in Monsanto Company v. Durnell, ruling that federal law preempts lawsuits brought by cancer patients who allege its Roundup product was to blame for their disease. The Trump administration sided with Bayer in the litigation. The ruling extends this legal shield to all pesticide corporations, leaving patients harmed by these toxic agricultural chemicals without the recourse of litigation that has cost Bayer billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, Senator Cory Booker’s introduced Pesticide Injury Accountability Act would restore the right to sue over pesticide harms.

In response, Food & Water Watch Legal Director Tarah Heinzen issued the following statement:

“Once again, the Supreme Court has sided with big business over people and the environment. Today’s ruling is a disaster for public health — and it has Trump’s name written all over it. If one needed any further proof that the president’s feigned mission to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ was a farce, today’s decision is all the evidence needed. Trump has been all too willing to endorse Bayer’s crusade to pollute with impunity, while the administration doubles down on a failed pesticide regulatory scheme.

“Industrial agriculture is poisoning America. The fight against toxic pesticides does not end here. Congress must pass the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act to safeguard access to justice for all harmed by these toxic chemicals, and a Farm Bill that finally puts public health first. Until then, the Supreme Court has shut the courthouse doors to tens of thousands of sick and suffering Americans.”

Today’s ruling comes despite a litany of evidence suggesting that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Bayer’s ubiquitous Roundup pesticide, is carcinogenic, and that the Environmental Protection Agency’s pesticide registration process is fatally flawed. The World Health Organization has defined glyphosate as a probable carcinogen since 2015. Roundup is the most widely used pesticide in the United States.

The decision completes Bayer’s yearslong, well-financed quest to stifle cancer lawsuits cutting into its bottom line. Since purchasing Monsanto in 2018, Bayer has spent over $11 billion settling over 100,000 cancer lawsuits related to Roundup. Bayer has been pushing widely-opposed Cancer Gag Act bills nationwide, seeking to shield pesticide corporations from health-related lawsuits in multiple states and Congress. So far this year, the immunity legislation has failed in 11 states and was stripped from the House Farm Bill and left out of the Senate version.

In an act deemed “going apeshit against enemies of the Reich,” two judges just levied brutal prison sentences of 30 to 100 years, a combined penance of 450 years, on eight anti-ICE members of a scary if imaginary “North Texas Antifa cell” convicted of terrorist-abetting “crimes” like protesting, lighting fireworks and moving a box of zines. The case, widely seen as a test of regime efforts to criminalize dissent or any unwelcome speech, moved one defendant to muse, “What kind of people are not against fascism?”

The grievous injustice against the group, dubbed The Prairieland Defendants for the ICE concentration camp they were protesting, comes amidst almost daily court victories elsewhere against the regime. Last week, three key rulings in federal district courts saw judges strike down administration election meddling, abuses against immigrants and, in a blistering 29-page decision, “blatantly unlawful and unethical use” of a grand-jury subpoena targeting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. To date, there have been at least 272 wins against Trump, several from judges he appointed; after one especially irksome loss, Stephen Goebbels memorably whined, “Judge Sparkle (sic) decrees that America belongs to any random alien on Planet Earth.”

Faced with mounting losses in other endeavors - wars, pools, polls - more regime lackeys are also getting testy. Newly back from having a baby but still hyper-toxic, Press Barbie went on Hannity to shriek about “deranged leftists desecrating our federal monuments” with algae: “Only the Democrats could hate beautifying our Capitol.” Of six people arrested for “vandalism” - more than for raping minors - many are “longtime donors to the Democrat Party,” who “completely destroyed our country,” also to “Barack Hussein Obama” and, gasp, ACTBlue. With fear-mongering truly all they’ve got, Hannity joined in on Dem “radicals...You’ve got Mr. Nazi Tattoo Platner, and six-gender, God-is-non-binary Talarico, and Pocahontas, and Mamdani...”

Amidst a “rolling coup“ in an increasingly fascist America, where threats from the left have always loomed larger than on the right and today’s despots cling frantically to a power they somehow know is illegitimate, it’s little wonder principled citizens protesting vulnerable brown people being locked up in concentration camps have become ”the new Red Scare.“ It’s helpful to remember that everything earlier autocrats did - Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet - was legal; they just changed the rules to do it. ”This is Soviet shit,“ wrote one observer, summoning the terror of Stalin’s staged show trials in the 1930s to eliminate most of Lenin’s staff and other ”saboteurs,“ from Bukharin to, via pickaxe, Trotsky exiled in Mexico; in the end, only ”Stalin the Executioner“ remained.

The “legal,” in Trump’s case, was last year’s menacing national security directive “NSPM-7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” which explicitly declared a fictional Antifa - in fact any American who opposes fascism, supports the rule of law and uses their First Amendment rights to defend it - a “MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION” and “SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER,” whether “it exists or not.” Prairieland, the first case successfully brought under NSPM-7, tests the state’s ability to quell dissent by perceived “enemies,” and could shape a future playbook for using the Antifa label - and “creative and highly theoretical claims by the state” - as “a catchall designation to criminalize activists writ large.”

The surreal sentences inflicted this week on eight mostly non-violent Prairieland activists came three months after their convictions on terrorism and other charges stemming from last year's July 4 protest at the for-profit Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. The action began as a noise demonstration, a typically safe, festive event where fireworks are set off "to remind people inside they are not forgotten." That day, it devolved into vandalism - of cars, a guard shack, a security camera - by several protesters. Some brought guns - a red flag to many activists, but common in open-carry Texas where queer or trans people can face armed counter-protesters. When one cop drew his weapon, a protester in the nearby woods shot him in the shoulder.

At trial, eight defendants - Autumn Hill, Zachary Evetts, Benjamin Hanil Song, Savanna Batten, Meagan Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada - were convicted of rioting and explosive charges, and "providing material support to terrorists." They are much like protesters anywhere: teachers, engineers, tattoo artists, animal-lovers, anti-ICE advocates, parents, straight, queer, trans, vegan. Some had organized the action together, some produced anarchist zines and belonged to a book club named for anarchist Emma Goldman, who 99 years ago this month was arrested on conspiracy charges for organizing against the First World War draft; some were members of a Socialist gun club; some weren't even at the protest.

From the outset, the regime played hardball. The DOJ called them “members of a North Texas Antifa cell“; the indictment said Antifa "is a militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups primarily ascribed to a revolutionary anarchist or autonomous Marxist ideology.” They were held on multimillion-dollar bonds in squalid jail cells, denied medical care, frequently strip-searched; two trans women were held - unsafely, illegally - in men's facilities. State agents ransacked homes, detained children, used flash-bang grenades to intimidate, went after anyone in their political orbit, often unearthing new charges. It was, one defendant said, "a nightmare made real...seeing the prosecution jump from lie to lie," abuse to abuse.

The case became a sinister "laboratory" where constitutionally protected free speech and civil disobedience became "rioting" and solidarity became "conspiracy." Fireworks were “explosives," a home where friends gathered a "staging area," black clothing and the use of encrypted Signal a way "to aid and abet those engaged in illegal acts." A home printer became "a printing press" producing "insurrectionary materials" - anti-fascist zines, handouts of "8 Things You Can Do To Stop ICE," packets of vegetable seeds, poems, patches, bumper stickers of swastikas X-ed out and “Zines Are Not A Crime." A teacher had home-made first aid kits he used to bring to school in case of a shooting; feds used their presence as evidence protesters had planned violence.

The shocking sentencing hearings were held by two judges, one each appointed by Bush and Trump, in two Fort Worth courtrooms. They were inexplicably scheduled even before either judge heard long-filed motions to overturn convictions in a trial, lawyers argued, "saturated with evidence designed to evoke fear, political bias, and guilt by association" and widely deemed "untethered from credible evidence or witness testimony." Prosecutors folded into the case people who didn't help plan the protest, weren't there, or left when police asked them to. An attorney for Hill cited no evidence they believed in violence; Hill was so conscientious they stayed after the fireworks went off to pick up trash left behind; she still got a 50-year sentence.

The case ostensibly centered on the alleged attempted murder of the cop shot in the shoulder. Marine Corps reservist Benjamin "Champagne" Song said they were in the woods and fired "a warning shot" to distract the cop when he drew his gun on another protester; citing Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Song said, “I never want to see good people, standing for what they believe in, gunned down." Song charges the state is imposing "collective punishment, guilt by association" on other activists, and the facts of the shooting remain unclear; feds first said there were multiple shooters and rounds fired, then said they have no medical records from the hospital where the cop was reportedly quickly released. Still, Song was given a 100-year sentence.

Batten, Evetts, Hill, Morris, and Soto each got 50 years for rioting, providing support to terrorists, and conspiracy to use an explosive ie: attending a loud protest. Said Soto, trying to laugh, "I guess they didn't like my book club." Rueda was sentenced to 70 years for also conspiring to "conceal documents" by asking her husband Sanchez-Estrada, not at the protest, to remove a box of zines from their house. "Being guilty of possessing literature is a concept fundamentally incompatible with a free society," said one advocate. "We don’t need a constitutional right to possess only what the government likes." Sanchez-Estrada got a 30-year sentence for moving the box. "I am a father, a husband, a teacher, a poet," he told the judge. "I am many things, Your Honor, but I am not a terrorist."

Many observers noted all the sentences were far harsher than those handed down to Jan. 6 rioters - who were then pardoned - or even the longest sentences for murder or rape - this, though prosecutors offered almost no evidence of the alleged crimes. And despite their obsession with the lethal threat posed by imaginary Antifa forces, even the judges questioned the need to mention "antifa" to jurors, who in turn seemed to reject Judge Reed O’Connor's narrative of "an ambush" and "assault on democracy" by acquitting everyone but Song of attempted murder. One legal expert said that fortuitous rejection underscored how easily prosecutors can fashion or twist the law to create a "conspiracy"; said one attorney, “People should be scared."

In total, 22 people have been charged in connection with the Prairieland protest. Five others took plea deals, another five have state charges pending, three more were indicted last month. Regime lackeys have gleefully touted their rare victory, with a hyperbolic DOJ press release blaring, "Leader of Antifa Cell Members Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison for Terrorist Attack on ICE Facility." After the trial, Pam Bondi gloated they'd taken down "Antifa" - repeated 16 times - to "finally halt their violence on America's streets." After sentencing, Todd Blanche celebrated the regime's "swift and uncompromising justice." Of villainous Antifa, he crowed, "Their violent extremism has no place in our country," presumably because only the fascist kind does.

As young activists mull lives stolen - and tenuously bank on appeals or pardons - their family, friends, supporters voice horror at “the absolute travesty” of the lies that led to their convictions and sentences. “We’ve fallen so far so fast it’s nose-bleed inducing,” said one. Another insisted, "The outcome of this trial is not the end. It is the beginning." Autumn Hill’s wife Lydia Koza said she is "livid in the face of this grotesque distortion of anything that could ever have called itself due process...There is no ‘appropriate’ sentence for a wholly fictitious crime." On their loved ones "being thrown away for the rest of their lives," one noted the regime's own actions "have proved the righteousness of their actions...This sentencing is a punishment for solidarity itself."

Finally, from Flying Penguin, a grim reminder the Prairieland fates mirror that of too many in a nation and world whose history is rife with 'other righteous "crimes": BLM protesters, Black Panthers, AIM activists, civil rights marchers, union workers, “your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” To wit: "Today’s news is Andrew Jackson, ordering Congress to criminalize antislavery speech. Today’s news is Stalin’s Article 58, where ‘anti-Soviet agitation’ was a crime that meant whatever it needed to. Today's news is the McCarthy-era ruling that upheld the conviction of Americans for organizing and teaching political theory.Today's news is South Africa’s 1967 Terrorism Act, making terrorism anything that endangers 'law and order.' Today’s news is Trump and a white police state." Warns Sanchez-Estrada, "People need to be aware - it’s not just the defendants on trial.”

Defendants clockwise from top left: Estrada-Sanchez; Song and Gibson; Hill and Koza; Batten; Sanchez; Elizabeth and Ines Soto; Morris and Hill Composite Image from Dallas-Fort Worth Support Committee

Today, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he is cancelling plans to sign major bipartisan legislation on housing affordability, threatening to veto the bill unless the anti-voter Save America Act is passed first.

Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:

“Donald Trump’s full-on commitment to authoritarianism could not be more clear: He’s happy to block enactment of a bipartisan bill to address, modestly, Americans number one stated concern — high housing prices — in order to drive forward his election sabotage agenda.

“It’s plain what Congress should do: Listen to the American people, not Donald Trump. Pass the housing bill over his veto, if he follows through with today’s threats. And reject his demand for anti-voter, anti-democracy legislation.”

The Trump administration has paid federal employees at least $11 billion – and likely much more – not to work, according to a new Public Citizen report. The total reflects only the lower end of estimated costs for the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) and it does not look at other federal efforts to reduce the number of federal workers.

The report dives into the gross mismanagement of taxpayer funds, the major personnel losses across government agencies and what, instead, the federal government could have spent $11 billion on effectively.

Here are some key findings:

• The Trump administration paid nearly 140,000 federal employees who took part in the Deferred Resignation Program at least $11 billion to stop working for the American public and to stay home or take vacation until they separated from federal service.

• More than 106,000 federal employees separated from federal service in September 2025 under the Deferred Resignation Program, and an additional 24,000 employees in the DRP left federal service by the end of December 2025.

• As a result of the DRP, the Department of Defense lost more than 48,000 civilian employees last year, the Department of Treasury lost 23,000 federal employees, and the Department of Agriculture more than 14,500 employees.

• Several federal court cases ruled that some of the Trump administration’s layoffs were illegal and demanded that terminated employees at the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior, Labor, and other agencies return to work. However, there are a multitude of ongoing court cases and some of those initial court decisions have been overruled in federal appeals courts.

• At least 10 federal agencies were forced to rehire employees that had chosen to take part in the Deferred Resignation Program because they realized these employees were essential to the agency’s Congressionally mandated work on behalf of all Americans.

“The Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government have been stupid, costly and deadly,” said Douglas Pasternak, Public Citizen researcher who authored the report. “The administration has spent more than $11 billion on the Deferred Resignation Program alone, paying 140,000 federal workers to stay home or take vacation while they were still being paid by the American taxpayer. Multiple agencies had to rehire those who took part in this program because Trump officials realized how vital they were to managing critical national programs. Even worse is the work left undone by the coerced departure of these workers, costing billions of dollars and putting untold numbers of lives at risk as the federal government fails to perform crucial functions.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed Amendment #2 to the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), submitted by Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jesús “Chuy” Garcia (D-IL), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

The bipartisan amendment would strike Section 219, formerly Section 224, the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” which would expand U.S.-Israel defense technology cooperation, research partnerships, intelligence coordination, and military-industrial integration.

CLICK HERE: READ CAIR’S LETTER

CAIR also called on the House Rules Committee to reject Amendment 151, which would expand federal anti-boycott restrictions to boycotts promoted by international governmental organizations (IGOs), including bodies such as the United Nations, and Amendment 362, which would require the Secretary of Defense to certify that Department of Defense contractors do not participate in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. Both amendments raise serious concerns about free speech and First Amendment protections.

Earlier today, CAIR submitted a letter to the House Rules Committee urging members to support Amendment 2 and oppose Amendments 151 and 362. Next week, the committee will consider all amendments to the House’s version of the NDAA. CAIR is urging every American to take action by sending a message to members of Congress to strike Section 219 to stop American military merger with the Israeli government.

TAKE ACTION NOW! – TELL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO BLOCK ALL U.S.-ISRAEL MILITARY MERGER BILLS

In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Department Director Robert McCaw said:

“Americans should never be asked to surrender their First Amendment rights to protect the political interests of a foreign government. Amendment 151 would further expand anti-boycott laws that chill peaceful political expression, while Amendment 362 would impose an ideological litmus test on federal contractors based on their participation in a constitutionally protected form of political advocacy.

“Congress was right to reject this anti-boycott proposal in committee last week, and it should reject this latest attempt to revive the same policy through the NDAA amendment process.

“At the same time, Section 219 would take the extraordinary step of further binding the United States and Israel through deeper military, intelligence, technological, and defense-industrial integration at a moment when the Israeli government stands accused of genocide, apartheid, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. As disturbing reports continue to emerge of torture, abuse, and sexual violence against Palestinian detainees, Congress should not be creating new mechanisms for military and technological integration that risk further implicating the United States in these abuses rather than helping bring them to an end.

“We urge every member of the House Rules Committee to reject Amendments 151 and 362, make Amendment 2 in order, and send a clear message that the constitutional rights of the American people, the principles of accountability, and the interests of our nation come before the demands of any foreign government.”

The proposed expansion of U.S.-Israel defense cooperation comes at a time when the Israeli government faces allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, apartheid, and genocide, as well as documented reports of abuse and sexual violence against Palestinian detainees, including children. Deepening military, intelligence, and technology integration under these circumstances risks further entangling the United States in actions that much of the international community has condemned and undermines efforts to secure accountability for violations of international law.

CAIR noted that last week, Rep. Michael Lawler (R-NY), who is sponsoring the IGO Anti-Boycott Act provision, was forced to withdraw the amendment before consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee following outreach from CAIRand other civil liberties advocates.

That earlier proposal sought to revive the controversial IGO Anti-Boycott Act by extending federal anti-boycott restrictions to boycotts associated with international governmental organizations such as the United Nations. For the past two years, CAIR has warned members of Congress that the measure threatened constitutionally protected political speech and advocacy and welcomed its withdrawal before last week’s markup.

On the four-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Reproductive Freedom for All announces the launch of My Body. My Ballot., a $23.5 million campaign to mobilize voters, hold anti-abortion politicians accountable, and elect reproductive freedom champions in key races across the country.

At the center of this campaign is a simple truth: support for abortion access is popular across party lines – more popular than any individual politician or political party. As many voters turn away from Trump and the MAGA movement because of their continued attacks on abortion access, Reproductive Freedom for All is seizing the opportunity to elect pro-abortion candidates up and down the ballot.

The campaign marks Reproductive Freedom for All’s largest-ever midterm electoral program and will focus on persuading and mobilizing voters – including independents, soft Republicans, and split-ticket voters – whose support for abortion access puts them at odds with Trump and his endorsed candidates. It will deploy a layered strategy that includes on-the-ground organizing, research, digital engagement, and political accountability. The program will include deep investments in direct voter contact, including coordinated canvassing programs designed in direct partnership with specific campaigns. It will also include relational organizing training with our members, with priority investments across Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, California, and Georgia. Top-tier targets will include AZ-06, MI-07, and NV-03 congressional districts, alongside critical statewide races and ballot initiatives. The campaign will also include a national communications and digital program designed to reach voters across legacy media, podcasts, creator platforms, and social media ecosystems where public opinion and cultural conversation are increasingly shaped.

Four years after Dobbs, reproductive freedom remains one of the most salient issues in American politics. Anti-abortion politicians and extremists have made clear they will not stop at overturning Roe. They are attacking medication abortion, undermining emergency abortion care, defunding Planned Parenthood, gutting Medicaid, and pushing policies that raise costs for families already struggling to make ends meet. My Body. My Ballot. seizes on a critical political moment as divisions deepen within the Republican Party. As anti-abortion groups pressure the Trump administration to go even further, Republicans are caught between a radical anti-abortion movement demanding a nationwide ban and the 8 in 10 voters who support legal abortion and overwhelmingly oppose political interference in personal medical decisions.

Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:

“Abortion is popular – more popular than any individual politician. What’s not popular is Trump and the MAGA movement, who continue to lose voter support with every new attack on abortion access. Instead of lowering costs or helping families plan their futures, MAGA Republicans have advanced policies that make it harder for people to decide whether, when, and how to grow their families.

My Body. My Ballot. is about making sure every voter understands how the issues they care most about are connected: our bodies, our families, our health care, our economic security, and our freedom. We have the members, the political power, and the organizing infrastructure to turn outrage into action.

Four years after Dobbs, abortion bans have created a dangerous and chaotic patchwork where access to care depends on where someone lives, how much money they have, and whether they can travel. Anti-abortion politicians created this crisis, and this November, Americans will make sure they are held accountable.”

New Reproductive Freedom for All polling underscores the opportunity for this campaign. The research, conducted by Impact Research, surveyed likely voters in battleground U.S. House districts, including an oversample of voters who did not support Kamala Harris in 2024 but voted “yes” on abortion rights ballot measures statewide in Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada. The results show that voters overwhelmingly want lawmakers to protect reproductive health care—and that communicating clearly about politicians’ efforts to gut health care access, undermine medical privacy, and prioritize abortion restrictions over families’ needs can meaningfully move voters.

Eight in 10 voters surveyed said it is important for lawmakers to protect access to reproductive care, including 58% who said it is very important. Battleground voters also rejected additional abortion restrictions: Half said lawmakers should pass laws protecting abortion access nationwide.

Support for a nationwide abortion ban carries significant political consequences. More than 4 in 10 voters said a politician’s support for a nationwide abortion ban would be a total dealbreaker—placing it among the most disqualifying positions tested, alongside raising taxes on middle-class families and cutting Medicaid. After hearing messaging about attacks on health care access and privacy and politicians’ misplaced priorities, voters backed a generic Democratic congressional candidate by 12 points, 48% to 36%—a net five-point gain from the start of the poll (45% to 38%).

The campaign launch also kicks off Reproductive Freedom for All’s National Week of Action, running June 22–28, with events across the country designed to educate voters, train volunteers, elevate storytellers, and drive direct action in target states and districts. The week will feature 11 in-person events across our chapter states, alongside 12 national activations — including multiple phone banking actions and shifts, as well as a national text bank.

Key components of the campaign include:

• A national organizing program powered by members:Reproductive Freedom for All will activate its 4.5 million members nationwide to grow its volunteer leadership infrastructure and launch direct voter contact and visibility events in priority districts and regions. The campaign will span canvases across our chapter states — including cities like Phoenix, Tucson, Bakersfield, and Savannah — alongside Pride marches, rallies, community roundtables, and press conferences with elected leaders and stakeholders. It will also feature multi-day phone banks at both the in-person and virtual levels.
• Direct voter contact in priority states and districts:The program will include deep investments in direct voter contact, including coordinated canvassing programs designed in direct partnership with specific campaigns. It will persuade and mobilize voters – including independents, soft Republicans, and split-ticket voters – whose support for abortion access puts them at odds with Trump and his endorsed candidates. The program will also include relational organizing training with our members, with priority investments across Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, California, and Georgia. Top-tier targets will include AZ-06, MI-07, and NV-03 congressional districts, alongside critical statewide races and ballot initiatives.
• Research-backed messaging on freedom, care, and economic security:The campaign will use Reproductive Freedom for All’s latest research to connect abortion access to the economic pressures families are already facing, including the reality that deciding whether to have a child is one of the biggest economic decisions a person can make. Campaign messaging will also educate voters on threats to medication abortion, emergency care, health privacy, and access to reproductive health care nationwide.
• Candidate endorsements and accountability:Reproductive Freedom for All will endorse reproductive freedom champions and hold anti-abortion politicians accountable for their records, including those aligned with anti-abortion groups pushing the Trump administration to restrict access even further. The campaign will make clear who is working to protect abortion access—and who is working to push care further out of reach.
• State ballot measures. Reproductive Freedom for All will support ballot measure work in Virginia, Missouri, and Nevada, as part of a broader strategy to engage voters around reproductive freedom up and down the ballot. This work will connect ballot measure engagement to the campaign’s broader voter contact, persuasion, and turnout strategy.
• Digital and creator program to mobilize voters:Reproductive Freedom for All will run a comprehensive digital program across social media, podcast platforms, creator partnerships, paid digital, email, SMS, and rapid-response content. The creator strategy will go beyond paid amplification by partnering with trusted messengers, independent creators, storytellers, and issue-adjacent voices who can authentically reach persuadable audiences and encourage voter engagement.

The campaign builds on Reproductive Freedom for All’s latest research, which connects reproductive freedom to economic security and the freedom to decide whether, when, and how to grow a family. That research will inform the campaign’s ads, field scripts, digital content, volunteer trainings, and voter conversations—including outreach to independent and soft Republican voters who are frustrated by rising costs and alarmed by continued attacks on abortion access.

Stand Up America Managing Director of Policy and Political Affairs, Brett Edkins, issued the following statement in response to Trump’s refusal to sign the bipartisan affordable housing bill in an effort to pressure congressional Republicans into passing the SAVE Act:

“Donald Trump has been clear: The SAVE Act is his #1 legislative priority––not lowering costs for working people, creating good-paying jobs, or helping families afford a roof over their heads. Today, he decided it was more important to help Republicans avoid accountability for the cost-of-living crisis than actually do something about it.

“Trump was born on third base, and it shows. He has no clue what it’s like to struggle to make rent, save for a down payment, pay a mortgage, or worry that your kids will be able to afford a home of their own. Trump could’ve signed bipartisan legislation today to help lower housing costs and give Republicans something––anything––to show voters that they deserve reelection this November. Instead, he told working families to screw themselves. It’s selfish, petty, and self-defeating.”

Today marks the fourth anniversary of President Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court ending the federal right to abortion with the Dobbsv. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Since then, more people have suffered and died because of restrictive anti-abortion laws, which have banned some or all abortion in 20 states.

To mark the anniversary, Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, released the following statement:

“Four years after President Trump’s handpicked Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion, their decision continues to devastate people across the country. With each passing day, more people are hurt, more families are broken, and more people’s lives are upended. Anti-abortion rights lawmakers continue to weaponize the Court’s decision to make it harder for everyone, everywhere to get the care they need. On this anniversary, it’s clearer than ever that it’s on all of us to fight back against an unpopular political agenda that has blocked people’s health, lives, and freedoms.”

President Trump and his backers in Congress have spent their time in office making it harder for everyone, everywhere to get lifesaving reproductive health care, including abortion. Last July, they passed a law that “defunded” Planned Parenthood for one year by attempting to bar patients from using their Medicaid insurance at Planned Parenthood health centers. The harm they’ve caused is clear:

• Since the start of the Trump-Vance administration more than 50 Planned Parenthood health centers have been forced to close. More than 20 of those closures came after President Trump signed the law “defunding” Planned Parenthood.
• A Senate report examining the harm of “defunding” Planned Parenthood showed that in the six months since the “defunding” of Planned Parenthood took effect, fewer people have been able to get reproductive care at Planned Parenthood health centers in 2025 compared to the same period in 2024:
  • The number of breast exam visits fell by 25% in Dec., increasing the risk of delayed breast cancer detection and avoidable, more serious illness.
  • Visits for IUDs and other long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) dropped by 41% in Nov. and 36% in Dec.– the steepest decline across all services measured.
  • STI testing declined by 11% in Nov. and 4% in Dec., limiting early diagnosis and treatment and increasing preventable spread and long-term health consequences.
  • And there were 20% fewer visits for birth control pills in November.
• Now, House Republicans want to permanently “defund” Planned Parenthood because, where legal, Planned Parenthood health centers provide abortion.

Kudos to VJayBombs, ingenious street artists who once emblazoned L.A. with projections of ICE hauling off Jesus, and who just hit D.C. to plaster “Guardians of Pedophiles" on the Kennedy Center's "literal cover-up" and murky regime minions - bats, worms, turtles - on the besieged Reflecting Pool. Growing more ideological as the fascist stakes rise, they use peaceful but splashy projection bombing to "make our voices heard," sensibly arguing, "If you're gonna say something, say something."

It seems only apt an anonymous collective of renegades chooses as weapons the visual tools of their oppressors, slathering multiple regime cover-ups - like the attempted removal from National Parks of information on slavery and other historical facts that “disparage Americans past or living” - with their own rowdy retorts. Large-scale, dissident projections are part of a relatively new protest tradition, "accessible, disruptive, but not violent," that evidently grew from the Occupy movement. In 2013, using an Illuminator- like projector that came out of a car roof like a turret, one Charles Lechner projected an image of a ballot box stuffed with dollar bills onto Michael Bloomberg’s New York apartment; the Mayor, unamused, had him arrested.

VJayBombs began about ten years ago when three filmmakers and neighbors in a Koreatown apartment complex started

projecting abstract visuals onto nearby buildings during house parties. That pastime evolved during the lead-up to the 2024 election into "Life's Projections," peaceful guerrilla protest that "sits right in the sweet spot of all our skill sets"; they now have over 300,000 online followers and merch - ICE guy with gun: "Our humanity" - to help raise funds. Moving through group chats, location-scouting, brainstorming - what will resonate, how to highlight absurdity and communicate clearly in seconds - they've progressed from "total novices" who blew a fuse by trying to run power through a car lighter to a large-venue projector.

Their goal is to effectively merge message with architecture in a story that unfolds like a digital billboard or comic strip and gets "the longest legs online - as many eyes as possible." Their projections across L.A. have ranged from No Kings messages to Matt Gaetz as Butt-Head to a spoof of Trump's endless, babbling State of the Union speech, with Trump holding the Statue of Liberty hostage amidst flashing messages of "Immigrant Bad!" and “Forget the Files!” A Super Bowl parody, "Redacted Bowl," featured Trump and cronies as football players with their stats matching their references in the Epstein files. Last week's UFC cage match became Donald Trump vs. the Epstein Files celebrating "the pound-for-pound best cover-up in history."

D.C.'s besieged Kennedy Center and besmirched Reflecting Pool - now the surreal scene of a Stalinist police stop - were logical, tempting next stops. A week after a court ruling forced the removal of Trump's name from the Center, the tarp hung in the dark to hide a fragile narcissist's shame and fury from a gleeful crowd is still there, obscuring not just the spot where the name allegedly came down but the entire facade. In a June 19 court filing, Center lackeys say it's to do maintenance on the marble. Lawyers for Rep. Joyce Beatty, who filed the original lawsuit, say it's a lame move to soothe "broken egos,” one that both conceals whether officials have in fact complied with the court and reduces a once-vaunted arts venue into a "lifeless husk."

Frustrated visitors to the site have their own ideas: One suggested Trump is focused on "trying to deface America’s symbols before he finishes defacing the country," and another proposed using the tarp to cover the brackish debacle that is now the Reflecting Pool. Others have simply moved on to pay tribute to VJayBombs artists for giving Trump "a lesson in the law of unintended consequences" and projecting "what we all wanted" on the Kennedy Center: A "Guardians of Pedophiles" montage of Trump, Epstein, regime toadies - Bondi, Johnson, Patel - with, "No one bends the knee like the GOP,” and a guy climbing a ladder towards the name "Donald," its letters slowly cascading down to form the word "pedo."

In their weekend art spree, VJayBombs also took to other D.C. landmarks. At the Lincoln Pool, they placed in that now-sorry site a fitting array of swamp creatures: McConnell as turtle, Hegseth as crocodile, Vance as worm, Rubio as fish, Stephen Goebbels Miller a bat hanging upside-down, bald head glinting. At the DOJ, Ted Cruz popped up as a grotesque sex worker in Trump underwear. Hard to unsee, but VJayBombs argue, these dark days, it's "more important than ever to use whatever skills we have to push back." Their art "gives people a new way to engage," they say. "We all have more power than we think...Real change doesn’t come from one big event - it comes from countless small acts that, together, move the needle."

Heat records are again being smashed across Europe as the region is engulfed in another historic heat wave this week. France, Spain, and the United Kingdom face the most severe threat—Monday is on track to be France’s hottest day on record. The heat is affecting millions, as schools are closed, outdoor recreation and festivities are limited, and fatalities are already starting to add up. A recent attribution analysis found that Europe’s record-breaking heat this year “has the fingerprints of climate change all over it.”

In response, Aaron Regunberg, director of Public Citizen’s Climate Accountability Project, issued the following statement:

“Across Europe, millions are suffering from heat that would have been practically unimaginable a generation ago. This isn’t a natural disaster. The fossil fuel industry’s pollution and decades of deception about the impact of burning fossil fuels has spurred this extreme heat, which has already killed multiple people. Decades ago, scientists at Exxon were discussing with other oil companies research connecting climate change with ‘suffering and death due to thermal extremes.’ These companies knew of evidence that their conduct would cause these harms, and orchestrated campaigns of climate denial to undermine that evidence. They should be held accountable.”

The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump Department of Agriculture today seeking records revealing who advocated behind the scenes for — and potentially ghost-wrote — the president’s Feb. 18 executive order directing the department to accelerate domestic production of glyphosate.

The order to increase U.S. production of the nation’s most-used herbicide was issued under the emergency powers granted to the president by the Defense Production Act — a Cold War-era law designed to address wartime shortages of critical goods.

Despite annual glyphosate use of more than 300 million pounds, the Trump executive order declared that increasing production of the pesticide was critical to national defense and ordered the federal government to ensure its continued availability.

Of Trump’s 13 executive orders invoking the Defense Production Act, the glyphosate order is unique for its language granting immunity to the chemical companies that make glyphosate should they take otherwise illegal actions in complying with the order.

“This executive order is another corrupt giveaway to the pesticide industry, and people have a right to know who pushed for it behind the scenes,” said Brett Hartl, the Center’s government affairs director. “The pesticide industry is doing everything they can to avoid accountability for the harms their products have caused across this country, and the only reason this administration is hiding these important records is that they will almost certainly show just how deeply the poison-makers’ influence permeates the Trump government.”

The executive order also declared elemental phosphorus, a key ingredient for glyphosate production, to be critical for national security. The order’s language mimics text that artificial intelligence generates when prompted to explain consumption of elemental phosphorus in the United States, including language that the nation imports “more than 6,000,000 kilograms” from other nations annually. The glyphosate executive order is the only executive order in the history of the nation to use the word “kilogram.”

“Everyone knows that Trump doesn’t write, let alone often read, the executive orders he signs,” said Hartl. “But the chatbot slop that makes up the majority of this executive order shows that virtually anything can reach the president’s desk if the right levers of power are pulled around Trump and his cronies.”

Glyphosate has been linked to a variety of human health impacts including cancer, liver disease, and developmental and metabolic disorders in young children that could lead to diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life.

Recent analysis has shown that despite acknowledged links between pesticides and cancers, regulators in the United States have consistently allowed pesticides to go to market with a cancer risk as high as 1 in every 100 people exposed, a far greater level than the EPA’s benchmark of a one in a million chance of developing cancer.

The executive order was released at the same time that the Trump administration was intervening in support of a lawsuit at the Supreme Court that could broadly shield pesticide makers from liability when their products fail to warn of their “likely” human carcinogenic qualities.

The Center submitted its Freedom of Information Act request in February but has not yet received any response from the USDA. The law is meant to ensure public access to information about the functioning of federal agencies by guaranteeing a response within 20 business days of a request.

Today’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Center expects to receive records from the suit in the next two to three months.

The United States celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1976, and in a lot of ways it felt like a year-long celebration of everything that made our country great.

But there were dark sides to the American Bicentennial, including civil rights struggles, a gas crisis, and (of course) American capitalism.

The over-commercialization of the Bicentennial started long before 1976. As early as September 1974 people were already starting to call it the “Buy-centennial,” with many products designed to part fools from their money with maximum efficiency. Commemorative cars? Check. Special coins? Check. Red, white and blue lawn chairs? Check. Useless parchment certificates proclaiming your patriotism? Check.

Literally, write and mail a check (in those pre-Venmo days) and all of that could have been yours.

The “patriotic” commerce was everywhere. SeaWorld renamed one of its captive killer whales “Yankee Doodle.” Companies marketed toilet seats with eagles underneath the lids. George Washington and other Revolutionary icons were painted onto just about any piece of crap you could imagine.

There were even awards to celebrate the “most tasteless exploitation” of the Bicentennial, with “winners” such as “Paul Revere” ice cream and red-white-and-blue funeral caskets. (I’m sure that last one was some sort of violation of the Flag Code.)

And it wasn’t just these Bicentennial-themed products. Retailers also got into the act, with special “Spirit of 76” sales or “wrapped in the flag” marketing campaigns starting in January and running rampant as Independence Day approached.

What was funny — or, perhaps, completely predictable — is that a lot of the people who set out to exploit the Bicentennial ended up losing their shirts. Come July 5, 1976, whatever Bicentennial-branded products remained on the shelves became instantly worthless. One guy in Utah bought 7,200 Bicentennial chains and medallions; by the end of 1976 he had about 7,120 left that he couldn’t even give away. Our nation’s landfills must all have a layer of red, white and blue crap from around this time for any hardy archeologists with enough intestinal fortitude to dig deep and explore.

Of course, none of this is much different from the aisles of cheap, imported junk we still see in stores every year come July 4 — especially this year as our nation’s 250th anniversary looms. Right now you can go to any local grocery store, drug store, or big-box retailer to buy poorly made flag T-shirts, flag plastic plates, patriotic disposable forks, cups with bald eagles on the side, and maybe — if you look hard enough — an actual flag or two buried amidst the disposables and Monster energy drinks we use to “celebrate” Independence Day.

Photo: John R. Platt/The Revelator

And this year has the extra capitalist curse of the Trump presidency looming over it. Our Grifter in Chief and his family have emblazoned his name and ugly mug on a veritable infinite number of products designed to siphon the few remaining dollars from his acolytes’ wallets or bank accounts.

The one saving grace compared to 50 years ago is that a lot of this ephemeral Trump “merch” is print-on-demand, so there won’t be as much unsold excess to end up in a landfill — just hundreds of AI-generated images destined for a computer’s trash bin.

But even ephemera can last a long time, thanks to the wonders of the Internet. I spent a few years researching the Bicentennial (a project from which this essay is adapted), and I’ve uncovered a host of things that still speak to the lessons we haven’t learned over the past 50 years.

So as the Trump-infused Semiquincentennial bears down on us, let’s look back at the capitalist dystopia of the Buy-Centennial through the wonder of 1976 newspaper advertisements. Maybe they can offer a few reminders that unchecked capitalism and waste aren’t patriotic — or worth celebrating.

Sexism never went out of style.

Your constitutional right to banking.

A lot of stories ran prices like this during the Bicentennial.

Free flag with a bucket of chicken!

Existing mascots often found themselves wearing tri-corner hats and waving flags.

This clip art of sexy “Uncle” Sam showed up in newspapers all over the country.

Here’s that same model in an ad for “Buy-sale-tennial Specials.” Sheesh.

High inflation and labor exploitation … sounds like today.

The British are coming … to watch HBO!

Follow the troops to Beth’s Kitchen. Wow, this one’s offensive.

Metal detectors helped in the Revolutionary War?

I call this George Washington-washing.

Ouch. That’s some awful artwork. But soooo Seventies.

This one is actually kind of cute.

Not the greatest drawing, but…

…it sure got used a lot. For a lot of different things. All over the country.

Another mascot embraces the day.

A sexy minuteman — er, maid — sells cars. This photo was used by companies all over the nation. Because sex.

Our founding fathers’ best quotes turned into ads for various companies. This same spread shows up in regional papers all over the country selling different stuff for each town.

200th birthday, save $200. This clipart of a town crier showed up all over the place. I love the awful paste-up job on the text here.

So many companies did this. “America is 200, and we’re 50, so it’s exactly the same thing!”

Is pointing a gun at your customers ever a good idea?

Local businesses often ran photos or caricatures of their salespeople in their ads, but rarely like this.

I don’t even know what this mascot is supposed to be.

What are the most egregious Semiquincentennial products you’ve encountered? Let me know at jplatt@therevelator.org — and send photos!

Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy. Previously in The Revelator:

Let’s Rename the Day After Thanksgiving ‘Extinction Friday’

 

The post America 250: Echoes of the Buy-Centennial appeared first on The Revelator.

The House Committee on Ways and Means is currently considering a set of cryptocurrency taxation bills that could potentially offer huge tax benefits to President Trump’s sons as well as his allies and donors in the crypto industry. Concerningly, a number of members who have benefited greatly from cryptocurrency donations and SuperPAC spending in recent elections will decide whether or not to create massive new tax loopholes for the industry.

One bill in particular would create a functional subsidy for cryptocurrency firms by allowing them to defer taxes owed on their mined coins indefinitely and without interest, so long as the firms do not sell the coins. These firms—which could then borrow against these assets without ever having paid taxes on them as received income—are expecting recipients of the industry’s largesse to enshrine these proposed giveaways to its oligarchs. For example, Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith received $105,168 from the industry in the 2026 cycle, more than a tenfold increase in the donations he received from them last cycle.

Many others, Democrats and Republicans alike, have received significant sums, with Nevada Democrat Steven Horsford alone receiving close to $2 million from the industry in the past two cycles. A full report on cryptocurrency donations to the Ways and Means Committee can be viewed here. An executive summary is also available here.

The bill that would allow for deferral of tax payment on cryptocurrency mining could prove particularly valuable for the sons of President Trump. Eric and Donald Trump Jr. reportedly hold a 20% stake in the bitcoin mining firm American Bitcoin, which mined 817 bitcoin in Q1 of 2026 alone. At current prices, this represents a value of more than $50 million, and the company has stated that it already intends to hold assets it mines. If passed, this loophole could mean millions of dollars in taxes owed by the Trump sons’ firm could be deferred endlessly. Larger firms in the industry would receive even more benefits from this loophole.

Warning of this potential payoff to the Trump family and the crypto insiders who have funneled money to candidates on both sides of the aisle, The Revolving Door Project’s Executive Director, Jeff Hauser said the following: “The cryptocurrency industry believes it is owed massive tax loopholes and functional subsidies because it has bought the president, paid for his ballroom project, and has funded dozens of congressional campaigns. The lack of campaign finance reform is the principal reason that the ludicrously corrupt Trump family is set to enjoy yet another tax loophole to exploit. Polls have repeatedly shown that voters are not in support of the crypto industry’s agenda, yet sweetheart legislation continues to be this Congress’ highest priority. If Members of Congress wish to prove that their influence is not for sale, rejecting the industry that has lavished them with so much support is the perfect opportunity to do so.”

Revolving Door Project Assistant Director Timi Iwayemi chimed in, adding “The cryptocurrency industry has facilitated the Trump family’s corruption at every turn. Lawmakers should be wary of creating new tax loopholes to benefit the Trump family and their donors in the crypto industry. Rewarding this behavior will embolden the crypto industry and other corporate lobbies eager to seize on our elected representatives’ prioritization of donor interests at public expense.”

The flexible loads utilities need exist on your system, but you can't manage what you can't see.

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Approaching the utility rate case with data, strategy and diligence enables favorable outcomes and strengthens credibility.

Horne 5: une épée de Damoclès en zone urbaine surpolluée Quebec, Canada

Image : Horne 5. Crédit : Ressources Falco Ltée, Rouyn-Noranda.(1)

Résumé

Notre cas emblématique de résistance à l’extractivisme concerne la réouverture d’une mine dans la ville de Rouyn-Noranda, au Québec (Canada). Le projet minier Horne 5 de Ressource Falco Ltée vise l’extraction d’un gisement polymétallique dont le principal attrait économique est l’or. Le projet est situé dans le quartier Notre-Dame et sous la Fonderie Horne de Glencore qui, depuis son ouverture en 1927, pollue drastiquement l’air de Rouyn-Noranda. 

 

Le projet Horne 5 figure parmi les projets miniers les plus dangereux, inacceptables et nuisibles des dernières décennies au Québec. En plus de présenter des risques psychosociaux importants, ce projet comporte des dangers catastrophiques pour la sécurité publique, l’équilibre socioéconomique, ainsi que pour la protection de l’environnement.

Image : La Fonderie Horne – Symbole de la pollution à Rouyn-Noranda, 1978. Crédit : Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.(2)

Image : Les travailleurs de la Mine Noranda — photo prise entre 1962 et 1978. Crédit : Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image : Travailleurs de la Mine Noranda sur la ligne de piquetage pendant la grève de 1946-1947. Crédit : Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image : Marche anti-pollution organisée par le théâtre de Coppe qui avait pour thématique l’enterrement du lac Osisko, 1985. Crédit : Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image : La Fonderie Horne de Glencore sous la neige et les rejets toxiques, photo prise entre 1962 et 1978. Crédit : Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image : La Fonderie Horne de Glencore pollue encore aujourd’hui. Crédit : Guillaume Proulx, 2019. Rouyn-Noranda.

 

Le paysage culturel de Rouyn-Noranda

Rouyn-Noranda est une ville de 42 000 habitant·e·s, située sur le Nitakinan, anicinape aki, territoire anicinabe non cédé. Le contexte politique de Rouyn-Noranda a été marqué par des luttes critiques sur les plans sociaux et juridiques et favorisant historiquement les industries extractives. Cette ville est un îlot de culture (musique, arts visuels, arts performatifs, théâtre, etc.) au sein de la forêt boréale. Rouyn-Noranda est le berceau d’une communauté pluriculturelle, résistante, militante et familiale. Le projet Horne 5 est situé notamment sur le territoire ancestral de la Première Nation de Long Point. Rouyn-Noranda cohabite avec les activités industrielles historiques depuis sa création, il y a 100 ans cette année.

Image : Page Facebook du Collectif 33 (3), Rouyn-Noranda.

Si accepté, le projet minier Horne 5 s’insérerait au cœur même de ce milieu de vie, sous une zone déjà fragilisée par de nombreuses galeries minières abandonnées. La littérature reflète d’ailleurs un manque de données sur les mines en milieu urbain, puisque ces études de cas sont peu nombreuses.

 

Horne 5 – L’épée de Damoclès

Image : Ressources Falco Ltée (4).

Le projet Horne 5 qui prévoit l’extraction de 15 500 tonnes de minerai par jour à des profondeurs allant jusqu’à 2 000 m et générant 80 millions de tonnes de résidus miniers a été soumis au BAPE (Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement) pour une consultation publique en 2024. Cette procédure nécessite, lorsque le gouvernement confie un tel mandat, que le président du BAPE forme une commission d’enquête chargée d’évaluer les impacts du projets., Cette évaluation formelle a mis en lumière  est associé à plusieurs enjeux critiques, dont :

1. Affaissements de terrain et sismicité induite : Sans compter tous les risques liés aux affaissements de terrain et la sismicité induite, notons que le projet est situé sous la Fonderie Horne — composée d’infrastructures désuètes — où des bassins d’acide sulfurique et autres produits toxiques pourraient engendrer de véritables catastrophes environnementales et des risques de mortalités importantes chez les travailleur·euse·s de même qu’au sein de la population. Rouyn-Noranda aura d’ailleurs déjà été témoin d’affaissement de terrain soudain en 2013, en plein coeur du parc Mouska — une aire de détente et de jeux familiale. Le trou de plus de 3 mètres se trouvait au-dessus du site de l’ancienne mine Chadbourne, l’une des nombreuses mines abandonnées dans les sous-sols de la ville. (5)

2. Droits ancestraux : L’apparence de contravention aux droits ancestraux de la Première Nation de Long Pointe constitue un enjeu important à ce projet minier. En effet, lors de la commission d’enquête, les réponses fournies par le gouvernement ont soulevé « des doutes raisonnables à l’effet que l’obligation constitutionnelle de consulter les autochtones détenteurs de droits ancestraux n’a pas été respectée pour l’ensemble des communautés dont le territoire est visé par le projet minier Horne 5, à commencer par la Première Nation de Long Pointe. ». (6)

3. Protection de l’eau : En plus de menacer l’intégrité de nombreux plans d’eau par l’implantation de pipelines de prélèvement d’eau douce, le projet Horne 5 comporte de nombreux risques de contamination grave du lac Dufault, soit le lac qui approvisionne l’unique station de pompage en eau potable de la ville de Rouyn-Noranda. Cette contamination pourrait se matérialiser par des fuites des pipelines de 17 km transportant les résidus miniers ou des fuites provenant des digues des parcs à résidus.

4. Écoblanchiment : La compagnie utilise un discours d’écoblanchiment quant aux actions liées à son plan de gestion du passif minier du projet, alors que leur plan en ce qui concerne les résidus miniers menace sérieusement l’environnement et la santé humaine. En effet, après avoir sélectionné un site non restauré pour accumuler les résidus projetés, le promoteur cherche à faire croire à la communauté qu’ajouter des matières acidogènes, lixiviables et cyanurées dans l’environnement puisse constituer une option avantageuse.

5. Qualité de l’air : Les activités industrielles réalisées par la Fonderie Horne de Glencore dans la ville de Rouyn-Noranda génèrent des taux alarmants de métaux lourds (arsenic, baryum, cadmium, cuivre, nickel et plomb). Les niveaux inacceptables de pollution atmosphérique générés par la fonderie, ainsi que la complicité du gouvernement qui les tolère constituent l’un des scandales environnementaux les plus persistants et les plus controversés au Québec. La littérature démontre d’ailleurs que la population de Rouyn-Noranda est exposée à un surplus de cancers du poumon, de maladies pulmonaires obstructives chroniques, de problèmes neurologiques et à des retards de croissance intra-utérins. La Fonderie Horne est encore autorisée à opérer la fonte de déchets provenant des quatre coins de la planète pour en extraire le cuivre, sous le seuil de 45 ng/m³ d’arsenic dans l’air à Rouyn-Noranda. La compagnie réclame actuellement un report jusqu’en 2030 pour l’atteinte d’un seuil intérimaire de 15 ng/m³, nonobstant la norme québécoise de 3 ng/m³. Pourtant, l’Institut national de santé publique du Québec stipulait en 2022 que si le seuil de 15 ng/m³ protège les groupes vulnérables (comme les enfants) contre certains effets, la seule cible à considérer comme sécuritaire demeure la norme de 3 ng/m³. Le projet Horne 5 cherche ainsi à s’insérer dans un milieu où les normes sont déjà dépassées, contrevenant au régime d’application de l’article 197 du Règlement sur l’assainissement de l’atmosphère. L’autorisation d’un nouveau projet minier ne ferait ainsi qu’aggraver une situation illégale tolérée depuis trop longtemps.

 

Credit: Guillaume Proulx, 2019, Rouyn-Noranda.

 

6. Coûts sociaux et économiques multiples : Les impacts socioéconomiques incluent d’abord l’augmentation de la demande en logement induite par l’arrivée de nouveaux travailleurs et de leur famille. Cette demande se manifeste malgré un taux d’inoccupation extrêmement faible de 0,9 % en 2025 (7), ce qui est nettement inférieur au seuil d’équilibre de 3 % reconnu au Québec. Autrement dit, Rouyn-Noranda est déjà confrontée à une grave crise du logement qui ne fera qu’empirer avec l’arrivée de nouveaux travailleurs. « Par ailleurs, la relocalisation progressive de résident·e·s pour la création d’une zone tampon à proximité de la Fonderie Horne — mesure à venir après 2028 — témoigne de l’ampleur des défis environnementaux et sanitaires avec lesquels la ville et sa population doivent (déjà) composer» (8). S’ajoutent à cela l’anxiété et la fatigue sociale de la population ainsi que les menaces sur l’attractivité et la vitalité de Rouyn-Noranda sur le long terme.

Agenda des luttes et de la résistance

Voici un survol de l’agenda de la mobilisation citoyenne en lien avec le projet Horne 5.

• 17 mai 2024 | Appel à la mobilisation citoyenne

Diffusion d’un communiqué de presse qui invitait la population de Rouyn-Noranda à assister à la première rencontre d’information au sujet du projet Horne 5. 

• 21 mai 2024 | Envoi d’une lettre officielle au ministre de l’Environnement et d’une lettre officielle au président du BAPE 

Envoi d’une lettre officielle au ministre faisant la demande conjointe d’audiences publiques menées par le Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) concernant le projet Horne 5 ainsi que d’une lettre officielle au président du BAPE faisant la demande conjointe de tenir une rencontre préparatoire à l’intention du public avant l’audience publique. La rencontre préparatoire a eu lieu le 13 août 2024.

• 27 juin 2024 | Invitation à un atelier de planification de la participation communautaire

Diffusion d’un communiqué de presse invitant les citoyen·ne·s à un atelier gratuit le 7 juillet 2024 sur la planification d’une participation aux audiences du Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) pour le projet minier Horne 5.

• 14 et 26 août 2024 | Participation à des rencontres stratégiques avec les citoyen·ne·s de Rouyn-Noranda

Deux rencontres stratégiques tout juste avant le début de la commission d’enquête.

• 27 août 2024 | Début des audiences du BAPE à Rouyn-Noranda : Plusieurs questions cruciales à poser sur l’inquiétant projet minier Horne 5

Diffusion d’un communiqué de presse stipulant que : « La société civile est prête pour l’exercice. Malgré le déclenchement du dossier en plein été et une présentation de la documentation anarchique et sans préavis de la part de la compagnie, les groupes sont parvenus à étudier en détail le dossier en mettant leurs ressources en commun.»

Image : Rouyn-Noranda pendant le Bureau d’audiences publiques de l’environnement au sujet du projet Horne 5. Crédit : Radio-Canada / Lise Millette (9)

• Du 27 au 29 août 2024 | Participation aux cinq séances de la première partie des audiences publiques du BAPE à Rouyn-Noranda.

Période d’information et de présentation des tenants et aboutissants du projet ainsi que des enjeux environnementaux. Les citoyen·ne·s peuvent notamment poser des questions au promoteur. 

 

• 16 au 26 septembre 2024 | Période de temps octroyée à la transmission de points de vue à l’oral, par le biais d’un mémoire, par commentaire ou par image commentée.

Le 26 septembre était la date limite pour le dépôt des mémoires. La Coalition Québec Meilleure Mine et MiningWatch Canada ont fait un dépôt d’un mémoire conjoint concernant le projet minier Horne 5 de Ressource Falco Ltée.

 

• 30 septembre au 3 octobre 2024 | Deuxième partie d’audience publique du BAPE pour le projet minier Horne 5 de Ressources Falco.

Cette deuxième partie permet aux personnes de s’exprimer sur le sujet. C’est l’occasion d’émettre, par exemple, des recommandations ou même de faire la présentation à l’oral de son mémoire.

 

• Automne 2024 | Recommandation d’octroi d’un mandat d’analyse des risques sismiques de la part des autorités de santé régionales.

Les autorités de santé régionales (le CISSS-AT) ont recommandé au ministère d’exiger des études approfondies sur les risques de tremblements de terre causés par la mine. La préoccupation majeure concerne le centre de radio-oncologie — également situé dans le quartier Notre-Dame — de Rouyn-Noranda, où les vibrations pourraient endommager les équipements de soin.

• 23 décembre 2024 | Dépôt du rapport du BAPE au ministre.

 

Le nerf de la guerre

C’est par le processus du Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) que la Commission d’enquête a officiellement conclu, le 7 janvier 2025, que le projet Horne 5 est inacceptable. Le rapport stipule que le projet ne répond pas aux exigences minimales de sécurité, de santé publique et de protection de l’environnement. Un réseau important d’organisations s’est uni pour se tenir debout face à Ressource Falco Ltée avant et pendant la Commission d’enquête menée par le BAPE.

 

Portrait des combattant·e·s

Premières Nations

• Première Nation de Long Point (LPFN) : Suite à la commission d’enquête, la Première Nation se questionne au sujet des répercussions du projet sur la qualité de l’air, de l’eau et sur l’économie locale. Elle exige que des études environnementales et socioéconomiques soient menées directement par la communauté pour protéger ses droits ancestraux. La LPFN s’est exprimée lors des audiences du BAPE, a fait valoir ses droits sur son territoire traditionnel non cédé et a insisté sur le fait que le projet doit obtenir le consentement préalable et éclairé de la LPFN, tel que détaillé dans son communiqué de presse : « No Consent = No project ».

 

Groupes environnementaux

• Conseil Régional de l’environnement de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue — Organisme sans but lucratif (OSBL) visant à promouvoir la conservation et l’amélioration de la qualité de l’environnement) : a soumis 162 recommandations au BAPE, dénonçant le manque de considération des effets cumulatifs du projet. Le CREAT souligne l’insécurité sanitaire illustrée par les « gestes simples » (nettoyage par aspirateur avec filtres HEPA, alimentation spécifique pour limiter l’absorption de plomb et de cadmium) suggérés à la population par la Santé publique, témoignant d’un milieu déjà saturé de contaminants et de stresseurs environnementaux.

• Eau Secours — OSBL basée à Montréal visant la promotion de la protection et de la gestion responsable de l’eau au Québec : rappelle à la deuxième partie du BAPE le manque flagrant de cohérence dans la proposition de la compagnie de créer un parc à résidus minier (prévision de 40 millions de tonnes de résidus hautement réactifs et acidogènes) directement dans le bassin versant de la source d’eau potable de la ville, soit le Lac Dufaut. L’organisme souligne que le promoteur n’a d’ailleurs pas présenté de plan d’urgence en cas de bris d’installations.

• Action Boréale — OSBL basée en Abitibi-Témiscamingue visant à promouvoir la préservation des forêts boréales du Québec : Rappelle au gouvernement, suite au dépôt du dur rapport du BAPE, son rôle de responsable de l’environnement. L’Action Boréale affirme que le projet comporte plus de répercussions négatives que d’avantages pour la communauté.

• Société pour vaincre la pollution (SVP) — OSBL oeuvrant à défendre les droits des citoyen·ne·s à un environnement sain : Apporte un soutien, affirmant qu’« il s’agit d’une mine de trop pour Rouyn-Noranda ».

• MiningWatch Canada — organisation non gouvernementale basée à Ottawa, agissant à titre de chien de garde de l’industrie minière : Demande encore à ce jour au gouvernement de cesser tout investissement dans ce projet nocif et de confirmer publiquement son opposition.

• Regroupement vigilance mines de l’Abitibi et du Témiscamingue (Revimat) — OSBL qui milite pour améliorer la Loi sur les mines et pour la protection de l’environnement : réitère son opposition au projet dans un communiqué de presse conjoint de réaction notamment puisque « la possibilité de mouvements sismiques peut causer des dommages aux structures de la fonderie et libérer des produits toxiques dans l’air ». 

• Comité Arrêt des rejets d’émissions toxiques (ARET) — groupe citoyen qui milite pour la réduction des polluants atmosphériques  : fais, pour sa part, référence à la qualité de l’air dans ce même communiqué de presse : « Nous comptons donc que ces recommandations mettront fin au projet, car la population est déjà surexposée à des rejets toxiques de façon inacceptable ».

Santé, justice sociale, et solidarité communautaire

• Mères au Front (Rouyn-Noranda) — groupe local du mouvement pancanadien Mères au front qui rassemble des mères et grands-mères mobilisées par le désir d’agir pour protéger l’avenir de nos enfants et la vie sur terre face à l’urgence climatique. Ce groupe, agissant uniquement par devoir de protection envers les générations futures, place au cœur de sa lutte le droit à la santé, à la sécurité et à un environnement sain. Elles considèrent que l’industrie minière est incompatible avec les périmètres urbains et s’opposent au projet Horne 5 parce qu’il accroîtrait la vulnérabilité d’une population déjà surexposée à de nombreux contaminants neurotoxiques.

Image : Manifestation organisée par Mères au Front le 13 octobre 2024 à Rouyn-Noranda pour rappeler au gouvernement Legault (premier ministre à l’époque) que la situation qui perdure à Rouyn-Noranda est inacceptable. Crédit : Maude Desbois (10)

• Centre Entre-Femmes : Présent dans la communauté depuis plus de 30 ans, cet organisme œuvre à l’amélioration des conditions de vie des femmes. Sa lutte contre le projet Horne 5 porte sur la pauvreté et les inégalités économiques : les emplois créés étant majoritairement masculins, le centre dénonce un accroissement des écarts salariaux en région industrielle et demande une analyse des impacts selon le genre, craignant également une hausse des risques de violence et des problématiques liées à la consommation d’alcool et de drogue.

 

• Coopérative d’habitation Boréale : S’opposant à la vision de 15 ans du promoteur, la Coopérative défend un cycle de développement urbain sur 40 ans en vue d’assurer l’avenir du quartier. Sa lutte met en lumière les coûts sociaux invisibles : elle rappelle que les populations portent dans leur chair les détresses (suicides, violences conjugales) liées aux fluctuations du prix de l’or, des drames humains dont aucun budget ne prévoit d’éponger les conséquences. La Coopérative a reçu une très forte demande dans les dernières années, demande auquel elle ne peut répondre.

 

 

• L’Association des locataires de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue : s’oppose aussi au projet Horne 5 et a participé au BAPE, revendiquant notamment au sujet de la pression que ce projet viendrait ajouter à cette « zone sacrifiée ». Cette association considère qu’un logement est « un lieu où toustes devrait être en sécurité jour et nuit. ». La ville de Rouyn-Noranda est en crise du logement depuis près de 15 ans. Leur argumentaire soulignait aussi qu’en plus de toutes les dangerosités soulevées du projet, le milieu a plus souvent qu’autrement le fardeau de trouver des solutions et les accommodements pour la population. Cette pression supplémentaire n’est absolument pas souhaitable sur les organismes communautaires de Rouyn-Noranda.

L’oppression systémique de l’extraction

 

Au Québec, les communautés visées par des projets miniers sont opprimées par un flagrant manque de suivi de la part du gouvernement dans les investissements massifs qu’il octroie au secteur minier, ainsi que par l’accélération des projets miniers au détriment des communautés. 

Pour sa part, Ressources Falco Ltée. exerce une rétention et une déformation de l’information perpétuelle, en plus de manquer d’écoute face aux inquiétudes de la population et de considération envers les évaluations environnementales. Le dépôt récent (sorti dans les médias à la fin mai 2026) du rapport d’experts mandaté pour l’analyse des risques associés à la sismicité abonde en ce sens. Ce rapport tant attendu par la population n’a pas éclairé le flou qui persiste quant à la sécurité des personnes et du centre de radio-oncologie. Une demande d’accès à l’information n’a permis d’obtenir qu’une version entièrement caviardée dudit rapport, empêchant de connaître presque l’entièreté du contenu. 

Parallèlement, la communauté de Rouyn-Noranda subit un cycle historique de menaces de fermeture industrielle de la part de Glencore, créant une polarisation profonde au sein des familles et de la population, plaçant les citoyen·ne·s dans un faux dilemme permanent entre survie économique ainsi que de la protection de l’environnement et de la santé globale. 

Toustes retiennent leur souffle depuis longtemps maintenant.

Un an et demi après le dépôt du rapport du BAPE, le projet Horne 5 franchit ses dernières étapes d’évaluation d’impacts. À ce stade critique précédant une possible exploitation, les communautés sont dans l’attente de la décision finale concernant le décret d’autorisation prétendu pour juin 2026, selon le dernier Comité consultatif de la compagnie en date du 18 mars 2026. Le paysage culturel de la ville dépend désormais de ce décret gouvernemental, qui déterminera si les autorités choisissent d’ignorer ou de respecter le constat d’inacceptabilité émis par le BAPE. Il est sincèrement souhaité que la décision finale serve le meilleur intérêt de la population locale et de la Première Nation Anicinape, tout en garantissant la protection de l’environnement ainsi que la qualité de l’eau et de l’air.

À ce jour, toutefois, le réseau de militant·e·s demeure mobilisé. 

Et dans quel but?

Une victoire signifierait le rejet et l’arrêt définitif du projet Horne 5 afin de garantir la sécurité et la santé des citoyen·ne·s de Rouyn-Noranda grâce à une considération réaliste des impacts cumulatifs du projet, de la capacité de support du milieu où siège le projet et du rythme effréné de l’agenda pro-extractiviste des entreprises qui prisent la région de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue. En attendant, nous sommes fier·ère·s de dire que les gens de Rouyn-Noranda sont une grande inspiration pour la Coalition Québec meilleure mine et que leurs efforts représentent un exemple à suivre. Les moyens pris par la communauté pour se mobiliser contre tous ces géants extractivistes est « admirable à l’échelle mondiale ».

Image : La Fonderie Horne au coucher du soleil. Crédit : Guillaume Proulx, 2020, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image : Quartier Notre-Dame, la nuit. Crédit : Guillaume Proulx, 2019, Rouyn-Noranda.

Notes de fin d’ouvrage

 

1 – Profil Facebook de l’entreprise : https://www.facebook.com/RessourcesFalco/

 

2-  Rivard, J. (December 2021). Démarrage de l’usine d’acide sulfurique de la fonderie Horne – 20 décembre 1989 | Héros sans panache | Société d’histoire de Rouyn-Noranda.http://shrn.ca/des-jours-qui-ont-fait-rouyn-noranda/20-decembre-1989-demarrage-de-lusine-dacide-sulfurique-de-la-fonderie-horne

 

3 – Page Facebook du Collectif 33 :https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122104798005292317&set=pcb.122104801341292317&locale=fr_CA

 

4 –  Cotnoir, J.-M. (May 25, 2026).Horne 5 : le flou persiste quant aux risques sismiques. Radio-Canada.https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2256119/horne-5-mine-risque-sismique-cisss-at

 

5 –  Luneau, A.-C. (2013, February 6). Rouyn-Noranda : le sol s’affaisse au parc Mouska. Radio-Canada.  https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/599141/trou-parc-mouska

 

6 –  QMM and MWC. (2024, September 26). Mémoire | BAPE projet minier Horne 5 de Ressources Falco à Rouyn-Noranda | Mining Watch Canada. https://miningwatch.ca/fr/blog/2024/9/26/memoire-bape-projet-minier-horne-5-de-ressources-falco-rouyn-noranda

 

7-  OBVAT. (2026, 4 juin). Taux d’inoccupation des logements, Abitibi-Témiscamingue et Québec, 1996 à 2026p – L’Observatoire de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue. https://www.observat.qc.ca/statistiques/taux-dinoccupation-des-logements-abitibi-temiscamingue-et-quebec-1996-a-2026p/ 

8- BAPE, Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement. (2024).Projet Horne 5 à Rouyn-Noranda par Ressources Falco ltée: rapport d’enquête et d’audience publique. Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement. https://www.bape.gouv.qc.ca/fr/dossiers/mine_horne5/

 

9 –  Millette, L. (2025, 4 mars). Projet Horne 5 : Québec freine l’élan de Ressources Falco. Radio-Canada. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2145532/falco-horne-fonderie-rouyn-noranda-mine

10 –  Fortin-Rondeau, I. (2025, 18 novembre). Le Pudding à l’arsenic : une version industrielle signée Fonderie Horne. https://www.meresaufront.org/billets-de-blogue/le-pudding-a-larsenic-une-version-industrielle-signee-fonderie-horne

 

Horne 5: A Sword of Damocles Hanging Over a Heavily Polluted Urban Area Quebec, Canada

Image: Horne 5. Credit: Ressources Falco Ltée, Rouyn-Noranda. (1)

Abstract

Our emblematic case of resistance to extractivism concerns the reopening of a mine in the city of Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec (Canada). Falco Resources Ltd’s Horne 5 mining project aims to extract a polymetallic deposit whose primary economic value lies in gold. The project is located in the Notre-Dame neighborhood and beneath Glencore’s Horne Smelter, which, since its opening in 1927, has drastically polluted the air in Rouyn-Noranda. The Horne 5 project ranks among the most dangerous, unacceptable, and harmful mining projects in Quebec in recent decades. In addition to posing significant psychosocial risks, this project entails catastrophic dangers for public safety, socioeconomic stability, and environmental protection.

Image: The Horne Smelter – A symbol of pollution in Rouyn-Noranda, 1978. Credit: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. (2)

Image: Workers at the Noranda Mine—photo taken between 1962 and 1978. Credit: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image: Noranda Mine workers on the picket line during the 1946–1947 strike. Credit: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image: Anti-pollution march organized by the Théâtre de Coppe, themed around the “burial” of Lake Osisko, 1985. Credit: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image: Glencore’s Horne Smelter under snow and toxic waste, photo taken between 1962 and 1978. Credit: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image: Glencore’s Horne Smelter continues to pollute to this day. Credit: Guillaume Proulx, 2019. Rouyn-Noranda.

 

The Cultural Landscape of Rouyn-Noranda

Rouyn-Noranda is a city of 42,000 residents, located on Nitakinan, Anicinape Aki, unceded Anishinaabe territory. The political context of Rouyn-Noranda has been marked by critical social and legal struggles and including a long legacy of tensions with extractive industries. This city is an island of culture (music, visual arts, performing arts, theater, etc.) within the boreal forest. Rouyn-Noranda is the home of a multicultural, resilient, activist, and family-oriented community. The Horne 5 project is located notably on the ancestral territory of the Long Point First Nation. Industrial activities have been a central part of Rouyn-Noranda’s development since the city’s founding 100 years ago this year.

Image: Facebook page of Collectif 33 (3) , Rouyn-Noranda.

If approved, the Horne 5 mining project would be situated at the very heart of this dynamic city, in a vibrant residential area, beneath an area already weakened by numerous abandoned mine tunnels. The literature also reflects a lack of data on mining in urban areas, as there are few such case studies.

 

Horne 5 – A Sword of Damocles

Image: Falco Resources Ltée. (4)

The Horne 5 project, which plans to extract 15,500 tons of ore per day from depths of up to 2,000 meters and generate 80 million tons of mine tailings, was entrusted to the BAPE (Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement) for a public review in 2024. As is standard procedure when the government grants such a mandate, the BAPE president formed a commission of inquiry to evaluate the project’s impacts. This formal examination brought to light several critical issues including:

1. Land subsidence and induced seismicity: Even before considering the risks associated with ground subsidence and induced seismicity, it is worth noting that the project is located beneath the Horne Smelter—an industrial complex with outdated infrastructure—where ponds of sulfuric acid and other toxic substances could cause major environmental disasters and pose significant risks of fatalities to workers as well as the general population. Rouyn-Noranda has, in fact, already witnessed a sudden ground subsidence in 2013, right in the heart of Mouska Park—a family recreation and playground area. The hole, over 3 meters wide, was located above the site of the former Chadbourne Mine, one of the many abandoned mines beneath the city. (5)

2. Ancestral Rights: The apparent violation of the ancestral rights of Long Point First Nation is a major issue in this mining project. Indeed, during the commission of inquiry, the government’s responses raised “reasonable doubts that the constitutional obligation to consult Indigenous peoples holding ancestral rights was not respected for all communities whose territory is affected by the Horne 5 mining project, starting with the Long Point First Nation.” (6)

3. Water Protection: In addition to threatening the integrity of numerous water bodies through the installation of freshwater intake pipelines, the Horne 5 project poses numerous risks of serious contamination of Lake Dufault, the lake that supplies the sole pumping station in the drinking water supply of the city of Rouyn-Noranda. This contamination could result from leaks in the 17-kilometer pipelines transporting mine tailings or from leaks in the tailings pond dams.

4. Greenwashing: The company uses greenwashing rhetoric regarding actions related to its project’s mining liability management plan, even though its plan for handling mine tailings poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. Indeed, after selecting an unreclaimed site to store the planned tailings, the developer is trying to convince the community that adding acid-generating, leachable, and cyanide-containing materials to the environment could be a beneficial option.

5. Air Quality: The industrial activities carried out by Glencore’s Horne Smelter in the city of Rouyn-Noranda generate alarming levels of heavy metals (arsenic, barium, cadmium, copper, nickel, and lead). The company’s unacceptable levels of air pollution from the smelter and the government’s complicity in allowing it are one the most persistent and controversial environmental scandals in Quebec. The literature shows that the population of Rouyn-Noranda is exposed to an increased incidence of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, neurological problems, and intra-uterine growth retardation. The Horne Smelter is still authorized to operate by smelting waste from all over the world to extract copper, provided that arsenic levels in the air in Rouyn-Noranda remain below 45 ng/m³. The company is currently seeking an extension until 2030 to meet an interim threshold of 15 ng/m³, despite Quebec’s standard of 3 ng/m³. However, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec stated in 2022 that while the 15 ng/m³ threshold protects vulnerable groups (such as children) from certain effects, the only target to be considered safe remains the 3 ng/m³ standard. The Horne 5 project thus seeks to operate in an environment where standards are already being exceeded, violating the enforcement regime of Section 197 of the Clean Air Regulation. Authorizing a new mining project would therefore only exacerbate an illegal situation that has been tolerated for far too long.

Credit: Guillaume Proulx, 2019, Rouyn-Noranda.

 

6. Multiple social and economic costs: The socioeconomic impacts include, first and foremost, the aggravation of the housing crisis. The arrival of new workers and their families will lead to an increased demand for housing. This demand occurs despite an extremely low vacancy rate of 0,9 % recorded in 2025 (7), which is significantly below the 3% balance threshold recognized in Quebec. In other words, Rouyn-Noranda is already facing a severe housing crisis that will be further exacerbated by the arrival of new workers. “Furthermore, the gradual relocation of residents to create a buffer zone near the Horne Smelter — a measure to be implemented after 2028 — underscores the scale of the environmental and health challenges that the city and its population must (already) contend with.” (8) Added to this are the population’s anxiety and social fatigue, as well as threats to Rouyn-Noranda’s long-term attractiveness and vitality.

Timeline of Resistance

Here is an overview of the timeline of citizen mobilization related to the Horne 5 project.

• May 17, 2024 | Call for citizen mobilization

Release of a press release inviting the residents of Rouyn-Noranda to attend the first information meeting regarding the Horne 5 project. 

• May 21, 2024 | Official letters sent to the Minister of the Environment and the President of the BAPE 

An official letter was sent to the Minister requesting that the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE – Office of Public Hearings on the Environment) hold public hearings regarding the Horne 5 project, along with an official letter to the President of the BAPE requesting a preparatory meeting for the public prior to the public hearing. The preparatory meeting took place on August 13, 2024.

• June 27, 2024 | Invitation to a community engagement planning workshop

Release of a press release inviting citizens to a free workshop on July 7, 2024, on planning participation in the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) hearings for the Horne 5 mining project.

• August 14 and 26, 2024 | Participation in strategic meetings with residents of Rouyn-Noranda

Two strategic meetings just before the start of the public inquiry.

• August 27, 2024 | Start of the BAPE hearings in Rouyn-Noranda: Several crucial questions to ask about the troubling Horne 5 mining project

Release of a press release stating: “Civil society is ready for the process. Despite the case being launched in the middle of summer and the company’s chaotic and unannounced presentation of documentation, the groups managed to study the case in detail by pooling their resources.”

Image: Rouyn-Noranda during the Bureau d’audiences publiques de l’environnement (BAPE) hearing on the Horne 5 project. Credit: Radio-Canada / Lise Millette (9)

• August 27–29, 2024 | Participation in the five sessions of the first part of the BAPE public hearings in Rouyn-Noranda.

Period for providing information and presenting the ins and outs of the project as well as environmental issues. Citizens may, in particular, ask questions of the proponent.

 

• September 16–26, 2024 | Period set aside for the submission of views orally, via a brief, through comments, or via annotated images.

September 26 was the deadline for submitting briefs. The Coalition Québec Meilleure Mine and MiningWatch Canada submitted a joint brief regarding Falco Resources Ltd.’s Horne 5 mining project.

 

• September 30 to October 3, 2024 | Second part of the BAPE public hearing for Falco Resources’ Horne 5 mining project.

This second part allows individuals to speak on the subject. It is an opportunity to, for example, make recommendations or even present one’s brief orally.

 

• Fall 2024 | Recommendation by regional health authorities to commission a seismic risk analysis.

Regional health authorities (the CISSS-AT) recommended that the ministry require in-depth studies on the risks of earthquakes caused by the mine. The primary concern is the radiation oncology center—also located in the Notre-Dame neighborhood—in Rouyn-Noranda, where vibrations could damage medical equipment.

 

• December 23, 2024 | Submission of the BAPE report to the minister.

 

The turning point

It was through the process of the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) that the Commission of Inquiry officially concluded, on January 7, 2025, that the Horne 5 project is unacceptable. The report states that the project does not meet minimum requirements for safety, public health, and environmental protection. A large network of organizations came together to stand up to Ressource Falco Ltd. before and during the BAPE-led Commission of Inquiry.

 

Portraits of the activists

First Nations

• Long Point First Nation (LPFN) : Following the inquiry, the First Nation has raised concerns about the project’s impact on air and water quality, as well as on the local economy. It is demanding that environmental and socioeconomic studies be conducted directly by the community to protect its ancestral rights. The LPFN spoke at the BAPE hearings, asserted its rights over its traditional unceded territory, and emphasized that the project must obtain the LPFN’s prior and informed consent, as detailed in its press release: “No Consent = No Project”.

 

Environmental Groups

• Abitibi-Témiscamingue Regional Environmental Council — A non-profit organization (NPO) dedicated to promoting environmental conservation and improving environmental quality. They submitted 162 recommendations to the BAPE, criticizing the lack of consideration for the project’s cumulative effects. The CREAT highlights the health risks illustrated by the “simple measures” (vacuuming with HEPA filters, specific dietary guidelines to limit lead and cadmium absorption) suggested to the public by provincial public health authorities, reflecting an environment already saturated with contaminants and environmental stressors.

 

• Eau Secours — a Montreal-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the protection and responsible management of water in Quebec. Eau Secours has pointed out to the second part of the BAPE the glaring lack of consistency in the company’s proposal to create a mine tailings pond (projected to hold 40 million tons of highly reactive and acid-generating tailings) directly within the watershed of the city’s drinking water source, Lake Dufaut. The organization also points out that the developer has not presented an emergency plan in the event of a facility failure.

 

• Action Boréale — a non-profit organization based in Abitibi-Témiscamingue dedicated to promoting the preservation of Quebec’s boreal forests. They have consistently reminded the government, following the release of the BAPE’s scathing report, of its responsibility for the environment. Action Boréale asserts that the project has more negative impacts than benefits for the community.

 

• Société pour vaincre la pollution (SVP) — a non-profit organization working to defend citizens’ rights to a healthy environment: Offers support and states that “this is one mine too many for Rouyn-Noranda.”

 

• MiningWatch Canada — an Ottawa-based non-governmental organization acting as a watchdog for the mining industry. They continue to call on the government to cease all investment in this harmful project and to publicly confirm its opposition.

 

• Regroupement vigilance mines de l’Abitibi et du Témiscamingue (Revimat) — a non-profit organization advocating for improvements to the Mining Act and environmental protection. They have consistently reiterated their opposition to the project in a joint press release, noting in particular that “the possibility of seismic activity could damage the smelter’s structures and release toxic substances into the air.” 

 

• Comité Arrêt des rejets d’émissions toxiques (ARET) — a citizens’ group advocating for the reduction of air pollutants. They refer to air quality issues in the same press release: “We therefore expect these recommendations to put an end to the project, as the population is already unacceptably overexposed to toxic emissions.”

 

Health, Social Justice, and Community Solidarity

• Mères au Front (Rouyn-Noranda) — a local chapter of the pan-Canadian Mères au Front movement, which brings together mothers and grandmothers driven by a desire to act to protect our children’s future and life on Earth in the face of the climate emergency. This group, acting solely out of a duty to protect future generations, places the right to health, safety, and a clean environment at the heart of its struggle. They believe that the mining industry is incompatible with urban areas and oppose the Horne 5 project because it would increase the vulnerability of a population already overexposed to numerous neurotoxic contaminants.

Image: Protest organized by Mères au Front on October 13, 2024, in Rouyn-Noranda to remind the Legault government that the ongoing situation in Rouyn-Noranda is unacceptable. Credit: Maude Desbois (10)

 

• Centre Entre-Femmes: Active in the community for over 30 years, this organization works to improve women’s living conditions. Its opposition to the Horne 5 project centers on poverty and economic inequalities: since the jobs created are primarily male- , the center condemns the widening wage gaps in industrial regions and calls for a gender-based impact analysis, also fearing an increase in the risk of violence and issues related to alcohol and drug use.

 

• Coopérative d’habitation Boréale: Opposing the developer’s 15-year vision, the housing cooperative advocates for a 40-year urban development cycle to secure the neighborhood’s future. Its struggle highlights the invisible social costs: it points out that communities bear the brunt of the hardships (suicides, domestic violence) linked to fluctuations in the price of gold—human tragedies for which no budget provides to absorb the consequences. The Cooperative has received a very high volume of demand in recent years, a demand it cannot meet.

 

• The Abitibi-Témiscamingue Tenants’ Association also opposes the Horne 5 project and participated in the BAPE, raising concerns in particular about the pressure this project would place on this “sacrificed zone.” This association considers housing to be “a place where everyone should be safe day and night.” The city of Rouyn-Noranda has been in a housing crisis for nearly 15 years. Their argument also emphasized that, in addition to all the dangers raised by the project, the community more often than not bears the burden of finding solutions and accommodations for the population. This additional pressure is absolutely undesirable for Rouyn-Noranda’s community organizations.

The systemic oppression of extraction

 

In Quebec, communities affected by mining projects are oppressed by a glaring lack of oversight by the government regarding the massive investments it grants to the mining sector, as well as by the acceleration of mining projects at the expense of communities. 

For its part, Falco Resources Ltd. engages in the constant withholding and distortion of information, in addition to failing to listen to the public’s concerns and to take environmental assessments seriously. The recent filing (released to the media in late May 2026) of the expert report commissioned to analyze the risks associated with seismic activity supports this view. This report, so eagerly awaited by the public, has failed to clarify the uncertainty that persists regarding the safety of people and the radiation oncology center. A freedom of information request yielded only a heavily redacted version of the report, making it impossible to access nearly all of its content. 

At the same time, the community of Rouyn-Noranda is enduring a historic cycle of threats of industrial closure from Glencore, creating deep polarization within families and the population, and placing citizens in a constant false dilemma between economic survival and the protection of the environment and overall health. 

Everyone has been holding their breath for a long time now.

A year and a half after the BAPE report was submitted, the Horne 5 project is entering the final stages of its environmental impact assessment. At this critical juncture preceding potential mining operations, communities are awaiting the final decision regarding the authorization decree, which is reportedly scheduled for June 2026, according to the company’s latest Advisory Committee meeting dated March 18, 2026. The city’s cultural landscape now hinges on this government decree, which will determine whether authorities choose to ignore or respect the BAPE’s finding of unacceptability. The community is sincerely holding out hope that the final decision will serve the best interests of the local population and the Anicinape First Nation, while ensuring the protection of the environment as well as water and air quality.

To date, however, the network of activists remains mobilized. 

 

And to what end?

A victory would mean the rejection and permanent stop of the Horne 5 project in order to ensure the safety and health of the citizens of Rouyn-Noranda through a realistic assessment of the project’s cumulative impacts, the carrying capacity of the project site, and the relentless pace of the pro-extractive agenda of companies targeting the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region. In the meantime, we are proud to say that the people of Rouyn-Noranda are a great inspiration to the Coalition Québec meilleure mine, and that their efforts serve as an example to follow for other mining struggles throughout the province. The measures taken by the community to mobilize against all these extractive giants are “admirable on a global scale.”

Image: The Horne Smelter at sunset. Credit: Guillaume Proulx, 2020, Rouyn-Noranda.

Image: Notre-Dame neighborhood at night. Credit: Guillaume Proulx, 2019, Rouyn-Noranda.

Endnotes

 

1 – Company Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RessourcesFalco/

 

2-  Rivard, J. (December 2021). Démarrage de l’usine d’acide sulfurique de la fonderie Horne – 20 décembre 1989 | Héros sans panache | Société d’histoire de Rouyn-Noranda.http://shrn.ca/des-jours-qui-ont-fait-rouyn-noranda/20-decembre-1989-demarrage-de-lusine-dacide-sulfurique-de-la-fonderie-horne

 

3 – Collectif 33 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122104798005292317&set=pcb.122104801341292317&locale=fr_CA

 

4 –  Cotnoir, J.-M. (May 25, 2026).Horne 5 : le flou persiste quant aux risques sismiques. Radio-Canada.https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2256119/horne-5-mine-risque-sismique-cisss-at

 

5 –  Luneau, A.-C. (2013, February 6). Rouyn-Noranda : le sol s’affaisse au parc Mouska. Radio-Canada.  https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/599141/trou-parc-mouska

 

6 –  QMM and MWC. (2024, September 26). Mémoire | BAPE projet minier Horne 5 de Ressources Falco à Rouyn-Noranda | Mining Watch Canada. https://miningwatch.ca/fr/blog/2024/9/26/memoire-bape-projet-minier-horne-5-de-ressources-falco-rouyn-noranda

 

7-  OBVAT. (2026, 4 juin). Taux d’inoccupation des logements, Abitibi-Témiscamingue et Québec, 1996 à 2026p – L’Observatoire de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue. https://www.observat.qc.ca/statistiques/taux-dinoccupation-des-logements-abitibi-temiscamingue-et-quebec-1996-a-2026p/ 

8- BAPE, Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement. (2024).Projet Horne 5 à Rouyn-Noranda par Ressources Falco ltée: rapport d’enquête et d’audience publique. Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement. https://www.bape.gouv.qc.ca/fr/dossiers/mine_horne5/

 

9- Millette, L. (2025, March 4). Projet Horne 5 : Québec freine l’élan de Ressources Falco. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2145532/falco-horne-fonderie-rouyn-noranda-mine

 

10-  Fortin-Rondeau, I. (2025, November 18). Le Pudding à l’arsenic : une version industrielle signée Fonderie Horne. https://www.meresaufront.org/billets-de-blogue/le-pudding-a-larsenic-une-version-industrielle-signee-fonderie-horne 

 

Duke CEO admits “24/7” recruiting of data centers; regulator decries corporate focus on profits over public, calls for pause on new data centers

Statement by Executive Director Jim Warren:

Durham, N.C. – In a regulatory hearing this week, Duke Energy’s top executives admitted that they recruit the very data centers used to justify a $63 billion expansion of fossil fuels and nuclear power plants in the Carolinas. Today, NC WARN declares that the case for that expansion is dead, and that existing coal- and gas-fired power plants can be rapidly and inexpensively phased out by the far cheaper solar and battery storage that Duke Energy has blocked for years. 

Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris recently boasted to corporate investors, “We have a [recruiting] team in place that their goal, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, is how do we get these things signed quicker?” Duke’s North Carolina president Kendal Bowman confirmed (1:03:00) during the hearing that this same aggressive recruiting of energy-guzzling data centers is in use in NC.

Duke conceded that use of electricity has fallen over the long term despite huge population growth, and that it has consistently and grossly exaggerated future projections for years while arguing it must build a huge number of new power plants for electricity usage that ultimately never materializes. 

Now, they’ve been caught admitting that they’re actively recruiting new large customers to try to justify the largest expansion of fossil fuels and experimental nuclear plants in the nation. 

This is a scandal and crime being perpetrated against the people of North Carolina who are already struggling with soaring power bills, repeated devastation by storms and assaults on their communities by massive data center developers who provide almost no jobs after initial construction. It is outrageous that a state-sanctioned monopoly should be allowed to drive even higher profits by gouging the public with constant rate hikes year after year.

A witness for the Utilities Commission’s Public Staff stated (1:42:55) that Duke is acting in the interest of shareholders over ratepayers by overzealously signing new large load customers. The Public Staff now recommends (4:03:15) that the Commission impose a 1-year pause on new data centers and scrutinize new contracts for any future data centers. 

NC WARN’s expert witness, engineer Bill Powers, provided evidence in the proceeding that local solar-plus-storage (SPS) can rapidly replace existing coal- and gas-fired power plants and avoid any new ones. Powers shows that the massive potential for local SPS in North Carolina makes it the fastest, cheapest, most equitable tool to move the state off its course toward climate and social chaos.

NC WARN is calling on Governor Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson to cut through the years of scandal and deception and stop the criminal behavior by this giant corporation run by a gang of millionaires. We cannot wait for a ruling in six months and hope the Utilities Commission will remedy this scandalous behavior by Duke Energy executives. 

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Now in its 38th year, NC WARN is building people power in the climate and energy justice movement to persuade or require Charlotte-based Duke Energy – one of the world’s largest climate polluters – to make a quick transition to renewable, affordable power generation and energy efficiency in order to avert climate tipping points and ongoing rate hikes. 

The post Scandal at Duke Energy Hearing Kills the Case for $63 Billion Fossil Fuel and Nuclear Expansion — NC WARN News Release appeared first on NC WARN.

Since the first rumors about a massive land purchase to build a new community in Solano started, Greenbelt Alliance has joined forces with the Solano Together coalition to understand and confront this sprawl development and invest in existing Solano cities.

Now, Silicon Valley Tech billionaires continue to push for a proposal to develop over 15,000 acres of natural and agricultural land. To avoid a vote of the people, California Forever’s current plan is to impose this development by annexing the land into Suisun City, even though the project starts over seven miles from the existing city limits. Here is more about the Suisun Expansion Plan. 

And while the billionaire land owners make lots of claims about a future “promise” for jobs and housing production, their only publicly available plan shows that virtually EVERY area of the plan allows data centers with NO community input.

California Forever claims widespread support for their plan, but the City Council refuses to allow even an advisory vote from the people of Suisun City, who would be stuck paying the bills for increased infrastructure and energy use.

Tell Suisun City leaders that Suisun residents deserve to have a vote in a project of this magnitude! Sign the petition to demand that the City Council LET THE PEOPLE VOTE. Suisun City and Solano County residents are encouraged to sign, as well as allies across the region, state, and country. Take action today:

What’s at Stake

This project paves over farmland, it puts our water supply at risk, and for what?

Data centers use significant energy and water resources, impacting communities’ utility prices, and create fewer jobs than almost any other use of land.

Background

For nearly 70 years, Greenbelt Alliance has stood on the front lines whenever sprawl threatened the landscapes and communities that define this region. In the face of the threat in Solano, we’ve paired our advocacy for open space protection with strong support for new climate-smart development within our existing cities and towns. In 2024, after pressure and mobilization from the Solano Together coalition, California Forever withdrew a proposed ballot initiative called the East Solano Plan at the last minute.

As a core member of the Solano Together coalition, we are working with partners such as the Orderly Growth Committee, Solano County Farm Bureau, and many more. We provide strategic, backbone, and communications support and coordination for a group of diverse partners. Now, we’re continuing to support environmentally sustainable growth and mobilize against harmful developments over six decades later. And with “California Forever,” the fight is ongoing.

Learn more at solanotogether.org and follow on social media @solanotogether.

Blog written with original content from Solano Together.

The post Sign Petition: Say No To California Forever’s Data Center City appeared first on Greenbelt Alliance.