Canada

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 18, 2015

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.

Within the last several days there have been two crude-by-rail accidents: one in Ontario, the other in West Virgina. Meanwhile, one of the unions representing the railroad workers at Canada Pacific almost went on strike (until the Canadian government, acting clearly on behalf of the employing class and the latter's need to continue profiting off of crude-by-rail, threatened to intervene). CN was prepared to use untrained managers as "replacement workers" (scabs), not unlike the fossil fuel corporations have likewise threatened to use scabs in the oil refineries--for example Chevron in Richmond--during the current Steelworkers' strike.

Given the circumstances it's more urgent than ever that eco-activists, front-line communities, unionists (and those that are combinations of them or all of them) register to participate in the upcoming Future of Railroads: Safety, Workers, Community & the Environment Conferences: Richmond, California (March 14, 2015) and Olympia, Washington (March 21, 2015) - railroadconference.org, or organize one of your own.

Beyond that, it's clear that the capitalist driven profit motive, which encourages the extraction and transport of increasingly volatile fuels, under increasingly unsafe conditions, using as few (overworked, exploited) workers as possible places not only communities along the rail lines, but our entire existence on this planet at risk. These catastrophes cannot be avoided unless we abolish wage slavery and live in harmony with the earth!

Lead Stories:

• After Latest US Oil Train Disaster, Expert Says Tens of Millions Living Inside 'Blast Zone'; 'We need to be moving away from production, transportation and use of fossil fuels, period—if we want a livable planet, that is.' - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, February 17, 2015
• Another bomb train blows up: Could workers put an end to this madness? - By Peter Rugh, System Change not Climate Change, February 17, 2015

Ontario CN Derailment:

• Canadian National’s main line shuts after crude cars derail - Bloomberg, February 15, 2015
• Fiery Oil Train Crash Lights Up Frozen Ontario Woods - News Editor, Environmental News Service, February 16, 2015
• Major Canadian National Railway Crude Oil Train Derailment and Fire in Ontario - By John Kristensen, Railroaded, February 17, 2015
• Oil Train Derails In Canada, Spills Unknown Amount Of Crude Oil - By Katie Valentine, Think Progress, February 16, 2015

Canadian Pacific Contract Fight:

• BLET President blasts CP for unsafe rail practices and threatening employees - Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, February 15, 2015
• Rail Strike May Disrupt Industries Across North America - By Ian Austen, New York Times, February 15, 2015
• Teamsters on strike at Canadian Pacific - Teamsters Canada, February 15, 2015
• Canada Pacific rail and Teamsters agree to arbitration, ending strike - Bloomberg, February 16, 2015
• Canadian Rail Strike Ends as Parties Agree to Arbitration - By Ian Austin, New York Times, February 17, 2015

West Virginia CSX Derailment:

• Breaking: Shale Oil Bomb Train Explodes in W Virginia Neighborhood - By Chip Northrup, No Fracking Way, February 16, 2015
• Fiery Crude Oil Train Derailment in West Virginia - By John Kristensen, Railroaded, February 17, 2015
• Huge fire in West Virginia after oil train derails, sending tanker into river; Around 200 people evacuated from scene of crash south-east of Charleston as rescuers fight to reach one house set ablaze - Associated Press, February 16, 2015
• Massive West Virginia Explosion Highlights Problems With Oil Train Regulation - By Emily Atkin, Think Progress, February 17, 2015
• Oil Train Derailment in West Virginia Causes Explosion, Sends Tanker Cars into River - Cetology via WVNS TV, February 16, 2015
• Oil Train Derails, Explodes, and Spill into West Virginia’s Kanawha River: Stop the Madness - Columbia River Keeper, February 17, 2015
• State of Emergency in West Virginia After Latest Crude by Rail Disaster - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, February 16, 2015
• State of emergency declared in West Virginia after train derails, explodes - By Ryan Parker, Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2015
• Train derailment sends crude oil cars into Kanawha River; explosions erupt - By Jeff Jenkins, West Virginia Metro News, February 16, 2015
• Two trains carrying crude oil derail and burn in the past three days, in West Virginia & Ontario - By Meteor Blades, Daily Kos, February 16, 2015
• West Virginia In State Of Emergency After Massive Oil Train Explosion - By Emily Atkin, Think Progress, February 17, 2015
• West Virginia Oil Train Derailment Highlights Need for Significant Safety Reforms; Fiery Wreck, Which Follows Weekend Derailment in Ontario, Sets River Ablaze, Forces Evacuations, Threatens Drinking Water - By Mollie Matteson, Center for Biological Diversity, February 16, 2015
• West Virginia Rail Cars Carrying Bakken Crude Crash, Burn as Feds Study New Regulations - By Jamison Cocklin, NGI Shale Daily, February 17, 2015
• West Virginia Train Derailment: Fireball Erupts Into Sky As Derailment Sends Tanker Into River - By Anastasia Williams and Elara Mosquera, ABC News, February 16, 2015
• West Virginia train derailment puts focus on rail safety - By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, FuelFix, February 17, 2015
• West Virginia Train Derails, Leaks Crude Oil Into Kanawha River - By Susie Madrak, Crooks and Liars, February 16, 2015

Other:

• How a GOP Rep Is Delaying Safety Improvements for “Bomb Trains” - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmogBlog, February 13, 2015
• Revised Oil-Train Safety Rule Said to Delay Upgrade Deadline - By Jim Snyder, Bloomberg, February 12, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

By Lorne Stockman, et. al. - Oil Change International, September 2014

Tar sands pipelines face increasing resistance both in the United States and Canada. As existing pipelines reach capacity, the delay and possible cancellation of new pipelines is costing tar sands producers billions of dollars and reducing investment in the sector. The success of anti-pipeline campaigns has forced industry to look to rail in an attempt to address these losses and open new markets for their product.

The crude oil produced from the Albertan tar sands is a semi-solid substance called bitumen, rather than a liquid crude oil. Shipping bitumen by rail is more expensive than shipping it by pipeline and the added cost is a substantial challenge to the long-term viability of the tar sands industry. Despite significant evidence, market analysis, and real world experience to the contrary, some prominent institutions - including the U.S. Department of State - continue to assert that rail has the potential to replace tar sands pipeline capacity, and thus the rapid pace of tar sands development will continue regardless of whether new pipeline capacity is built or not.

This report details why this is not the case.

Read the report (English PDF).

By Justin Mikulka - DeSmog Blog, August 19 2014

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.

Today the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its final report on the July 6th, 2013 train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. The report produced a strong reaction from Keith Stewart, Greenpeace Canada’s Climate and Energy Campaign coordinator.

“This report is a searing indictment of Transport Canada’s failure to protect the public from a company that they knew was cutting corners on safety despite the fact that it was carrying increasing amounts of hazardous cargo. This lax approach to safety has allowed the unsafe transport of oil by rail to continue to grow even after the Lac Megantic disaster. It is time for the federal government to finally put community safety ahead of oil and rail company profits or we will see more tragedies, Stewart said.”

Throughout the report there is ample evidence to support Stewart’s position and plenty to show why the people of Lac-Megantic want the CEO of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA), the rail company responsible for the accident, held accountable in place of the engineer and other low level employees currently facing charges.

At the press conference for the release of the report the TSB representatives often noted that they had found 18 factors that contributed to the actual crash and they were not willing to assign blame to anyone, claiming that wasn’t their role.

But several critical factors stand out and they are the result of MMA putting profits ahead of safety and Transport Canada (TC), the Canadian regulators responsible for overseeing rail safety, failing to do its job.

By Crysbel Tejada and Betsy Catlin - Waging Nonviolence, May 8, 2013

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.

On cloudy days, heavy smoke fills the air of Ponca City, Okla., with grey smog that camouflages itself into the sky. The ConocoPhillips oil refinery that makes its home there uses overcast days as a disguise to release more toxins into the air. These toxins are brimming with benzene — a chemical that, according to the Centers for Disease Control, can cause leukemia, anemia and even decrease the size of women’s ovaries. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2008 the ConocoPhillips refinery released over 2,000 pounds of this chemical into the air in Ponca City.

“Of the maybe 800 of us that live locally, we have averaged over the last five to seven years maybe one funeral a week,” explained Casey Camp-Horinek, a Ponca woman and longtime activist. “Where we used to have dances every week, now most people are in mourning.”

The refinery is located only 1,000 yards behind Standing Bear Park, which is named after the Ponca chief who, in 1877, led his people on their Trail of Tears, from the Ponca homelands in northern Nebraska to present day Oklahoma. But the park is more than a memorial to the distant past. In 1992, the oil giant’s tank farm spilled and contaminated ground water in a nearby predominantly Ponca neighborhood. As a result, ConocoPhillips agreed to purchase the contaminated land and tear down the 200 homes that were on it. In its place, the company built Standing Bear Park — a bitter testament to the Ponca people’s history of forced relocation and genocide.

“We live in a situation that could only be described as environmental genocide,” said Camp-Horinek. Beyond the refineries, she explained, “We also have had the misfortune of living on top of a spider web of pipelines as a result of ConocoPhillips being here.”

Some of these pipelines are transporting Canadian tar sands bitumen, which carries chemicals such as natural gas, hydrogen sulfide, benzene and toluene. This highly toxic diluted substance runs through large pipelines such as Enbridge’s Pegasus line, which recently burst in Mayflower, Ark., and would also flow through TransCanada’s contested Keystone XL pipeline if completed.

“It will not only come through the original territory of the Ponca people [but] it will follow the Trail of Tears of the Ponca people from the 1800s,” said Camp-Horinek. “As a Ponca woman these things are not far removed from us. My own grandfather, my mother’s father, was on this Trail of Tears of the Ponca.”

By Richard Mellior, AFSCME Local 444, retired - Facts for Working People, November 27, 2013

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.

In the aftermath of the crash, polls have indicated that as much as 36% of the US population looks more favorably to socialism, and a recent Pew survey of America's youth between 18 and 29 found that more have a positive view toward Socialism than they do toward Capitalism, Socialism: 49% Capitalism 46%.  While there is no doubt what people mean by socialism varies I think it is fairly accurate to say it means a more egalitarian society, or more accurately, a more just social system.

The problem is that capitalism cannot deliver these goods.  Capitalism is an exploitive system of production in which production or the production of social needs is set in to motion on the basis of profit, on how it can enrich that small minority that own the means of producing human needs and the production process itself. Human needs are secondary as are the needs of the natural world.

Hunger, disease, war, these are the by-products of capitalism.  But so is environmental degradation as land, water, and the natural world is simply there to be exploited regardless of the long-term damage. I read now that Chevron is fighting back against an $18 billion judgment against the company by Judge Nicolas Zambrano in Ecuador. The ruling supported villagers, claims that Texaco had contaminated an oil field in northeastern Ecuador between 1964 and 1992. Texaco was bought by Chevron. Ecuador's Supreme Court has since reduced the amount to $9.5 billion.  Chevron attorneys have accused the US lawyer for the villagers, Steven Donziger, of “orchestrating an international criminal conspiracy by using bribery and fraud in Ecuador to secure a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment against the oil company.”

Meanwhile, BP which is responsible for the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has been accused of lying about the amount of the spill and is resisting paying reparations saying claimants who were not harmed are demanding payment.

No amount of court theatrics will stop the catastrophic environmental destruction that will at some point reach a tipping point with vast swathes of the planet becoming uninhabitable. Life on this planet cannot survive the ravages of capitalism forever, or more accurately, a system of production which places profit above all else and in which the means of producing humanity’s needs like energy, are owned by private individuals. We have absolutely no say in how decisions about these issues are made, decisions that have life and death consequences for all of us.

By Staff - Unifor, November 14, 2013

Disclaimer - Unifor is not affiliated with the IWW. This statement is posted here for information purposes only.

Unifor, Canada's largest energy union, is calling for a Canada-wide moratorium on all new oil and gas fracking. Already the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have introduced moratoriums on fracking. Nova Scotia has banned fracking while undertaking a review. Unifor is now pushing for a national moratorium.

Unifor is raising concerns about the safety and environmental risks associated with fracking as well as the lack of informed consent by First Nations about fracking activities on traditional lands.

In the statement unanimously passed by the 25-person Unifor National Executive Board, the union expressed support for the non-violent protest efforts by First Nations to resist fracking activity on their lands. The Unifor National Executive Board is made up of elected representatives  from across the country and a variety of economic sectors, including energy.  

“Unconventional gas fracking has the potential to have catastrophic effects on our environment and economy. The safety risks are also a major concern for our union,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.  “Just because we can carry out this activity does not mean we should. We must enact a national moratorium on fracking activity.”  

Dias also noted that it would be folly for Canada to reorient our entire energy infrastructure around a short-term surge in an unsustainable energy supply.

From the statement:

“Any resource extraction industry in Canada must confront the problem of unresolved aboriginal land claims, and the inadequate economic benefits (including employment opportunities) which have been offered to First Nations communities from resource developments.  This problem is especially acute with fracking because of the widespread land which would be affected by the activity, and the heated, profit-hungry rush which the industry is set to quickly unleash.  Many Canadians share these concerns with the potential economic, social, and environmental damage of an unregulated fracking industry. 

Instead of being guided by short-term swings in prices and profits for private energy producers, Canada’s federal and provincial governments must develop and implement (in cooperation with other stakeholders) a national plan for a stable, sustainable energy industry that respects our social and environmental commitments, and generates lasting wealth for all who live here.”

Read the resolution (PDF)

By El Machetero - Unsettling America, April 9, 2013

“Native people focusing on settler colonialism sometimes don’t see how it intersects with capitalism and white supremacy. Consequently, things get articulated as sovereignty projects that really are not that great. Your sovereignty comes to be defined as economic development by any means necessary – let’s exploit the resources, let’s build a class structure within Native communities – and that ends up destroying the land as much as multinational corporations are doing. That goes against the principle of having a radical relationship with the land. And it’s self-defeating ultimately, because multinational corporations are not going to let you do what you want to do with the land because they want the resources. It ends up hurting your communities. So I think it’s critical to see where Native struggles and class struggles intersect.”

-Andrea Smith (1)

The role which Aboriginal workers have played in the building of Canada is one which is seldom acknowledged or recognized. During the rare instances when this long-minimized role and largely untold history is engaged, it brings to the light a complex dialectic concerning some of the immense contradictions inherent to any colonial situation. In these contexts, it can be reasonably argued to be in direct contravention to the survival of any subjugated peoples in question to actively contribute to the building of an empire-society which effectively requires their wholesale displacement and “removal” in order to establish and expand itself in the cancerous manner which such systems typically tend to do.

At the same time, there is no way that this paradoxical reality can diminish or remove the basic fact that such societies have also been historically most dependent on those who they oppress with the most vigor and the least remorse, nor does it even begin to resolve the simple economic fact that even those with the least to be gained from contributing to such an ongoing colonial project still have to find the means to survive within it, greatly magnifying the basic dilemma faced by all peoples living on the receiving end of predatory capitalism, where we have come to be dependent on the very things which destroy us all in order to stay alive.