Shipping tote dislodged during the Japanese tsunami washed ashore near Seal Rock, Ore. in late November. It was covered with about 200 blue mussels. | credit: Oregon State University
Winter storms off the Oregon and Washington coastlines are expected to bring a new wave of debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Scientists say objects are already washing ashore – with potentially invasive organisms riding along.
In March, 2011 an earthquake and tsunami devastated a large swath of eastern Japan. The tsunami reached heights of over 100 feet in some places, washing large quantities of manmade materials out to sea. Japanese officials estimate that about 1.5 million tons of debris floated out into the Pacific.
Oregon State University marine scientist John Chapman questions the accuracy of that number, but says current tallies of what’s washed ashore on the U.S. West Coast are much lower than that.
“If we look at the amount of debris that we’ve found on the shore. And we try to estimate the poundage of debris and add it all up, it’s not even close,” he said. “So, where is it?”
Chapman says it very well could still be out in the ocean, waiting on the right combination of currents, winds and other factors to bring it ashore in the Pacific Northwest.
So far the tsunami debris has come over in waves. It started with buoys, polystyrene foam and two massive floating docks. The next winter, it was building materials, like lumber. Last winter, a parade of small boats started washing up.
And now the first large object of the season – a 4-by-5 foot shipping tote – has washed up near Oregon’s Seal Rock.
The common feature of all these items is the presence of coastal marine organisms that hitched a ride over from Asia.
“This is the biggest experiment in marine invasion ecology that’s ever happened. It’s unprecedented,” Chapman said.
He said open oceans are the marine equivalent of deserts: there’s nothing out there. At least, nothing of substance, nutrient-wise that coastal organisms would need to survive. This was the prevailing thought among marine scientists – until that first Japanese dock section washed up in June, 2012 on the Oregon Coast.
“That was the first time that anyone ever considered that marine organisms could drift across the ocean. It wasn’t as if they didn’t think about it, we assumed that it wasn’t possible,” he said.
As the years passed and the debris continued to circulate in the North Pacific, Chapman assumed the amount of living coastal organism would decrease. Again, he’s been proven incorrect.
“We’re still finding species that we haven’t seen before. It doesn’t make sense to us,” he said. “We shouldn’t be doing that, but it seems to be happening.”
The plastic shipping tote that washed up in Oregon in late November was covered in about 200 blue mussels.
Yet, just because non-native marine organisms are washing up on the West Coast doesn’t mean they’re establishing populations here; it doesn’t mean they aren’t, either.
The question is currently being studied by several groups using a variety of methods, from visual surveys to genetic testing.
But the organisms are very tiny and the West Coast is very large. And so far none have been found that can specifically be connected to the tsunami.
“If it was a herd of bison that came across, it would be a no-brainer; we could go out and find it if they got here,” Chapman said.
“But these things aren’t bison. They’re little tiny things – sometimes diseases and parasites. And even if they are here, sometimes we don’t find them for years.”
Despite the challenges facing scientists, Chapman said the waves of tsunami debris present an unprecedented opportunity. Between now and May, he expects to see another round data wash ashore on the coast of the Pacific Northwest.
MSNBC screen shot U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell tells MSNBC host José Díaz-Balart, ‘They know their lands better than we do’ when asked about the Keystone XL pipeline.
By: Indian Country Today
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell invoked not only tribal sovereignty but also environmental expertise when she spoke to MSNBC’s José Díaz-Balart about the Keystone XL pipeline, which many tribes oppose.
“I think the fact that the tribal nations are standing up saying, ‘We are concerned about this. We are concerned about water quality. We’re concerned about tribal sovereignty. We’re concerned about what this pipeline may do for our lands and our rights,’ needs to be heard,” she said when he asked her to put tribal opposition to Keystone in context.
“In my role as secretary of the interior we will make sure that there’s a platform for those tribal voices to be heard,” she said. “And I think they will make a very effective case because they know their lands better than we do.”
In the end it will all come down to the State Department, she said, which will make the pipeline decision “by listening to all of the facts and information they have,” including tribal voices.
Jewell also spoke about Native youth, the centuries of oppression that have led to the current state of affairs regarding mental health, education and poverty, and on how it is time to make things right.
“We have destroyed much of the hope and the pride and the future for a lot of Native youth,” she said. “This is the time to turn that around.”
Her full chat with Díaz-Balart can be seen at MSNBC.com.
The pipeline threatens many tribal lands, especially Sioux territory in South Dakota, given that the proposed route traverses the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. Last month tribal President Cyril Scott said that if the pipeline passes it would be considered “an act of war,” and promised to fight it all the way.
SEATTLE (AP) – The death of an endangered Puget Sound orca found on Vancouver Island in Canada might have been related to pregnancy issues, a research group said Friday.
The 18-year-old female that washed ashore Thursday was a member of the J-pod, one of three families of southern resident killer whales that spend time in the inland waters of Washington state and Canada.
“There were 78. There are now 77. We’re going down, and it’s tragic,” said Ken Balcomb, a senior scientist with the Center for Whale Research, which keeps a census of the animals.
Balcomb planned to travel to British Columbia to assist Canadian authorities in a necropsy Saturday to determine the cause of death.
From photo observations, he said, the whale’s “belly looks low and extended, and it could be that the fetus died in utero.”
Stephen Raverty, a veterinary pathologist with Canada’s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, will lead the necropsy. He said he has seen two photos of the stranded orca and also believes it was pregnant.
“Based on historical information and clinical observations, the whale’s death may have arisen from pregnancy or complications of birth,” he said.
Balcomb said the death was another blow to the population that was listed as endangered in 2005.
A newborn orca born in early September was recently presumed dead. Two additional whales were confirmed missing and presumed dead earlier this year.
The population numbered more than 140 animals decades ago but declined to a low of 71 in the 1970s when dozens of the mammals were captured to be displayed at marine parks and aquariums.
Despite a decade of research, protection and recovery efforts, the animals continue to struggle primarily due to lack of food, pollution and disturbances from marine vessels.
Scientists will exam the organs and take tissue samples of the whale found dead on Vancouver Island. Along with determining its cause of death, they’re interested in tracking diseases and other issues to understand health implications for the entire population.
The striking black and white whales have come to symbolize the Pacific Northwest.
Individual whales are identified by slight variations in the shape of their dorsal fins and distinctive whitish-gray patch of pigment behind the fins, called a saddle patch.
The whale found Thursday was last seen in Puget Sound in late November and last photographed with her family on Nov. 26 east of Victoria, according to Orca Network.
“We cannot express how tragic this loss is for this struggling, precariously small, family of resident orcas of the Salish Sea,” the group said in a statement.
On March 8, 2013, President Barack Obama this morning signed into law the reauthorized Violence Against Women Act that includes tribal provisions.
Press release, December 3, 2014, National Congress of American Indians
WASHINGTON, DC – Vice President Joe Biden joined over 300 tribal leaders at the sixth annual White House Tribal Nations Conference today. At the opening of the conference, Vice President Biden delivered an impassioned speech about violence against women in Indian Country saying “The most horrific prison on earth is the four walls of an abused woman’s home. For far too many Native American women that is a daily reality.”
The Vice-President, who was the original author of the Violence Against Women Act and has been its most steadfast supporter over the past 20 years, was introduced by Councilwoman from the Tulalip Tribes , “Vice President Biden has led the movement to protect women against rape and domestic violence. Last year he helped pass the much needed protection to help Native women from violence. Mr. Vice President, you are correct when you say no means no — no more abuse.”
Referring to the provisions added to VAWA in 2013 that allow tribal governments to prosecute non-Indian domestic violence offenders in certain cases, the Vice-President apologized that it took so long to give tribal governments the tools to hold offenders accountable in their communities, saying “as long as there is a single place where the abuse of power is excused as a question of jurisdiction or tolerated as a family affair, no one is truly safe, and we cannot define ourselves as a society that is civilized.”
The Vice President delivered a call to action saying, “Tribal governments have an inherent right, as a matter of fact they have an obligation, to protect their people. All people deserve to live free of fear.” He urged all tribal governments to be prepared on March 7 when the law goes into effect to use their authority to aggressively prosecute domestic violence offenders. He stressed the need to change the culture that too often leaves victims asking what they did wrong and instead to focus on sending a strong message that violence against women is always unacceptable.
Vice President Biden also acknowledged that we have much more to do to protect Native women from violence including giving Alaska tribes the same authority and expanding the provision to cover sexual assault and other crimes. Biden called on Congress to appropriate the $25 million in grants authorized in VAWA 2013 to implement the new law.
Attorney General Eric Holder followed Vice President Biden, and strongly stated the Department of Justice’s commitment to improving law enforcement in Indian country, and to institutionalizing that commitment so that it will continue. He announced that he has implemented a Statement of Principles to guide the Department’s work with tribal nations into the future.
Attorney General Holder also announced a new initiative to promote compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act in partnership with the Departments of Interior and Health and Human Services. Holder stated that the initiative is “working to actively identify state-court cases where the United States can file briefs opposing the unnecessary and illegal removal of Indian children from their families and their tribal communities.” Holder went on to explain that DOJ will work with its partners and tribes to “to promote tribes’ authority to make placement decisions affecting tribal children; to gather information about where the Indian Child Welfare Act is being systematically violated; and to take appropriate, targeted action to ensure that the next generation of great tribal leaders can grow up in homes that are not only safe and loving, but also suffused with the proud traditions of Indian cultures.”
In this June 13, 2014 file photo President Barack Obama and Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe David Archambault II, left, watch dancers during a visit to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Cannon Ball, N.D. Obama on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014 announced an initiative to improve conditions and opportunities for American Indian youth, more than one-third of whom live in poverty. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
By Blake Nicholson, AP
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — President Barack Obama announced an initiative Wednesday aimed at improving conditions and opportunities for American Indian youth, more than a third of whom live in poverty.
Obama’s Generation Indigenous initiative calls for programs focused on better preparing young American Indians for college and careers, and developing leadership skills through the Department of Education and the Aspen Institute’s Center for Native American Youth. Members of the president’s staff also plan to visit reservations next year.
The White House did not provide a cost estimate for the initiative, but a spokeswoman said the administration plans to fund it with existing money and the help of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.
The announcement, made as part of the White House Tribal Nations Conference that Obama is hosting on Wednesday, comes five months after the president and his wife visited the impoverished Standing Rock Indian Reservation in the Dakotas.
The 3,600-square-mile reservation is home to about 8,500 people, many of whom live in run-down homes, and where the unemployment rate runs as high as 20 percent. The suicide rate for American Indians aged 15 to 24 is more than twice the national rate.
Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said the president and first lady “were deeply moved” after listening to children’s stories about challenges they faced on the reservation, such as depression and alcohol abuse. Vice President Joe Biden said in a morning appearance before the conference that for Obama, helping Indian youth is “something that he came back from his June visit fired up about doing something about.”
Wednesday’s conference involves leaders from 566 federally recognized tribal nations, along with 36 White House Youth Ambassadors chosen from around the country through an essay contest.
“People who grow up in a poverty culture sometimes need guidance, need values, need a little bit of structure,” said Chase Iron Eyes, an attorney and Native American rights activist from Standing Rock who is attending the conference.
“Through some of the things the administration is doing, it looks like they’re trying to do that,” he said. “Youth — they just need the right tools, and maybe they can empower themselves.”
The White House also released a report Wednesday acknowledging failures in federal policy and highlighting the need for more tribal help in the areas of economic development, health and education. Slightly more than two-thirds of Native youth graduate from high school, according to the 2014 Native Youth Report.
One of the report’s recommendations is to strengthen tribal control of the education system on reservations. Officials are working to overhaul the Bureau of Indian Education, which is responsible for educating 48,000 Indian students in 23 states, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said.
Jewell estimated it would cost more than $1 billion to fix schools with crumbling infrastructures. Officials are pursuing money through Congress, existing government programs and philanthropic organizations.
This coming Wednesday December 3, President Barack Obama will be hosting the sixth annual White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington D.C. In addition to leaders and representatives of the 566 federally recognized tribes who will be attending, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Deputy Secretary Mike Connor and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn will join President Obama and other cabinet secretaries during the conference.
According to a U.S. Department of the Interior release, “Secretary Jewell will deliver remarks during the opening ceremony of the 6th annual conference and will join panel discussions on Indian education reform and climate change, along with other stakeholder meetings and briefings.”
Additionally, Connor will participate in discussions on protecting natural and cultural resources and Washburn will join sessions on government-to-government relations, economic development and upholding federal trust and treaty responsibilities.
Each year, the annual White House Tribal Nations Conference has provided tribal leaders the opportunity to interact with President Obama as well as with Secretary Jewell and members of the White House Council on Native American Affairs.
In an Executive Order establishing the White House Council on Native American Affairs in June 2013, President Barack Obama made the following assertions:
As we work together to forge a brighter future for all Americans, we cannot ignore a history of mistreatment and destructive policies that have hurt tribal communities. The United States seeks to continue restoring and healing relations with Native Americans and to strengthen its partnership with tribal governments; for our more recent history demonstrates that tribal self-determination – the ability of tribal governments to determine how to build and sustain their own communities – is necessary for successful and prospering communities. We further recognize that restoring tribal lands through appropriate means helps foster tribal self-determination.
This order establishes a national policy to ensure that the Federal Government engages in a true and lasting government-to-government relationship with federally recognized tribes in a more coordinated and effective manner, including by better carrying out its trust responsibilities. This policy is established as a means of promoting and sustaining prosperous and resilient tribal communities. Greater engagement and meaningful consultation with tribes is of paramount importance in developing any policies affecting tribal nations.
According to the Executive Order, the mission of the White House Council on Native American Affairs is to honor treaties, recognize tribal sovereignty and right to self-government in relation to such matters as promoting sustainable economic development, promoting greater control over health and health disparities, improved access to education and supporting tribal justice systems.
The Council which is chaired by Secretary Jewell has convened four times since 2013 and Secretary Jewell has visited over 20 Native communities. The Obama’s have also made efforts to reach out to Native communities including their historic visit to Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation earlier this year.
On Wednesday Secretary Jewell will offer her opening remarks at approximately 8:30 a.m. EST with additional panels on Energy and Climate Change at 2 p.m. EST and supporting Native Youth at 2:45 p.m. EST. President Obama is expected to offer closing remarks at the end of the day Wednesday.
Approach could be used for other extinction fights
By Keith Ridler, Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — Strategies used to bring back from the brink of extinction a population of central Idaho sockeye salmon have been so successful they could be used as a blueprint to prevent other extinctions, fisheries biologists say.
Thomas Flagg of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Paul Kline of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game published their findings earlier this month in the journal Fisheries.
Scientists said a key strategy has been maintaining genetic diversity that has resulted in a greater number of sockeye with better survival skills, resulting in more fish returning to Redfish Lake.
“The survival advantages and apparent rapid increased fitness demonstrated by Sockeye Salmon hatched in Redfish Lake have allowed the development of realistic population triggers for the program’s expansion effort,” the report said. “This type of natural rebuilding scenario is the hoped for result when conservationists intervene to rescue depleted populations.”
Depleted in this case has a very precise number — 16. That’s how many wild adults — 11 males and five females — returned to the Sawtooth Valley from 1991 to 1998 and, through hatchery programs, ultimately produced more than 10,000 adult descendants.
The results showed this fall as some 1,400 endangered sockeye made the 900-mile journey from the Pacific Ocean to the lake in the Stanley Basin. That’s more than in any previous year going back nearly six decades.
The report estimates that at one time some 30,000 salmon made the trip to the 6,800-foot elevation Redfish Lake and several other lakes in the valley.
The numbers started declining, the study said, with intensification of commercial fisheries in the lower Columbia River.
A dam on the Salmon River built in the early 1900s blocked salmon for several decades from reaching Redfish Lake, itself named after the red-colored sockeye that once arrived there in abundance. Additional dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers added to the fish’s challenges in succeeding years.
The run was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1991. That kicked off a hatchery program that scientists in the report said was able to retain about 95 percent of the genetic variability remaining in the population.
Besides genetic diversity, biologist also devised systems to raise the salmon in captivity.
“Although easily overlooked, a major program accomplishment was simply the development of fish culture protocols for rearing Sockeye Salmon full term to maturation,” the report said.
Captive sockeye have been reared at two locations. One is the Eagle Fish Hatchery in southwest Idaho run by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Fish have also been raised at the National Marine Fisheries Service facilities at the Manchester Research Station in Port Orchard.
While the program has relied on fish that never made the perilous trip to the ocean and back, it also produced an estimated 3.8 million eggs and fish for reintroduction to Sawtooth Valley lakes. Besides releasing young fish to head for the ocean, called smolts, releases also included adults let go annually to spawn naturally in Redfish Lake.
The report concluded that Redfish Lake could eventually produce enough naturally raised young fish to head to the ocean that enough would survive and return as adults to exceed “self-sustainability.”
Ultimately the recovery plan is to have 1,000 or more fish spawning in Redfish Lake for multiple generations, and at least 500 spawning in one of four other lakes in the basin.
The report said that when enough adult salmon start returning to Redfish Lake, efforts could begin to bring sockeye salmon back to nearby Pettit and Alturas lakes.
It’s time to break out the construction paper and synthetic feathers.
Students in schools across the country this month will learn about the first Thanksgiving, perpetuating a fairy tale about struggling pilgrims and the friendly Indians who shared a harvest banquet. This usually follows Columbus Day instruction that is similarly celebratory.
But for the vast majority of elementary and secondary students, lessons like these may be the only time they learn about American Indians at all. A staggering 87 percent of references to American Indians in all 50 states’ academic standards portray them in a pre-1900 context.
That means students are graduating from high school without even basic knowledge of contemporary Native challenges or culture, said Sarah Shear, associate professor of social studies education at Pennsylvania State University in Altoona. Shear, who this year earned a PhD in learning, teaching and curriculum from the University of Missouri, spent two years examining state-mandated U.S. history standards, coding each state six times in an effort to understand what students are learning about Natives.
The project began when Shear was teaching an undergraduate class in multi-cultural education. When she asked what students knew about America’s indigenous people, hands shot into the air.
“What they told me is that they learned about Thanksgiving and Columbus Day,” she said. “Every once in a while a student would mention something about the Trail of Tears. It was incredibly frustrating. They were coming to college believing that all Indians are dead.”
Shear partnered with other researchers to analyze states’ academic standards, lengthy documents that dictate what topics teachers should emphasize, including names of important people, dates, events and concepts. Textbook authors often tailor materials to meet those standards.
The study revealed a shameful lack of meaningful Native content, Shear said.
“All of the states are teaching that there were civil ways to end problems and that the Indian problem was dealt with nicely,” she said. “They’re teaching that this is what needed to happen in order for the United States to become the United States. The conflict had to be dealt with in order to manifest destiny. The relationship with Indians was a means to an end.”
The study also revealed that all 50 states lack any content about current Native events or challenges.
“Nothing about treaties, land rights, water rights,” Shear said. “Nothing about the fact that tribes are still fighting to be recognized and determine sovereignty.”
In some states, politics plays a huge role in determining academic standards, Shear said. Politicians, not educators, decide the “grand story” that teachers will tell students. In other states, standards may be simply—and shockingly—out of date. Either way, Shear said, the effect is a white-washing of history, a focus on the Euro-American story that is so narrow there’s no room for an indigenous narrative.
While state standards highlight topics that must be covered in the classroom, teachers still have leeway to tailor lessons or add content, said Tony Castro, assistant professor of social studies education at the University of Missouri. Castro, who served as a faculty assistant to Shear’s research project, said he was disappointed with the findings.
“This kind of curriculum, these misconceptions, all that has led to the invisibilization of indigenous people,” he said. “What we teach acts as a mirror to what we value and what we recognize as legitimate. These standards are perpetuating a misconception and are continuing to marginalize groups of people and minimize the concerns or issues those people have about being full citizens in the American democracy.”
Shear’s research is being published in an upcoming issue of Theory & Research in Social Education. Meanwhile, here’s a snapshot of her findings:
Across all the states, 87 percent of references to Natives portray them prior to 1900, with no clear vision of what happened after that.
In half of the states, no individual Natives or specific tribes are named.
Of the Natives named in standards, the most common are Sacagawea, Squanto, Sequoyah and Sitting Bill.
Only 62 Native nations are named in standards; most are mentioned by only one state. One nation, the Iroquois, is mentioned in six states.
Only four states—Arizona, Washington, Oklahoma and Kansas—include content about Indian boarding schools.
New Mexico is the only state to mention, by name, a member of the American Indian Movement.
Washington is the only state to use the word “genocide” in relation to Natives. That word is used in the standards for fifth grade U.S. history.
Nebraska textbooks portray Natives as lazy, drunk or criminal.
Ninety-percent of all manuscripts written about Native people are authored by non-Native writers.
The Keystone XL pipeline may be in political limbo, but that hasn’t stopped another Canadian company from quietly pressing ahead on a pipeline project that will ramp up the volume of tar sands oil transported through the U.S. What’s more, the company, Enbridge, is making those changes without a permit, and environmental groups say it is flouting the law.
Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge is the same company that spilled more than 1 million gallons of thick, sticky tar sands crude into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010. The spill was the largest of its kind in the U.S. and took four years to clean up.
Enbridge applied for a State Department permit two years ago for its latest project: a bid to increase the capacity of its “Alberta Clipper” pipeline from 450,000 to 800,000 barrels of tar sands crude per day. The Clipper crosses the border from Canada into the U.S. in North Dakota, so a presidential permit from the department would be required by law.
But, frustrated with the lengthy approval process, Enbridge engineered a work-around that appears to get the job done—without a permit. By running a connection between two parallel Enbridge pipelines right on the border with the U.S., the company will be able to swap the contents of each. As the crude approaches the border with Canada in the Alberta Clipper pipeline, it will be diverted into the parallel Line 3 pipeline, recently replaced with new pipe for the purpose, and swapped back into the Clipper once it reaches the U.S. Enbridge tells Newsweek it began pumping oil through the swapped section at the beginning of November.
It’s a slick move that is projected to increase capacity to 570,000 barrels per day, taking advantage of unused capacity on Line 3. But by the middle of next year, Enbridge attorney David Coburn tells The Washington Spectator, the pipeline will transport 800,000 barrels per day of Canadian tar sands oil into the U.S. with “no additional permit,” by adding new pumping stations to push more crude through the existing pipe. By comparison, the much-contested Keystone XL pipeline is projected to move 830,000 barrels per day.
Enbridge refers to the line-switching move as “temporary interconnections” while it awaits the State Department’s review of its original expansion application. But in an email to Newsweek, Enbridge spokesman Graham White says the work-around will be permanent if the State Department does not approve the application. In short, Enbridge found a way to increase its capacity just as much without a permit as it would have with one, and the State Department doesn’t mind.
In a June letter to the State Department, Enbridge’s lawyer made clear its intention to press ahead with the plan without the presidential permit.
“As we explained, the unforeseen Line 67 Project permitting delay at the department of over a year has led Enbridge to recently assess options for achieving this additional capacity.… Enbridge intends to construct the interconnections and Pump Upgrades, and to operate those facilities to increase the flow of oil on the Line 67 south of border segment, whether or not a new Presidential Permit is issued by the Department.” (Emphasis added.)
The next month, State Department staff member Patrick Dunn said in a letter to Enbridge that the work-around did not legally require federal authorization. The State Department declined Newsweek’s request for an interview with Dunn, whose position is not available on the department’s website but who is identified in a February letter obtained by DeSmog Blog as a deputy director at the Bureau of Energy Affairs. In 1997, Dunn graduated from a training program at the Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association (PESA), a prominent industry group. PESA’s Foreign Service Officer Energy Industry Training Program is funded in part by the State Department.
Environmental and Native American groups claim Enbridge’s move is illegal, and are suing the State Department for violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its own regulations by approving the work-around with neither a permit nor an environmental assessment.
“They’ve made this Orwellian decision that this crisscross magically alleviates them from going through the NEPA process. We think it is pretty clear that they’ve got their conclusions wrong,” says Jim Murphy, a senior counsel with the National Wildlife Federation who is litigating the suit. “It basically authorized the doubling of capacity without environmental review.”
In the midst of a highly publicized struggle over the Keystone XL pipeline, Enbridge would be wise to keep a low profile in its pursuits, and it appears to have worked, says Doug Hayes, a staff attorney at the Sierra Club who is also involved in the suit. The fight over the Alberta Clipper has barely made a ripple in the national press, perhaps because the minutiae of a legal battle over an adjustment to an already-existing pipeline is harder to digest than a plan for a brand-new pipeline like Keystone, he says.
But, Hayes notes, there is little difference. “What Enbridge is doing is building an entirely new pipeline in the same right-of-way and calling it ‘maintenance,’” he says. “Frankly, I don’t think this has ever happened before, where the State Department is deep into doing its full analysis while simultaneously allowing the project go forward before they’re done with their review process.”
Unless the legal challenge is successful, it appears Enbridge will meet its goals without the public upheaval that has marked TransCanada’s Keystone XL efforts.
Unlike Keystone XL, which would create several thousand temporary construction jobs (though only 35 permanent ones after one or two years of construction dry up), there are few or no job creation prospects from Enbridge’s small border-crossing project. Even if some Americans got temporary work, construction is already over. So could the U.S. at least stand to gain tax revenue from Enbridge’s expansion?
Not as much as you might think.
Enbridge Inc. announced in September it would be transferring a 66.7 percent interest in the Alberta Clipper to Enbridge Energy Partners, its subsidiary. Enbridge Energy, which already held a 33 percent interest in the pipeline, operates as a master limited partnership (MLP), or what Forbes describes as “income and a tax shelter rolled into one investment.” Enbridge states on its website that Enbridge Energy is designated an MLP “for federal income tax purposes.”
“Accordingly, they do not, as an entity, pay federal income taxes. This allows for a higher potential cash flow payout to unitholders.” Tax is paid by the unit holders.
How much Enbridge’s taxes on the Alberta Clipper will decrease remains to be determined, according to White, Enbridge’s spokesman, but “it will be consistent with all laws and regulations,” he says. Enbridge does not pay taxes or fees per barrel of oil it transports, but increasing the flow does increase Enbridge’s profits, so the U.S. will see some additional tax revenue on whatever part of its profits, if any, are still taxable.
The Alberta Clipper begins in Alberta, crosses the Canadian border into North Dakota and continues for 327 miles to Superior, Wisconsin, crossing Minnesota along the way. The oil would be stored in holding tanks before flowing to Cushing, Oklahoma, and then to the Gulf Coast for refining and export, as determined by shippers and refineries.
Alexandra Klass, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, told Inside Climate News that Enbridge’s strategy isn’t surprising. “This happens in environmental reviews all the time. You seek approval for smaller pieces, which on their own don’t seem like they’ll have a big environmental impact. But considered cumulatively, they do.”
For Winona LaDuke, a prominent Native American activist from the White Earth Ojibwe tribe of northwestern Minnesota, the State Department’s Alberta Clipper decision amounts to a violation of several long-standing treaties between tribes and the U.S. government.
“All of the tribes in Minnesota have their own treaty areas. Those are all traversed by these pipelines. The Supreme Court upheld our rights to fish, harvest and live within those treaty areas. The Clipper traverses one of our best rice harvest areas. The federal government is required to consult with us on a nation-to-nation basis. With Keystone, the State Department asked to consult with the tribes. But in this case, the State Department didn’t even uphold the need to,” LaDuke says.
LaDuke’s tribe and dozens of other Minnesota tribes are fighting not only the Alberta Clipper, but two other major Enbridge pipelines that cross over Native territories. Enbridge’s track record of more than 800 spills between 1990 and 2010, according to the company’s own records as compiled by the National Wildlife Federation, make harm almost inevitable for the tribal land in the pipeline’s path, she says.
“Say you live someplace for 8,000 years. You are the poorest people in the state of Minnesota. But it is a good life, it is the life the Creator gave you. You can drink the water from a lake in northern Minnesota. Then the Enbridge company comes through, and they say they’re going to put in their pipeline. They say, Don’t worry, we’ll pay you some money. But you say, No, that will change the ecosystem. They say, Don’t worry about it. They mow everything down. They have spills,” LaDuke says. “The interest is not a public interest, it’s a private interest. So this is eminent domain. It’s a combination of the worst choices for us.”
The tribes surrounding the Great Lakes have been harvesting wild rice for thousands of years, a livelihood LaDuke says is threatened by the risk of spills from Enbridge’s pipelines. “We’re going to fight them. We have no choice. Wild rice is our life. It feeds our people. With them threatening to damage our rice, we have no choice. You’ve seen the Native opposition to the Keystone XL. Ours will be just as big.”
Thousands of people turned up to voice their opposition to the Enbridge pipeline Joint Review Panel last year in Vancouver, British Columbia last year. The demonstration, organized by Rising Tide and endorsed by 50 groups, marched from Victory Square to the hotel where the closed-door meeting of the government panel was taking place. (Photo: Caelie_Frampton/flickr/cc)
Can a First Nations-led, people-driven movement really have the power to stop Big Oil?
The folks behind the Pull Together campaign think so. The Pull Together initiative supports First Nations in B.C. who are taking to the courts to stop Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project.
Led by the Gitxaala, Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Nadleh Whut’en, Nak’azdli and Haida — nations united in their fierce opposition to tar sands oil endangering their traditional territories — Pull Together’s involvement synchronized with a very active movement against tar sands pipelines in B.C. and community-based opposition Enbridge in particular. The campaign is using a new model of online fundraising that, combined with real-world, grassroots organizing, is delivering solid results.
It’s a model where Indigenous leadership combines with cutting-edge organizing strategies — online, on the land and on the streets. Through a unique blend of real-world events and online fundraising, Pull Together has raised an astonishing $250,000, and is looking forward to realizing a goal of $300,000 by the end of 2014.
B.C.’s opposition to Enbridge is strong and growing. While the company is delaying the project, and investors are growing uneasy, according to RAVEN’s Susan Smitten, “Stopping the project will take a court-ordered resolution, because Enbridge has no intention of giving up on the project.”
While First Nation’s constitutional rights can be a powerful tool to ensure affected communities have a stake in projects in their traditional territories, Smitten points out, “First Nations stand as a last and inviolable line of defense against environmental destruction — if and only if the nations can afford to uphold those rights in court.”
“I know First Nations have an incredible amount of power on that legal side of things,” says Jess Housty, of the Heilsuk First Nation council. “But… I know what tribal government’s resources are and I know what our responsibilities are. And they are really broad! We’re responsible for virtually every aspect of the welfare and the development of our community.”
“The thought of a lawsuit added on top of that is such a huge capacity strain. I have a huge amount of admiration for my community, and for many other communities, that never hesitated to take on court challenges. But I wondered where and how and when the support would come.”
The support Housty and other First Nations leaders are enjoying has been building, with involvement by many people and groups over many years.
Pull Together has tapped into a powerful anti-tankers and pipelines movement that represents the majority of British Columbians who don’t want the Enbridge project to proceed. The campaign has motivated organizers, businesses, and community groups who understand the power, and principle, of standing with First Nations opposed to oil and gas development on our west coast.
“The Pull Together campaign is driven by people who care and are politically astute,” said kil tlaats ‘gaa Peter Lantin, President of the Haida Nation. “They can see how the future of the country is shaping up and want to be part of it.”
From Haida Gwaii to Nelson, Kitsilano to Kitgaatla, B.C’s creative, tough, and committed culture is coming out in full force to fight Enbridge. Alliance building between NGOs — Sierra Club B.C. and RAVEN have joined forces on the campaign– offers a way forward for an environmental movement that has suffered from fragmentation in the past.
Who knew stopping a pipeline could be so much fun?
While the goal of stopping a pipeline is deadly serious, the means to that end are less of a struggle, and more of a celebration.
With over 40 events, 100 online fundraisers and 30 businesses involved, Pull Together is lighting up B.C. The campaign got its start with a spaghetti dinner hosted by Friends of Morice-Bulkley Valley in Smithers.
From that original $2,000 fundraiser, the campaign gained steam with an Island All-Stars gala on Pender Island, featuring Daniel Lapp, Mae Moore and Lester Quitzau that brought in $8,000. Salt Spring Island’s “Only Planet Cabaret” brought in $5,000 over three sold-out shows in Victoria and on the islands, while tickets to the Pull Together show at St. Barnabas in Victoria, featuring headliners Compassion Gorilla and Art Napoleon, sold fast.
Says Sierra Club B.C. campaigns director Caitlyn Vernon, “It’s incredible to think that Pull Together began in the summer with a community group in Terrace raising $2,000, and now we have raised a hundred times that!”
The campaign has inspired artists, from Kitgaatla nurse and photographer Paulina Otylia, who donated family portrait sessions for the campaign, to Franke James of “Banned on the Hill” fame who has contributed limited edition prints. At last weekends’ East Side Culture Crawl, Shannon Harvey’s Monkey 100 studio is featuring “Wish You Were Here” woodcut postcards with proceeds to Pull Together.
Businesses are pulling too: Salt Spring Coffee held a “Lattes for the Coast” fundraiser this week, while the B.C. Kayak Guide Association has assembled an online fundraising team comprised of kayak guides and outfitters. Moksha Yoga B.C. have raised nearly $10,000 for the campaign by holding fundraising karma yoga classes and in-studio film screenings. Led by Eric Mathias, Moksha have extended their reach to include 25 yoga studios all across B.C. who have pledged to “Stretch Across B.C.” and fundraise for Pull Together.
The fundraising initiative is rapidly spreading both online and off, as people recognize this is a strategic way to stop Enbridge — and send a powerful message to Ottawa.
“It’s a big undertaking, but we’re not alone,” says Marilyn Slett, elected chief of the Heiltsuk First Nation. “We have people supporting us, really good people from all over the world and from B.C.”
“It’s a good feeling knowing that were standing together united in solidarity with British Columbians at large.”
There’s a saying among B.C. First Nations: many paddles, one canoe. Who knew stopping a pipeline could be so much fun?
