Activism

"Demonstrators fanned out across North America on Tuesday to demand the U.S. government halt or reroute the Dakota Access pipeline as the companies behind the controversial project asked a federal court for permission to complete it."

"Environmental groups, fresh off rejuvenating victories on the climate front, now face a political world aligned against them."

"The Army Corps of Engineers dealt a blow to the progress of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline on Monday, saying in a letter that more analysis and discussion with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe is needed before construction can take place under the Missouri River."

"Environmental groups are shifting into battle mode, preparing for inevitable policy fights with President-elect Donald Trump, his administration and the next GOP Congress."

"The trial in a lawsuit by a broad coalition of environmental groups seeking to force BNSF to cover its coal-train loads to prevent water pollution began Monday in federal court in Seattle."

"When the pope wrote in an encyclical last year that the Earth is “among the most abandoned and maltreated of the poor,” Myron Ebell immediately saw that as an opportunity to attack."

"The protests are about water, fossil fuels, and questions of tribal sovereignty. But beneath all that, tribes from across the US say they're unifying around revitalized Indian traditions and religion."

"In early August, just as protesters from across the country descended on North Dakota to rally against an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, some of the world’s biggest banks signed off on a $2.5 billion loan to help complete the sprawling project. Now, those banks — which include Citigroup and Wells Fargo of the United States, TD Bank of Canada and Mizuho of Japan — have come under fire for their role in bankrolling the pipeline."

"Lawyers for ExxonMobil have told a variety of non-governmental organizations to preserve all communications regarding climate change investigations with a sweeping array of other groups and individuals — including members of the press."

"BUNKERVILLE, Nev. — Less than a week after being acquitted at a trial over last winter’s armed occupation of an Oregon federal wildlife refuge, Nevada rancher Ryan Bundy said another protest action will be justified if President Obama goes ahead with plans to create a huge national monument abutting the Bundy family’s ranch here."