“Here Comes The Sun” House Party

The first of six house parties organized by Climate March and Bold Iowa, and supported by a Polk County Community Betterment grant, brought together thirty people on October 18, 2017 for food, music and conversation about solar energy. Food was provided by Catering by Cyd. For details, contact Cyd Koehn at [email protected]. Music was provided by Dartanyan Brown, Zach Ide and Ed Fallon. The main event featured Tim Kruse of Green Light Renewable Services, discussing opportunities and challenges facing the rapidly-growing solar industry. For more information about Continue reading →

Sinking the Santa Maria

Dear Friends, [Please come to the trial for Emma Schmit and Mahmud Fitil, pipeline fighters arrested last fall for blocking construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline during Bold Iowa‘s Farmers Defense Camp. For more detail, check out this excellent video by Rodger Routh. We’ve been asked not to wear pipeline shirts in the courtroom.] I’ve never understood why Christopher Columbus was given a holiday. [Listen to Donnielle Wanatee on this week’s Forum.] I get why we celebrate the impressive lives of men (yeah, they’re all men, but Continue reading →

Pipeline protester convicted of trespassing

Land Protector Kriss Wells was arrested October 29, 2016 on Shirley Gerjets land at Bold Iowa’s Farmers Defense Camp in Calhoun county.  He pleaded not guilty, with the climate crisis and eminent domain as justification. Last Thursday he was found guilty by jury trial in Rockwell City. Erin Sommers from The Graphic-Advocate reports. Pipeline protester convicted of trespassing By Erin Sommers Graphic-Advocate Editor A second person who was arrested last fall for protesting the Dakota Access pipeline has been convicted of trespassing on the work Continue reading →

Pipeline protester convicted of trespassing

Link to original article: http://thegraphic-advocate.com/content/pipeline-protester-convicted-trespassing Coverage by The Graphic-Advocate, Rockwell City, Iowa, October, 4, 2017 A second person who was arrested last fall for protesting the Dakota Access pipeline has been convicted of trespassing on the work site. A jury convicted Kriss Wells, 65, of Minneapolis, on the misdemeanor charge after a brief deliberation. Five witnesses, including Wells, took the stand in the trial – three were law enforcement officers who testified about how Wells stepped on to the disturbed soil within Dakota Access pipeline’s Continue reading →

Illinois Supreme Court gets it right on eminent domain

Dear Friends, As the battle against the Dakota Access pipeline moves from countryside to courtroom, from protest to litigation, pipeline opponents in Iowa have yet another reason to be optimistic. Last week, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled against Rock Island Clean Line (RICL) — the Texas company proposing a 500-mile wind transmission line across Iowa and Illinois. The Court ruled unanimously that RICL is not a public utility and does not have the right to use eminent domain. Click here to read the entire ruling. Continue reading →

Fleeing Irma

Dear Friends, Sometimes I just wanna scream. (OK, sometimes I do, though never loud enough to wake the neighbors or chickens.) HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE DO WE NEED!!? (Caps, bold, italics and underline intended) Consistent with what climate scientists have forecast: * Storms are getting stronger — never before have two Category 4 hurricanes hit the U.S. in the same year. * Unprecedented wildfires continue to rage in ten Western states, with 21,000 firefighters working to contain them. * Heck, there was even a large wildfire Continue reading →

Delivery of Petition to Remove Lozier from the IUB

On Friday, September 8 at 11:00 a.m. at the Iowa State Capitol, Bold Iowa, Indigenous Iowa, Iowa CCI and Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition held a brief press conference then delivered a petition to Gov. Kim Reynold’s office calling on removal of Richard Lozier from the Iowa Utilities Board. The event was in conjunction with the national #StopETP Day of Action. The petition: We call on Governor Kim Reynolds and other members of the Executive Council of Iowa (Paul D. Pate, Secretary of State; Michael L. Fitzgerald, Treasurer Continue reading →

Anti-pipeline activists across the country unite to #StopETP

Link to original article: www.wagingnonviolence.org/2017/09/anti-pipeline-activists-stopetp-energy-transfer-partners/ Coverage by Waging Non-Violence, September 11, 2017 The company behind the Dakota Access pipeline and many other damaging fossil fuel projects — Energy Transfer Partners — was the focus of nearly 20 actions spanning 10 U.S. states last week. The #StopETP protests, which took place on Friday and Saturday, included a flotilla on a Louisiana bayou, a blockade of pipeline construction equipment in Pennsylvania and a demonstration outside the Texas home of CEO Kelcy Warren. “It’s been impressive to see Continue reading →

Call on Gov. Kim Reynolds to Remove Richard Lozier from the IUB

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10:00 a.m. CT, September 7, 2017 Contact: Heather Pearson at (402) 452-0534 or [email protected] Ed Fallon at (515) 238-6404 or [email protected] CALL ON GOV. KIM REYNOLDS TO REMOVE RICHARD LOZIER FROM THE IUB Citing “gross partiality” as referenced in the Iowa Code Des Moines, IA — Bold Iowa and its partners call on Governor Kim Reynolds and other members of the Executive Council of Iowa (Paul D. Pate, Secretary of State; Michael L. Fitzgerald, Treasurer of State; Bill Northey, Secretary of Agriculture; and Mary Continue reading →

National Call to #StopETP

Dear Friends, I’m so excited about my new flock of chickens! Over the past two months, they’ve made solid progress toward becoming fully enrolled members of the Des Moines Society of Colorful Egg Layers. Like an overly protective parent, I worry about them when I leave town. But fortunately, I have two wonderful friends, Emily and Johanna, who mind them in my absence. (Emily, Johanna, in terms of chicken sitters, you’re the best!) On the other end of the chicken-sitter spectrum is Mr. Fox. If my only option were to put Continue reading →