Troubled waters

NW fossil fuel exports, the Nicaragua Canal & the fight against fracking &

TROUBLED WATERS:TROUBLED WATERS:

WWW.FOE.ORG

VOLUME 45, NUMBER 1 | SPRING 2015

Friends,Growing up in southwest Michigan, I had access to water, and lots of it. Lake Michigan and its sandy beaches were within a 15 minute drive, and nearby small lakes, ponds and creeks peppered the landscape providing plenty of opportunities to fish, swim and

play. Farmers and homeowners easily punched holes into the ground to find clean well-water for irrigation or drinking. I never considered access to this bountiful resource as a treasured or unique gift of geography and geology or even a right. It was just home. Unfortunately, what I experienced then is increasingly far from the norm (if it ever was). Parts of the United States, particularly California, are experiencing a severe drought to the degree that water rationing is being promoted. In other regions of the world, such as the Tibetan Plateau between India and China, and the vast tributaries to the Nile River, geopolitical fights are arising over control and access to water. Domestically, we are making groundwater toxic with fracking fluids, floating massive ships on it to ship fossil fuels around the world, and using it to quench the agricultural-industrial complex. In this issue of Friends of the Earths Newsmagazine, weve asked our staff and guest writers to explore several fights where water is a key theme. Youll read about the lack of rules to protect groundwater from the growth of fracking, a proposed shipping canal threatening Nicaraguas largest source of freshwater, and the impacts of the broad campaign to turn the Northwest into a fossil fuel shipping hotspot. These fights, though disparate in location and impact have a key commonality: they are the results of corporate interests rushing the construction of massive projects that infringe on human rights and would destroy ecosystems for profits.

Thankfully, there has been some good news in the effort to protect our waters. At press time, the Environmental Protection Agency released a rule which clearly defines which water bodies are protected under the Clean Water Act. Long-awaited, the final rule will protect the drinking water supply of millions of Americans.

Regards,

Erich Pica, President, Friends of the Earth

2 Spring 2015 Friends of the Earth Newsmagazine WWW.FOE.ORG

Erich Pica

presidents message

Get involved in issues and debates affecting human health and the planet by signing up for Friends of the Earth action alerts. Visit www.foe.org today!

StaffErich Pica, PresidentLisa Archer, Food and technology program directorCourtney Brown, Senior stewardship officerJudith Bourzutschky, BookkeeperMichelle Chan, Economic policy program directorKate Colwell, Rapid response communications

specialistJeff Conant, Senior international forests campaignerKate DeAngelis, Climate and energy campaignerJulie Dyer, Director of operationsEA Dyson, Communications directorTiffany Finck-Haynes, Food futures campaignerLusa Abbott Galvo, Climate and energy

campaignerKari Hamerschlag, Senior program managerJohn Kaltenstein, Marine policy analystMarcie Keever, Oceans and vessels program

directorMarissa Knodel, Climate change campaignerAdam Lugg, Donor services managerKatharine Lu, China sustainable finance

campaignerCarrie Mann, Digital membership coordinatorJosette Matoto, Graphic designer/video producerDamon Moglen, Senior strategic advisorErica Mutschler, Operations associateDoug Norlen, Senior program managerKaren Orenstein, Senior international policy analystDana Perls, Food and technology campaignerLukas Ross, Climate and energy campaignerAdam Russell, Associate editor and content

specialistMadelyn Rygg, Chief financial officerKathy Sawyer, Director of foundation relationsBen Schreiber, Climate and energy program directorSharon Smith, Senior accountantPeter Stocker, Director of developmentSemhal Tekeste, Senior digital communications

strategist William Waren, Senior trade analyst

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Board of DirectorsArlie Schardt, Chair; Soroush Shehabi, Vice chair; Jeffrey Glueck, Treasurer; Harriett Crosby, Secretary; Whitey Bluestein; Jayni Chase; Cecil D. Corbin-Mark, Clarence Ditlow; Dan Gabel; Mike Herz; Russell Long; Avis Ogilvy Moore; Stephen Nemeth; Chris Pabon; Chris Paine; Doria Steedman; Peyton West; Marc Zionts; Brent Blackwelder, Advisor, President emeritus and ex-officio

WWW.FOE.ORG Friends of the Earth Newsmagazine Spring 2015 3

VOLUME 45, NUMBER 1 SPRING 2015

2 PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

4 THE NICARAGUA CANAL Proposed megaproject

carries massive social and environmental consequences

8 OREGON TRAIL Pacific northwest is transforming

into a fossil fuel gateway

11 PLANNED GIVING Learn about your options for

giving back

12 THE FRACKING FIGHT CONTINUES

Pushing for an end of fracking on federal land

15 #BEEBOLD Learn about our new action

center, Earth H.Q.

16 FIVE YEARS, FIVE LESSONS What there is still to learn from

the BP disaster

18 ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERSHIP

Cast your vote for the board election

19 ECO-BITES Brief campaign updates, in a

new locatoin

contents

Friends of the Earth Newsmagazine (ISSN: 1054-1829) is published quarterly by Friends of the Earth, 1100 15th St. NW, 11th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005, phone 202-783-7400, fax 202-783-0444, e-mail: [email protected], website: www.foe.org. Annual membership dues are $25, which includes a subscription to the Friends of the Earth Newsmagazine. The words Friends of the Earth and the Friends of the Earth logo are exclusive trademarks of Friends of the Earth, all rights reserved. Requests to reprint articles should be submitted to Adam Russell at [email protected]. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C.

In December 2014, Chinese businessman Wang Jing appeared at a press con-ference in Tola, Nicaragua, to announce the start of a mega-project connecting the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, bisecting the Central American country. Wearing a black tie and white shirt, Wang Jing remarked placidly, This moment will be written in history for sure. Then, on cue, a flurry of confetti envel-oped the stage and cheers erupted from the crowd. But to many Nicaraguans and international skeptics the Nicaragua Canal would come with great environ-mental and social costs, and be an enormous and unjust transgression.

The press conference was part of the projects official groundbreaking ceremony. Estimated to cost $50 billion (nearly five times Nicaraguas GDP), the Nicaragua Canal is an ambitious project involving the construction of two deep water ports, a pipeline, cement plants, dredging sites, power plants, a hydropower dam, an airport, maintenance roads, tourist resorts, free trade zones, a dry canal (a railroad to bring freight over-land) and a massive water canal. If completed, the canal would become the largest in the world, extending 278 km across the Nicaragua, surpassing the Panama Canal by over 200 kilo- meters. It could move some

5 percent of the worlds ship-ping traffic including ultra large bulk carrier ships, which the Panama Canal cannot accommodate.

With such a massive project, environmental and social impacts are inevitable. The increased shipping, dredging and rapid envi-ronmental upheaval could spell disaster for thousands of species and millions of people served by the regions unique ecosystem. Although project proponents expect it to be completed by 2020, ordinary citizens are divided over the canal, and local opposition is growing. REAL COST AND IMPACTS According to local commu-nities and environmentalists,

By Rey Edward, finance campaigner, with contributions from Mnica Lpez Baltodano

Isla de Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. Photo credit: David Armstrong, Flickr, Creative Commons


economic policy

Wang Jing and his company HKND, or Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development, have set in motion what would be an extraordinary mistake. The canals proposed route would cut through Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America; directly affect seven protected areas and destroy approximately 193,000 hect-ares of natural forests. The region is home to endangered species including sea turtles, tapirs, macaws and freshwater sharks. A canal would prevent species from migrating throughout Central America and end the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, a conser-vation region that spans parts of seven Central American

countries and southern Mexico. The region serves as a natural corridor for the conti-nent; meaning that if the canal is built, the migration patterns and ultimately the survival of local fauna could be irrevo-cably jeopardized. The dredging necessary to construct the canal also creates major environmental hazards, particularly for Lake Nicaragua the main freshwater reserve for Central America. Since Lake Nicaragua is too shallow for large shipping vessels, approximately 105 km of it would need to be dredged. This would not only have major impacts on the lake ecosystem, but all along the canal, as dredged material

would be scattered across 35 excavated material placement areas along the route. Hundreds of communities who live along the proposed route would also be impacted. In particular, 52 percent of the planned route would impact five indigenous territories, including land belonging to the Rama and Kriol communities. The project would jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands who farm, fish and live in the region. Moreover, local groups have raised concerns that the projects consultation process did not respect indigenous peoples right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, as required by the UN Declaration on the Rights

Proposed canal route, through Lake Nicaragua (center)


of Indigenous Peoples. Many local communities would be forcibly displaced, which, according to nonprofit Cultural Survival and others, would drive the indigenous Rama language to extinction. Lake Nicaragua is an important source of fresh water for 200,000 people, and at 3,191 square miles, it is the largest lake in Central America. Construction of the channel across the lake would disrupt its highly biodiverse ecosystems, and ships transiting the canal could introduce industrial

contaminants and invasive species. According to the International Society of Limnologists, this ecosystem disruption will be made worse as climate change causes more periods of drought in the future. With no alternative source of drinking water, and with the canals potential risks to the countrys pristine rain forests, the Nicaraguan scientific community has publicly called for the projects suspension.

MANY QUESTIONS REMAIN Officially, the Nicaragua Canal is a private venture of HKND and Wang Jing. And while the Chinese government has repeatedly denied its involvement, state-owned enterprises China Railway Construction Corporation and manufacturing company XCMG are project partners. Very little information is known about the projects financing. Wang Jing has stated that he spends $10 million his own money on the project each month, but details end there. Wang Jing himself is also somewhat of a mystery. According to media reports, he was born in Beijing, studied traditional Chinese medicine and made a fortune in the telecommunications industry. But, according to research by Nicaraguan lawyer Mnica Lpez Baltodano, Wang Jing has linked the canal concession to a set of more than 16 hidden, offshore companies registered in the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Beijing, Nicaragua and the Netherlands. In an interview with Reuters, he said simply, Im very ordinary. But the ordinary businessman has been central to a questionable project which was negotiated behind closed doors and gives HKND unprecedented control of much of Nicaraguas natural resources.

Despite environmental and social concerns, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has touted the project as a cure for the nations poverty. Nicaragua is among the worlds poorest nations, and Ortega claims the canal project will spur economic development and would double the countrys GDP and eradicate poverty. However, the increasing number of protests against the canal suggests not all Nicaraguans agree with Ortega. Since August 2014, Nicaraguan groups have organized more than 42 peaceful marches and have collected thousands of signatures calling for the projects suspension. Canal opponents believe that by approving the project, the government has essentially legalized the expropriation of land from Nicaraguan citizens to foreign parties. The master concession agreements and Law 840, or Law of the Canal which transferred rights to design, engineer and run the megaproject grant unrestricted rights over natural resources such as land, forests, air and islands

The idea of a canal in Nicaragua has existed throughout the nations 200-year history; but the question of whether it was the dream of Nicaraguans, or that of foreign interests, remains.

Protesters march against the cancal concession. Photo credit: Jorge Mejia Peralta


to the authorized licensee: HKND. According to Nicaraguan lawyer Azahalea Solis, The Supreme Court disregarded compliance with constitutional norms and through erroneous arguments dismissed 34 appeals for unconstitutionality introduced by 180 citizens By doing this, the Court ratified a project that puts at risk several conventional and constitutional rights,

and imposed an agreement negotiated in secrecy with a private individual. A pressing concern is the impact the canal project is already having on those voicing dissent. In March, Henry Ruiz of the Nicaragua-based group National Council for the Defense of the Lands, the Lake and Sovereignty testified at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging the Nicaraguan government intimidated, repressed and detained citizens who participated in anti-canal marches. In one instance, Ruiz testified, more than 200 police officers violently dispersed a demonstration.

My friend Octavio Ortega, coordinator of our organization, was the victim of violent police aggression that fractured his left arm and injured one of his eyes. Another friend, Manuel Vega, was brutally hit and injured to the point that he had to have 16 stitches on his head [T]he worst case of was Mr. Jose Maria Calderon, who lost his right eye to a rubber bullet.

A NICARAGUAN DREAM The idea of a canal in Nicaragua has existed throughout the nations 200-year history; but the question of whether it was the dream of Nicaraguans, or that of foreign interests, remains. And now, as public opposition increases, Nicaraguans are voicing their growing desire for a sustainable path towards development, instead of one centered on massive upheaval. In a video produced by anti-canal group Zanja TV, campesino activists vow never to give up their land, while voice-over narration describes the stakes for the country.

Its a ditch designed for the maritime world enterprises and for the transnationals whom are always in demand for their products to be distributed across the world. But is that real development? Were missing that discussion in Nicaragua. And we need to agree to have it. Because it is not true that the only option for Nicaragua is the canal.1

1 Translated from Spanish

What Friends of the Earth is doing

Friends of the Earth is supporting local

Nicaraguan groups in their right to

oppose and resist the Nicaragua

Canal. Although no financiers have officially pledged loans to HKND or

the project, we are closely monitoring

international finance institutions

and their ties to the project.

This society of ours, predisposed to voluntarily taking the sleeping pills of Nicaraguas modern colonization, is now

synthesized into President Ortegas mega-concession, which in essence is the antithesis to humanitys struggles

for liberation.

-Mnica Lpez Baltodano, The World Should Know What Is Happening in Nicaragua


To many, the Pacific North-west evokes a rugged, natural, outdoorsy and environmentally conscious locale. And, of course, in many ways it is.

But theres another side to the story, too.

That is, the Northwest is quickly transforming into an Oregon Trail of sorts for fossil fuel exports, with all routes on the frontier leading to, or intending to lead to, the across-the-ocean Asia-Pacific region. Oregon and Washington have become a major hub for transport and eventual export or prospective export of every major fossil fuel: coal, oil and natural gas.

As important as the final export destinations are what historian

Christopher Jones calls Routes of Power or the ways these fossil fuels get to export terminals to begin with. In the case of oil, coal and propane, its mostly by rail. For natural gas, pipelines reign supreme.

Northwest ports also play an important role, and there is no better example of that than the ongoing fight between climate advocates and the Port of Seattle with regards to Shell Oils desire to use the Port as a staging area for Arctic drilling.

And while the fossil fuel industry and its investors have gambled big on the Northwest becoming a modern-day Oregon Trail leading to Asia, various movements have arisen, working to make them lose that bet.

OIL-BY-RAIL, TAR SANDS TRAINSAs Chris Jones explains in his

book Routes of Power: Energy and Modern America, rail was the predominant way to get oil to market during the industrys American infancy in the late 1800s. History has come full circle: Whats old is new again, given the bustle of oil-filled train cars mov-ing the approximately 1.33 million barrels of crude per day from the Bakken region.

If the U.S. oil export ban, in place since the 1970s, is lifted by Congress and the executive branch, refineries in Washington and Oregon would be fed by even more bomb trains carrying Bakken crude. Appearing first in a December 2013 Associated Press article, the term bomb trains was

oceans & vessels

NORTHWEST TRANSFORMING INTO FOSSIL FUEL EXPORT GATEWAY

By Steve Horn, guest writer

Oil train heading west in Montana. Photo credit: Roy Luck, Flickr, Creative Commons


coined by rail industry consultant Sheldon Lustig after an explosion of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe-owned oil-by-rail train in Cas-selton, North Dakota.

Moving Bakken oil by rail has boomed, in a metaphorical sense. But given Bakken oils lighter, more volatile nature and propen-sity to explode, the risks are far from metaphorical.

If all of the projects were built and operated at full capacity, they would put an estimated 22 mile-long trains per day on the Northwests railway system, wrote Eric de Place, Sightline Institutes policy director, in a June 2013 blog post. In fact, if all of the oil-by-rail projects were built, they would be capable of moving nearly 800,000 barrels per day.

Its not just explosive Bakken oil moving to the Northwest. Enter: tar sands. Put on the map by the ongoing debate over Trans-Canadas Keystone XL pipeline, the Northwest is targeted by the industry as a potential hub for moving tar sands by rail.

In February, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that seven to ten tar sands trains owned by Union Pacific run through the state each month. Washington State also has skin in the game: its re-fineries currently process 57,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day.

All of this amounts to more climate change-intensive and ecologically-hazardous fracking in North Dakota, as well as more extraction of Alberta tar sands. But various stakeholders are fighting back, across multiple fronts, and one fight in particular has huge significance in slowing things down in the Northwest.

On April 7, the Swinomish Native American tribe filed a lawsuit in federal court against BNSF for violating a 1991 treaty agreement which allowed BNSF to send only one train in each direction across the reserva-tion a day, and the train had to consist of 25 cars or less, as explained by Sydney Brownstone, reporter for Seattle alt-weekly paper The Stranger.

Should they prevail, the implica-tions would be massive. It is also a highly symbolic case, with Native Americans serving as primary victims of westward expansion in the U.S. along the Oregon Trail.

If the Swinomish make the railroad limit trains through the reservation to two relatively small shipments a day, it would drasti-cally cut crude-oil traffic through Seattle to the Tesoro refinery just north of the reservation, Brownstone reported. The Shell refinery in Anacortes also has a proposal for building a rail spur off the same line. If built, the Shell Puget Sound refinery would drive another 102-car-long unit train full of crude through the reservation a day.KING COAL ROLLS THROUGH

Perhaps the best known fossil fuel export plans in the Northwest revolve around King Coal. These plans have received the greatest backlash and many of them have gone by the wayside as a result.

At one point, six companies

had plans to export coal in the Northwest in various locations, all of which arrives to the region via train: the Port of Coos Bay, Oregon; the Port of Morrow in Portland, Oregon; the Port of St. Helens in Columbia City, Oregon; Millennium Bulk Logistics in Longview, Washington; Port of Grays Harbor in Aberdeen, Wash-ington; and Gateway Pacific Ter-minal in Cherry Point, Washington.

Of those proposals, only three remain: Gateway Pacific, Millen-nium Bulk and Port of St. Helens. The rest have either been can-celled or, in the case of Port of Morrow, are well on the way to cancellation, a trend that has the coal industry and coal-friendly politicians panicking.

In the Gateway Pacific case, a coalition of Northwest tribes, led by the Lummi Nation, are fighting the proposed terminal and increased coal train activity, citing the high potential for spills, increased shipping traffic and invasive species more exports would bring to Lummi fisheries at Cherry Point. The multitude of ecological impacts would infringe on the Lummis established treaty rights with the United States.

With each proposed terminal

An oil tanker in Anacortes, Wash. Photo credit: Flickr/roeaseanna


comes the environmental toll of the increased shipping necessary to take coal and other fossil fuels across the Pacific. New and ex-panded fossil fuel terminals would mean thousands more tanker, coal carrier and barge trips every year through communities and sensitive marine ecosystems, each bringing more air pollution and a significant increase in the risk of oil spills.ARCTIC BATTLE FOR SEATTLE

Lastly, but perhaps first in the eyes of many, is the recent incar-nation of the Battle for Seattle.

Unlike the original demonstra-tion centered on the World Trade Organizations meeting in Seattle in the late 1990s, this one re-volves around Shell Oils plans to use the Port of Seattle as a staging area for its Arctic drilling equip-ment. Environmentalists have come out against the plan; and the battle has begun, full-steam ahead.

Shells plans at the Port of Seattle largely escaped notice at first, mostly due to purposeful se-crecy and a verbal non-disclosure agreement signed by port com-missioners, as revealed by Sydney Brownstone at The Stranger. Slowly, journalists and environ-mentalists have exposed secrets about Shells port plans, and the details are dirty and get dirtier.

The backlash against Shells plans hasnt reached the size of the previous Battle of Seattle yet, but it is growing quickly. In mid-May, this came to a head as a coalition of kayaktivists took to the Seattle Harbor to disrupt two massive Shell drilling rigs stationed there.

Thats a good thing, given scientists wrote in a letter in Natural journal in January 2015 that development of re-sources in the Arctic and any increase in unconventional oil production are incom-mensurate with efforts to limit average global warming to 2C, the temperature many climate scientists say is a tip-ping point in the direction of climate chaos and disaster.

Despite this warning, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gave a condi-tional approval on May 11

to Shell to explore for oil in the Arctics Chukchi Sea, and the two rigs were in Seattle in May, waiting to head to the Arctic. OREGON TRAIL CLIMATE CHANGE FRONTIER

What ties the Shell Arctic drilling Port of Seattle staging ground case study to the rest of the case studies is that it is only now pos-sible to drill in the increasingly-melting Arctic due to climate change, caused by the burning, transportation and marketing of the rest of the fossil fuels high-lighted throughout this piece.

The story of todays Oregon Trail, then, is that of a frontier just like the original. But if the fossil fuel industry gets its way, the next frontier will be one at a major loss for the region and for the climate. Steve Horn is a Madison, Wis.-based freelance investigative journalist and a writer for DeS-mogBlog.com. His writing has appeared in Vice News, Al Jazeera America, Wisconsin Watch, TruthOut, AlterNet and elsewhere.

Port of Seattle. Photo credit: EITico68, Flickr, Creative Commons

ANACORTES PLANSFriends of the Earth and several other environmental groups have appealed Shells proposal to build a rail yard and spur line at its Anacortes refinery. In February, the Skagit County hearing examiner responded, saying that the proposal would need a full environmental review before moving forward, and in May, a state court agreed.


Leave your legacy to our planet by including a charitable gift as part of your estate. Gifts through your will, living trust, retirement or other estate planning options allow you to help us continue to defend the environment and champion a more just world. These gifts are a thoughtful way to conserve more of your estate for loved ones while leaving behind a healthy Earth that future generations will be happy to inherit. Your gift will have a real impact for all those who follow. There are also other ways to make a difference. You can sup-port our work through a special IRS-approved charitable trust or a tax-wise stock contribution. These arrangements are de-signed to support our mission while providing you and your loved ones with income and special tax benefits.

For more information about these or other options, please contact our membership department toll-free at 1-866-217-8499 or via email at [email protected]. If you do decide to include Friends of the Earth in your estate plans, below is some suggested wording you can bring to your attorney:

After taking care of all expenses, debts, and other specific provisions, I give, devise and bequeath ___% of the rest and residue [or $___ if a specific amount] to Friends of the Earth, a Washington, DC charitable corporation [Tax ID# 23-7420660] currently having offices at 1100 15th St, NW, 11th Floor, Washington, DC 20005.

Planned giving for the Earth

WWW.FOE.ORG Friends of the Earth Newsmagazine Fall 2014 11

fracking

Photo: Young spotted seal, Jomilo75, Flickr, Creative Commons

From shale state to shale state, the movement against fracking is build-ing momentum across the country. The federal govern-ment has only taken small steps to respond to the envi-ronmental and health threats of fracking, so some commu-nities, small towns and states have moved to proactively ban fracking. At the polls last fall, many localities including some in predominantly conservative areas voted to block fracking, choosing safe drinking water and clean air over oil profits and increased drilling. These victories occurred despite strong industry opposition, including millions of dollars from the oil industry going to try to defeat these measures. In Denton, Texas, nearly 59 percent of residents voted to pass a referendum to ban fracking within the city

limits. Unfortunately, the state legislature ultimately allowed oil and gas interests to overrule local authority by passing a bill to preempt local bans. In California, Mendocino and San Benito counties passed similar bans with 67 and 57 percent of the vote, respectively. Local concerns about health impacts, safety and pollution swayed voters to support these measures over dishonest industry arguments about economic gains. State successes have built upon these local wins. Following extensive input from scientists and doctors on the health and environmental impacts of fracking, Governor Andrew Cuomo decided to ban fracking in New York at the end of 2014. Then, new Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf reinstated the moratorium on fracking on state lands enacted by Governor Ed Rendell in 2010

that was lifted in 2014 by then-Governor Tom Corbett. Coming into effect after 243 documented cases of private drinking water contamination across 22 counties, Governor Wolfs executive order will protect about one million acres of park land. Two-thirds of this land lies on the Marcellus Shale formation, which oil and gas companies are desperately trying to tap. Most recently, both houses of the Maryland state legislature voted with overwhelming, veto-proof majorities to ban fracking permits in the state for two and a half years. The ban resulted from regional business owners concerns over frackings impact on tourism and polling revealing that a clear majority of Marylanders oppose the practice. As of press time, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan had not acted on the bill.

FROM YOUR STATE TO THE CAPITOL: THE FRACKING FIGHT CONTINUES By Kate DeAngelis, climate and energy campaigner

climate & energy

12 Spring 2015 Friends of the Earth Newsmagazine

While it is positive that some localities are taking on fracking, there is a long road before this dangerous practice is outlawed. In fact, only 13 of the 32 states where fracking is occurring have regulations on the books, meaning that people in 19 states are totally dependent on inadequate federal regulations to protect their air and water. Companies surely cannot be trusted to administer fracking safely, and state and federal governments are also failing to provide any meaningful oversight. The federal government has an important part to play in protecting us from the dangers of fracking. The Bureau of Land Management part of the Department of Interior oversees the management of all of our federal lands. The BLM inspects and monitors 100,000 oil and gas wells 90 percent of which are drilled using fracking. This drilling

occurs on more than 32 million acres across the country. The BLM, as it currently exists, is not equipped to inspect every well and properly oversee the permitting process, which involves processing the approximately 5,000 drilling permit applications the government receives annually. A recent investigation found that the BLM failed to inspect 40 percent of new oil and gas wells that were at high risk for environmental damage and water contamination. While fracking cannot be done safely, it is worsened by ineffective regulation and a federal government with insufficient resources to manage the drilling on our public lands. Despite the myriad of air, water and health dangers of fracking, the BLMs fracking regulations had not been updated since the 1980s. While fracking has surged in

the past 10 years, federal rules had remained the same as they were over 30 years ago, when the use of fracking was a fraction of what it is today.

Fracking pads on BLM land in Wyoming. Photo credit: Ecoflight.org

The federal government has realized that this is a major problem that needs to be addressed but it has not shown a willingness to take the necessary action to really confront the problem. In March, the BLM finalized rules regulating fracking on federal lands. Friends of the Earth, other environmental organizations and over 650,000 Americans pushed for the BLM to use its authority to ban fracking on public lands the most protective

step it could have taken. Unfortunately, the BLM did not listen. Instead, it established rules that despite a few slight improvements are vastly insufficient to ensure that communities and the environment are properly protected. The rules, aimed at increasing transparency and

improving fracking safety, require oil and gas companies to submit more information about the location and depth of their wells, in an effort to prevent groundwater contamination. The rules will also force companies to use stronger, more secure containers to hold fracking wastewater. While these two steps will make it less likely that drinking water will become contaminated, it is far from a guarantee. Meanwhile, the BLM rules also took almost

no steps to reduce the toxic air pollution created by fracking and its waste. Another problem with the rules is that the BLM required companies to use an industry-run website to disclose information about the process, undermining the efficacy of the transparency requirements. Even worse, the

rules still allow companies to refuse to disclose many of the chemicals by claiming they are proprietary. Moreover, these companies only have to submit this information after their operations have taken place, so there is no ability for public input or opposition. People will still get sick from the cocktail of chemicals industry uses, and they have no way to stop it or ever to know what is causing their illness. It is clear that we have a long way to go at the national level to ensure that we are truly protected from the dangers of fracking. The majority of Americans oppose fracking, and a greater majority of scientists decry its negative environmental and health impacts. With opposition strong, it is essential to bring the issue to the national forefront. On Earth Day, Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan and Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky introduced a bill that would ban fracking on public lands. Called the

Protect Our Public Lands Act, the bill represents the strongest piece of federal legislation against fracking to date. While this piece of legislation has little chance of passing the current climate-denying Congress, it is kick-starting an important conversation about the dangers of fracking and opposition towards it.

As tens of millions of acres of federally-controlled land play host to fracking injection wells and wastewater pits, the strongest action Congress can take is to ban fracking on public lands.


Saving the planet: it doesnt get bigger than that. Working together, we can tackle the toughest, most urgent chal-lenges facing the planet and its inhabitants. And right now, honey bees and other pollina-tors, essential parts of our environment and food system, are dying at alarming rates. A growing body of science tells us that neonicotinoid pesticides are a leading driver in their decline. Faced with these die-offs, we can all get to work and do our part to save bees in our own communi-ties and to urge the Obama administration to follow.

Saving the bees is one of the Biggest Jobs on Earth.

To help you take on this job, weve launched Earth H.Q. a new action center full of oppor-tunities to #BeeBold and take

action to save pollinators. In the past two years,

hundreds of thousands of people have stepped up to call on the Obama administra-tion and garden retailers to ditch bee-toxic pesticides. Widespread calls for action and growing concerns about massive bee die-offs have moved the two largest home improvement retailers in the world Home Depot and Lowes to take steps to remove neonics from their stores. However, thus far, the Obama administration has only taken small steps to protect bees. The bees need your help to build the buzz and demand swift action.

At our Earth H.Q. action center, you can access new tools to help you take practical steps to save the bees. Share

your story about the pollinators in your area, create a bee-safe habitat in your backyard, and reach out to retailers and policymakers to pressure them to protect bees from toxic pesticides. You can also use our interactive map to track your progress and see what people in communities across the United States are doing to build the collective buzz to save pollina-tors. No matter your background or skill set, we can all do our part to make a meaningful difference. Already, hundreds of people have joined the Earths work-force at Earth H.Q. and taken action to protect the bees. Will you join us?

Stay tuned to Earth H.Q. in coming months for more of the biggest jobs on Earth.

EARTHHQ.FOE.ORG


ITS TIME TO #BEEBOLDTake action in your backyard and beyond

bee action

FIVE YEARS LATER, FIVE LESSONS FROM THE BP DISASTER

By Marissa Knodel, climate change campaiger

April 20, 2015, of this year marked five years since the BP oil disaster in the Gulf Coast. As the government, in focusing on technological fixes, has followed the assumption that offshore drilling is worth the risks, here are five lessons yet to be learned:

1. The BP Deepwater Horizon blowout and spill was not a one-off accident, but a predict-able disaster.

Deepwater Horizon resulted from not just a tech-nological failure, but the failure of the government and oil industry to govern oil and gas activities and respond when accidents occur. The Minerals Management Service approved BPs exploration plan despite serious flaws that downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic spill, and its own envi-ronmental assessment of the area stated that the potential impacts of oil spills and blowouts were not expected to cause significant damage. Federal investigations following Deepwater Horizon revealed numerous conflicts of interest between the Minerals Management Service and the oil and gas industry it was supposed to regulate. Given the pervasive culture of limited oversight, Deepwater Horizon was a disaster waiting to happen. 2. Full restoration and recovery after an oil spill is a fallacy.

BP continues to claim that the Gulf is experi-encing a strong recovery. That may be true for the oil and gas industry, which has seen a rise in the number of permits for deepwater drilling from 14 in 2010 to 603 in 2014, accompanied by a projected peak in production in 2016. But the fishermen and wildlife of the Gulf Coast have a different reality. Many Gulf Coast fishermen report

that catches are still down by as much as a third, and some face the prospect of losing their homes. A National Wildlife Federation report found that wildlife species continue to suffer from deaths, low birth rates, and abnormal development due to residual oil and chemical dispersants. 3. New safety regulations will not resolve the causes or mitigate the consequences of the oil disaster.

On April 13, 2015, the Obama administration released proposed well control regulations for offshore oil and gas development. The proposal includes improvements for blowout preventer technologies and reliability, well design and control, spill containment and real-time well monitoring. Despite these new safety regulations, a 2014 report by the Chemical Safety Board warned that another similar catastrophic accident is possible, especially if the operational and orga-nizational factors that contributed to the accident are not addressed.4. There is no such thing as safe and respon-sible offshore oil and gas development.

This disaster was a consequence of the unmiti-gated pursuit of oil and gas. Despite occurring in a place with access to a lot of equipment and personnel, oil gushed from the Macondo well for 86 days. Any thought of drilling in a more remote, difficult and dangerous environment should give the federal government pause. The fact that the administration approved Shells oil exploration plans in the Arctic Ocean despite admitting there is a 75 percent chance of a large oil spill is a betrayal of its duty to safeguard the public interest in pursuit of oil industry profits.

A ship pulls a boom through oil sheen in the Gulf Coast.

Credit: Kris Krug, Flickr, Creative Commons.


climate & energy

5. To keep oil out of the environment and avoid serious, irreversible climate disrup-tion, offshore oil and gas must be kept in the ground.

The 2017-2022 draft proposed program for offshore drilling opens up 317 million acres of coastline to oil and gas drilling, and makes available nearly 80 percent of the undiscovered recoverable resources on the Outer Continental Shelf. A study in the journal Nature revealed that in order to have a greater than 50 percent chance of avoiding climate catastrophe, 80 percent of the worlds fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground. The lesson the Obama administration should have learned from Deepwater Horizon is that the only way to keep oil out of our environment and carbon emissions out of our atmosphere is to keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground.An unabridged version of this article originally appeared on Medium.com/@foe_us.

Years later, tar balls continue to wash ashore in the Gulf. Credit: NWR, Flickr, Creative Commons.


BE A FRIEND ON THE EARTH ONLINEDont miss out on ways to stay up-to-date with us on social media. Over the past few months weve unveiled new interactive tools and engaging social media campaigns, introducing new ways to think about protecting people and the environment. Take a look below at our #FlirtingWithDisaster graphics, the New Years reSOLUTION image-maker and the Oscar-based Friend or Foe Awards, and dont forget to follow us on social media to keep up with us.

facebook.com/foe.us instagram.com/foe_us twitter.com/foe_us

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MEMBERSHIPFriends of the Earth will host its annual meeting of the membership on Thursday, June 18, at 4:15 pm in the Washington, D.C., office.

Avis Ogilvy Moore is running uncontested for one slot on the Friends of the Earth Board of Directors. Members may cast votes at the annual meeting.

Additionally, members may vote by proxy ballot. To do so, copy or clip the mailing label from this newsmagazine and mail your vote to:

Board Election, Friends of the Earth 1100 15th St. NW, 11th floor Washington, D.C., 20005

or fax to (202) 783-0444.

If you would like to attend the membership meeting, please contact Julie Dyer at [email protected] or by phone at (202) 222-0714.

With Friends of the Earth since its founding in 1969, Avis has been a life-long environmentalist, activist, researcher and scholar. She co-founded and chaired the New York branch of Friends of the Earth in 1972 and is a past chair of Friends of the Earths board. Avis has served on numerous other boards over the years, including Sierra Clubs Atlantic Chapter, Zero Population Growths New York Chapter and the Louisiana Landmarks Society. She has served as the chair for Potomac Riverkeeper and the Community and Peoples Recovery Association in New Orleans. She received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and M.A. in French literature from New York University.

18 WWW.FOE.ORG

board election

AVIS OGILVY MOORE

Get involved in issues and debates affecting human health and the planet by signing up for Friends of the Earth action alerts.

Visit www.foe.org today!

PG&E HIDES SEISMIC DANGERS AT DIABLO CANYON REACTORS As seismic analyses showed an increasingly dangerous situation for Pacific Gas & Electrics 1960-era Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors in Central California, the utility changed its ground motion calculations to make the plant look safer than it really is. The San Francisco Chronicle revealed this series of safety rewrites this spring, documenting PG&Es attempts to move the goalposts rather than accept the reality, that Diablo Canyon is outdated and unsafe. The utility had generated the new seismic calculations to reassure Californians and regulators, after new, more powerful fault lines were discovered surrounding Diablo Canyon. This revelation, combined with the fact that PG&E had been secretly working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to change Diablo Canyons operating license, is further proof that the plant is on shaky safety footing and should be shut down. In addition, a separate investigation revealed that PG&E had replaced key equipment without first testing whether it could withstand both earthquakes and loss of reactor coolant, as required by its license. It was such an accident that caused a three-reactor meltdown at Fukushima. Friends of the Earth has been campaigning to shutter the aging, dangerous plant and replace it with clean, renewable energy. For further campaign updates, visit nukefree.foe.org. SUSTAINABILITY TAKES A PLACE AT THE TABLEFor the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services are considering integrating environmental and sustainability factors into the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. This is a potentially game-changing move. The guidelines, formerly known as the food pyramid and now the Choose My Plate program, influence everything from school food purchases to the nations official guidance for healthy eating. In February, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee submitted its Scientific Report recommending that Americans eat less resource-intensive meat and more plant-based foods for the sake of our health and that of the environment. Beef, for example, requires massive amounts of land, water and fertilizer, and contributes 36 percent of the U.S. food-related GHG emissions. Friends of the Earth and dozens of allies have worked to generate tens of thousands of comments in support of environmental considerations in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines. In April, we testified at a public meeting on the issue, and in May, our coalition delivered more than 150,000 petition signatures (right) to the USDA and HHS, calling on them to adopt the recommendations for greater sustainability, less meat and more plants in our nations diet. Read more at GoodFoodCampaign.org.

FRIENDS ON THE FRONT PAGE Its like a torture convention that doesnt forbid torture. As the United Nations Green Climate Fund neglected to ban funding fossil fuel projects in a meeting in South Korea this spring, senior international finance campaigner Karen Orenstein expressed dismay to The Guardian. In recent months, Friends of the Earth has taken hard stances like this in the press, raising awareness of issues like GCF funding, secret corporation-favoring trade deals and synthetic biology. In the National Journal, senior trade analyst William Waren called the Obama administrations attempts to pave the way for the Trans-Pacific Partnership foolish and self-defeating and a direct assault on environmental safeguards. Al Jazeera America featured campaigner Kate DeAngelis in a segment contrasting President Obamas climate policies, where she drew a line between his public focus and his record on fossil fuel extraction and exports. He has been a real disappointment, unfortunately we would have liked to have seen more, especially considering his great rhetoric. See more of Friends of the Earth in the press at www.foe.org/in-the-news.


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Volume 45, Number 1 Spring 20151100 15th Street NW, 11th FloorWashington, DC 20005

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Friends of the Earth Newsmagazine (ISSN: 1054-1829) is published quarterly by Friends of the Earth, 1100 15th St. NW, 11th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005, phone 202-783-7400, fax 202-783-0444, e-mail: [email protected], website: www.foe.org. Annual membership dues are $25, which includes a subscription to the Friends of the Earth Newsmagazine. The words Friends of the Earth and the Friends of the Earth logo are exclusive trademarks of Friends of the Earth, all rights reserved. Requests to reprint articles should be submitted to Adam Russell at [email protected]. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C.

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