Last week, a Polk County District judge ruled against the Climate Defenders Five, finding us guilty of misdemeanor trespass in our protest against President Trump's abject denial of climate science during the president's visit to West Des Moines in June.
With all due respect, the Court completely failed to understand the growing urgency of the climate emergency, and thus the necessity justification of our defense. My fellow defendants, Channing Dutton (our attorney), and I feel pretty strongly that the Court erred. Will we be filing an appeal? Hell yes! Stay tuned.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, November 18, 2019, 9:00 a.m. CT Contact: Ed Fallon at (515) 238-6404 or
[email protected] Website: www.boldiowa.com Presidential candidates speak out about DAPL Most Democratic candidates for president oppose doubling the oil through the Dakota Access Pipeline — but not Biden, Bloomberg, and Klobuchar. DES MOINES, IOWA — Over the past three months, Bold Iowa’s Climate Bird Dogs have asked all the major Democratic presidential candidates to say where they stand on Energy Transfer’s proposal to double the flow of oil through the Dakota
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To their credit, ten out of seventeen candidates are against increasing the flow of oil to 1.1 million barrels per day. Yet, we've been surprised and disheartened that the media have almost completely ignored this new threat. With the candidates are speaking out, perhaps that will change. ... Biden says he's against pipelines. Immediately after that, he says he wants to replace existing pipelines, which would lock in further greenhouse gas emissions.
Since June, Dakota Access has been pressuring the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to allow it to double the flow of oil through the Dakota Access Pipeline. To its credit, the IUB has refused to be pushed or rushed. In September, IUB members Geri Huser and Nick Wagner voted to require Dakota Access to file an amendment to its permit.
Meanwhile in other states, Big Oil continues to push hard for legislation to punish peaceful, non-violent pipeline protesters. Last year's fight at the Iowa Statehouse recently garnered some attention in Wisconsin, where our coalition with labor has not gone unnoticed.
This article featured our favorite agitator-in-chief, Ed Fallon, talking about the latest pipeline protest laws and how the labor unions are now worried about what these prospective laws mean for ALL protesters, including members of labor unions. Excerpt from Urban Milwaukee: Ed Fallon, a former Iowa legislator who now heads an environmental advocacy organization called Bold Iowa that focuses on combating climate change, says that his organization and the union have often found themselves on opposite sides where the pipeline project was concerned. The project,
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We've got a quick update for you this week on some important developments. Please read and share.
CLIMATE JUSTIFICATION TRIAL.
DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE (DAPL).
CLIMATE BIRD DOGS.
IOWA'S ANTI-PROTEST LAW.
JESSICA AND RUBY.
The Iowa Climate Defenders Five (Todd Steichen, Martin Monroe, Miriam Kashia, Kathy Byrnes, and Ed Fallon) appeared before a judge today only to have the trial rescheduled for November 12 at 1:00 at the Polk County Justice Center, 222 5th Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Before the trial, the five held a press conference outside the building.
Dear Friends, FIRST … On Friday, September 27, at 11:00 a.m. at The Federal Plaza, 219 S. Dearborn St. in Chicago, Dakota Access Pipeline opponents will hold a rally and march to demand that Illinois Governor Jay Pritzer declare a climate emergency and halt doubling the capacity of the pipeline. Some of Iowa’s water protectors are hoping to join our friends in Illinois. SECOND … We witnessed an historic groundswell of climate-strike actions last Friday, garnering attention across Iowa and around the world. Des Moines: Here’s
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With the recent collapse of the second largest Emperor Penguin colony, Bold Iowa’s Climate Refugee Penguins greeted presidential candidates at the entrance to the Polk County Steak Fry with a poignant message about the tragedy of extinction in the New Climate Era. Penguins danced to R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” as the Fossil Fuel Reaper cut them down one by one with his sickle. The Reaper then began to take out humans, with the message that climate change threatens all of us with extinction.
Over 11,000 people and eighteen presidential candidates are expected to attend Saturday's Polk County Steak Fry. We plan to bird-dog every politician there on one or more aspects of the climate crisis, and to make a strong showing for climate action before local, national, and international media, too. If you're coming and would like to help, let us know ASAP.
