Sovereign Nations Walk Out of Meeting With U.S. State Department Unanimously Rejecting Keystone XL Pipeline

Source: Huffington Post

The State Department, still with “egg on its face” from its statement that Keystone XL would have little impact on climate change, sunk a little lower today as the most respected elders, and chiefs of 10 sovereign nations turned their backs on State Department representatives and walked out during a meeting. The meeting, which was a failed attempt at a “nation to nation” tribal consultation concerning the Keystone XL Pipeline neglected to address any legitimate concerns being raised by First Nations Leaders (or leading scientific experts for that matter).

Climate Science Watch, The EPA and most people with common sense rebuked the State Department’s initial report and today First Nations sent a very clear message to President Obama and the world concerning the future fate of their land regarding Keystone XL.

Vice president for conservation policy at the National Wildlife Federation Jim Lyon said of the department’s original analysis that it “fails in its review of climate impacts, threats to endangered wildlife like whooping cranes and woodland caribou, and the concerns of tribal communities.” Today tribal nations added probably the most critical danger of the pipeline which is to the water. Their statement is below:

On this historic day of May 16, 2013, ten sovereign Indigenous nations maintain that the proposed TransCanada/Keystone XL pipeline does not serve the national interest and in fact would be detrimental not only to the collected sovereigns but all future generations on planet earth. This morning the following sovereigns informed the Department of State Tribal Consultation effort at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rapid City, SD, that the gathering was not recognized as a valid consultation on a “nation to nation” level:Southern Ponca
Pawnee Nation
Nez Perce Nation

And the following Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires People):

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
Ihanktonwan Dakota (Yankton Sioux)
Rosebud Sioux Tribe
Oglala Sioux Tribe
Standing Rock Tribe
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe

The Great Plains Tribal Chairmans Association supports this position, which is in solidarity with elected leaders, Treaty Councils and the grassroots community, and is guided by spiritual leaders. On Saturday, May 18, the Sacred Pipe Bundle of the Oceti Sakowin will be brought out to pray with the people to stop the KXL pipeline, and other tribal nation prayer circles will gather to do the same.

Pursuant to Executive Order 13175, the above sovereigns directed the DOS to invite President Obama to engage in “true Nation to Nation” consultation with them at the nearest date, at a designated location to be communicated by each of the above sovereigns. After delivering that message, the large contingent of tribal people walked out of the DOS meeting and asked the other tribal people present to support this effort and to leave the meeting. Eventually all remaining tribal representatives and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers left the meeting at the direct urging of the grassroots organization Owe Aku. Owe Aku, Moccasins on the Ground, and Protect the Sacred are preparing communities to resist the Keystone XL pipeline through Keystone Blockade Training.

This unprecedented unity of tribes against the desecration of Ina Maka (Mother Earth) was motivated by the signing on January 25, 2013, of the historic International Treaty to Protect the Sacred Against the Tar Sands. Signatories were the Pawnee Nation, the Ponca Nation, the Ihanktonwan Dakota and the Oglala Lakota. Since then ten First Nations Chiefs in Canada have signed the Treaty to protect themselves against tar sands development in Canada.

The above sovereigns notify President Obama to consult with each of them because of the following:

The nations have had no direct role in identifying and evaluating cultural resources.

The nations question the status of the programmatic agreement and how it may or may not be amended.

The nations are deeply concerned about potential pipeline impacts on natural resources, especially our water: potential spills and leaks, groundwater and surface water contamination.

The nations have no desire to contribute to climate change, to which the pipeline will directly contribute.

The nations recognize that the pipeline will increase environmental injustice, disproportionately impacting native communities.

The nations deplore the environmental impacts of tar sands mining being endured by tribes in Canada. The pipeline would service the tar sands extractive industry.

The nations insist that their treaty rights be respected⎯the pipeline would violate them.

The nations support an energy policy that promotes renewables and efficiency instead of one that features fossil fuels.

The nations regard the consultation process as flawed in favor of corporate interests.
The sovereigns of these nations contend that it is not in America’s interest to facilitate and contribute to environmental devastation on the scale caused by the extraction of tar sands in Canada. America would be better served by a comprehensive program to reduce its reliance on oil, and to invest in the development and deployment of sustainable energy technologies, such as electric vehicles that are charged using solar and wind power.

If the Keystone XL pipeline is allowed to be built, TransCanada, a Canadian corporation, would be occupying sacred treaty lands as reserved in the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties. It will be stopped by unified resistance.

 

To sanctify their solidarity with The Lubicon Lake First Nation of Canada, who are the traditional stewards of the land that 70% of the tar sands oil sit on, along with tribes across Canada and The United States, Chief Arvol Lookinghorse has called for a day of prayer everywhere on May 18, 2013. Chief Lookinghorse, The 19th Generation Keeper of The Sacred White Buffalo Bundle, has stated,

“I am asking ‘All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer’ to help us during this time of this gathering by praying with us on this day wherever you are upon Mother Earth. We need to stop the desecration that is hurting Mother Earth and the communities. These recent spills of oil are affecting the blood of Mother Earth; Mni wic’oni (water of life).”

Gatherings are being planned all over the world in solidarity during the weekend including one outside the UN at Isaiah’s Wall in NYC on, May 17th.

We all know that we are living in unprecedented times. We just surpassed 400ppm CO2 in the atmosphere for the first time in 10 million years, the planet is warming and we humans must bear the responsibility of our actions and their effects on the environment. What we do, and what we don’t do will effect the generations to follow. A better world is possible.

Tulalip Bay drowning victim ID’d

Source: The Herald

TULALIP — Officials have identified a man who drowned in a boat capsizing in Tulalip Bay this past weekend.

The death of Olaf A. Woody, 44, of Mountlake Terrace, was an accident, according to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Emergency crews were summoned just before 10:30 p.m. when a small boat capsized near Priest Point. They found a woman in the water still alive and rushed her to the hospital.

Woody’s body was found nearby.

The capsizing remains under investigation by the Snohomish County sheriff’s marine unit.

The death marks the third reported drowning in the county so far this year.

Maidu protesters say dispute is over membership

Some of the tribal members and supporting members who barricaded themselves inside the Berry Creek Rancheria tribal headquarters last Thursday to protest the threat of being disenrolled from the Tyme Maidu Tribe are pictured in this photo taken on Monday.(Mary Weston/Staff Photo)
Some of the tribal members and supporting members who barricaded themselves inside the Berry Creek Rancheria tribal headquarters last Thursday to protest the threat of being disenrolled from the Tyme Maidu Tribe are pictured in this photo taken on Monday.(Mary Weston/Staff Photo)
The Tyme Maidu Tribe of California is preparing to remove more than 70 people from the rolls, according to news reports.
 
By MARY WESTON-Staff Writer
chicoer.com Posted:   05/22/2013

OROVILLE — It’s the same story heard across California in Indian gaming country — family against family with complex claims about the blood lineage of tribal members. Blood lineage determines who gets to be in the tribe and who gets the money.

Last Thursday, about 20 people were arrested after an 11-hour protest with members of the Tyme Maidu Tribe. Protesters say they were being threatened with disenrollments when they barricaded themselves inside Berry Creek Rancheria headquarters.

On Monday, about eight of the protesters and their supporters told their story.

The people who protested said they are descendants of founding members and have the documents to prove it.

They say their lineage goes back to the person given the Berry Creek Rancheria property, a man named Dick Harry.

The protesters were only held for a few hours in a building near juvenile hall, said Charlene Delagarza.

Delagarza, who was arrested, said they were protesting peacefully.

“We were standing for our identity and our heritage,” Delagarza said.

Marlin Bone-Cason, 20, said he and some of his relatives were at tribal offices supporting the protesters when they were attacked by angry tribal members who held him down and beat him. He said they cracked a relative in the head with an iron bar around 10:30 a.m. last Thursday.

Robert Wagner, 35, said the tribal members have continually been violent toward his family members, including his pregnant sister.

William Grigsby said he and others went to file charges against the people who have assaulted members of their family, but he doesn’t think anyone is listening to their side of the story. He said the tribal members who want to kick out his family have a majority in the tribe.

Grigsby said if he is cut from tribal rolls, he would lose his house where he, his wife and their children live.

Delagarza said the protesters were held for a few hours near Butte County Juvenile Hall last Thursday and released with various charges of trespassing and obstructing police officers.

A vote on the protesters’ disenrollment is still being determined.

Delagarza said they had not vandalized the tribal offices as was claimed, which are their offices, too. They had keys to enter the building legally, she said.

Goodie Mix, a spokesperson for the Berry Creek Rancheria Tribal Council, referred questions to a tribal attorney who, she said will be able to talk with the Mercury-Register later this week.

She said the dispute has to do with one family and a question of that family’s lineage.

Staff writer Mary Weston can be reached at 533-4415 or mweston@orovillemr.com.

First Copper River Salmon Arrive in Seattle

 
24,600 pounds of Chinook have arrived in Seattle.
 
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By GW Rastopsoff | Alaska Native News
05/17/2013 10:15:00

 

Sea-Tac Airport saw the first planeload of Copper River King Salmon from Cordova this morning [Friday may 17th] . It is the first of four Alaska Airlines flights scheduled to bring the prized Alaska Salmon to Seattle on Friday.

The first flight this morning brought a cargo of 24,600 pounds of Chinook destined for restaurants in the area.

The Copper River is projected to harvest approximately 19,800 King Salmon during the 2013 season, with a total Chinook run of 46,000 according to ADF&G. this is about 23,000 fish lower than the 70,000 fish that is the 14-year average.

The Copper River fishery began at 7 am on Thursday and remained open for 12 hours. Within 24 hours of the opening, fresh fish made their arrival in the Emerald City. The first of the year Kings are expected to bring about $30 per pound.

It was a former Alaskan fisherman, Jon Rowley, that brought the Copper River King Salmon craze to Seattle back in 1983. It was him and his razzle-dazzle marketing techniques that stirred the fervor for the fresh caught first Alaska Salmon of the year. It has grown larger and larger ever since and is now a much anticipated event in the city and an annual rite of Spring.

The Alaska Airlines pilots carried the first salmon, a 40-pound King to waiting chefs.

Tiger Woods to Join Notah Begay III for NB3 Foundation Challenge

By Leeanne Root, Indian Country Today Media Network

In announcing the field for the sixth annual Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge, Notah Begay III, the Navajo/San Felipe/Isleta four-time PGA Tour winner and Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and CEO of Nation Enterprises, parent company of Indian Country Today Media Network, saved the best for last.

Tiger Woods will join Begay on what they’ve dubbed Team USA on August 28 to raise money for health programs to benefit Native American youth.

Both Halbritter and Begay see the advantage of having a 78-time PGA Tour winner like Woods associated with the event.

“It really elevates the visibility,” Halbritter said during a press conference May 20.”

And while Begay said it’s always tough to get Woods because he’s in such high demand, he said Woods “understands the importance of what we’re trying to accomplish with our foundation and our initiatives and our programs and he’s such a big supporter of us.”

Team USA will also include Rickie Fowler, Navajo, who has competed in three previous NB3 Challenges and Bo Van Pelt, a PGA Tour veteran.

The four of them will be pitted against Team Asia and Team International in a combined best-ball format. Each team will have two pairs playing best-ball and the combined score of those two pairs will be the final score for that team.

Team Asia will feature eight-time PGA Tour winner K.J. Choi, PGA Tour veteran Charlie Wi, and two up and coming stars—2012 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year John Huh, the first person of Korean descent to win that honor, and James Hahn, who emerged on the scene last year.

Team International boasts players from Europe and South Africa including Lee Westwood, the former world No. 1 and 40-time professional winner, as well as 2011 Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel and Nicolas Colsaerts, who emerged as one of the stars from the winning European team from the 2012 Ryder Cup, and Henrik Stenson, 2009 Players champion.

The partnership between the Oneida Indian Nation and the foundation has raised more than $4 million in the past five years through the NB3 Challenge. And the exposure that partnership and other big names like Woods has brought the foundation has also helped the foundation obtain other important partnerships, like with Johns Hopkins University and more recently with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“The event has allowed us to garner more exposure for our work and when you have world-class partners like the Turning Stone Resort and everything it represents… it sets a precedent for future partnerships,” Begay said. “We didn’t have Hopkins when we started, we didn’t have Robert Wood Johnson when we started. We had Chairman Halbritter and myself and an idea—an idea to showcase something that has never existed in Indian country before, a world-class event that can compete with any event in the world and that’s exactly what we have.”

The partnership with Johns Hopkins has allowed the NB3 Foundation to better its programming and make it more effective for the Native youth they serve. Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health conducted a two-year study evaluating the impact of NB3 soccer programs at San Felipe Pueblo in New Mexico and found the programs have a significant impact on the physical fitness of Native American children.

“Basically, it’s called evidence-based programming, we make curriculum changes based upon the research and data that we’re compiling so we’re not moving the program in a direction because we feel like that’s the right thing to do,” Begay said. “We’re moving it in a direction because our evidence says it’s the right thing to do. It’s a better way to make our dollars work more effectively.”

Halbritter couldn’t be prouder to be partnered with Begay and his foundation.

“In many communities across Indian country parents are in danger of living longer than their children, which is a tragedy… We share Notah’s vision and appreciate his work to improve the lives of all American Indian youth,” he said. “We are taught culturally that all the things we have aren’t just for ourselves, they’re really for future generations so this is… exactly what we’re supposed to be doing. But not often do you get the opportunity to actually do it.”

The foundation works with Native youth to reduce the incidence of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. As Begay pointed out, “one in two of our Native American children will be classified as obese by the fourth grade and I think it goes up to six in ten will contract Type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.”

NB3 runs a number of soccer and golf programs that have benefitted more than 15,000 Native youth since the foundation’s beginning in 2005.

The NB3 Foundation Challenge will be held August 28 at Atunyote Golf Club in Verona, New York, which was named a 2012 Top 40 Best Casino Course by Golfweek, and Begay can see why. It’s one of his favorite courses.

“It’s gorgeous, there’s not a blade of grass out of place, the greens are always fast. It’s one of the premier golfing venues in the country. And I can always get a tee time,” he laughed.

Tickets to the 2013 NB3 Challenge are on sale now for $50 and can be purchased by contacting the Turning Stone Box Office at 315-361-SHOW.

Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and CEO of Nation Enterprises, parent company of Indian Country Today Media Network, and Notah Begay III, announce the 12-player field for the sixth annual NB3 Foundation Challenge. (Courtesy Oneida Indian Nation)
Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and CEO of Nation Enterprises, parent company of Indian Country Today Media Network, and Notah Begay III, announce the 12-player field for the sixth annual NB3 Foundation Challenge. (Courtesy Oneida Indian Nation)

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/05/21/tiger-woods-join-notah-begay-nb3-foundation-challenge-149449

Supreme Court won’t take up Alaskan tribe’s suit against Exxon Mobil

By Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E, ClimateWire

The Supreme Court yesterday declined to review a large climate change lawsuit brought by a Native Alaskan village against major energy producers.

The Native Village of Kivalina had asked the justices to take up a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last September that dismissed its lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. and other producers.

Villagers had claimed that the companies’ operations were contributing to global warming, which in turn was eroding their land off the northwest coast of Alaska, about 70 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Specifically, the villagers were seeking damages from the companies. The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit, however, ruled that the Clean Air Act and U.S. EPA regulations have jurisdiction over climate change issues.

The Village of Kivalina is a self-governing, federally recognized tribe of about 400 Inupiat Native Alaskans who live on a 6-mile barrier reef off the coast of Alaska.

In order to withstand winter storms and large waves, the village relies on sea ice that binds to its coastline. In recent years, villagers charged that the ice is forming later and melting sooner, leaving them exposed.

Further, the reef itself is eroding, and, in court documents, the village claimed its existence is deeply threatened.

The villagers attributed the change to global warming and pointed at greenhouse gases from energy production as the culprit. They sought damages under a common law nuisance claim.

Lower courts have ruled against the village on multiple occasions. A district court tossed out the case because the village couldn’t concretely detail how it had been harmed by the conduct of the companies.

Kewa Pueblo medicine man loses appeal in eagle killing case

Source: Indianz.com

A medicine man from Kewa Pueblo in New Mexico who pleaded guilty for killing a bald eagle and possessing bald eagle parts lost his case before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Martin Aguilar admitted that he didn’t obtain a federal permit to take the eagle on the reservation. He also lacked a permit to possess eagle feathers that were found in his home.

Aguilar argued that federal agents entered and searched his home in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The 10th Circuit, however, said he allowed them to enter his home voluntarily.

Aguilar also argued that his prosecution under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The 10th Circuit, however, said a similar issue was already decided in a case involving a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming.

“We held that the Eagle Protection Act, and its attendant permitting process which allows for the taking of live eagles for religious purposes by members of federally recognized Indian tribes under certain circumstances, was the least restrictive means of furthering compelling governmental interests in protecting eagles and protecting the religion of federally recognized Indian tribes,” the 10th Circuit said in the unpublished opinion, referring to its 2008 decision in US v. Friday.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, US v. Aguilar.

Summer concert series planned for Everett’s new downtown plaza

Jennifer Buchanan / The HeraldArtist Linda Beaumont is reflected in part of her mosaic installation at the new Wetmore Theater Plaza in downtown Everett.
Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
Artist Linda Beaumont is reflected in part of her mosaic installation at the new Wetmore Theater Plaza in downtown Everett.

By Theresa Goffredo, The Herald

Wetmore Theater Plaza, the new community space in downtown Everett, is getting its first official event — a summer concert series.

The Sets in the West concerts kick off July 10 with 10 weeks of live music from some top shelf, emerging bands from Seattle, Bellingham and Everett.

The free shows start right after work at 5 p.m. There’s a wine and beer garden and food for anyone who wants to buy a drink or a snack.

Bands include Hot Bodies in Motion, a soul-bluesy band from Seattle, and River Giant, whose lead singer is from Lake Stevens and who play folk Americana stuff, which has been compared to Neil Young.

The city of Everett wanted to have a concert series at the plaza this summer but didn’t have the staff to devote to such an event. So the city asked the Everett Music Initiative to make the series happen.

The Everett Music Initiative started out in 2012 and has successfully brought new bands to downtown Everett. The group’s goal was to bring the local pool of musical talent here because music is a critical cultural element to a thriving downtown, said Ryan Crowther, founder of Everett Music Initiative.

The music initiative has partnered with Experience Everett, the city’s new tourism initiative, and together with support from the city’s cultural arts department, the experiment to bring new music to downtown Everett has been a success.

“They saw a need, took the initiative and brought some very new music to Everett and started gaining really good crowds,” said Carol Thomas, the city’s cultural arts manager. “We asked them to bring their talents to a concert series that would feature new and emerging artists, a genre they know and love.”

The city already sponsors Music at the Marina concert series that kicks off June 27 and those concerts start a little later Thursday evenings. But the new plaza concert series happens right after work for a more “appropriate urban feel so people can get off work and enjoy the music,” Thomas said.

The city also provides a children’s concert series Thursday mornings at Thornton A Sullivan Park at Silver Lake. which kicks off July 11.

In addition to the concert series, Village Theatre’s Kidstage program will be presenting six live theater performances at noon Fridays at the Wetmore Plaza. That series kicks off June 28 with “A Year with Frog and Toad.”

The plaza, situated between the Everett Performing Arts Center and Village Theatre’s Second Stage kids’ theater, can accommodate more than 400 people and, with a packed crowd, can give the downtown that kind of needed energy that comes from community events such as concerts and theater performances, Thomas said.

“The next step after making the plaza is activating it,” Thomas said. “And we are working hard for that.”

The plaza isn’t officially complete. Whidbey Island artist Linda Beaumont continues work on the undulating mosaic wall that anchors the plaza and frames the area into a seated amphitheater.

Beaumont is expected to be working on that mosaic into next year. The piece is handmade and completely original, Thomas said.

“Art takes time,” Thomas said.

But the public doesn’t have to wait to use the plaza. In fact, the city wants people to use the plaza now. And the concert series is a good starting point, said Steve Graham, a member of Everett Music Initiative.

“This is going to be a great chance to showcase some great music, how beautiful downtown Everett and our new Wetmore Plaza (are),” Graham said.

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; tgoffredo@heraldnet.com.

New series

The new Sets in the West series kicks off July 10 and runs through Sept. 11 at Wetmore Theatre Plaza, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett. For a complete schedule of bands, go to www.everettmusicinitiative.org.