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 Donate To Help The Work
Continue
Click the image to make a tax deductable contribution to IEN with our
secure system.
IEN is soley dependent on both private foundation and individual
donations. IEN does not solicit any federal grants.
Your donation allows IEN and its Indigenous staff to maintain and
further develop its information clearinghouse, provide advocacy for
environmental justice and health, convening local, regional and
national meetings on environmental justice issues, and providing
support, resources and referral to Indigenous communities and youth
throughout North America and in recent years - globally. Any donation
to support our work is tax deductible.
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Leech Lake Tribal Court: Fight
against Enbridge Alberta Clipper Can Continue — Presidential Permit
Poses “Imminent Irreparable Harm” to Tribe
Contact: Tom
Goldtooth Indigenous Environmental Network 218 760 0442
Marty Cobenais Indigenous Environmental Network (218) 760-0284
Cass Lake, MN: In a decision issued on August 19th, Leech Lake Tribal
Court Judge BJ Jones declined an attempt by Enbridge LLC to keep
members of the Leech Lake tribe from voting on Enbridges contract
with the Leech Lake Council. The decision keeps alive a David versus
Goliath lawsuit between members of the Leech Lake tribe and Enbridge
LLC.
Last week, Leech Lake tribal members went to court to seek an
injunction to revoke permission for Enbridge Energy Company to build
its pipeline on Leech Lake Tribal land. While the court agreed with
the tribal members on three of their five arguments, the court was
unable to issue a temporary restraining order because Enbridge did
not yet have its Presidential Permit nor Department of Interior
approval of the rights of way and permits. The court concluded that,
if the referendum was held and the contract with Enbridge was
rejected by tribal members, the court would have the authority to
revisit the question of a temporary restraining order, at that time.
The
court also stated that, if a Presidential Permit was issued and if
the Bureau of Indian Affairs signed off on permitting the pipeline to
cross allotment lands, this would provide the proof needed to
demonstrate irreparable harm was imminent to tribal members.
Since the tribal courts ruling was received the same day that the
State Department granted Enbridge its Presidential Permit, tribal
members now are considering their next steps, both in court and in
the referendum process. Click here to learn more.
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Native protesters prevent
mining firm from landing plane near claim
Click here to listen to interview with Sam McKay,
KI First Nation Councillor
Background: The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (or KI First Nation) are
readying themselves to continue a battle that last spring landed
their Chief and Councilors in jail with six-month sentences. The
opponents: the platinum-mining Platinex Corporation and the Ontario
government's Mining Act, described as "archaic" in an
Ontario Court of Appeal decision that freed KI's leaders after two
months imprisonment. Talks were set to happen between the provincial
government, the mining company and the KI leadership, but no such
discussions have taken place. Instead the community and the mining
company are in the same position, with Platinex trying to prospect
against community wishes. Yesterday, August 26th, Platinex and the
Ontario Provincial Police landed in the community, 600km north of
Thunder Bay. In this interview, Native Solidarity News speaks with KI
Councilor Sam McKay, the day before Platinex's arrival, about the
community's position and the mounting tensions. Click here to read the article.
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Controversial Enbridge
pipeline permit sparks criticism in Canada, U.S.
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Today staff
The U.S. presidential permit granted Thursday for Enbridge's
controversial Alberta Clipper pipeline has launched environmental
protests on both sides of the border, with opponents vowing a legal
challenge.
According to a coalition of environmental and Native American groups,
the decision goes against U.S. President Barack Obama's promise to
cut global warming pollution and Americas addition to oil while
investing in clean energy.
The groups Earthjustice and the Minnesota Center for Environmental
Advocacy as well as the Canadian and American offices of the Sierra
Club and the Indigenous Environmental Network have vowed to
challenge the decision in court.
In addition, the indigenous network based in Minnesota is looking
into the validity of the permit, as it wasn't signed by Hillary
Clinton, U.S. secretary of state, as required. Marty Cobenais of the
network said it was signed by the deputy assistant director instead,
and he wants to check its validity. Cobenais says the coalition,
especially the Leech Lake Band, which stands to be the most affected
by the pipeline, is in for a David and Goliath fight with a
multibillion-dollar industry and the American government.
This fight isn't even just about the pipeline. We're fighting this
fight down here because we're against the expansion of the
(Alberta) tarsands also, said Cobenais. Click here to continue reading.
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Join the Movement for a
Strong Global Warming Bill
More than 300
organizations, including Public Citizen, Church World Service, the
Indigenous Environmental Network, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace,
and many others have joined the Center for Biological Diversity in a
letter to the Senate asking for a strong global warming bill.
Your enthusiasm indicates that, like us, you believe this is the most
important bill of our time -- and you believe that only a strong
climate bill can help us avoid catastrophic global warming. Now we
need your help making sure your senator takes note of our letter.
As you read this email, the Senate is finishing up work on a
companion bill to the deeply flawed House legislation on global
warming that is slated to be introduced in September when the Senate
returns from recess. Our time to act is now.
During the week of August 31, 2009, people across the country will be
personally delivering our letter to the local offices of their
senators. We need your help to make as big an impact as we possibly
can. Will you hand-deliver our letter? Email Rose Braz, our climate
campaign coordinator, at rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org for more
information.
Click here to take action!
Click here to read the article from Environmental
News Network: More Than 300 Groups Ask Senate for Stronger Climate
Bill
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US Air Force Program: Marine
Mammals and Other Sea Life to be Decimated
by Rosalind
Peterson
The United States Navy will be decimating millions of marine mammals
and other aquatic life, each year, for the next five years, under
their Warfare Testing Range Complex Expansions in the Atlantic,
Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico. The National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS under NOAA), has already approved the taking of
marine mammals in more than a dozen Navy Range Warfare Testing
Complexes (6), and is preparing to issue another permit for 11.7
millions marine mammals (32 Separate Species), to be decimated along
the Northern, California, Oregon and Washington areas of the Pacific
Ocean (7).
U.S. Department of Commerce NOAA (NMFS) Definition: TAKE Defined
under the MMPA as "harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect, or
attempt to harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect." Defined
under the ESA as "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound,
kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such
conduct." Definition: Incidental Taking: An unintentional, but
not unexpected taking (12).
The total number of marine mammals that will be decimated in the
Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico for the next five years is
unknown. The NMFS approvals will have a devastating impact upon the
marine mammal populations worldwide and this last Navy permit, which
is expected to be issued in February 2010, for the taking of more
than 11.7 million marine mammals in the Pacific will be the final
nail in the coffin for any healthy populations of sea life to
survive.
Now with ever-increasing numbers of permits being issued for sonar
programs in more than twelve ranges in the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico,
and the Atlantic regions of the United States, our marine mammals and
other sea life are facing complete devastation. When you add bomb
blasts to this list, warfare testing of all types, future war testing
practice, and the toxic chemicals which are both airborne and to be
used underwater, there is little chance that most marine life will
survive in any significant numbers. Our U.S. Senators and U.S.
Congressmen refuse to postpone these disastrous takings or hold
U.S. Congressional Hearings while pretending to be ocean environment
friendly in their re-election speeches. Click here to continue reading. Click image above
or button below to view a video report.
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Human waste blamed for
shellfish harvest closure
By GARY CHITTIM
/ KING 5 News
SHELTON, Wash. - Human waste is being blamed for the closure of a
tribal shellfish harvest on the Skokomish River near Shelton.
State health officials say evidence suggests a huge turnout of
non-tribal salmon fishermen is to blame, and the tribe is furious.
The fact that the Skokomish Tribe must close an important shellfish
harvest area as a direct result of non-Indian activities that are
authorized by WDFW is an outrage and violates the tribes treaty
rights, said Skokomish Tribal Chairman Charles Guy Miller.
State Department of Health Shellfish Manager Bob Woolridge confirmed
Wednesday it has ordered the closure of the Tribe's oyster harvest at
the mouth of the Skokomish. There is so much visual evidence and
reports of human waste on the banks of the river, and since people
eat oysters raw, Wooldridge said the health department felt it only
prudent to close the harvest. Click here to continue reading.
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”British companies are
killing us”: Indigenous campaigners join Climate Camp to launch
anti-Tar Sands action in the UK
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For interviews and further information contact Jess
Worth on 07946645726 or jessworth@riseup.net or Clayton Thomas-Muller,
Indigenous Environmental Network, (001) 218 760 6632 or monsterredlight@gmail.com.
Five indigenous representatives from Canada's First Nations will be
joining the London Climate Camp this month [1]. They are coming to
team up with UK climate activists, to stop the Tar Sands development
in Alberta, Canada [2].
As traditional sources of oil begin to run dry, the oil
multinationals are scraping the bottom of the barrel and turning to
sources that are significantly more polluting. The Tar Sands is the
biggest of these, probably containing more oil than Saudi Arabia.
Millions of barrels of oil a day are already being extracted in
Alberta, creating lakes of toxic waste so huge that they are visible
from space. Click here to continue reading.
Click here to download/print the briefing
displayed to the right (PDF).
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Indigenous representatives
head to UK Climate Action Camp to expose the tar sands
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With the
support of the Indigenous
Environmental Network and Rainforest Action Network, 5 indigenous
representatives from Canadas First Nations are attending the UK Camp for Climate Action. They are bringing a
message to UK about the connections between the devastation being
caused by the tar sands and Londons Square Mile.
As described in a press release, Shell is heavily committed, and
BP took a significant stake in 2007. Both companies are financially
backed by pension funds from the UK. Meanwhile Londons investment
banks, such as RBS and HSBC, have helped finance a wide range of Tar
Sands projects. This has prompted First Nations from the region to
begin forging partnerships with UK campaigners, to internationalise
their campaign for a complete Tar Sands moratorium. Lionel Lepine,
one of the visiting group, said: Tar Sands is a global phenomenon.
It is the largest industrial project in the world. It is also the
dirtiest. Tar Sands produce three times as much CO2 per barrel as
conventional oil.
Theres enough under the ground to push us over the edge into runaway
climate change. It should be everyones concern. As reported in the UK Guardian by Terry Macalister, The tar sands
are seen by many as a particularly dangerous project providing enough
carbon to be released in total to tip the world into unstoppable
climate change. Shell was the first major European oil company to
invest in the Canadian-based operations but BP followed under its
chief executive, Tony Hayward. Click here to continue reading.
Click image to watch an inteview on APTN with Clayton Thomas Mueller.
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Cree aboriginal group to join
London climate camp protest over tar sands
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The visit is
being coordinated by Indigenous Environmental Network, in partnership
with people from the Camp for Climate Action. The group will spend a
week at the London Climate Camp, which runs from 27th August to 2nd
September. They will run workshops and plan anti-Tar Sands actions
with UK campaigners.
Members of the Cree aboriginal peoples are to join the Climate Camp
protests in the City of London this week in an attempt to draw
attention to corporate Britain's "criminal" involvement in
the tar sands of Canada.
Five representatives from the Cree First Nations are coming to co-ordinate
their campaign against key players in the carbon-heavy energy sector
with British environmentalists.
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, from Fort Chipewyan, a centre of Alberta's
tar sands schemes, said: "British companies such as BP and Royal
Bank of Scotland in partnership with dozens of other companies are
driving this project, which is having such devastating effects on our
environment and communities.
"It is destroying the ancient boreal forest, spreading open-pit
mining across our territories, contaminating our food and water with
toxins, disrupting local wildlife and threatening our way of
life," she said.
It showed British companies were complicit in "the biggest
environmental crime on the planet" and yet very few people in
Britain even knew it was happening, said Deranger. She was speaking
ahead of an annual Climate Camp that will be held for one week
somewhere in Greater London from this Thursday.
The exact site of the camp has not been revealed as green organisers
are worried that the police might move to thwart their plans if they
are notified in advance. Click here to continue reading.
Image caption/credit: A worker walks between huge trucks in Fort
McMurray, Alberta. The oil sands extraction process requires top soil
to be removed, is highly energy-intensive and releases huge amounts
of carbon dioxide. Photograph: Orjan F. Ellingvag/Dagens
Naringsliv/Corbis
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Havasupai Gather to Halt
Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon
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Brenda Norrell
| August 26, 2009
Indigenous Havasupai people held a gathering to stop uranium mining
in the Grand Canyon and protect ancestral Havasupai Territory, at the
south rim of the Grand Canyon, in July of 2009. Indigenous peoples
and activists came from the four directions, from Arizona Hopi land
and from as far away as Hawaii, to participate with sacred songs and
ceremonies.
For four days, Havasupai elders gathered on sacred Red Butte and
listened to the legacy of uranium mining on Indian lands. They heard
directly from the victims of the trail of death and cancer left
behind by uranium mining corporations that were never held
responsible on Pueblo and Navajo lands in the Southwest United
States. They also listened to the promise of solidarity from the
hundreds who gathered here to stand with them: Navajos from Big
Mountain, Hualapai, Hopi, Kaibab Paiute, Paiute, Aztecs, and other
American Indians from throughout the Americas.
The Havasupai Nation, with the Sierra Club, Center for Biological
Diversity, and Grand Canyon Trust, sponsored the gathering to halt
uranium mining on Red Butte, July 23-26, 2009. Supai elders gave
testimony for official U.S. records in their Havasupai (Pai) language
and in English. Supai traditional singers sang as a camp was
established on this mesa where Toronto-based Denison Mines is
threatening to reopen a uranium mine.
Recent congressional legislation protects the Grand Canyon from new
mining claims, but does not deter mining under existing claims held
by Denison and others. When the price of uranium increased in recent
years and new interest in nuclear power grew, mining claims exploded
in Arizona, even in the pristine region of the Grand Canyon. Supai
Waters, Havasupai Keeper of the Water Songs, said his people are the
Guardians of the Grand Canyon. He said uranium mining here is not
just a threat to the Colorado River and tourists who come to see the
Eighth Wonder of the World, but to Supai drinking water, underground
aquifers, and drinking water in Southwest cities.
Click here to continue reading.
Image caption/credit: Native Americans came from the four directions,
from Hopi land and from as far away as Hawaii, to support the Supai
to halt uranium mining in the Grand Canyon. Photo: Brenda Norrell.
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Federal grant helps bring
solar heat to Ojibwe
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by Tom
Robertson, Minnesota Public Radio
Leech Lake Indian Reservation The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is
putting some cutting-edge solar technology on the homes of low-income
tribal members. With help from a federal grant, the tribe is
installing solar air heating systems in eight low-income homes.
For participating households, it's going to mean significantly lower
heating costs this winter.
Roy Donovan is part of a small crew of band members who've been
trained to install the units, which include two 4-feet by 8-feet
solar panels. He said he's excited to work with green technology.
"It's a field I think we should all be interested in,"
Donovan said. "With the cost of high propane and electric and
all that, it's just beneficial all the way around. It does help
families too on the reservation that are not so well off as some
other ones."
The pilot project targets eight households that rely on government
heating assistance. Crews hope to finish the last installation in a
few weeks, and the hope is that solar heating will catch on
everywhere. Click here to continue reading.
Image caption/credit: A crew of workers from the Leech Lake Indian
Reservation prepares a home for installation of two large solar
panels. Air heated by the panels is circulated in the home using fans
and ductwork. The unit could cut winter heating costs by as much as a
one-fourth. (MPR Photo/Tom Robertson)
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Native American biofuel
company says capitalism must be green
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One of the
nation's wealthiest Native American communities has made a big
investment in algae biofuel.
by Brian Nelson
A business model has to be about more than just business, according
to the investment-savvy leaders of The Southern Utes. "Its a
marriage of an older way of thinking into a modern time," said
the tribes chairman, Matthew J. Box. He's referring to the tribe's
latest investment in Solix, a company focused on turning algae into
biodiesel.
The Southern Utes have become one of the nation's wealthiest Native
American communities, perhaps in large part due to their unique way
of doing business. "The Utes have a very long economic view.
Theyre making decisions now for future generations as opposed to the
next quarter, and that is just fundamentally different," said
Bryan Willson, one of Solix's co-founders. It also helps that the
tribe happens to sit on one of the world's richest fields of natural
gas from coal-bed methane.
But tribe leaders have insisted that their bountiful natural
resources be channeled toward a venture which is consistent with
their business philosophy. Any plan would require a commitment to
alternative energy which was sustainable, green and which didn't
compete with the availability and distribution of other essential
resources like food and water.
That's where algae biofuels and Solix come into play. By introducing
strains of algae which love carbon dioxide to tanks surrounding a
natural gas processing plant, the company hopes to convert the
plant's excess greenhouse gas emissions into clean fuel. It's all
part of a green energy industry which is booming. Click here to continue reading.
Image caption/credit: ALGAE: The Southern Utes think algae biofuels
could be the next billion-dollar energy boom. (Photo:
*higetiger/Flickr)
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IEN Action Camp
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The Indigenous
Environmental Network Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign and the
Aboriginal Round Table came together to do an action camp in the area
of Fort McMurray First Nation/Anzac, we were joined by the Athabasca
Keepers of the Water on the final days.
IEN Alberta based organizer Heather Milton-Lightning and Ottawa based
Clayton Thomas-Muller provided facilitation support at the gathering
with back up from Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace Organizers
Ereil Deranger and Melina Lubicon-Massimo.
Over the 6 day camp participants learned about dry fish, dry meat,
tipi building, sweatlodge, community organizing, medicines in the
bush, how to set fish net, bannock making/bannock on a stick, wild
game preparation, Tar Sands 101, Banner Making/Arts and Crafts,
Beading, traditional story telling and non-violent direct action
strategy. We will be working with this group on a ground water
conference in Fort McMurray this fall. Click image above or button
below to view video.
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Shellfish growers, tribes
differ over exempt land
A landmark deal
struck between Puget Sound Indian tribes and commercial growers two
years ago was meant to end years of rancor over shellfish harvesting
rights. But some growers were surprised to learn this summer that
some of their tidelands may not qualify under the settlement,
potentially opening them up to tribal harvest.
By PHUONG LE
The Associated Press
A landmark deal struck between Puget Sound Indian tribes and
commercial growers two years ago was meant to end years of rancor
over shellfish harvesting rights.
But some growers were surprised to learn this summer that some of
their tidelands may not qualify under the settlement, potentially
opening them up to tribal harvest.
In 2007, 17 Puget Sound tribes agreed to give up treaty rights to
harvest shellfish from commercial shellfish beds, as long as the beds
had been actively farmed before Aug. 28, 1995. In return, the tribe
got $33 million in state and federal money to buy and lease tidelands
for their own use.
Commercial growers submitted documents insisting 864 parcels should
be exempt from the settlements, but in papers filed with a federal
court in Seattle in June, the tribes objected to half of those.
The settlement stemmed from a 1994 federal court ruling recognizing
the tribes' rights to a share of naturally occurring shellfish grown
on Washington tidelands controlled by commercial growers.
Growers who proved they actively farmed shellfish beds before U.S.
District Judge Edward Rafeedie issued his Aug. 28, 1995, order would
be exempt from tribal harvest. Click here to continue reading.
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The Indigenous Environmental Network
PO Box 485 Bemidji, MN 56619
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