The Fennica Actions: “Bold, cultural revolution” comes to Portland

Greenpeace climbers blockade Fennica from St. Johns Bridge in Portland.

The same week Pope Francis in his climate encyclical called for “a bold cultural revolution” to win “liberation from the dominant technocratic paradigm,” a group of kayaktavists in Seattle boldly set themselves in front of Shell Oil’s monster oil rig departing to drill in the Arctic.  This past week the revolution came to Portland when kayaktavists and climbers hanging from St. John’s Bridge blocked passage of Shell’s icebreaker Fennica, a vital element of the Arctic drilling fleet. 

The climbers held position for 40 hours from early Wednesday morning until the ship was finally able to slip by Thursday.  That was 32 hours after the time it was scheduled to depart from a Willamette River drydock where a three-foot gash in its hull was repaired.  The Fennica was carrying a containment device without which Shell cannot drill into oil-bearing strata.

The climbers and kayaktavists in both Portland and Seattle actions exhibited in the most profound way possible the meaning of “a bold, cultural revolution” against “the dominant technocratic paradigm.”  They put their bodies and lives in the path of massive machines that could not more acutely represent that paradigm and its global insanity – The third largest corporation in the world, whose own projections show catastrophic global warming of 4°C, furthering that scenario by continuing to expand the fossil fuel frontier and doing it in a region where warming-driven ice melt makes it more possible, the Arctic.  

To even have a chance of holding warming below the standard safety barrier of 2°C, most fossil reserves must be kept in the ground including all Arctic gas and oil, a new study in Nature concludes. But the real barrier is more like 1°C, concludes world-renowned climate scientist James Hansen and his team.  Going to 2°C will cause radical sea level rise, as much as 10 feet in 50 years, inundating coastlines and coastal communities, a new Hansen study shows.

If dramatic cuts in carbon pollution do not commence soon, Hansen writes, “. . . Los Angeles, New York, Miami and three quarters of the biggest cities on the planet should prepare for life underwater.”

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New York City with 100-feet sea level rise, virtually inevitable if most fossil fuel reserves are not left in the ground. That includes the Arctic oil for which Shell is drilling.  Shell itself projects a 4 deg. C global warming.  That would set the planet on a path to melting all polar ice, which would inundate New York under 250 feet of rising seas. From Spacialities Drowned Cities Project. Among other cities also available for purchase are Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, Boston, Seattle, Portland and Montreal.

Ironically, the very drydock at which the Fennica was parked would be underwater with a 10-foot rise, this Climate Central mapping tool shows.  Look at the docks sticking out into the Willamette toward the upper left center.

I was in front of those docks a week ago Saturday paddling my kayak in a quickly assembled flotilla of around 70 boats.  Less than 48 hours before a circle meeting in a Northeast Portland church decided to go for the Saturday action.  Building on the Seattle actions including the May 16 Paddle in Seattle, the local Climate Action Council and member groups 350PDX and Portland Rising Tide had been preparing for some time.  They already had dozens of people signed up for kayak-tion and were ready to swing into gear with phone banks and social media.  350 Seattle activists were on hand to help. Backbone Campaign, originator of the kayaktavist idea and one of the key Seattle organizers, was also on hand with its truck filled with props, banners to be used in the Saturday event, and spare kayaks. 

Kayak flotilla in front of Fennica.

The Saturday event was a roaring success, banner lifts in front of the Vigor Shipyards dock containing Fennica covered on all local TV stations, even live a couple of times on KOIN-6.  But it was only the prelude for what was to come. 

The ship only pulled in before dawn Saturday morning.  Expectations were repairs would not take long.  Shell has only a several-month drilling season, and time is money.  Organizers were alerted the ship was planning departure around 10am Wednesday.  Greenpeace deployed its 13 climbers from the bridge in the wee hours.  Morning light saw the awe-inspiring sight of an aerial blockade across the high bridge.  Meanwhile kayaktavists and supporters gathered in Cathedral Park on the east end of the bridge. 

When the climbers deployed red and yellow streamers, using Shell’s own colors against it, the visual spectacle was incomparable.  It was an example par excellence of a term coined by Backbone founder Bill Moyer, “artful activism.” Through the day people gathered in the park and took to the water beneath the climbers, who were starting to bake in their harnesses. Temperatures climbed to and above 100, very rare in Portland, and would stay up there both action days.  As if to double up on the message that global warming has already arrived with a vengeance and we better do something about it quick. 

The morning of the second day, Fennica took off from the dock and approached within 300 feet of the climbers only to turn back.  It was clearly a move to trigger a prior injunction by an oil-industry compliant federal judge that Greenpeace affiliates had to remain at a greater distance from Shell Arctic fleet ships.  The judge charged Greenpeace $2,500 for each hour the climbers remained, going up $2,500 a day to reach $10,000 on the fourth.  Later in the afternoon, local police and fire crews took control of climbers’ lines and forced three in the center down to the water.  A path through the center made for passage, Fennica took off from the dock and approached. Dozens of kayaktavists and other boaters rushed into the channel, defying a Coast Guard closure.   

 

Kayaktavists and other boaters confront Fennica.  The sailboat was piloted by Ken Ward, who in 2013 was one of two who stopped coal shipments to a Massachusetts power plant by putting a lobster boat in the way. Confronted by a defense of necessity to protect Earth's climate, the local prosecutor dropped most charges and admitted the blockaders were right.  Ken now lives in the Portland area and is still at it, promoting action through the Climate Disobedience Center.

What happened then could only be described as police brutality on the water, kayaks rammed by police boats, people in the water having cop jet skis spew directly in their face.  But, learning some lessons from Seattle, the kayaktavists put up a fight that lasted some time.  Fennica was forced to halt before the cop fleet effectively cordoned off the kayak flotilla. Fennica finally snaked its way through the narrow passage a little before 6pm. 

Around 25 kayaktavists received citations.  To support them donate here.

Obviously, the kayaktavists and climbers never expected to hold Fennica back long.  But that was not the point.  In one of the most visually stunning and inspiring direct actions anywhere in years, they put themselves in the way of a globally suicidal oil drilling operation.  They showed the meaning of true moral courage and drew the attention of the world to Shell’s technocratic madness.

Artful Activism.  Painting by local artist Gabriel Liston.

The great environmental archdruid David Brower used to close every speech with a line from Goethe: "Anything you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." The bold cultural revolutionaries who acted in Portland this past week showed all of that. Genius. Power.  And magic. 

On to the next action.  And the next. And the next.  Until we indeed do liberate ourselves from the dominant technocratic paradigm and its varied insanities. 

Dream.  And be bold. 

WA Gov. Inslee orders carbon regulation - Credit to youth lawsuit?

This is an update to a story posted earlier today. 

Washington Governor Jay Inslee today ordered the state Department of Ecology to place a regulatory cap on carbon emissions.  While a successful youth lawsuit to spur such an action is not being given direct credit, it is hard not to see the connection. 

“Carbon pollution and the climate change it causes pose a very real and existential threat to our state,” Inslee said. “Farmers in the Yakima Valley know this. Shellfish growers on the coast know this. Firefighters battling Eastern Washington blazes know this. And children suffering from asthma know this all too well and are right to question why Washington hasn’t acted to protect them.”

Inslee is claiming regulatory authority under the state Clean Air Act. The rulemaking is expected to take a year. The action will provide Inslee a potential opportunity go to the U.N. Paris climate summit in December with a climate initiative of global significance.

In August 2014 a group of eight youths petitioned the state Department of Ecology to start a rulemaking for carbon caps much as the governor ordered today. Ecology rejected the youth petition.  Represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, they took Ecology to court. On June 23 in a decision unprecedented in the United States, King County Superior Court Judge Hollis Hill ordered Ecology to reconsider the petition based on scientific testimony and their own statements. 

Of critical importance, the youth petition affirmed that existing laws provide Ecology with all the authority it needs to regulate carbon emissions. The governor today took the same position.

But the governor’s press spokeperson, David Postman said, “As far as I know, this effort is not related to the lawsuit against Ecology.”

Nonetheless it hard to believe that these developments are not connected.  Ecology is under the gun from Hill's court order.  Andrea Rodgers, lead attorney in their case, has a similar view. “The only ones who asked the governor to do this are those kids. They deserve the credit.”

The eight are Zoe and Stella Foster, Ajia and Adonis Piper, Wren Wagenbach, Lara Fain, Garbriel Mandell and Jenny Zhu.

The youth petition asked the for carbon emissions reductions of four percent a year beginning immediately. This is based on science developed by world-renowned climate scientist James Hansen, who this past week released a new study indicating sea level could rise 10 feet in 50 years if deep emissions reductions do not begin immediately.

What is not clear from the governor’s announcement is how far his order will go to implement science-based goals. The announcement says, “The regulatory cap on carbon emissions would force a significant reduction in air pollution and will be the centerpiece of Inslee’s strategy to make sure the state meets its statutory emission limits set by the Legislature in 2008.” State carbon emission limits are substantially higher than the level required by science.  

“We’re going to make sure that whatever Ecology does is based on the best available science,” Rodgers said.  “When we meet with Ecology tomorrow we are going to ask that they heed Judge Hill’s order.”

In her order Hill quoted Ecology’s own December 2014 report to the governor.

“Climate change is not a far off risk.  It is happening now globally and the impacts are worse than previously predicted, and are forecast to worsen . . . If we delay action by even a few years, the rate of reduction needed to stabilize the global climate would be beyond anything achieved historically and would be more costly.” 

Ecology itself admitted the 2008 goals fall short: “Washington State’s existing statutory limits should be adjusted to better reflect the current science. The limits need to be more aggressive in order for Washington to do its part to address climate risks and to align our limits with other jurisdictions that are taking responsibility to address these risks.”

Noted Hill, “Despite this urgent call to action, based on science it does not dispute, Ecology’s recommendation in (the December 2014) report is, ‘that no changes be made to the state’s statutory emission limits at this time.’”

Judge Hill wasn’t buying that.  She told Ecology to take its own report and scientific testimony into account and reconsider the youth petition. That is what the agency will have to do.  

The regulatory cap will not in itself set a carbon price as would have the governor’s failed carbon bill.  But that could come by future legislative action or a ballot measure. A carbon tax is the center of Initiative 732 being forwarded by Carbon Washington for the November 2016 ballot. 

“This is not the comprehensive approach we could have had with legislative action,” Inslee said. “But Senate Republicans and the oil industry have made it clear that they will not accede to any meaningful action on carbon pollution so I will use my authority under the state Clean Air Act to take these meaningful first steps.”

Inslee also announced he would not implement a Clean Fuels Standard because it would have triggered a “poison pill” taking around $2 billion away from transportation alternatives including transit, bicycling and walking.

"In talking about the terrible choice the Senate imposed on the people of Washington – clean air or buses and safe sidewalks – I heard broad agreement that we need both clean transportation and clean air,” Inslee said. “I appreciate the commitment I heard from many to work with me to ensure our state meets its statutory carbon reduction limits.”

(I previously wrote that my gut told me Inslee would swallow the “poison pill.”  In this case I’m glad my gut was wrong.  Clean fuels should not be played against needed alternatives.)

Inslee’s announcement today signifies a tremendous climate victory.  Whether or not they are given direct credit I believe can thank eight young people and the adults who backed them up.

WA Gov. Inslee considers swallowing “poison pill" to implement low-carbon fuels

Update: The governor opted against this, he announced July 28.  

Washington Governor Jay Inslee is considering swallowing the “poison pill” which could divert funding from non-auto alternatives into highway construction in order to begin implementing a low carbon fuel standard. 

“The governor did have meetings over the past couple of days to talk about this with stakeholders,” Inslee press aide David Postman said Saturday afternoon, confirming rumors which have been flying fiercely around Olympia in recent days. “He hasn't made any decision. He is following up on what he said in his sine die press release, and again similarly at the transportation bill signing.”

In that release Inslee said, "I signed this transportation package even though it included the poison pill because it’s important that we move forward on critical investments that provide safety, jobs and traffic relief. This creates a tough decision, and I’ll make it after I review all our options.” 

“That's what he's doing now, reviewing options,” Postman said.

Postman noted that the transportation alternatives money, which comes from licensing and vehicle weight fees, would not automatically shift to highways.

“The poison pill would require multi-modal funds to be transferred to the Connecting Washington account if the administration moved ahead with a clean fuel standard. From there, it would have to be reappropriated by the Legislature. It doesn't automatically go to road projects.”

Inslee and executive staff believe the governor has executive power to order than the carbon-intensity of fuels is reduced by 10% over the coming decade.  Any implementation would be challenged in court by the oil industry. 

If Inslee goes ahead and begins implementation despite the “poison pill” inserted in the transportation package by Senate Republicans, it will indicate how much he wants a climate victory.  Inslee has long been an outspoken climate advocate.  He was one of the prime climate leaders in Congress.  After losing his effort to institute a carbon cap and price in the legislative session, he may decide he does not want his first term to pass without a climate gain.

Implementation in the face of “poison pill” would also be a way to poke a stick in the eye of the Western States Petroleum Association, which defeated his carbon bill and pushed the “poison pill.”

Inslee may calculate that the fuel standard will do more to reduce carbon emissions than the transit, van pool and bicycling alternatives that would be lost.  A state government contact confirmed that staff is running numbers. And since this is only the first years of a transportation package that runs through 2031, the governor may also calculate that these losses could be reversed in future legislative sessions.  The Democrats hope to re-capture the State Senate with presidential year turnout in 2016.

I’ve known Inslee for a number of years.  Based on that my gut says he is preparing to pull the trigger to implement Clean Fuels. 

(p.s. Others I've talked to are skeptical.  So I've made some bets. I have several beers riding on the outcome.)  

(p.p.s. My gut was wrong. I will owe some beers.  See here.  It's just as well. Clean fuels vs. transportation alternatives is a terrible choice.)