EU Court Orders Poland to Stop Logging in Białowieża Forest

from The Guardian

The European Union’s top court has ordered Poland to immediately halt large-scale logging in an ancient protected forest, one of many cases that has pitted the nationalist, eurosceptic government in Warsaw against the bloc.

The EU’s executive commission earlier this year sued Poland at the European court of justice (ECJ) over logging in the Białowieża forest, a Unesco World Heritage site.

Straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, it is one of Europe’s last primeval forests and home to its largest herd of European bison as well as unique birds and insects.

In an interim decision, the ECJ said the logging should stop immediately as it could cause “serious and irreversible damage” to the forest. The main case filed by the commission against Warsaw at the ECJ could take years to conclude.

The commission has said the logging violates the bloc’s wildlife protection laws. Poland’s environment ministry, which declined to comment on the ECJ announcement, says it is needed to protect the forest from an invasion of beetles.

The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has also tripled the quota of wood that can be harvested in Białowieża.

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Interview with Ruby Montoya and Jessica Renzicek

by Onion / Earth First! Newswire

On July 24, Ruby Montoya and Jessica Reznicek held a press conference in which they read a prepared statement while standing in front of the Iowa Utility Board (IUB). In the statement, Ruby and Jessica confessed to arson and other acts of sabotage along the Dakota Access pipeline, describing what they did in detail and stating their reasons (expanded upon below). They then took a crowbar and hammer and began pulling off the letters of the IUB sign before being arrested. They were released from jail the next day and charged with fourth degree criminal mischief. The day after that, the three of us had a phone call.

Onion: What was the thought process and the goals of choosing to write a statement admitting guilt instead of releasing an anonymous communiqué about your actions?

Ruby: Jess and I have been doing this and we formed a solid team of two and we discussed claiming responsibility for these actions after being called by the Intercept about illegal surveillance and DAPL security that was done and it began to feel like we as a collective started to focus on all the shitty things the state and all the corporations they protect do instead of focusing on stopping the pipeline.. We saw it as an opportunity to come forward and refocus the issue that we need to stop this pipeline and it doesn’t matter how dirty the other side plays. We seem to get caught up and fragmented in that stuff and lose sight of our goal, which is still stopping this pipeline. And, making something anonymous in these particular circumstances, I feel, distances and eliminates and fragments further instead of trying to humanize these things as viable and peaceful options for the resistance.

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Harsh Sentencing of Aymara Leader Reveals Politics of Criminalization in Peru

by Sian Cowman and Aldo Orellana López / Intercontinental Cry

This past month, eighteen Aymara community leaders endured the final stages of a trial that had them facing up to 28 years in prison and massive fines for their alleged roles in the 2011 ‘Aymarazo’ protests against the Santa Ana silver mine on the Peru-Bolivia border. The group of Aymara leaders stood accused of obstructing public services, disturbing the peace, and committing aggravated extortion against the state.

Seventeen of the accused were acquitted of all charges; however, on July 18, Walter Aduviri was sentenced to 7 years in prison and ordered to pay a 2 million sol fine (over $600,000). His lawyer, Martín Ticona, speaking to the crowds in Puno after final sentencing, indicated irregularities in the judicial process and said that they will appeal Aduviri’s sentencing. The prosecutor, Juan Monzón Mamani, also intends to appeal the decision for reasons that are not yet clear.

Aymara Branded as Criminals for Resistance against Mining

Initially, 100 Aymara had criminal investigations brought against them after the ‘Aymarazo’ protests in the southeastern region of Puno. The investigations were dropped against 82 of the Aymara, leaving just eighteen to stand trial. They had all been equally charged with obstruction of public services, disturbing the peace, and aggravated extortion. On June 28, the accusations were withdrawn against eight leaders—including Francisca Sarmiento, the only woman charged—due to lack of evidence. Ten went on to face sentencing; but only Aduviri was found guilty, for the charge of disturbing the peace.

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Fracking Drilling Rig Brought on Site Overnight “to Avoid Protests”

by Adam Vaughan / The Guardian

Judge Orders Halt To Horizontal Drilling For Mariner East 2 Pipeline

from Unicorn Riot

Harrisburg, PA – On Tuesday, July 25, a judge on Pennsylvania’s Environmental Hearing Board ordered a temporary stop to all horizontal drilling operations underway to construct the Mariner East 2 pipeline. The ruling against Sunoco Logistics (which recently merged with Energy Transfer Partners) was issued as part of an ongoing lawsuit by Clean Air Council and other environmental groups. It requires the pipeline company to cease all horizontal drilling activities, but permits other construction activities, including non-horizontal drilling, to continue.

One day earlier, on July 24, a Public Utilities Commission judge had also ruled to grant an emergency order sought by West Goshen Township to “cease and desist all current construction” in their area. West Goshen alleges Sunoco violated the terms of a Settlement Agreement made with the township in 2015 by building on township property without permission, ignoring local regulations, and parking in front of the local fire department’s driveway.

Pipeline contractors employed by Sunoco Logistics have had a series of “inadvertent returns“ (drilling slurry spills into groundwater) along the pipeline route, including but not limited to; spills in Chester County, Blair County, Delaware County, Westmoreland County, Washington County, Allegheny County, Indiana County, and Huntingdon County.

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Company Denied Urgent Hearing to Remove Protesters from Parker Wetlands

from Red Power Media

A Winnipeg company hoping to develop the Parker Lands was not granted an urgent hearing for an injunction motion filed on behalf of the owner to remove protesters camped out on the land.

The lawyer representing Andrew Marquess, owner of Gem Equities, told a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday that protesters on a piece of land slated for residential development in Fort Garry are fortifying the site and insulting the law.

“They are effectively giving the middle finger to everyone who pays their taxes and the rules of law,” said Kevin Toyne, lawyer for two numbered companies as well as Marquess.

Toyne argued that an urgent hearing is needed because the company is losing potential profits by not being able to proceed with development and there is a public safety risk.

The urgent hearing was not granted. Instead, the injunction motion will be heard on Nov 2. Defendants have until Aug. 25 to file their statement of defence.

Marquess’s company, Gem Equities, is hoping to build townhouses and apartments on the 24-hectare property known as the Parker Lands.

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Canada: Petronas Cancels $11.4-Billion LNG Project Near Prince Rupert

from Warrior Publications

Malaysian state-controlled energy giant Petronas has pulled the plug on the proposed $11.4-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project near Prince Rupert.

Petronas planned to build a LNG processing plant on Lelu Island that would have shipped 19 million tonnes a year of liquefied gas to markets in Asia, while pumping more than five million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually into the atmosphere.

The project received federal government approval last September.

In a statement, Petronas said it cancelled the project “after a careful and total review of the project amid changes in market conditions.”

“We are disappointed that the extremely challenging environment brought about by the prolonged depressed prices and shifts in the energy industry have led us to this decision,” said Anuar Taib, Petronas executive vice-president and chief executive officer.

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NYC Graffiti in Solidarity with Marius Mason

from Earth First! Journal

We just wanted to share a message writ large in the belly of the beast that Marius might enjoy. We wrote ‘Visualize Industrial Collapse’ approximately 90 feet wide and 8 feet tall on a fence in Brooklyn with the infrastructure and financial symbols of Manhattan across the East River as a backdrop.

We weep at the thought of the heinous, all-too-familiar devastation called Progress that was wrought on the once lush forests of these islands after settler-colonialism forced the indigenous Lenape off of them. We grow tired of the condo-dwelling yuppies that displace us through gentrification. We hone our skills, preparing to attack.

For anarchy, against civilization.

This was anonymously submitted over a month ago. Please pardon our delay.

New Brunswick, Canada: First Nations Protest Camp Built on Proposed Mining Site

by Shane Fowler / CBC News

Members of Maliseet First Nations have started to build a protest camp at the proposed site of the Sisson mine near Napadogan.

Tents, campers, and other homemade structures have been set up in hopes of deterring future development of a proposed tungsten and molybdenum mine.

“I am a Wulustukyik grandmother and I am here defending the land,” said Terry Sappier, who has been living in the camp most of the time since it was built July 2.

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Call for Anti-Colonial Bloc Against Keystone XL, August 6th in Lincoln, NE

by anonymous / sent to Earth First! Newswire

This is a call for an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist and anti-fascist bloc to participate in the ‘Give KXL the Boot March’ in Lincoln, NE on the 6th of August.

The Sierra Club, 350.org and other mainstream environmental groups are organizing this march, that is planned to end at the Nebraska state capitol building. This is the day before the Public Service Commission hears their final testimony for and against the pipeline, as part of the public comment portion of the KXL review, before making their decision, to approve or deny the route through the state, later in September.

For years, many people have collected signatures, spoken out against the KXL and worked with people directly impacted by the pipeline route. During this time all of the discourse in Nebraska, and in the larger climate movement as a whole, has been focused on state’s rights, the threat of eminent domain against landowners, and the contributions to global CO2 emissions this dirty tar sands oil would create. While we do not criticize the choice to focus on these tactics and talking points now seems like the time to embrace a deeper critique and sharper tactics to stop this project once and for all.

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