Over 200 people came out on August 30th in the middle of a weekday, marched in the streets of San Francisco’s Financial District for a mile and half, dying in on a giant mock oil spill in front to of Chevron offices, stopping at the EPA and ending at BP San Francisco Offices, where 26 people blockaded the front entrance to the BP offices, and occupied the intersection in front at Mission and New Montgomery. A lively rally featured Gulf Coast resident and organizer with the Gulf Restoration Network Jonathan Henderson, SF former Poet Laureate Jack Hirshman, and range of community, climate justice, anti-war and environmental justice activists and organizations. The 11 people who blockaded the front entrance were not arrested. 15 people who occupied the intersection were arrested and released later that afternoon, making it the largest nonviolent direct action in the US since the BP Gulf oil disaster.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOU6FA57950

More details:

• Press coverage
• Photos
• Videos

Press release:
For Immediate Release
August 30, 2010

Contacts: Konrad Fisher, Mobilization for Climate Justice West
Kirsten Schwind, Bay Localize

Coalition Demands BP & Oil Industry Pay for Cleanup and Get Out of Politics

Diverse Coalition of Organizations Uses Nonviolent Direct Action on BP & Chevron in SF

San Francisco–Protesters will risk arrest in front of the BP office in San Francisco on the 5-Year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on August 30. Key demands from the broad coalition of organizations marching under the Mobilization for Climate Justice banner include:

• A moratorium on all new offshore drilling
• Payment and accountability by the oil industry for the impacts of its pollution, including the Gulf oil spill and climate change.

Climate justice activists will march to the offices of Chevron (345 California) and BP (90 New Montgomery) at 12 noon, after rallying at Justin Herman Plaza (foot of Market St., SF) at 11:30 on Monday, August 30. A “Letter to Big Oil” from major environmental and climate organizations will be presented to the corporations. The letter can be found at: http://west.actforclimatejustice.org/2010/08/open-letter-to-big-oil-accept-responsibility-for-the-damage-you-cause/

“There’s still a deep anger in this country that BP will get away with not cleaning up the Gulf or paying residents who lost their livelihood. Gulf residents have suffered enough,” noted Carla Perez of Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project. “We can’t afford to pick up the tab while Big Oil makes billions.”

Jonathan Henderson of the New Orleans-based Gulf Restoration Network will share his personal experiences with the Gulf spill clean up. “Forty to sixty percent of the damages to Louisiana’s wetlands have been caused by the oil and gas industries. Now, the release of millions of barrels of oil has caused untold damage to our Gulf waters and marine life,” he lamented.

In the first quarter of 2010 when its rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, BP posted $6.1 billion in profits, double that of the previous year (Source: CBS News). More recently, Chevron Corp posted profits of $5.4 billion (Source: LA Times). Analysts credit higher profits to higher oil and gas prices, which slows any economic recovery.

“The really big mess Big Oil needs to clean up is the climate crisis they have created. While these corporate culprits continue to reap profits from this crisis, we taxpayers are having to pay for the cleanup and mitigation cost,” noted Ananda Lee Tan of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. “Katrina should have been Big Oil’s wake up call to climate change.”

Instead, oil companies Valero and Tesoro are sponsoring Proposition 23 on California’s November’s ballot, which would block state efforts to invest in solutions to climate change. “Prop 23 was dreamed up by big polluters who don’t want to pay their share, and think they can buy an election,” noted Dave Room of the Local Clean Energy Alliance. “The defeat of Prop 16 in June shows California voters are smarter than that.”

“Hurricane Katrina is just the start of the climate-related disasters we’re going to see. It’s the oil companies that should be paying for climate solutions such as better public transportation, cleaner energy, compensating impacted communities, and restoring damaged ecosystems, including the Gulf of Mexico,” asserted Kirsten Schwind of Bay Localize. While oil industry profits increased dramatically over the past year, Bay Area transit agencies such as Muni and AC Transit chopped services due to budget cuts.

Protesters will also stop at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) office (46 Hawthorne) to demand the agency regulate greenhouse gases like any other pollutant. “Congress has failed to act but the EPA already has the tools it needs to cut greenhouse pollution now,” observed Rose Braz of the Center for Biological Diversity, “The EPA needs to step up to the plate to do its job.”

######

Mobilization for Climate Justice West is a broad coalition of organizations that have joined together to build a movement that emphasizes non-violent direct action and public education to promote effective and just solutions to the climate crisis.

References:

• CBS News, April 27, 2010. “British Petroleum Profit Doubles to $6.1B: Higher Crude Prices, Lower Production Costs Fuel Earnings Spike Despite Worries over Oil Rig Explosion.”
• LA Times, July 31, 2010. “Chevron’s second-quarter profit triples: It reports a net income of $5.4 billion, beating analyst expectations and continuing a strong week for big oil firms.”

August 30, 2010

In the wake of the recent BP disaster, we are writing to express our concern over the oil industry’s continued disregard for the health of communities and ecosystems around the world. Mobilization for Climate Justice West is a coalition of organizations, some of which represent communities directly impacted by the oil industry’s extraction and refining operations; we are dedicated to promoting effective and just solutions to the climate crisis.

We call on the oil industry to accept responsibility for the damages your operations have caused worldwide and specifically to:

1.     End the use of dispersants in cleaning up oil spills.  Dispersants, such as the Corexit used in the BP disaster, are toxic chemicals whose long-term impact on ocean life is unknown. Using dispersants allows for better public relations for the oil industry since they make the oil less visible, while possibly making the long-term impact of spills even worse.

2.     Grant full access to media and civil society in covering oil spills.  During the BP disaster, there have been many complaints from journalists that BP restricted their access and ability to gain information.  In July, the Society of Professional Journalists issued an open letter expressing their concerns over restrictions of press access to beaches and other sites in the Gulf.

3.     Pay your debt to the communities that have been impacted by your operations.  In the Gulf Coast, the oil spill has destroyed the livelihoods of many fishing and oystering communities. Communities are also impacted by oil extraction and refining in places like Nigeria, where an Exxon Valdez-sized spill has occurred every year since 1960; in Alberta, Canada where First Nations indigenous communities are experiencing abnormally high rates of cancer and a destruction of their traditional ways of life due to extreme water pollution from upstream tar sands operations; and in refining communities like Richmond, California where more than 25,000 people live within 3 miles of the refinery and the community suffers from high levels of asthma and other respiratory diseases.  The oil industry must pay for the the restoration of ecosystems and community livelihoods, for the development of clean energy and public transportation solutions, and for healthcare to treat those whose health has been impacted by your pollution.

4.     Stop funding fake “astro-turf” rallies. Last year the American Petroleum Institute, of which British Petroleum, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil are members, launched a fake grassroots campaign called “Energy Citizen” and bussed employees to lobbyist-organized rallies to oppose climate legislation that might limit climate pollution. Shell, publicly stated last year that it would not participate in “Energy Citizen” rallies. Now API is up to it again with a series of fake rallies to oppose removing billions in oil company tax breaks and opposing limits on offshore drilling. Will you join Shell’s pledge not to participate in what have been called “glorified company picnics”?

5.     Stop lobbying against solutions to climate change and against regulations to protect our communities.  Instead of using its profits to re-pay the debt to communities impacted by its operations, the oil industry funnels billions into lobbying to ensure that it will not be held responsible for its pollution.  During the BP disaster, from April-June, 2010, the American Petroleum Institute spent $2.3 million on lobbying.  According to the Washington Post, three fourths of all oil and gas lobbyists used to work for the federal government; the poor regulatory oversight of deepwater drilling is one result of this revolving door.  The oil industry also lobbies against solutions to climate change; members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who voted against the Waxman-Markey climate bill in 2009 received almost 3 times more in contributions from carbon-intensive industries than members who voted in favor of the legislation.  In California, Tesoro and Valero are funding Proposition 23 on this November’s ballot to derail the implementation of California’s climate change legislation.

Sincerely,

Mobilization for Climate Justice West, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Communities for a Better Environment, Global Exchange, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, West County Toxics Coalition, Gulf Restoration Network

BP SPILL & BIG OIL:

WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON, WHAT IT MEANS & WHAT WE CAN DO

One of the most insightful and compelling events explaining and analyzing of the the BP Gulf of Mexico Disaster is now available as an online “Video Teach-In.” On Tuesday July 20, 2010, on the 3-Month Gulf Disaster Anniversary, Mobilization for Climate Justice West organized a public Teach-In to a standing-room-only crowd of community members. Key presentations from that teach-in are now available as videos on Mobilization for Climate Justice West’s YouTube channel.

The five-segment video teach-in features:
Antonia Juhasz, leading oil industry expert and critic, just returned from the Gulf, meeting with impacted communities and groups. She is Director of the Chevron Program at Global Exchange, and the author of The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most powerful Industry and What We Must Do to Stop It. Juhasz has been featured on Democracy Now, written for the Huffington Post and is writing a new book on the impact and meaning of the BP disaster.
Antonia Juhasz (1 of 5)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=56cMZYiUvXs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVC7lJLkyIE

Byron Encalade is the President of the Louisiana Oyster Association and a leader for the African-American oyster fishermen in the region. Oil infrastructure has led to the erosion of the wetlands that oysters depend on, which were previously damaged further when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Since the BP disaster, Encalade has been a leading spokes person for impacted communities on the Gulf Coast; including being interviewed by PBS and the New York Times.
Byron Encalade (3 of 5)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ECfIil9bzI

Carla Pérez is the Program Coordinator for The Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project, which provides analysis and facilitates action around the global ecological crisis among organizers from urban Bay Area organizations working for economic and racial justice. Carla Pérez was a featured speaker at the opening plenary of the United States Social Forum.
Carla Perez (4 of 5)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecJlaRSOfOk