URGENT ALERT! Murphy Oil faced with Indigenous women’s blockade on fracking site.
sheila muxlow
Early tonight, numerous women from the Blood Nation have
courageously parked in front of Murphy Oil’s fracking development site vowing
not to move until plans of fracking for oil and gas are stopped. The women are part of the Kainai Earth
Watch and have been active advocates to stop the fracking due to the major
threat to human health, wildlife and livestock and the irreversible damage to
the land and water on the Blood Reserve and surrounding areas. They feel this
is the only choice left to them to stop the operations as plans for
construction begin tomorrow.
In late 2010, Kainaiwa Resources Inc. (KRI) quietly signed off on a deal with the Calgary-based junior mining company Bowood Energy and the U.S. company Murphy Oil. In exchange for the $50 Million, Bowood Energy and Murphy Oil gained a five-year lease to roughly 129, 280 acres, almost half of the Blood’s reserve, for oil and gas exploration.
Since that time local residents of the Blood Nation and
surrounding communities have come together to oppose the projects. Members of
the KaiNai Earth Watch have partnered with numerous community groups, including
the Lethbridge Council of Canadians, to host numerous educational workshops,
organize petitions, and meet with government officials. Despite their efforts,
nothing has been effective in actually preventing the fracking from going
ahead.
Plans of construction on 4 new fracking sites begin tomorrow. The women have vowed not to leave until they are confident the fracking won’t go ahead.
Show some Solidarity! **If you are interested in helping to support
this action please contact:
Louis Frank 403-795-7945
Mike Brucehead 403-737-2194
For a good backgrounder on the plans for fracking and the concerns with the impacts check out:
http://climate-connections.org/2011/03/14/blood-tribe-members-call-for-moratorium-on-hydro-fracking/
Media are encouraged to come on site
**Directions to the site:
Take Hwy #2 South, just after Standoff at the large Blue Co-op at the Blood Nation turn East. Follow the road 5 mins and you can’t miss it.
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Sincerely,
Sheila Muxlow
"When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better."
- Pauline K.
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Sincerely,
Sheila Muxlow
Executive Committee
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