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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2015)
Street Roots • June 5 -1 1, 2015 MCKINLAY, from page 10 they were arrested, along with 1,251 other demonstrators over a two-week period. Right in the center of the group stood Bill McKibben, with other movement luminaries, all of whom ended up in jail, “About 25 of us women arrestees were crammed into a 10’ x 10’ cell with a toilet,” Bonnie reports. “Then we were moved to a slightly bigger cell with fewer women. We spent the weekend there, in that cold room on a dirty cement floor, with the lights left on day and night. One woman was taken to the hospital with a bad migraine. But the rest of us played word games, talked, sang and did yoga. Nobody could sleep. We were finally released on Monday afternoon.” Despite the hardships, Bonnie says it was one of the high points of her life. “The setting was terrible, but it was a wonderful experience,” she says emphatically, “Iwould never give it up. Not for a second.” Shortly after the protest in D.C., Bonnie and Jim became involved in the Occupy movement. Now she is deeply involved in several organizations combating climate change, including NoKeystoneXL, Portland Rising Tide and 350.org. She has been a diligent worker for the NoKeystoneXL effort in Portland, convening meetings, organizing outreach, and writing comments to agencies and public officials. She makes posters, signs and informational flyers and gets other people to do the same. She designs actions, organizes rallies and parade entries, and keeps her vast e-mail list up to date, notifying us about upcoming events and sending out links for articles of interest. She do£s mahy'bf'theseactivitiesfor'other climate organizations, as well. When she talks about the Alberta tar sands project, that enormous Canadian strip-mine where miles of boreal forest have been cut down to extract oil, Bonnie’s vocal level moves up a notch: “I ask people: ‘Have you seen it?’ This area is as big as Florida and totally uninhabitable! There is no PHC N orthwest Beyond News Page 11 reclamation. They’re destroying animals, are global.” Our lunch lies unfinished, and I tribal areas, everything. They have taken have to write fast to keep up with her. one of the best carbon sinks anywhere in Along with her continued work on the world and made it into a wasteland. regional coal and oil projects, Bonnie is There are strange cancers among the First teaming up with state-wide efforts to bring Nations people down riven In some places awareness of the LNG (liquefied natural they’re hydro-fracturing underneath the gas) terminals planned for Warrenton and forest.” Coos Bay. In the process of liquefying the “Calling this area a natural resource is gas, methane frequently escapes, creating a ridiculous!” she insists, her voice rising still fire hazard and contributing to climate higher. “That diminishes the value. It’s not heating significantly more than equivalent just a natural amounts of other resource; it’s life fossil fuels. a o l ja s t a n a ta r a ! we’re talking about.” “The problem is’ To the question o f . re s a a re é r I t 's l i f e w e 'se t a l k l a f that it’s so hard to why Oregonians reverse something a b m tt." . TOWNIE MOCINLAV, once it’s built and should be involved, Ì • t o N - ÌTH E A L BERTA TAR SANDS-PROJECT., - - - ‘ Bonnie answers: “We when people have on the West Coast are jobs.” But there are a super highway for already fossil fuels — coal, oil, and gas. It’s not that proportionately more and better paying jobs large-scale extraction is done here, but the in green energy. The Union of Concerned fossil fuel industry plans to have its carbon- -Scientists predicts that a renewable energy based commodities move through our land policy would create more than three times and waterways en route to the coast,” . I as many jobs as producing an equivalent According to Rising Tide North America, amount of electricity from fossil fuels. A one of the organizations Bonnie works with, “Sometimes we in the Northwest think there are 28 proposed fossil fuel projects in that we’re the only ones with this problem, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. but it’s not just us. They’re battling the That means oil and coal trains, pipeline^, shipment of tar sands oil through New terminals, and refineries. England. They’re fighting the. Cove Point - She moves her lunch plate over and terminal in Maryland, fracking in unfolds a large map entitled “Coal, Oil, Gas: Pennsylvania, and tar sands oil in Utah,” she None Shall Pass.” She spreads it out on the says. dining room table. It shows a spider web of Bonnie tries to warn people about a fossil fuel project here that hasn’t gotten much pipelines and rail routes, some existing and attention. It’s a small asphalt plant in more proposed. They extend from inland Northwest Portland near the Willamette extraction projects throughout western River-recently purchased by Arc Logistics Canada and the United States, including the Partnefs/LP, which" Owns fuel plants A lberta tarsifrids, countless fracking fields, throughout the East and Midwest. and the coal strip mines of Wyoming and According to Arc Logistics’ CEO, Vince Montana. All are headed toward facilities up Cubbage, the Portland facility is poised for and down the coast and the Columbia River, growth. Opponents like Bonnie are deeply where the cargo isto be loaded onto barges concerned that trains carrying Bakken and tankers bound for West Coast refineries crude have been exploding regularly,’ and or export to Asia. A that routing these trains through the heart “These projects may be regional, but in terms of our corrupted climate, their impacts of Portland is a terrible idea. As of last September, the Climate Action Coalition has taken on this battle with Bonnie’s support This is a coalition of groups willing to confront authorities with nonviolent direct action, meaning that they would put their bodies on the line if necessary. All of these groups" are dedicated to nonviolence, but they’re ready for confrontation. There is no doubt that Bonnie enjoys these community efforts, especially when she can see the impact. Back in 2012, when Montana’s governor was promoting the opening of the Otter Creek Land Tract for strip-mining coal, a group called Blue Sky Montana organized a civil disobedience action. Gov. Brian Schweitzer told them, “Nothing you can do will change my mind.” So Bonnie traveled to Helena where she participated in a weeklong action at the Capitol. Her face lights up when she describes the scene: “It was fantastic! We were so supported. The custodial staff at the capitol hung our banners in the rotunda! We had an all day teach-in right there in the Capitol. At the end of the day the building was closed and we were asked to leave, but quite a few of us stayed. Altogether, 23 people were arrested for trespassing’. Sixteen of us pleaded not guilty qn the basis of an old law, ‘The necessity clause.’ If the case would be tried, our defense would be that it was necessary to stay there? As it turns out, The Otter Creek Mine has yet to be opened. Bonnie explains the necessity clause: “For example, if a house is on fire and you run in to grab a child, you may be trespassing, but your action is necessary. Well, this is how it is: there?s a fire in our house and it’s called climate change.” Alice Hardesty regularly interviews musicians fo r Friends o f Chamber M u sic, and has published her work in Oregon Arts Watch. She is author o f the memoir, A n Uncommon Cancer Journey (Portland: Bacho Press, 2014), an adventure in healing through alternative treatments. 5312 NE 148th Ave. Portland, OR 97230 Free career training for persons with disabilities in janitorial and building maintenance R equirem ents: Documented proof o f disability Profiaency in understanding and speaking English Pass criminal background check THE MAGIC IS IN THE HOLE! Pass drug test • A • • Physical, m ental health, intellectual, D isab ilities: d e v e lo p m e n ta l, a n d lea rn ing Q uestions 2 Please Cal,: (503) 201-1266 ’ or (800) 874-7917 email: careers@phcnw.com 2 2 SW 3 R D & B U R N S ID E 1 5 0 1 NE D AV IS 5 SUPPORTING STREET v / ROOTS SINCE 2 0 0 3 Poverty
