Mass Civil Disobedience to Stop the Sabal Trail Pipeline from crossing the Suwannee River

The following is a call to action from Sabal Trail Resistance in North Florida:

Join us in putting a wrench into the gears of the pipeline machine. This will be a mass sit-in to stop the Sabal Trail fracked gas pipeline construction from drilling under the Suwannee River in Live Oak, FL.

Schedule:

Friday, Jan 13th, 4 - 6pm, we will hold a direct action and know your rights training for all participants (not just people risking arrest), at Water is Life Camp. For location see: www.facebook.com/WaterIsLifeCamp/ (Please do not bring dogs.)

Saturday, Jan 14th, 11am, we will gather at the Suwannee River State Park parking lot. Please plan to carpool as there is a $5 fee per car to park here. We will march on the drill site at 1pm sharp.

Sunday, Jan 15th, 8am till release, solidarity rally at jail and/or courthouse which may be holding water protectors. [Locations TBA]

Additional Details:

There are several options for camping in the area, including two free encampments and additional public and private campgrounds in the area.

Not everyone who attends needs to risk arrest, but we ask all to consider their role in making this a successful event. It will be a "power in numbers" moment.

There will be clear zones for higher risk and lower risk participants.

We will plan to avoid the risk of felony charges for the mass action, and anticipate any arrested will be released by the following morning. If you plan to participate in civil disobedience, please consider having funds available for bail/bond (or having your network assist in fundraising.)

If arrests occur, we believe that a "necessity defense" exists, which explains that "the degree of harm actually caused [will be] a reasonably proportionate response to the degree of harm threatened."
 
This legal defense strategy explains that laws can and should be broken when there is a real, imminent risk occurring... For example, peircing an aquifer that millions rely on for drinking water to transport a hazardous substance for private profit.

We encourage all who participate to request a public defender, retain their right to speedy trial and demand a trial by jury to present their defense.

More details on Sabal Trail Resistance can be found here.

  A list of other STR supporters can be found here.


Note: This is one action in a series of many to occur before and after. This one action is aimed at building broader support and creating a higher level of pressure on the system to stop this pipeline. If you can only make it out for one weekend this month, make it this one.

Reflections on Beating Back Biotech in the Northeast Everglades

An inside look at how Earth First! has helped keep a burgeoning biotech economy at bay for more than ten years in the venture capitalist mecca of Palm Beach County

by Panagioti Tsolkas / Earth First! Newswire

“…I guess it’s sort of an anti-technology backlash, anti-globalization. I don’t think that’s a prevalent attitude in this county.”  –Bevin Beaudet, Scripps Program Manager for Palm Beach County, USA Today, January 2005

Twelve years ago, when I joined the effort to stop the planned biotech city in the county where I lived, I didn’t anticipate that we could outlast—in some cases even outlive—our opponents. But that may be the case for our rag-tag group of grassroots activists in a decade-plus fight against the industry’s plans in South Florida.

In 2004, then-Governor Jeb Bush called biotech an “unstoppable train” while unveiling his plans to plow through 6,000 acres of swamp, forest and farm for a biotech city. Two years, several lawsuits and a couple dozen headline-making protests later, his plan lay near-dead in the swamp water of the Northeast Everglades. Scripps, the primary company associated with the plan, did finally drag itself up and open the doors on “Phase I” of their laboratories on a local university campus with a mere 10, 000 square feet of lab space; a minuscule fraction of their initial plan.

Within the last several years, Scripps, the state’s model for the speculated biotech boom, has shown deep internal cracks in its bureaucratic operations and financial stability. With the operation in disarray and opposition still on the move, the next few years could spell the end for what I viewed over ten years ago as a biocentrist’s wildest nightmare...

CONTINUE READING FULL ARTICLE ON THE EARTH FIRST! NEWSWIRE

JOIN US NOV. 19TH - SAVE THE BRIGER - STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH NO DAPL & AND STOPPING THE SABAL TRAIL PIPELINE

When a forest is destroyed and replaced with corporate interests it creates the demand for pipelines and all the destruction that comes with it! The Fight for water doesn't stop at Standing Rock, North Dakota - It doesn't stop at the Sabal Trail Pipeline  - It stops when we all get together against the corporate interests who are destroying the planet for more 

strip malls, housing developments, and seedy deals made by politicians.

Scripps Biotech, United Technologies, and Kolter aren't just the run of the mill corporate interests. Scripps is a Biotech corporation that has plans for an animal testing facility, United Technologies is in the business of military weapons and was responsible for the cancer cluster in the acreage, and Kolter has proven time and time again they have no interest in preserving what makes Florida unique and great with their destructive methods of development.

Join us Nov. 19th to Save the Briger and Protect our Water!

                                            

Candidate forum on the Ag Reserve for the County Commission Election

The Interfaith Justice League and the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition is holding a candidate forum on the Ag Reserve and other environmental issues for all candidates for the County Commission on Thursday August 25, at 7:00 p.m. at Congregation L'Dor Va-Dor, 3475 Woolbright Road, Boynton Beach, Florida on the northeast corner of Woolbright and Military Trail next to Enterprise Leasing.

 

The format will be as follows:  Each candidate will make an opening statement and then a follow up statement after all the candidates have spoken to respond to the others.  We will then take questions and comments from the audience and we will conclude with each candidate making a closing statement.

 

PBCEC Supports the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons' Rally Against Toxic Prison Slavery in Coleman, FL on Sept 10

Rally to End Toxic Prison Slavery in Solidarity with Upcoming Nationwide Prison Strike

Re-posted from FightToxicPrisons.org

Sept 9th is the 45th anniversary of the Attica Uprising in New York, where national attention was drawn to the problem of prisons in this country. This year there will public demonstrations in support of prisoners who have a called for a coordinated national work strike in response to extreme abuses they face, including toxic environments, discrimination and literal slavery based on the 13th Amendment which wrote prison slave labor into the U.S. Constitution.

The Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons (FTP) is calling for action in solidarity with the IWW Union’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) and other prisoner-led groups in planning activities around Sept 9th.

We are spreading the word to our prisoner contacts to invite friends and family on the outside to participate in these necessary efforts to address the violations of civil rights and environmental justice that still occur behind bars.

The primary FTP event will occur on Sept 10th at 10am in front of the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) of Coleman, located at 846 NE 54th Terrace, Wildwood, Florida 34785.

FCC Coleman, which warehouses over 7,000 prisoners, surrounded by mining operations.

This location is the largest prison factory in the entire country, producing material goods for government agencies nationwide. Much of the very furniture which accommodates the offices of the bureaucrats that we live under is made by prison slaves at this facility.

Federal Prison Industries, also known as UNICOR, has over $34 million in contract obligation coming out of Bureau of Prison (BOP) facilities in Florida. This is three times higher than any other state in the country.

Briger developer Kolter embroiled in lawsuit over construction defects in Palm Beach Gardens

Protestors were seen once again in front of Kolter's downtown West Palm office last week, but it wasn't PBCEC or Everglades Earth First! This time is was residents of the San Matera condo in Palm Beach Gardens fighting over construction defects at a Palm Beach Gardens condominium complex which are at the center of a $40 million lawsuit. We extend our sympathies to people who got ripped off by the crooks at Kolter. Read more here.

Reportback from PB Gardens Candidate Forum

Image from the flyer handed out

Our presence was noticed. Thanks to the folks who came to help hand out flyers and hold a banner out front of the event.

We got over 200 flyers out to Gardens residents at the library and people attending the forum.

At least one person noted that he had also received the mailer we sent in December, and encouraged us to keep him and his neighbors in Palm Beach Country Estates in the loop as the development creeps further west, closer to their community.

We had a brief encounter with law enforcement, which resulted in library staff explaining that we could request permission to table any time we want out front of the high traffic library (for future reference... could be a great general outreach spot).

A local activist from PB Gardens, who has come to several meetings and protests, went inside the well-attended event and got in a question about development, with much support from the audience.

Let's keep the pressure on!

Join PBCEC in Protesting Scripps at Palm Beach Gardens Candidate Forum

Thursday, February 25, 5:30 PM - 8 PM

at Gardens Branch, Palm Beach County Library, 11303 Campus Drive Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410

Tell Palm Beach Gardens Political Candidates to address the issues of Scripps' toxic biotech waste, United Technology's cancer clusters and the destruction of endangered species habitat in the Briger forest for animal testing labs.

The candidate's forum begins at 6:30pm.
It is sponsored by local Republican and Democratic Party groups, as well as the PBC Tea Party and other groups, so we anticipate a large crowd attending.


Please spread the word via this event page


More info on the forum here:
http://pbgwatch.com/2016/01/pbgwatch-to-co-host-council-candidate-forum-225/

More on Scripps and Briger
https://www.facebook.com/savethebrigerforest/?fref=ts