Monthly Archives: September 2023

‘Furious’ at Army Corps, Tribe Calls for Public Support to Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline

“The Corps’ covering for the pipeline company’s outrageous safety record and the reviewer’s serious conflict of interest have now resulted in a failed effort,” said Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire. “They need to start over with adult supervision.”

By Jon Queally. Published 9-10-2023 by Common Dreams

Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline hold a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Oct. 25, 2016. (Photo: Fibonacci Blue/flickr/cc)

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire is leading a fresh demand that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers throw out an ongoing environmental review process of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline and start again from scratch alongside a superseding call for the pipeline to be shuttered completely.

Following Friday’s release of a revised Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), ordered by a federal court, the tribe said the document reveals the entire process has been a failure and that the pipeline—currently operating across their land without consent in what they consider an “illegal” manner by the Energy Transfer company—should be shut down once and for all.

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‘Absolutely Devastating News’: Antarctica Warming Quicker Than Models Projected

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The new study’s lead author said that “it is extremely concerning to see such significant warming in Antarctica, beyond natural variability.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-8-2023 by Common Dreams

Crumbling glacier in Antarctica. Photo: Pedro Szekely/flickr/CC

Antarctica is warming at about double the rate of the rest of the planet and far more quickly than widely cited models projected, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change that swiftly alarmed scientists around the world.

“This is absolutely devastating news,” declared climate scientist and University College London professor emeritus Bill McGuire.

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Watchdog Finds Trump Border Wall Harmed Environment, Indigenous Sites, and Wildlife

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“This racist political stunt has been an ineffective waste of billions of American taxpayers’ dollars—and now we know it has caused immeasurable, irreparable harm,” said Congressman Raúl Grijalva.

By Jessica Corbett Published 9-7-2023 by Common Dreams

Donald Trump stands before a section of border fencing. Photo: rump White House Archived/flickr/CC

A U.S. government watchdog agency on Thursday released a report exposing how former President Donald Trump’s wall construction along the nation’s border with Mexico negatively affected cultural and natural resources, as critics have long argued.

“The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Defense (DOD) installed about 458 miles of border barrier panels across the southwest border from January 2017 through January 2021,” according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. “Most (81%) of the miles of panels replaced existing barriers.”

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Now End All the Drilling, Campaigners Say as Biden Rescinds Arctic Refuge Leases

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“Our sacred land is only temporarily safe from oil and gas development,” said one First Nations leader, urging Congress and the White House to “permanently protect the Arctic Refuge.”

By Julia Conley. Published 9-6-2023 by Common Dreams

Polar bear, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Photo: Alan D. Wilson/Wikimedia Commons/CC

Indigenous tribes and climate campaigners applauded the Biden administration’s announcement Wednesday that it will cancel all existing oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and ban drilling across 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve, while hundreds of groups also called on the U.S. Interior Department to go further on fossil fuel leasing.

Biden’s move in Alaska will reverse former Republican President Donald Trump’s approval of a 2017 law that required leasing in the Arctic Refuge, the nation’s largest area of pristine wilderness which is home to vulnerable species including polar bears, migratory birds, and caribou.

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Senator Files Ethics Complaint Accusing Alito of Scheme to Thwart Congressional Action

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“Justice Alito was involved in an organized campaign to block congressional action with regard to a matter in which he has a personal stake,” reads the complaint filed by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

By Jake Johnson. Published 9-5-2023 by Common Dreams

Samuel-Alito. Screenshot: Conversations with Bill Kristol

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse filed an ethics complaint against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Tuesday, accusing the right-wing judge of improperly interfering with congressional efforts to reform the scandal-plagued high court.

The complaint points to Alito’s comments in a recent Wall Street Journal interview conducted in part by David Rivkin, an attorney for notorious Federalist Society co-chair Leonard Leo. Rivkin is also representing the plaintiffs in a case that could preemptively ban lawmakers from enacting a wealth tax.

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Global Biodiversity Panel Warns Humans’ Introduction of Invasive Species Threatens Nature, Food Security

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“With so many major drivers of change predicted to worsen,” said one researcher, “it is expected that the increase of invasive alien species and their negative impacts, are likely to be significantly greater.”

By Julia Conley. Published 9-4-2023 by Common Dreams

The buffelgrass invasion has forever changed the southwestern desert ecosystems by crowding out native plants and fueling frequent and devastating fires in areas where fires were once rare. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters/flickr/CC

As wildfires burned through 3,200 acres of land on the Hawaiian island of Maui earlier this month, ultimately killing at least 115 people and destroying the city of Lahaina, some observers noted that the dry grasses that colonial occupiers introduced in the place of Hawaii’s natural forests made the fires spread faster than they would have if the land had been left intact.

On Monday, a study resulting from nearly five years of research by experts from 49 countries revealed how the grasses are among thousands of harmful invasive alien species that have been introduced by human activities and placed communities across the globe at risk, with the human-driven climate emergency often exacerbating the negative impact of invasive plant and animal species.

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Trump and Big Tech are setting the tone for a violent 2024 election season

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Tech giants’ hands-off approach to disinformation does not bode well at a time of growing political violence

By Chrissy Stroop Published 8-30-2023 by openDemocracy

Donald Trump turned himself in at Fulton County jail in Georgia on Thursday last week, where he was fingerprinted and had a mugshot taken – just like any other accused felon. Obviously, unlike many others in the same situation, he was immediately able to post bond and leave. Nevertheless, the moment was remarkable: it was the first ever mugshot of a former president.

Back in March, before the various investigations had resulted in any indictments, Trump warned there could be consequences if he was indicted, calling on his supporters to “take back our nation”. No 6 January-style mass action has materialised, but as summer winds down in the northern hemisphere, political threats and violence do seem to be ramping up here in the US.

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Trump’s Last-Minute Attack on Old-Growth Trees Was Illegal, Judge Rules

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The federal judge said that the “highly uncertain effects of this project, when considered in light of its massive scope and setting, raise substantial questions about whether this project will have a significant effect on the environment.”

By Olivia Rosane. Published 9-1-2023 by Common Dreams

Large trees are proposed for logging in one of Oregon’s wildest landscapes as part of the Morgan Nesbitt “Restoration” project. (Photo: Oregon Wild)

Two days before he left office, a political appointee for President Donald Trump removed protections from old-growth trees in Oregon and Washington. On Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Hallman ruled that decision was illegal.

Hallman vacated the U.S. Forest Service’s finding that the change would have no impact, and ordered the agency to carry out a full environmental impact statement of the proposal, as The Associated Press reported.

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‘A Welcome Relief’: Transportation Department Suspends Trump-Era LNG ‘Bomb Trains’ Rule

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While celebrating the forthcoming review, campaigners also argued that “Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg should put a new rule in place that restores the ban on LNG by rail once and for all.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-1-2023 by Common Dreams

Just another bomb train. Photo: Don/flickr/CC

Green groups on Friday applauded as the Biden administration suspended a Trump-era rule allowing liquefied natural gas to be transported by train, delivering another blow to New Fortress Energy’s proposal to ship climate-wrecking LNG by rail from Wyalusing, Pennsylvania to Gibbstown, New Jersey.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)—in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, another U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) agency—announced in the Federal Register on Friday that it is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to suspend authorization of LNG rail transportation.

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‘A Huge Win’: Texas Judge Finds Law Limiting Local Rule Is Unconstitutional

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“When local policymaking is stifled, community voices are silenced,” said a coalition of progressive groups.

By Julia Conley. Published 8-31-2023 by Common Dreams

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Photo: World Travel & Tourism Council/flickr/CC

Local leaders in Texas’ increasingly progressive major cities were joined by workers’ rights advocates and other pro-democracy groups on Thursday as they applauded a district court judge’s ruling that a Republican-authored law aimed at superseding local regulations is unconstitutional and should be temporarily halted.

House Bill 2127, which has been called the Death Star Law by progressive groups, had been set to go into effect on Friday and would prevent cities from enacting and passing local ordinances, including many that would protect workers’ rights.

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Monthly Archives: September 2023

‘Absolutely Devastating News’: Antarctica Warming Quicker Than Models Projected

The new study’s lead author said that “it is extremely concerning to see such significant warming in Antarctica, beyond natural variability.”

Global Biodiversity Panel Warns Humans’ Introduction of Invasive Species Threatens Nature, Food Security

“With so many major drivers of change predicted to worsen,” said one researcher, “it is expected that the increase of invasive alien species and their negative impacts, are likely to be significantly greater.”