E-M:/ From Indigenous Environmental Network

["Alex J. Sagady & Associates" <ajs@sagady.com>]

From Indigenous Environmental Network.
ienonlinenews@igc.org 

==================================================

FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE


NATIVES SUPPORT A
NORTH AMERICAN CLEAN GREEN ENERGY ECONOMY

OBAMA 2 CANADA MUST ADDRESS DIRTY OIL FROM THE TAR SANDS

CONTACT: 
CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER, 
CANADIAN INDIGENOUS TAR SANDS CAMPAIGN, 
INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK, 
OTTAWA (CELL) 218-760-6632, 
OFFICE (613) 789-5653; 

ERIEL DERANGER, 
RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK-EDMONTON, 
(CELL) (587) 785-1558; 

TOM GOLDTOOTH, 
INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK, USA 
(CELL) (218) 760-0442

Ottawa, Canada, February 19, 2009 – United States President Barack Obama
is meeting today with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada for his
first foreign visit as a President. The main discussion will center on
trade between the two nations as well as topics of environment, climate
and energy security in North America. Obama's concerns about implementing
an agenda for a clean and green energy economy highlights' Canada's oil
sands, a vast potential oil source that comes at a big cost to the
environment and the human rights of Aboriginal communities. "Obama
is building a new energy economy and importing dirty oil from the
Canadian tar sands is not a right fit", says Clayton Thomas-Muller,
Native tar sands campaigner of the Indigenous Environmental Network from
his office in Ottawa.  "Canada needs to stop expansion of this
carbon intensive fossil fuel in Alberta that is destroying the boreal
forests, degrading the sacredness of the watershed and creating
environmental health concerns of First Nation communities surrounding the
tar sands development", added Thomas-Muller.

Canada's tar sands consist of huge deposits of heavy crude oil mixed with
sand and clay in the province of Alberta and represent the biggest oil
reserves outside of Saudi Arabia. The ecological footprint of approved
projects in the tar sands and its infamous tailings ponds already
represents an area the size of Vancouver Island. In the years to come it
will grow to an area 90,720 square kilometers in size with 20-30 % being
stripped mined and the other 70-80% being developed by a process called
SAG-D which requires immense amounts of water and energy as well as the
building of thousands of miles of roads and pipelines. The use of water
in the process of extracting the tar sands and upgrading the bitumen for
transport is of particular concern. If the current development continues
at the same pace the tailings ponds will grow to a combined size
comparable to Lake Ontario.

The Athabasca Chipweyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation
are two of five Aboriginal communities within the Athabasca tar sands
development zone that comprises approximately 60% of the First Nation
population in the region. "Residents of my community have for the
past thirty years recognized the impacts from industrial development on
our lands, water, air, wildlife and most recently the health of our
people. The devastation of our homelands in this short period of time is
perplexing to my people since it is only a fraction of the time that
these impacts have occurred compared to the thousands of years we have
inhabited these lands." says George Poitras, former chief of the
Mikisew Cree.

Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipweyan First Nation is also
concerned about President Obama meeting with Harper. Joining forces with
environmental organizations and Mikisew, Chief Adam says, "Obama
must ask Canada to clean up its tar sands and to respect the rights of
our aboriginal First Nations. Both the federal and provincial governments
of Canada have failed our aboriginal community for the sake of money, for
the sake of corporate interests, and for the sake of increasing energy
exports to the US. We are seeing disheartening toxicity levels in our
animal life and have now received confirmation of unacceptable cancer
rates."

"There are many political layers surrounding a campaign towards a
bi-national energy and environmental policy between Canada and the US.
The rapid expansion of the tar sands infrastructure results in a road of
destruction directly affecting the rights of First Nations, American
Indians and Alaska Natives on all sides of the political borders,"
added Thomas-Muller.

The tar sands expansion has an infrastructure with many connecting and
supplying pipelines and associated projects that are needed to transport
fuels for the production of tar sands bitumen and to move crude oil to
the lower 48 of the US for refining. This involves some massive new
pipeline projects to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, Wisconsin,
Oklahoma, Louisiana, California, Pennsylvania, Texas and elsewhere
including efforts to send the crude oil to existing refineries in Ontario
and Quebec. The Canadian government is further compounding land and water
rights issues with the approval and construction of expansion projects
infringing into traditional territories in Northern Saskatchewan as well
as Alberta. The projects for the delivering of this crude oil include
major pipeline construction in traditional aboriginal territories in
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and US States. The bulk
of these projects are raising questions of adequate consultation with the
First Nations and American Indian communities.

"The Alberta government's approval of the NCC pipeline directly
infringes upon our inherent rights as aboriginal peoples especially since
we, the Lubicon Cree have never ceded our rights to the land,"
relates Melina Laboucan-Massimo who is Lubicon Cree. "We already
have logging and conventional oil exploitation taking place on our
territory, how much more can the land or our people take?

Prior agreements between the Bush administration and Harper have been
made to retrofit over forty oil refineries, double some in size and with
some plans to build new refineries in the US to prepare for the export
and processing of Canadian tar sands crude oil. American Indians in the
US are afraid Canadian export of more crude oil will result in an
increase of cancer clusters in the communities that live next to these
refineries. "We have on our reservation, on our Ponca land in
north-central Oklahoma, a ConocoPhillips refinery which has been here for
over 50 years," explains Casey Camp-Hornik, a member of the Ponca
Nation who works with the Coyote Creek Center for Environmental Justice.
"This company is active in the oil sands in Canada and making plans
to ship this dirty oil to its refinery next door to our Ponca territories
to be refined. Our people already have cancer, asthma and other health
effects from the petroleum infrastructure in our homeland."

An oil refinery is being proposed to be built on the land of the Three
Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold in North Dakota. The crude oil that
will feed this refinery is coming from the tar sands in Alberta. 
Kandi Mosset, tribal member of the Three Affiliated Tribes says,
"Canada will be shipping its dirty oil to my people. We're not going
to get the energy, only the pollution.  Our Mandan, Hidatsa and
Arikara people are already experiencing disproportionate environmental
fallout from oil development and from the burning of lignite coal in
power plants that surround our lands. Several community members,
including myself, are tired of being sick and are tired of seeing
everyone, even babies, dying from unprecedented rates of cancer.  We
are taking a stand and fighting back, not only for our own lives but for
the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves and we will not stop
fighting until we have a reached a true level of environmental and
climate justice in our Indigenous lands. We hope Obama tells Canada to
stop shipping its dirty oil to the US. People have told me the reason
that Canada is not meeting its Kyoto Protocol target commitments to
reduce its greenhouse gases is because of the tars sands. Climate change
is affecting my community, something has to change."

"Our Alaska Native subsistence way of life has been under constant
threat by oil and gas development since the discovery of oil in Prudhoe
Bay.  REDOIL has consistently objected to the subsistence rights of
our communities being eroded to satisfy the high fossil fuel consumption
needs of the US. We strongly oppose the proposed Alaska natural gas
pipeline that will link the gas fields of the North Slope to the tar
sands development in northern Alberta.  We should have a Canadian-US
energy policy that does not put Native communities in peril," says
Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction
on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) based in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Dene, Cree and Métis communities of Canada and other Native communities
being affected by the tar sands infrastructure want to look beyond the
dependence on a fossil fuel regime and be visionaries and doers on
supporting the development of clean production and clean renewable energy
within their lands.

The Indigenous Environmental Network working in alliance with the First
Nations and Métis of the community of Fort Chipewyan located downstream
of the tar sands development zone are looking for solutions to provide a
healthy sustaining community for their future generations. "The
sustainable future for First Nations in Alberta and Canada isn't going to
be sinking all our eggs into one of the dirtiest, most energy intensive
and destructive sources of oil on the planet," said Eriel Deranger,
Dene campaigner with the Rainforest Action Network, based in Edmonton.
"It's time we focus our efforts on building a clean sustainable
future with our people working in a safe, green energy
economy."

Full-Page Tar Sands Ad
in USA Today:

Obama, you'll never
guess who's standing between us and our new energy economy.”

Mikisew Cree and Athabasca
Chipewyan First Nations and ForestEthics run full page ad in USA Today
warning that tar sands are a human and environmental hazard; Stand in way
of America's new energy economy.

*B-roll and high-resolution stills of the Tar Sands are available to the
media upon request.

Vancouver/Toronto – The Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan First
Nations and environmental group ForestEthics have placed a full-page ad
in USA Today highlighting the human and environmental damage wrought by
Canada's Tar Sands.  

The unprecedented advertisement, which features an oil splattered map of
North America with oil oozing down from Canada into the United States,
comes just two days before President Obama's first trip to Canada, and it
makes an impassioned address to the new President.

View the ad here  - Click Image to download/view full size
ad.

“Both the federal and provincial governments have failed our
aboriginal community for the sake of money, for the sake of corporate
interests, and for the sake of increasing energy exports to the United
States. We are seeing disheartening toxicity levels in our animal life
and have now received confirmation of unacceptable cancer rates to people
in our community.  As a people who have been here for thousands of
years, we are sad that no one will listen and that government sits back
and issues denials and publicity campaigns without substance,” said Chief
Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.

Although the majority of Canada’s oil is destined for the U.S., most
Americans are unaware that Canada is their biggest supplier of oil. The
ad is part of a larger effort to raise awareness about the environmental
and human health impacts of the tar sands.

“This ad will raise awareness that dirty oil from Canada’s tar sands is
at odds with not only the clean energy future President Obama has
embraced, but also his commitment to enable vulnerable communities to get
ahead,” said Merran Smith, Director, Climate Program, ForestEthics.
“Green energy, means jobs and the human security that only a clean and
healthy environment can provide. Dirty Tar Sands oil truly is a ‘fossil’
fuel that has no place in North America’s green energy future.”

The Tar Sands are Canada’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas
emissions. ForestEthics is calling on the Canadian government to shift
towards a green energy economy as outlined by President Obama, who is
planning to invest four times more money per person in clean energy. And,
while North America transitions to renewable energy, actions need to be
taken to clean up the impacts of the Tar Sands on water, air, land and
communities.

First Nations sponsor
anti-oilsands ad in USA Today

EDMONTON ­ Aboriginals in northern
Alberta are trying to turn American opinion against the oilsands with a
full-page ad in the largest-circulation newspaper in the United
States.

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation
took out the ad in Tuesday's edition of USA Today [read more below]
because they feel federal and provincial regulators are not listening to
their concerns about the polluting energy source.

They joined forces with an American environmental group called
ForestEthics to place the ad, which shows an oil-spattered Canada
dripping oil onto the United States.

They say they hope the ad persuades U.S. President Barack Obama to ask
Canada to clean up its oilsands.

"President Obama," the ad reads, "you'll never guess who's
standing between us and our new energy economy . . . Canada's Tar Sands:
the dirtiest oil on earth."

George Poitras, a former chief of the Mikisew Cree, told a conference
call of American and Canadian journalists the degradation they've seen
over the last 30 years of their land, air and water is startling, given
they have inhabited these lands for thousands of years.

"Both the federal and provincial governments have failed our
aboriginal community for the sake of money, for the sake of corporate
interests, and for the sake of increasing energy exports to the United
States," said Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First
Nation.

"We are seeing disheartening toxicity levels in our animal life, and
have now received confirmation of unacceptable cancer rates to people in
our community. As a people who have been here for thousands of years, we
are sad that no one will listen, and that government sits back and issues
denials and publicity campaigns without substance."

There is growing awareness in the U.S. about how oilsands are developed,
said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of the Natural Resources Defense
Council's Canada program. People across the U.S. are saying they don't
need to be so dependent on oil supplies that either threaten their energy
security or cause severe environmental and public-health problems, she
said.

hbrooymans@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

IEN on APTN
Contact

The Indigenous Environmental
Network's Executive Director, Tom Goldtooth and IEN Canadian Indigenous
Tar Sands Organizer, Clayton Thomas-Muller joined George Poitras,
Industry and Govermental Consultation Coordinator of Mikisew Cree First
Nation and Ron Plain of Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Aboriginal Coordinator
of Environmental Defense Canada on the Aboriginal Peoples Television
Network of Canada's (APTN) call in show "Contact". The show was
doing a special report on the environment and First Nations in Canada.
Discussion was on Tar Sands, Water, Climate, Toxins and the health of our
Aboriginal Peoples and Land. APTN is Canada's 4th National broadcaster
and is seen in all Inuit, First Nations and Métis communities across the
Nation. (It also has big following of Non-Native Peoples across the
Nation that have cable) 

CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW
THE INTERVIEW ON THE IEN TAR SANDS PAGE!

For More on Tar
Sands!

IEN has assembled a comprehensive
collection of articles, video and other information on the human and
environmental impacts of tar sands operations in Canada.

Click here to view videos.

Click here to read articles.

CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER, 
CANADIAN INDIGENOUS TAR SANDS CAMPAIGN, 
INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK, 
OTTAWA (CELL) 218-760-6632, 
OFFICE (613) 789-5653; 

TOM GOLDTOOTH, 
INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK, USA 
(CELL) (218) 760-0442

Canada's Tar Sands:
the dirtiest oil on earth.

Text of USA Today Ad:

President Obama travels to Canada on February 19. We hope he'll
discuss his vision for a new energy future with leaders there. The US and
Canada can revive our economies, create green jobs, and build a better
future for our children.

This is the best path forward.

Right now, Canada is not on the path. Producing oil from Canada's Tar
Sands releases massive greenhouse gas emissions, contaminated fresh water
and fish, produces toxic waste and destroys vast forests along with their
birds and wildlife. And now, downstream indigenous communities are
suffering higher than normal rates of cancer.

Prime Minister Harper and the government of Alberta continue to turn a
blind eye to these problems.

Your voice Counts. Please let President Obama know that he should ask
Canada to clean up the Tar Sands.

Take action online today.
Visit

ForestEthics.org

The Indigenous Environmental Network • PO Box 485 • Bemidji , MN
56619

==========================================
Alex J. Sagady & Associates        http://www.sagady.com

Environmental Enforcement, Permit/Technical Review, Public Policy,
Expert Witness Review and Litigation Investigation on Air, Water and
Waste/Community Environmental and Resource Protection
Prospectus at:  http://www.sagady.com/sagady.pdf

657 Spartan Avenue,  East Lansing, MI  48823 
(517) 332-6971; ajs@sagady.com
==========================================