US Citizens Ramp Up Battle Against Fossil Fuel Industry

[defendandprotect]

US Citizens Ramp Up Battle Against Fossil Fuel Industry


WASHINGTON, Sep 8, 2011 (IPS) - The fight against oil and gas giants is heating up in the U.S., with new waves of protest and civil disobedience springing up across the country.

The last three weeks saw nearly 1,000 people arrested outside the White House in Washington D.C. in protest of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. If approved, it would travel from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, through the heartland of the U.S., threatening huge swathes of fresh water supplies and destroying communities and wildlife habitats along its way, activists say.

Then, on Wednesday, hundreds of local residents, scientists and environmentalists stormed the Shale Gas Insight conference in Philadelphia, demanding a moratorium on increased hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – which they say is contaminating water supplies, devastating animal habitats and paving the way for a major "public health hazard".

Organised by a coalition of environmental and ecological justice groups, including Food & Water Watch (FWW), Protecting our Waters and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the "Shale Gas Outrage" rally continued Thursday with close to 2,000 demonstrators chanting "Ban it Now!" on the sidewalks lining the Pennsylvania Convention Centre.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105037



---------------------------


EDITED TO ADD ....

From "Boiling Point" by Russ Gelbspan 2008

Commenting on growing groundswell of grassroots and voluntary Global Warming action around the

country ....

"More to the point, they are desperately outmatched by the financial power and political influence

of big coal and big oil in what basically boils down to a titanic conflict of interest over the

future of this civilizaiton."


As Al Gore made clear in his recent Rolling Stone article ...

"Congress is under the control of the oil and coal industry" --

[Lint Head]

1. This is very encouraging.

[defendandprotect]

2. Not necessarily considering the wealth, power, influence of ExxonMobil oil/coal industries ...

Here's a PS I've just added to the article --

QUOTE --

EDITED TO ADD ....

From "Boiling Point" by Russ Gelbspan 2008

Commenting on growing groundswell of grassroots and voluntary Global Warming action around the

country ....

"More to the point, they are desperately outmatched by the financial power and political influence

of big coal and big oil in what basically boils down to a titanic conflict of interest over the

future of this civilizaiton."


As Al Gore made clear in his recent Rolling Stone article ...

"Congress is under the control of the oil and coal industry" -- UNQUOTE



Iow, the extreme profits we've permitted private interests to make from conrol of our natural

resources is not only a bad idea for democracy, it's destroyed the planet!

[Dover]

3. If there is only one dragon to slay, this would be the one.

I can't think of a better place to focus protest for the broadest degree of changebecause the oil and coal industries represent the primary foundation for the 'old life' we all
desperately want and NEED to leave behind... our destructive and ultimately self-defeating
relationship to the planet, a corporate model of profit first and to hell with the rest,
our lack of sustainable living practices, and on and on...

This pipeline is just the front line of the battle to be waged. I thought perhaps it would be the Gulf oil spill, but apparently it took that amount of destruction to drive home just how real the danger is to all living things.