whistleblowers

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, March 1, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• Newsletter: Climate Justice Essential For Economic & Racial Justice - By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance, February 27, 2016
• The Fossil Fuel Thunderdome - By Brett Fleishman, Fossil Free, February 22, 2016
• Fukushima: Deep Trouble - By Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch, February 22, 2016
• Federal Contractors With History of OSHA Violations Battle New Safety Rules - By Mary Bottari, PR Watch, February 16, 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
• Earth Day to May Day! - April 22-May 1, 2016
• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• 2016 Labor Notes Conference - April 1-4, 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Heathrow 13: We’re no heroes; what we want most is for you to take action too - By Alistair Tamlit, Red Pepper, February 26, 2016
• Port Rejects Plans to Build Oil Refinery and Propane Export Terminal - By Brett VandenHeuvel, EcoWatch, February 25, 2016
• Proposed Marcellus Gas Pipeline Sparks Protest At Prized Maple Farm - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, February 25, 2016
• Fracking Cases in Pennsylvania Expose the Human Cost of Drilling - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, February 24, 2016
• Longview Terminated Negotiations For Oil & Propane Facilities - By Roy L Hales, The Eco Report, February 23, 2016

Just Transition:

• Solar’s stunning rise is only just beginning - By Fereidoon Sioshansi, REnew Economy, February 29, 2016
• Across Canada and World, Climate Movement Prepares for Leap into 2016 - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, February 28, 2016
• Repetition - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, February 27, 2016
• Trident rally is Britain's biggest anti-nuclear march in a generation - By Mark Townsend, The Guardian, February 27, 2016
• Unions and Cooperatives: How Workers Can Survive and Thrive - By Brian Van Slyke, Truthout, February 27, 2016
• Water Management Industry Eclipses Oil & Gas as Jobs Leader in SE Louisiana, 2nd Across Coastal Zone - By Elizabeth Van Cleve, Restore the Mississippi River Delta, February 24, 2016
• Critical Self-Reflection as a Path to Anti-Capitalism: The Degrowth-Movement - By Dennis Eversberg and Matthias Schmelzer, DeGrowth, February 23, 2016
• ‘Ende Gelände’: Stop Coal; Protect The Climate - By Staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, February 22, 2016
• 100% Renewable Energy: What We Can Do in 10 Years - By Richard Heinberg, Yes! Magazine, February 22, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Accountability comes calling for Wendy’s Board Chairman Nelson Peltz… - By Staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, February 29, 2016
• Farmers to Gov. Dayton: More Living Cover on Farmland Will Clean Our Water - By Loretta Jaus, Darrel Mosel, and Terry VanDerPol, Land Stewardship Project, February 27, 2016
• NFWM Meets with Sakuma Bros. CEO & Driscoll’s VP - By Staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, February 27, 2016
• Make Monsanto Pay - By Vandana Shiva, EcoWatch, February 26, 2016
• The surreptitious arrival of the new “Living Modified Organisms” at the FAO - By Staff, La Via Campesina, February 26, 2016
• 1,500 farmworkers and families swamp CIW headquarters for annual Year of the Worker Party; Workers’ Voice Tour art production in full swing! - By Staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, February 24, 2016
• Coalition of Immokalee Workers Targets Wendy's for Rejecting Fairer Standards for Farmworkers - By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, February 23, 2016
• Drought in Southern Africa threatens millions with famine - By various, Socialist Worker (UK), February 23, 2016
• A Town Demands Protection from Pesticides - By Elizabeth Grossman, National Geographic, February 23, 2016
• Understanding Tribal Agriculture - By Bharat Dogra and Baba Mayaram, Vikalp Sangam, February 23, 2016
• One week out! Workers’ Voice Tour just around the corner… - By Staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, February 22, 2016
• Monsanto's Pesticide Is Top Suspect Behind Mysterious Kidney Disease - By Armin Rosencranz, Ashrutha Rai and Gaurav Bhawnani, Truthout, February 20, 2016
• Here’s how California could be missing pesticides’ cancer risk - By Andrew Donohue, Reveal, February 17, 2016
• Science Used to Regulate Monsanto's Roundup Is Outdated, Says New Study - By Elizabeth Grossman, Earth Island Journal, February 17, 2016
• From Farm To Table - By Kari Birdseye, EarthJustice, Winter 2016

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

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 15, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• What the media hides about China’s economic slowdown: Greed has corporate elites turning blind eye to nation’s environmental destruction - By Bob Hennelly, Salon, February 10, 2016
• How Industry and Regulators Kept Public in the Dark After 2014 LNG Explosion in Washington - By Tarika Powell, Sightline Daily, February 8, 2016
• Organic Agriculture, Capitalism and the Parallel World of the Pro-GMO Evangelist - By Colin Todhunter, CounterPunch, February 8, 2016
• Newsletter: Global Solidarity Is Rising - By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance, February 7, 2016
• Why the oil industry could be a stain on economic recovery in US - By Jana Kasperkevic, The Guardian, February 7, 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:

• Coal Money Divides Oakland's Churches - By Darwin BondGraham, East Bay Express, February 10, 2016
• Hundreds urge Planning Commission to deny Phillips 66′s dangerous oil train proposal - By Elly Benson, Sierra Club Yodeler, February 8, 2016
• Broad Coalition in San Luis Obispo Blasts Tar Sands Invasion - By Paul W. Rea, Sunflower Alliance, February 7, 2016
• Here are all the Northwest cities, governments and organizations that oppose oil trains - By Nick Abraham, Oil Check, January 28, 2016

Just Transition:

• Solar Net Metering Challenge In Maine - By Glenn Meyers, Clean Technica, February 12, 2016
• Good Policy Gone Bad: How Nevada Killed Jobs And Clean Energy Competition - By Jim Marston, Environmental Defense Fund, February 11, 2016
• 75,000 Solar Jobs In California, Says New Report - By Jake Richardson, Clean Technica, February 11, 2016
• California And Massachusetts Lead U.S. Solar Boom - By Alejandro Davila Fragoso, Think Progress, February 10, 2016
• States See Robust Solar Job Growth, But Are Those Jobs Secure? - By Julia Pyper, Green Tech Media, February 10, 2016
• Farmers, community and enviro groups rally at Vic Parliament: Call for gasfield ban & renewables ambition - By Leigh Ewbank, Yes2Renewables, February 9, 2016
• Residents fight for economic and environmental justice in one Illinois town - By Raven Rakia, Grist, February 9, 2016
• Social partners and the collaborative approach are key to the green transition of the Ruhr region - By Béla Galgóczi, European Trade Union Institute, February 9, 2016
• Switching on to energy democracy - By Claire Fauset, New Internationalist, February 9, 2016
• Brooklyn Youth Create Jobs (and Community Roots) Through Local Compost Program - By Rebecca Nathanson, Yes! Magazine, February 5, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• MST: We are entering a new period of class struggle - By MST National Coordination, La Via Campesina, February 12, 2016
• California Farmers Irrigate Crops With Chevron’s Oil Wastewater in Drought-Stricken Central Valley - By Cole Mellino, EcoWatch, February 10, 2016
• Jail term for villagers opposing Bolloré/Socfin’s palm oil plantations in Sierra Leone as trial of French journalists starts in Paris - By  Joseph Rahall, et. al., World Rainforest Movement, February 10, 2016
• Coffee Farmers Sue Monsanto for Hiding Cancer-Causing Impact of Glyphosate - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, February 9, 2016
• A real system change has to come from below, says Paula Gioia, the European Youth ICC member of La Via Campesina - By Den Haag, La Via Campesina, February 9, 2016
• Breaking the system designed to keep tea workers poor - By Sabita Banerji, New Internationalist, February 8, 2016
• Farm defenders halt construction at the Gill Tract a second time - By Occupy the Farm, IndyBay, February 8, 2016
• Hot off the press!… - By Staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, February 8, 2016
• Local Farmworkers Disrupt Costco Shareholders Meeting - By Káráni, Káráni, February 8, 2016
• Weekend of Farmworker Solidarity in California and Washington - By Staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, February 8, 2016
• Environmental racism in the “leftmost city” - By esewra, Santa Cruz Ecological Justice, January 27, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 9, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• Naomi Klein: Climate Change "Not Just About Things Getting Hotter" - By Michael Winship, Truthout, February 4, 2016
• Trying to exploit rural anger - Jessica Campbell interviewed by Wael Elasady, Socialist Worker, February 3, 2016
• Five Stories To Watch in the Arch Coal Bankruptcy: Big executive bonuses; shafting workers and the environment; and more - By Clark Williams-Derry, Sightline Daily, February 2, 2016
• 300 Union Plumbers Spent The Weekend Installing Water Filters For Flint Residents For Free - By Judd Legum, Think Progress, February 1, 2016
• GM, union workers take 56,700 water bottles to Flint - By Megan Little, WANE TV, January 29, 2016
• To Charles Koch, Universities Are Propaganda Machines - By Connor Gibson, Huffington Post, January 27, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Break Free 2016 - May 2016 |
• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Thin Green Line:

• The struggle for responsible investment continues: UBC committee votes against divestment - By Jen Halsall, Rabble.Ca, February 4, 2016
• Stand with the #Heathrow 13 - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, February 3, 2016
• In Washington, the 'necessity defense' on trial alongside activists - By Cally Carswell, High Country News, February 2, 2016

Just Transition:

• Democratic Energy and Climate Change - By Yavor Tarinski, Resilience, February 4, 2016
• New Bill Would Clean Up Abandoned Coal Mines And Jump Start The Appalachian Economy - By Katie Valentine, Think Progress, February 4, 2016
• Solar Decision Will Burn Low-Income Californians - By Tom Dalzell, Beyond Chron, February 4, 2016
• Hal Rogers files bill to release $1 billion in AML funds for economic development in coal communities - By Ivy Brashear, Renew Appalachia, February 3, 2016
• Unions Part of London Campaign to Bring ‘Energy for People, Not for Profit’ - By Archie Davies, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, February 3, 2016
• UK Government Bails Out North Sea; Gives “Nothing to Solar” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, February 1, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Bold Nebraska Delivers Petition Urging Legislature to Stand With Family Farmers, Vote NO on Corporate Pig Bill LB 176 - By Mark Hefflinger, Bold Nebraska, February 4, 2016
• Dairy Crisis: Enough evaluations, it’s high time for the Commission to act - By Staff, La Via Campesina, February 3, 2016
• La Via Campesina, Building an International Movement for Food and Seed Sovereignty - By Simone Adler, La Via Campesina, February 3, 2016
• National Farmers Union to be part of climate change solutions in Manitoba - By Staff, La Via Campesina, February 2, 2016
• Monsanto’s Roundup Kills and Damages More than Weeds - By Shepherd Bliss, CounterPunch, February 1, 2016
• Worst Trade Union of the Year Award: a Small Farm Future Special - By Chris Smaje, Small Farm Future, January 30, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Canada must act now to save its steel-making industry - By Paul Weinberg, Rabble.Ca, February 5, 2016
• How the Bundy Gang Won - By George Wuerthner, CounterPunch, February 5, 2016
• Three missing after South African gold mine collapses, trapping 87 - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, February 5, 2016
• CP Rail propane cars collide near Edmonton in 3rd 'remote control' accident - By Dave Seglins, CBC, February 4, 2016
• Hazelwood owner charged over 45-day coal mine fire - By Sophie Vorrath, REnew Economy, February 4, 2016
• Heather White and the Human Costs of Electronics - By Cecilia Jamasmie, CounterPunch, February 4, 2016
• Glazer: Rework BART union contracts before $3 billion bond vote - By Sam Richards, Contra Costa Times, February 3, 2016
• Saeed Baloch, Advocator for Fishermen’s Rights, Arrested in Pakistan - By Real World Radio, La Via Campesina, February 3, 2016
• What’s Happened With The Oregon Occupation Since You Stopped Paying Attention - By Laurel Raymond, Think Progress, February 3, 2016
• Report: Even After 2013 Texas Fertilizer Explosion, Hundreds of Communities Still at Risk - By Elizabeth Grossman, In These Times, February 2, 2016
• Global Sweatshops, Solidarity and the Bangladesh Breakthrough - By Eric Dirnbach, Public Seminar, January 28, 2016
• People Of Color & Poor More Likely To Live Near Chemical Hazard - By Amanda Starbuck, Center for Effective Government,
  January 21, 2016

Greenwashers:

• How safeguards fail poor farmers in the Corridor Ankeniheny-Zahamena REDD project in Madagascar - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, February 5, 2016
• REDD is dead. What’s next? - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, February 4, 2016
• Behind the fake ban, SNP is fracking bosses’ good friend - By Raymie Kiernan, Socialist Worker (UK), February 2, 2016
• The Inside Story of How a University Professor Quietly Collaborated With Monsanto - By Carey Gillam, AlterNet, January 30, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 2, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• US Building Boom Fuels Spike in Construction Worker Injury and Death - By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout, January 30, 2016
• New report shows mistreatment of garment workers by familiar brands - By Katie Herzog, Grist, January 29, 2016
• A successful climate summit, but no progress for climate justice? - By Staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, January 28, 2016
• System Change Grounded in Food Sovereignty at the 2015 Climate Talks in Paris - By Terran Giacomini, La Via Campesina, January 27, 2016
• The Wreck of Amtrak 188 - By Matthew Shaer, New York Times Magazine, January 26, 2016
• Fossil Fuel Spill Tracker 2015: A Map of Environmental Disasters - By Staff, onEarth, Truthout, January 25, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Break Free 2016 - May 2016 |
• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Thin Green Line:

• Opponents of Crude-by-Rail Project Score a Key Victory - By Jean Tepperman, East Bay Express, January 28, 2016
• Crude-By- Rail Projects Face Key Votes - By Jean Tepperman, East Bay Express, January 27, 2016
• SLO County Staff Tells County to DENY Phillips 66 Oil Train Terminal - By Ethan Buckner, Forest Ethics, January 27, 2016
• County Admits Tarsands Plan: Proposes Rejecting San Luis Obispo Oil Trains Project - By Greg Karras and Andrés Soto, Communities for a Better Environment, January 26, 2016
• Troutdale Energy Center project abandoned - By Katy Sword, Portland Tribune, January 26, 2016
• WIRT Comments on Tesoro Savage Vancouver Energy Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement - By Helen Yost, Wild Idaho Rising Tide, January 22, 2016
• How to Stop an Oil Train: The Climate Defense That Won Over a Courtroom - By Valerie Schloredt, Yes Magazine, January 21, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Monsanto to Cut 3,600 Jobs as Public Protests Continue to Stymie Profits - By News Desk, Mint Press News, January 29, 2016
• Sakuma Bros. CEO Refuses NFWM Supporters’ Postcards - By Gabriela Raquel Ríos, National Farm Worker Ministry, January 29, 2016
• Farm defenders lock down to halt farmland destruction in the East Bay - By Ground, Occupy the Farm, January 28, 2016
• Migrant farmworkers call on Trudeau for permanent residency - By Alyse Kotyk, Rabble.Ca, January 28, 2016
• WATCH: Profits Over People? Oppose ‘Right–to-Spray’ Bill in Hawaii - By Staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, January 27, 2016
• An invisible war is being waged on the working class: Devanur Mahadeva - By Kumar Buradikatti, The Hindu, January 25, 2016
• Malheur occupation could set conservation efforts back years - By Ben Goldfarb, High Country News, January 25, 2016
• No to evictions in Notre-Dame-des-Landes! - By Michele Roux, Laurent Pinatel, Elina Bouchet, La Via Campesina, January 25, 2016
• Solidarity with the courageous activists opposing airport expansion in France and the UK - By Jamie Henn, 350.org, January 25, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Chinese miners rescued after 36 days trapped underground - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, January 28, 2016
• Ramu mine workers want executive out and better safety standards - By The National aka The Loggers Times, Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, January 28, 2016
• Coalition of Oystermen, Injured Workers and Waterkeepers Wins Hearing on Formosa Plastics’ Discharge into Lavaca Bay, Texas - By Diane Wilson, Bridge the Gulf, January 27, 2016
• Dispute Over Cattle Grazing Disrupts Patrols Of Federal Land - By Kirk Siegler, NPR, January 27, 2016
• ‘Google Bus’ future still uncertain - By Joshua Sabatini, San Francisco Examiner, January 27, 2016
• Ramu mine workers stage sit-in protest since Friday - By Post Courier, Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, January 27, 2016
• Simultaneous Melbourne and Sydney Rallies in Support of Sacked Crew - By Ashleigh Telford, Maritime Union of Australia, January 27, 2016
• Slaughter of Up to 900 Wild Bison at Yellowstone Park Sparks Federal Lawsuit to Protect First Amendment Rights - By Animal Legal Defense Fund, EcoWatch, January 27, 2016
• Detroit Public School’s Restraining Order To Stop Protests Over School Conditions Has Been Rejected - By Casey Quinlan, Think Progress, January 26, 2016
• Shareholder resolution filed against Exxon - By Finnegan Schick, Yale News, January 26, 2016
• Detroit Public School’s Restraining Order To Stop Protests Over School Conditions Has Been Rejected - By Aura Bogado, Grist, January 26, 2016
• PBS’s ‘The Mine Wars’ Shows West Virginia’s Militant, Radical Labor History - By David Moberg, In These Times, January 25, 2016
• Water Isn't the Only Source of Lead Contamination in Flint - By Pat Elder, WarIsACrime.org, January 25, 2016
• GE workers facing Fort Edward job loss push PCB health studies - By Brian Nearing, Times-Union, January 22, 2016
• Kennecott worker sustains ‘traumatic injuries’ in industrial accident - By Bob Mims, Salt Lake Tribune, January 22, 2016
• Today's Slaves Often Work For Enterprises That Destroy The Environment - By Fresh Air, NPR, January 21, 2016
• The Canadian Union of Public Employees and Blue Planet Project join call to end water privatization in Nagpur, India - By Staff, The Blue Planet Project, January 15, 2016

Whistleblowers:

• Grand Canyon park’s 15-year failure on sexual harassment - By Lyndsey Gilpin, High Country News, January 28, 2016

Greenwashers:

• Pro-Tunnels Group Bars Journalist from Media Teleconference - By Dan Bacher, Daily Kos, January 29, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 26, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• Beyond Koch: Meet the Other Right-Wing Oligarchs Featured in Jane Mayer's "Dark Money" - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, January 21, 2016
• ExxonMobil Spent At Least £5.6m on European Lobbying and Corporate Donations in 2014 - By Kyla Mandel, DeSmog UK, January 20, 2016
• The Kochs & the Nazis: Book Reveals Billionaires’ Father Built Key Oil Refinery for the Third Reich | Dark Money: Jane Mayer on How the Koch Bros. & Billionaire Allies Funded the Rise of the Far Right - Jane Mayer interviewed by Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now, January 20, 2016
• In the Keystone Suit, It’s Big Oil vs. Democracy - By Janet Redman, Foreign Policy In Focus, January 15, 2016
• The Last Drop: The Politics of Water - By Adam Tomes, CounterFire, January 14, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Break Free 2016 - May 2016 |
• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Thin Green Line:

• Delta 5 trial: Making the case for climate disobedience - By Patrick Mazza, Cascadia Planet, January 24, 2016
• Record-Breaking Number of Comments Pours in Against Proposed Tesoro-Savage Oil Terminal - Press Release, Stand Up to Oil, January 22, 2016
• Multnomah County Passes Unanimous Historic Resolution Opposing Oil Trains and Tesoro Savage Project - Press Release, Columbia Riverkeeper, January 21, 2016
• The Real Zombie Apocalypse - By Bill McKibben, Tom Dispatch, January 19, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Press Release: Sakuma Brothers Farm Wins 2015 ‘Scrooge of the Year’ Vote - Press Release, Boycott Sakuma Berries, January 23, 2016
• The Cowliphate and Poisoned Kids: Twin Assaults on The Commons - By Michael Donnelly, CounterPunch, January 22, 2016
• Greek Farmers Blockade Highways Over Pension Cuts - By Jennifer Baker, Revolution News, January 22, 2016
• Gates Foundation is spearheading the neoliberal plunder of African agriculture - By Colin Todhunter, The Ecologist, January 21, 2016
• Illegal Profits from Polluting Florida Go Untouched - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, January 21, 2016
• In Japan, a David vs Goliath Battle to Preserve Bluefin Tuna - By Winifred Bird, Yale Environment 360, January 21, 2016
• Westlands’ new front group hides farmworker reality - By Amanda Ford and Janaki Jagannath, Fresno Bee, January 21, 2016
• Across the West, Citizens Stand Up and Rally Against the Bundy Land Seizure Agenda - By Lucy Livesay, Center for Western Priorities, January 20, 2016
• Death Threats and Detention in Paraguay - By Fionuala Cregan, Intercontinental Cry, January 20, 2016
• Drought Pushes South Africa To Water, Energy, and Food Reckoning - By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue, January 19, 2016
• Sportsmen, wildlife advocates rally for public lands, ending seizure of wildlife refuge - By Staff, Our Public Lands, January 19, 2016
• Disgraceful 'Honour' for failing to protect people from poisons - By Georgina Downs, The Ecologist, January 18, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Report Underlines Recent Worker Hazards at Old Weapons Plants - By Jim Morris and Jamie Smith Hopkins, Truthout, January 22, 2016
• Detroit Rocked by Teachers' "Sickout" Protesting Dire Conditions Under Emergency Management - Victor Gibson and Russ Bellant interviewed by Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now, January 21, 2016
• Oregon ranchers who sparked standoff threatened to wrap official’s son in barbed wire and drown him - By Arun Gupta, RawStory, January 21, 2016
• 2 hurt when AK Steel plant furnace explodes in Pennsylvania - By Staff, WTRF TV, January 21, 2016
• The Mine Wars: West Virginia’s Coal Miners March on Public Television - By Mark Hand, CounterPunch, January 20, 2016
• U.S. records 2nd and 3rd coal deaths of 2016 - By Ken Ward Jr, Charleston Gazette, January 20, 2016
• Ebola crisis highlights urgent need for reform - By Natasha Horsfield, New Internationalist, January 19, 2016
• Blood on the Mountain - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, January 18, 2016
• 'Excessive fatigue' at CP an 'immediate threat' to rail safety: Transport Canada - By Dave Seglins, CBC News, January 18, 2016
• Phillips 66 Ferndale Refinery hit with $324,000 fine - By Dave Gallagher, Bellingham Herald, January 15, 2016
• Time Has Come: 'Kill a Worker, Go to Jail,' Say Steelworkers - By David P. Ball, United Steelworkers, January 14, 2016

Whistleblowers:

• Whistleblower Anthony Rivera Files Lawsuit Against Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - By Admin, La Jicarita, January 23, 2016

Greenwashers:

• Fukushima Mon Amour: the Hucksters of the Green Atom - By Jeffrey St. Clair, CounterPunch, January 22, 2016
• Cap and Clear-Cut - By Will Parrish, East Bay Express, January 20, 2016
• How the Green Climate Fund approved a wetlands project in Peru without a process of Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, January 19, 2016
• Despite Ottawa's posturing, the global climate remains threatened by greed and militarism - By Roger Annis, Rabble.Ca, January 18, 2016
• The Other Keystone: The Alberta Clipper, the Pipeline No One Is Talking About - By Branko Marcetic, In These Times, January 14, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 18, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• Mother Nature's Invisible Hand Strikes Back Against the Carbon Economy - By JP Sottile, Truthout, January 16, 2016
• Economic downturns fuel Sagebrush Rebellion events - By Paige Blankenbuehler, High Country News, January 15, 2016
• It’s Not Too Late For Unions to Win the Friedrichs Case - By Shamus Cooke, CounterPunch, January 13, 2016
• The Oil Pricequake: Political Turmoil in a Time of Low Energy Prices - By Michael T. Klare, Truthout, January 12, 2016
• Hard Evidence: this is the Age of Dissent; and there’s much more to come - By David J. Bailey, The Conversation, January 11, 2016
• Essential reading on the Paris climate agreement - By John Foran, Climate and Capitalism, January 10, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Break Free 2016 - May 2016 |
• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Thin Green Line:

• Crowds Urge Washington Energy Council to Deny Tesoro Savage Oil Terminal - By Staff, Columbia Riverkeeper, January 13, 2016
• Tacoma Steering into Uncertain Waters: Loopholes for hybrid LNG facility would set an alarming precedent - By Tarika Powell, Sightline Institute, January 13, 2016
• Insane Keystone XL lawsuit illustrates ticking time bomb trade deals - By Sam Cossar-Gilbert, New Internationalist, January 11, 2016; [related] Why TransCanada's $15 Billion Lawsuit Against U.S. Is a Bad Omen for Trans-Pacific Partnership - By Chris Paulus, Occupy.com, January 11, 2016
• The Ugly Underbelly of Corporations’ Pursuit of a Coal Terminal - By Sandy Robson, Coal Stop, January 9, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• A Battle for the Soul of Social Responsibility… - By Staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, January 14, 2016
• The Beginning of the War Against Oblivion - By Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés and Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano, CounterPunch, January 14, 2016
• Drought hits Zimbabwe: Scorching heat, little rains and no grazing - ZIMSOFF Press Release, La Via Campesina, January 14, 2016
• TTIP: the downfall of European agriculture? - By Dario Sarmadi, The Ecologist, January 14, 2016
• The War to Claim the New West - By Jeffrey St. Clair and James Ridgeway, CounterPunch, January 14, 2016
• Who does Malheur belong to? - By Brian Ward, Socialist Worker, January 13, 2016
• The Daily Cost Of The Bundy Occupation - By Laurel Raymond and Jenny Rowland, Truthout, January 12, 2016
• Patriots versus the state? - By Eric Ruder, Socialist Worker, January 12, 2016
• France: 20,000 People Protest Notre-Dame-Des-Landes Airport Construction - By anonymous, Squat!net, January 11, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Oilsands plant explosion near Fort McMurray leaves 1 dead, another critical - By Staff, CBC News, January 16, 2016
• A Scourge Returns: Black Lung in Appalachia - By Carrie Arnold, TruthOut, January 16, 2016
• Tree employees protest working conditions in Salisbury - By Vanessa Junkin, DelMarVaNow, January 15, 2016
• Trial date set for Black Elk Energy over 2012 Gulf blast - AP Wire, FuelFix, January 15, 2016
• Crew Members Forcibly Removed from MV Portland in Disgraceful Act by Alcoa - By Ashleigh Telford, Maritime Union of Australia, January 13, 2016
• Earth Minute: Anne Petermann on ArborGen’s $53.M legal fine - By Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project, January 13, 2016
• Exxon deficiencies found in California refinery blast - AP Wire, FuelFix, January 13, 2016
• GE consults on job cuts - By David Weston, Wind Power Monthly, January 13, 2016
• NLRB adds to allegations against Asarco - By David Wichner, Arizona Daily Star, January 12, 2016
• Chemical Employers To Face Tougher Worker Safety Penalties - By Jyllian Kemsley, Chemical & Engineering News, January 11, 2016
• Marathon Petroleum: 3 Injured In Fire At Galveston Bay Refinery - By Staff, Houston Public Media, January 11, 2016
• Inside Bangladeshi Factories: The Real Story - By Robert J. S. Ross, The American Prospect, January 8, 2016

By Steve Ahlquist - RI Future, November 30, 2015

Two safety inspectors who worked on Spectra Energy’s proposed methane gas pipeline that will cut through Burrillville, RI, say the company cut corners when it came to project, worker and environmental safety.

“Right now, what they’re hoping to do, is they’re hoping to slam all this through, and then at the end ask for forgiveness,” said one of the former inspectors. “Oops, sorry about that, I didn’t know, let me write you a check. Because once this thing’s turning meter, they’re going to be making millions of dollars a day. It doesn’t matter what your problems are…”

The other added, “We were told to shut the fuck up or quit.”

Both men, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, were subcontracted by Spectra and both were terminated from the project this summer. I was introduced to them through FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas), an environmental group that opposes the project, and have spent time talking with both men by phone as well as reviewing audio interviews and emails provided by FANG.

“Like every other company, Spectra gives a tremendous presentation about their commitment to safety, but their actions lack any kind of resolve. No one ever says, ‘Safety’s #2 here,’” said the first inspector. “At every turn when I made a safety suggestion, I was met with monumental resistance from the company on every level.”

Perhaps suspecting their days are numbered, fossil fuel companies are rushing to build the infrastructure required to keep us dependent on methane or “natural” gas for the next 50 years or more, even as evidence mounts that methane is a major contributor to climate change. This gives lie to the claim that methane will serve as a bridge fuel, something to ease the transition from fossil fuels to green energy sources, as the infrastructure investments being made are long term and permanent. Companies are investing billions laying pipelines, building compressor stations, and constructing energy plants and other infrastructure ahead of industry-wide extinction.

In their rush to build, safety and environmental concerns are being brushed aside, suspect many experts. A recent “Pipeline Safety Trust analysis of federal data,” shows that, “new pipelines are failing at a rate on par with gas transmission lines installed before the 1940s.”  Sarah Smith writes that Carl Weimer, director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, told attendees at a National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives annual meeting in Tempe, AZ that, “The new pipelines are failing even worse than the oldest pipelines.”

Though some of the problems may be related to workers learning how to implement the latest technologies, Weimar says, “there’s also some suggestions that we’re trying to put so many new miles of pipeline in the ground so fast that people aren’t doing construction … the way they ought to.”

In the same piece Smith quotes Robert Hall, of the National Transportation Safety Board Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations, who agreed that, “the rapid construction of pipelines in the U.S. is likely a contributing factor to ‘people … out there possibly taking shortcuts or not being as diligent’ as they would be if the pace of construction were less fervent.”

Coming forward to confirm these observations are two former Spectra contractors I’m calling Inspector One and Inspector Two. Both wish to remain anonymous for this piece for personal and professional reasons, though they know that their former bosses may be able to identify them.

By Felice Pace - KlamBlog, July 22, 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.

The Klamath Falls Herald and News got the headline just right: House passes Walden’s plan to help protect Klamath Project water users (emphasis added). The article goes on to report that "the proposal would confer applicant status on those irrigators, ensuring that they are included in Endangered Species Act consultations that could affect operations of the water project they rely upon." Republican Congressman Greg Walden was able to add the provision to the "Western Water and American Food Security Act" which passed the House with "bipartisan support". The legislation now goes to the U.S. Senate.

Walden's effort to "protect" federal irrigators from the Endangered Species Act implements one of the main objectives of the KBRA Water Deal: to provide "relief" to Klamath Project Irrigators from requirements of the federal Endangered Species Act. That relief will also come in the form of wink-and-nod approval of Habitat Conservation Plans that KlamBlog predicts will remove ESA constraints on irrigation within the sprawling federal irrigation project. KlamBlog has previously written in depth about what we call the KBRA's "wink-and-nod" approach to implementing the ESA. The newer Upper Basin Comprehensive Agreement extends the same ESA "relief" to irrigation interests above Upper Klamath Lake.   

In the news report Walden states that the provision he championed formalizes what is already the practice: the US Bureau of Reclamation  routinely involved organizations representing irrigators in consultations with the US Fish & Wildlife and National Matrine Fisheries Services. Those consultations focus on impacts the 200,000 acre irrigation project has on Kuptu, Tsuam and Achvuun (Shortnose and Lost River Suckers and Coho salmon).

Walden's move may be in response to an investigation being conducted by the Department of Interior.  A former employee has alleged that Reclamation misspent funds which were appropriated to benefit fish and wildlife in order to pay for private growers to pump groundwater for irrigation. Involving a private entity in agency-to-agency government consultations may violate rules designed to protect such consultations from private interest influence. That may be why Walden is pushing the provision now, that is, to legalize what is otherwise an illegal practice. Whether it is legal or not, commercial interests should not be part of ESA consultations which by law are supposed to be based on the best available science and the scientific opinions of expert agencies.

Of course Reclamation does not include all those to whom it supplies water in those ESA consultations. Instead, the Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA), which is controlled by a handful of large and powerful growers, is given a seat at the table while smaller irrigators are left outside.

And what about the tribes, fishermen and others who have a vital interest in how Klamath River water is managed? Why doesn't Mr. Walden want to give them a seat at the ESA consultation table too? With so many of us dependent on Klamath River water, why is just one interest singled out for special treatment with respect to those ESA consultations?

By Kirsten Stade - Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, July 14, 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.

Washington, DC — The proposed new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “Action Agenda” for environmental justice contains precious little action and continues to marginalize disadvantaged communities beset by disproportionate pollution burdens, according to comments filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The EPA plan focuses on symbolic steps that will do little to lift the pollution burden off the poor.

Public comment closes today on EPA’s draft “EJ [Environmental Justice] 2020 Action Agenda framework” which would guide agency efforts over the next five years to make “a visible difference in environmentally overburdened, underserved, and economically distressed communities,” according to the agency website. PEER faults this new iteration for, among other reasons, its –

• Divorce of environmental justice from its underlying basis in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This separation has reduced environmental justice to a largely voluntary program;
• Absence of any guidance for state and local recipients of EPA funds, leaving the program as an intellectual exercise for EPA staff with little practical consequence; and
• Lack of any enforceable regulation or even a plan to promulgate any.

“At EPA, environmental justice has devolved into aspirational window-dressing,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that the agency has yet to take promised steps to enable communities to defend themselves. “EPA’s ongoing failure to put some teeth into this program only perpetuates environmental injustice.”

The PEER comments urge EPA to adopt best practices from other agencies. For example, the Federal Highway Administration commits itself to “identify and address” undue pollution impacts in communities. By contrast, the EPA plan seeks to “build partnerships” to negotiate away problems.

“In the face of environmental racism, the EPA stance is that of a passive cheerleader,” added Ruch, pointing out that despite its muddled approach EPA is charged with coordinating environmental justice efforts among all federal agencies. “EPA has not even been able to develop guidance to implement the civil rights requirements underlying its environmental justice policies in the hundreds of state and local programs it funds, in the very communities bearing the brunt of pollution-driven insults to public health.”

The PEER comments also describe the fragmented and conflicted cross-currents within EPA that have caused various internal reform efforts to be stillborn. In addition, the agency has a history of civil rights complaints inside its own workforce. “Since EPA has not addressed the civil rights issues within its ranks, it is ill equipped to remedy those same problems outside its hallways,” Ruch concluded.