Megaload stand off: Nez Perce leaders arrested in tar sands equipment blockade

[limpyhobbler]

Last edited Wed Aug 7, 2013, 10:36 AM - Edit history (1)

These equipment shipments proceeded over the objections of the Tribe and also without the approval of federal agencies.







Megaload passes by after protest, protesters had stopped load

Nearly 150 members of the Nez Perce Nation were joined by Idle No More, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), and others in a blockade of Highway 12 in Idaho for three hours late last night to stop a megaload carrying tar sands equipment.

While most people stood on the edges of the road to support the blockaders, the manifestation included about 50 people on the Highway stopping traffic, and was the longest blockade since the beginning of the megaloads shipments.
...

“I don’t look at this as a symbolic issue,” explained Silas Whitman, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe. “Otherwise, we’d just issue a press statement, put up a few signs and just let it go. No. We’ve run out of time and initiatives. So that leaves us with disobedience, civil disobedience.”

Whitman was arrested along with more than a dozen blockaders from Idle No More and WIRT after police broke through the blockade by driving a police car straight through the group of people. Police used the usual tactics to break up the blockade, threatening people with mace, pushing activists, separating parents from children, and so on.

According to WIRT’s facebook page, “This blockade lasted longer than any other regional megaload obstruction since the first tar sands extraction modules rolled from Lewiston area ports on February 1, 2011. People are talking about further blockades on upcoming nights, perhaps in Kamiah.”

https://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/nez-perce-idle-no-more-rising-tide-blockade-highway-12-to-stop-megaloads/

[limpyhobbler]

1. These shipments seem to be illegal...The cops might be arresting the wrong people.

This company should be under arrest.

"The Forest Service does not consent, approve or otherwise authorize Omega Morgan to transport the subject over-legal loads on U.S. Highway 12" when it enters the forest boundary, according to the letter obtained by The Associated Press.

In the letter, Brazell states his agency still needs to complete a broader study on the potential impacts of megaloads before it can lend support to any specific shipment, and he claims the size and other aspects of the travel plan exceed newly developed guidelines, triggering an automatic review of a state-issued permit.

Brazell also accused the company of ignoring language in the state permit outlining Forest Service and Federal Highway Administration jurisdiction.

"We believe we are in full compliance with all applicable requirements, including notifying the appropriate federal officials," Omega Morgan spokeswoman Olga Haley said in an email response to questions.

Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that the Forest Service has authority to review megaload shipments when the trucks cross the forest boundary.

http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/Tribal-members-stop-megaload-traveling-on-US-12-4708483.php

[brewens]

2. That's right down the road from me. I think I see a couple friends there. n/t

[Left Coast2020]

3. Has to be Lewiston ID.

Used to work there in 94-95 while at WSU. Good to see people saying hell-no in Idaho.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. The new business model: Take what you want and defend the rest in court. n/t

[limpyhobbler]

5. Sounds kind of rapey.

PS check out this other video if you haven't seen ityet.

You might like this. It is a video of a tar sands action from Utah. I think the group is Peaceful Uprising.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017136857

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. "Rape" is indeed the perfect word. Having millions of dollars for lawyers is the perfect plan.

Thanks, I'll try to check the video.