Wednesday, October 3 - Here is the must-see video that you’ve been waiting for. Over the last 10 days we’ve witnessed TransCanada’s heavy machinery recklessly endangering the safety of peaceful blockaders working to defend families from this toxic pipeline. This epic video says it all.
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UPDATE 11:15PM- Video Update From @UneditedCamera
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UPDATE 6:30PM – Police Set to Continue 24 Hr Security As Work Day Ends; Maggie Remains Atop Her Perch
As tree clearing halts and workers pack up for the day, police are set to continue a 24 hour security presence around the site of the blockade. Maggie is maintaining her perch on a 1 foot by 4 foot plank near the top of a 40 foot pole right in the way of pipeline construction, going into her second night without receiving food or water. The constant, ramped up police presence is making it difficult and dangerous for ground supporters to get supplies to blockaders in the tree village and on the timber scaffolding. Police and TransCanada workers have set up additional floodlights covering the 500 foot long swath of destruction directly west of the tree village.
UPDATE 11:45AM – Workers Using Chainsaws In Grove Near Tree Village
Destruction of the forest continues to draw closer to the tree village with round-the-clock police presence. Workers on the ground are using chainsaws to cut down trees on the outskirts of the village, while a wood-chipper eats up dead trees to the south of the village.
UPDATE: 9:30AM – Maggie Holding Strong on Her 40 Foot Pole For Second Day in a Row
From her perch on a 40 foot pole in the middle of a Keystone XL clear-cut path, lifelong Texan Maggie Gorry proclaims “I am going to stop construction for the second day in a row!” as she dances to music from her hand-crank radio.
UPDATE: 8:30AM – Excavator and Huge Wood Chipper Chewing Up Piles of Felled Trees
Construction begins this morning with workers using heavy machinery to clear out the piles of dead trees they’ve made, leaving a barren landscape to the north, south, and west. Blockaders are forced to listen and watch in horror, determined not to let the land they are defending meet the same fate.
UPDATE: 8:00AM – TransCanada and Police Shined Floodlight Toward Blockaders All Night
In an effort to demoralize blockaders, police and TransCanada workers maintained a bright floodlight pointed at their equipment and toward the blockade all night. But our friends remain undeterred as they enter the 10th day of their protest. Make a donation to keep them well supplied and ready to handle anything police and TransCanada workers may try to get them out of the trees.
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D M C R C
October 3, 2012 at 1:25 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
After watching this video, I am struck by how ironic and unjust it is, that professional heavy equipment drivers and an International corp. are allowed by local officials to risk the lives of innocent, passive, peaceful protesters by not enforcing OSHA regulations, which is their duty according to the OSHA spokesperson in Dallas TX. These same officials are willing to arrest and slap a $10,000 bail on a peaceful, protester exercising his right to protest. SHAME on TEXAS. Texas citizens and protesters may not have the money individually to pay these outrageous bail amounts, but uniting together we can overcome this, an example of another environmental, economic, political and social injustice in America today.
Gay Hamilton
October 3, 2012 at 1:26 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Awesome film. I called TransCanada and OSHA the other day when they got too close to the protesters.Hope it helped! Will post on my FB page.
jd
October 3, 2012 at 3:58 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
All i saw was a bunch of trespassers running around where they shouldn’t be. Especially in camo. osha is for problems between employee and employer. Local law enforcement does not enforce osha regulations.
Victor
October 3, 2012 at 6:51 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Still getting paid to troll for Transcanada, I see.
Andy Cagle
October 3, 2012 at 4:02 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
thanks again ALL.
nice to see what those who truly care about America’s future are engaged in.
I donated another 20$ for bail and legal fees yesterday, hope it adds to the pool of $ and resources for this fight.
I am beyond impressed, if only Obama and Hillary had your courage we would not have to do this!
Stay safe!
Kim Feil
October 3, 2012 at 4:12 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Hail Mary full of rage, the planet is at risk, blessed art thou atop there, for your courage to protect the tree village. Hole-ly & raped, mother earth from God, we pray for Transcanada’s sinners now, and at the hour of earth’s inhabitants deaths – amen.
Kate Rookes
October 3, 2012 at 4:56 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
The quote at the end is perfect & what I’ve been wondering all along. The more ‘crazies’ out there actually doing something the rest of us ‘normal & sane’ people only wish we could stand up to, will certainly encourage the rest of us to realize it’s in no way crazy to give a fuck.
Olga
October 3, 2012 at 5:04 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I admire the efforts of the protesters, but I didn’t find the film very compelling for the most part.
Especially where one of the protesters shouts out ” I hope you like what you’ve done!”
Sounds very silly and childish.
I feel that stopping the Keystone Pipeline is an urgent cause. I think it could’ve been done much better is all.
Karen
October 3, 2012 at 6:23 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Olga, we need an everything and anything approach – and while it may not be your way, these folks are out there on the front lines, taking the heat. I absolutely support ALL of it. We’re all in this together. United we cannot be divided.
Victor
October 3, 2012 at 6:50 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Everyone is a critic, usually from the comfort of their living room.
Xochitl
October 3, 2012 at 5:05 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I want to say that I am speechless but I am screaming from the inside out. No, I am not speechless. And never will be. What is wrong with our effing government, both Washington and local? How can a stranger especially from another country just walk into your home and say this is mine, I can do whatever I want and you can’t do a damn thing about! And don’t call the Sheriff because he is on my side. WTF?? Sometime I just need to step away for all of this madness because it makes me physically sick, both literally and figuratively . These brave souls are out there in those trees risking their very lives for us and their right to protest is considered an act of terrorism? If Trans Canada succeeds and contamination occurs, and there’s NO doubt contamination will occur, then the government will say shame on you now “clean” it up. There will be no clean up because they don’t know how to clean up these spills! Yet they are allowed to continue with this massive serial killing of human beings and wildlife. If this were a single individual taking people’s domain by force, contaminating land and waterways and wells, he’d be immediately arrested, prosecuted and given a life sentence or the death penalty. There is something terribly wrong with this picture. Jesus H Christ!
Tara
October 4, 2012 at 4:42 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Indeed, and well said. This is criminal.
Barbara A Smith
October 10, 2012 at 9:53 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
TransCanada is a sociopath, just as the individual would be labeled if he or she was doing such a thing.
Susan Heller
October 3, 2012 at 5:26 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Friends of Earth have sent out a petition to call the White House to report these abuses. I called this morning and apparently there are many calls coming in. Here is the link, and it directly names Obama as the responsible party for these people’s safety. He can stop the abuse if he wants to. If it doesn’t stop then…well, what does that tell you?
https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/455/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11681
jd
October 3, 2012 at 6:54 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Yes victor and getting very well.
Thank-you
Pete M
October 3, 2012 at 11:57 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I want to thank these brave people, young and old, for their resolve in standing against Obama’s Pipeline.
The big Enviro groups seem too busy to help but real enviornmentalists and regular citizens are taking up the cause.
Stay strong
jd
October 4, 2012 at 12:54 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Another great day on the pipeline, everything running smooth, covered alot ground today with only minor annoyances.
anonymous
October 4, 2012 at 12:56 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I agree that the video leaves much to be desired, especially when it ends with the F word. Some of us over the age of 25 may think that the English language has other words that are much more descriptive and emphatic of the horror that is occurring here. And yes, I’m saying this from the comfort of a couch in a home that I pay for myself with an actual job.
Justin Jacoby Smith
October 4, 2012 at 3:45 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Others of us–also over the age of 25, perhaps with advanced degrees in the English language, also sitting on comfortable couches we paid for with our own jobs–think that this action, and the brave people undertaking it, are fucking righteous and heroic.
So your mileage may vary, “anonymous.”
Thank you, Mary.
Victor
October 4, 2012 at 4:46 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Sigh. The “F” word? Really? Of all the destruction being wrought by tarsands mining, of all the damage caused by the decimation of the living globe and the climate, of all the burdens laid heavily on the shoulders of families across the country by a thieving corporation, the thing that irks you is the “f” word? Quite frankly, I think the “F” word is appropriate for people who are putting themselves in the path of such a goliath.
And don’t speak as if your job or your house makes you better than these people. You don’t know them. You don’t know what they have given up or sacrificed so they could follow their consciences to the east Texas woods only to eat poorly, get barely any sleep, weather the elements, and dangle high above the ground.
I am in my thirties, I own land, I have a family, and I can only hope I would have such brave friends if my land were ever so directly threatened.
Annette
October 4, 2012 at 5:32 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I admire people who are willing to put themselves out there, in harm’s way if need be, to fight for the things they believe in. My thanks to all of you. And to you armchair quaterbacks who have no horses in this race – go take a nap.
anonymous
October 4, 2012 at 11:21 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
If you’re not a landowner whose property has been taken over by eminent domain or by protestors, then I’d suggest you not judge my comments. Congratulations on your fondness for the F word.
william
October 4, 2012 at 4:12 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Millions are starting to understand the evil of TarSands/Keystone and will not let this pass.
Tamara
October 5, 2012 at 1:32 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I know this will make a lot of people mad, but I have to speak my mind! My husband works pipeline, as well as I used to. We are not on this job, though. I cherish our environment, but also understand what needs to be done to support the growing population. To all you “tree huggers”: do you drive a vehicle or ride public transportation? Do you heat your homes with propane? If so, you are contradicting everything you are standing for. Do you not realize that you use electricity daily to power your electronic devices? Do you use paper to send out information for your protests, or at work? I mean, seriously, ALL these things have an impact on the environment, but you are only condemning those that are doing their jobs to help provide you with things that you need on a daily basis. Next at time you want to protest something like this, maybe you need to look at your life and see if you are contradicting what you ate protesting about. If you live your daily life in a tree with no water, no electricity, and rude a bike everywhere, do not use paper of any kind (including toilet paper, napkins, and papertowels), do not drink anything from a placed bottle, use any kind of foam product, then you have my support to protest, but until then, move on!
Goldie
October 5, 2012 at 10:57 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
You won’t find many native Texans over the age of 30 that are O.K. with the potential abuse of eminent domain by government. I’m sure that all of you tarsandsblockade and Sierra Club people stood in front of the bulldozers when they plowed through homesteads to build the outer loop? Some of those homesteads dated back several generations. Of course you went to Austin and protested the TransTexas Corridor land grab, right?
Do you support the Administration’s desire for Texas to build high speed rail lines all over the state? Eminent domain will claim the easement for that.
If you didn’t object to these road building land grabs, the reason probably is that you considered the projects necessary for the public good.
If your city and/or county are considering accepting the U.N.’s Agenda 21 program, then you better get busy protesting since the following comes directly from the United Nations Conference on Human Settlement (Habitat 1), Vancouver, BC, May 31 – June 11, 1976. Preamble to Agenda Item 10 of the Conference Report.
“Land… cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes. The provision of decent dwellings and healthy conditions for the people can only be achieved if land is used in the interest of society as a whole.”
If the United Nations is successful, there will be no Fairchild Farms or residential homes. And as the elected officials of cities and counties across the nation accept the contractual obligation of Agenda 21, they knowingly destroy ALL of the rights granted to United States citizens that their constituents had been granted at birth. There is no recourse. Once the contractual agreement is signed, the United Nations funds only the programs per Agenda 21 directives and all taxpayer funds legally belong to the United Nations.
tarsandsblockade may be able to prohibit a pipeline from running through the thickets of Fairchild Farms only to have Mrs. Fairchild moved into a condo in Tyler or Longview because there is no Fairchild Farms, the land belongs to the United Nations.
While I completely understand that the pipeline may impact Mrs. Fairchild’s spring water business, Agenda 21 and the United Nationas are a much bigger problem.
And Ms. Hannah’s actions and comments do not serve the Fairchild Farms well in the minds of most Texans. If anything, she reminded us why she’s a washed up actress.
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