EcoUnionist News #92

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 22, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Mountaintop removal country’s mental health crisis - By Clayton Aldern, Grist, February 17, 2016
• In Exchange For Cutting Benefits, This Bankrupt Coal Company Agreed To Pay Executives Millions - By Nicole Gentile, Think Progress, February 16, 2016
• The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa is appalled by the State of the Nation Address delivered by President Zuma on 11 February 2016 - By Irvin Jim, NUMSA, February 15, 2016
• Healthy Ground, Healthy Atmosphere: Recarbonizing the Earth's Soils - By Nancy Averett, Truthout, February 14, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Appalachia Resist: Regional Action Camp for Social & Environmental Justice - March 18-21
• Break Free 2016 - May 2016 |
• Convergence In Support of Eco-Prisoners & Against Toxic Prisons - June 11 – 13, 2016
• Cove Point Spring Break - March 6-14
• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• 2016 Labor Notes Conference - April 1-4, 2016
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Thin Green Line:

• Derailing Big Oil’s Plans for San Luis Obispo and Benicia - By Ethan Buckner, ForestEthics, February 18, 2016
• Coal Opponents Claim Small Victory at Oakland City Council  - By Darwin BondGraham, East Bay Express, February 17, 2016; [related] New poll reveals that over 75 percent of Oakland voters oppose coal-export proposal - By Staff, Sierra Club Yodeler, February 17, 2016
• As Fossil Fuel Industry Staggers, a Massive Gas Pipeline Project Endures in Texas - By Dahr Jamail, Truthout, February 15, 2016
• Air pollution emergency announced, but these people fighting for solution face jail time - By Chris Court-Dobson, The Canary, February 13, 2016

Just Transition:

• Winter Newsletter - By Staff, Alliance for Appalachia, February 17, 2016
• Why 2016 will be the best year yet for climate justice - By Kari Malkki, Reuters, February 15, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Climate Justice and Palestine: the New Intersectionality - By Alice Rothchild, CounterPunch, February 19, 2016
• Land and Ocean Grabs Not the Solution to Climate Change - By Salena Tramel, The World Post, February 19, 2016
• Monsant o's pride, Monsanto's fall: playing God with the Indian farmer - By Colin Todhunter, The Ecologist, February 19, 2016
• Familias Unidas takes Boycott to Washington, DC - By admin, Boycott Sakuma Berries, February 18, 2016
• Familias Unidas Attends PCC Board of Trustees Meeting in Seattle - By admin, Boycott Sakuma Berries, February 17, 2016
• US Farmers Allege Deception by Agrochemical Giant: The Case Against Syngenta - By Clara Herzberg, Truthout, February 17, 2016
• FAO should support seed selection by peasants and small scale farmers - By Guy Kastler, La Via Campesina, February 16, 2016
• Arms, agribusiness, finance and fossil fuels: the four horsemen of the neoliberal Apocalypse - By Colin Todhunter, The Ecologist, February 15, 2016
• Corporate vision of the future of food promoted at the UN - By Guy Kastler, et.al., La Via Campesina, February 15, 2016
• European dairy farmers facing an untenable situation since 2014 - By Jose–Miguel Pacheco and Genevieve Savigny, La Via Campesina, February 15, 2016
• FAO Symposium on Biotechnology: The biotechnology industry runs the show - By Various, La Via Campesina, February 15, 2016
• Opinion: Women farmers in Europe - By Hanny van Geel, Agricultures, December 2015
• Peasant women power in Mozambique - By Boaventura Monjane, Agricultures, December 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Battle Lines Are Drawn as Congress Reforms the 40-Year-Old Toxic Substances Control Act - By Reynard Loki, Alternet, February 18, 2016
• CP Rail acted in bad faith when firing this conductor after Banff derailment: arbitrator - By Reid Southwick, Calgary Herald, February 18, 2016
• So, is Don Blankenship ‘hardly a criminal’? - By Ken Ward Jr, Charleston Gazette, February 18, 2016
• USW, Mexican Miners’ Union Accuse Asarco, Parent Firm of Rights Violations - By Ben Davis, United Steelworkers, February 18, 2016
• Global Union Coalition Expresses Solidarity, Support for Local 235A - By Staff, United Steelworkers, February 17, 2016
• Plant Shutdown Threatens Pennsylvania Town's Water Supply - By Arthur Delaney, Huffington Post, February 17, 2016
• Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Local 241, Executive Board Member and Union Steward Fired by CTA for Enforcing Union Contract - By ATU Local 241, Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, February 16, 2016
• NUMSA message on the Lily mine disaster - By Irvin Jim, NUMSA, February 16, 2016
• Dozens of Australian building sites contaminated by illegal Chinese asbestos imports, authorities say - By Angelique Donnellan, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, February 15, 2016

Greenwashers:

• Groups Say Secretary Moniz Won't Protect Porter Ranch - By Dan Bacher, Daily Kos, February 17, 2016
• Carbonballs: How Carbon Neutral Investments made Newcastle United “carbon positive” - By Chris Lang, REDD-Monitor, February 16, 2016

Whistleblowers:

• New federal artificial turf study will lead to more questions - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, February 16, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• "Thirsty for Democracy: The Poisoning of an American City": Complete Democracy Now! Special on Flint - By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, February 17, 2016; [related] As They Drank Contaminated Water, Flint Residents Were Charged The Highest Water Rates In The Country - By Bryce Covert, Think Progress, February 17, 2016

Carbon Bubble:

• Oil and gas producers ‘in distress’ as low oil price pain continues - By David Hellier, The Guardian, February 20, 2016
• As oil prices drop, equipment theft climbs - By Bryce Gray, High Country News, February 19, 2016
• Getting Real About Oil Prices and Impacts on Oil Pipelines - By Howard Learner, Environmental Law & Policy Center, February 19, 2016
• How low for how long? The fall (and rise?) of the loonie - By Armine Yalnizyan, Rabble.Ca, February 18, 2016
• Mining's last stand? A UP way of life is threatened - By Ted Roelofs, The Bridge Magazine, February 18, 2016
• Oil retreats as inventories fill - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, February 18, 2016
• Ultra Petroleum posts $3.2 billion loss as potential bankruptcy looms - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, February 18, 2016
• Big bankruptcies are coming to the oil and gas sector - By Zach Scheidt, Business Insider, February 17, 2016
• Big Oil could be hit with a wave of oil company bankruptcies - By Katie Herzog, Grist, February 17, 2016
• Cimarex Energy reports fourth quarter net loss of $630.5 million - By Staff, Oil Voice, February 17, 2016
• Crude-by-rail hits snag - By Morgan Brennan, CNBC, February 17, 2016
• Finning to cut up to 500 extra jobs this year, chairman steps down - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, February 17, 2016
• Marathon reports $793 million loss for the quarter - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, February 17, 2016
• Aurizon write downs signal end for Hancock’s Galilee Basin coal projects - By Bob Burton, REnew Economy, February 16, 2016
• Bankrupt coal company gives fat bonuses to execs, kills worker pensions - By Meteor Blades, Daily Kos, February 16, 2016
• Devon Energy to lay off 1,000 workers, 700 in Oklahoma City - By Associated Press, FuelFix, February 16, 2016
• No coal, no fracking: end fossil fuel production on UK soil by 2020! - By Guy Shrubsole, The Ecologist, February 16, 2016
• One-Third of Oil Companies Could Go Bankrupt this Year - By Claire Zillman, Fortune, February 16, 2016
• Transocean and Pioneer cut hundreds of jobs - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, February 16, 2016
• Why 175 Oil And Gas Companies Could Go Bankrupt This Year - By Katie Valentine, Think Progress, February 16, 2016
• With coal prices in steep slide, even once bullish analyst sees risky investment - By Lynda V. Mapes and Hal Bernton, Seattle Times, February 16, 2016
• Anglo American debt down to junk, outlook negative - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, February 15, 2016; [related] These are the assets Anglo American is kicking to the curb - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, February 15, 2016
• As coal cools off, railroads close tracks and cut jobs across the country - By Daniel Moore, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 15, 2016
• Business Model of Big Oil “Fundamentally Flawed” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, February 15, 2016
• Dark predictions about North Sea oil look all too believable - By Erkal Ersoy, The Conversation, February 15, 2016
• Government ban on fossil fuel divestment threatens future pensioners - By J W Bode, The Ecologist, February 15, 2016
• Foiled by Oil - By Albert Bates, The Great Change, February 14, 2016
• Fossil fuels are now a bad bet, investors told - By Paul Brown, Climate News Network, February 14, 2016
• Skid in Oil Prices Pulls the Recycling Industry Down With It - By David Gelles, New York Times, February 12, 2016
• Stung by Low Oil Prices, Companies Face a Reckoning on Debts - By Clifford Krauss and Michael Corkery, New York Times, February 9, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• It's Not Just What Exxon Did, It's What It's Doing - By Bill McKibben, TomDispatch, February 18, 2016
• Fossil Fuel Industry Spending Millions On 2016 Presidential Candidates - By Alex Kotch, DeSmog Blog, February 17, 2016
• Fossil fuel Industry “Doing All it Can to Stop” Solar - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, February 16, 2016

Wobbles:

• People Are Stopping The TPP; Time To Finish Off Corporate Trade - By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Mint News Press, February 17, 2016
• The Green Heart of #Bristol’s #SocialMovements - By admin, A Green Trade Unionist In Bristol, February 14, 2016

Other News:

• The need for a ‘Needs Budget’ - By admin, A Green Trade Unionist In Bristol, February 20, 2016
• Struggling SunEdison closing Houston-area plant, cutting 180 jobs - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, February 18, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.