<+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+>
 

From: Bonnie White <oakridge@gorge.net>
To: <<clipped>>
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 11:34:30 -0800
 

For Immediate Release                                                           February 28, 2000

Contact: Columbia Gorge Audubon Society, Dennis White, 509-493-3891

Enron Wind Energy Development in the Columbia Gorge Threatens Critical Wildlife Habitat and Endangered Species

Campaign Launched to Raise Public Awareness over Enron's Plans and Environmental Impact
 

The Enron Corporation, has purchased leases to thousands of acres on the Columbia Hills, in the Columbia River Gorge.  The EIS,  prepared for the project site, documented over 40 special-status plant and animal species on or near the project area, (including the threatened and endangered Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon); 8 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Priority Habitats; and 9 high-quality native plant communities some reduced to 5% of their historic range.  "Few areas in the Northwest can match the biodiversity of the Columbia Hills" said Dennis White, Conservation Chair for the Columbia Gorge Audubon Society.

Wind turbines kill raptors!  Approximately 40 Golden Eagles and 300 other raptors are killed each year at the Altamont wind energy site in California.  The Columbia Hills are an important breeding and wintering area for many raptor species, including Golden and Bald Eagles, Peregrine and Prairie Falcons, and Ferruginous and Swainson's Hawks, most of which are in decline.  To protect these magnificent birds of prey, National Audubon Society recently designated the Columbia Hills an Important Bird Area under its national Important Bird Area Program.

Commercial wind farms are huge industrial complexes: row upon row of giant 200-300 foot towers and turbines.  A landscape under such placement is in constant motion and filled with horrendous noise.  Each turbine must be accessed by roads and linked by electrical lines that lead to erosion.  Turbines must be oiled, greased, and cleaned with solvents that lead to soil contamination.  Such a complex causes habitat loss, disruption and fragmentation.

Audubon has asked Enron to join in a cooperative wind energy facility placement planning process so that a predictable and successful climate for development can be created.  Planning will help to avoid conflict with natural and cultural resources.  Enron has not responded.  White said: "We lost our Columbia River Salmon to renewable energy.  Thoughtful placement and design of hydro facilities would have helped save the world's greatest anadromous fishery."

Enron is lobbying hard for deregulation of the utilities industry and wants a trickle of renewable energy to green up their gas and oil portfolio to gain market share in markets opening up from deregulation.  Columbia Hills wind power would be sold as clean "green" energy.   "Wind energy that destroys critical wildlife habitat and kills threatened and endangered species is not green--It is black, dirty, and destructive!" White said.

To raise public awareness about the impacts of wind energy on wildlife, cultural and scenic resources in the Columbia River Gorge, the Columbia Gorge Audubon Society is hosting three internationally known speakers, Cascade-Klickitat Chief, Johnny Jackson; Tom Goldtooth, National Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network; and Bradley Angel, Executive Director of Greenaction, at a fundraising salmon bake dinner at St. Marks Lutheran Church, SE 54th and Powell, Portland, OR, Monday, February 28, 6-9 p.m.  Tickets are $5 - 20 at the door.   They will appear again at a Rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Broadway and Yamhill, on February 29, at noon.

-----------------------------------------------

                      CALL FOR ACTION!

For Immediate Release                February 25, 2000

Contact: Dennis or Bonnie White, Columbia Gorge Audubon Society (509)
493-3891 or Kay Bridge at KBOO Radio (503) 231-8032 or Tom Goldtooth (218)
760-0442

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO SUPPORT TRIBAL ELDERS
IN EFFORT TO PROTECT SACRED SITE BEING THREATENED BY ENRON ENERGY
CORPORATION WIND POWER DEVELOPMENT

Transnational Enron Corporation Lends Deaf Ears to the Plea of Tribal
Elders and Yakama Tribe to Respect a Sacred Site in the Columbia Gorge of
Oregon - Washington.

Members of the international Indigenous Environmental Network, Indigenous
Support Coalition of Oregon and Greenaction of San Francisco are preparing
to join local tribal elders, community members, local non-Native citizens,
the Audubon Society and tribal leaders of the Yakama Nation in their fight
to protect sacred lands in the Columbia Gorge from development.  "Our
network is standing in full support of the Yakama Nation in their stance to
protect traditional lands along the Columbia River Gorge that have been in
their care for time immemorial," says Tom Goldtooth, director of IEN and a
nationally known leader in the environmental justice movement.

"We are putting out a call for action for all people of Oregon and
Washington to stand in support of elders like Johnny Jackson, Hereditary
Chief of the Yakama Band of Cascade-Klickitat.  He has been fighting this
industrial goliath called Enron Corporation that have completely ignored
their requests to not disturb their sacred sites", says Goldtooth.   Texas
natural gas giant, Enron Corporation, has purchased leases to thousands of
acres on the Columbia Hills, in the Columbia River Gorge.  Enron
corporation's stated plans are to use the land leases to generate "green"
wind energy.  Hereditary Chief Johnny Jackson says, "Energy cannot be
"green" when it is generated at the expense of sacred sites that are dear
to our people and our beliefs.  I am also concerned about the impact this
will have on our habitat and threatened and endangered species."

Bradley Angel, Executive Director of Greenaction, and members of the
Indigenous Support Coalition will be accompanying IEN, tribal leaders and
local citizens in addressing Enron Corporation's energy development at a
fundraising salmon bake dinner at St. Marks Lutheran Church, SE 58th and
Powell, Portland, Oregon, Monday, February 28, 6-9 p.m.

A call for action has been issued for all concerned people to come to a
rally at the Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland on February 29,
at noon.

The area, located near Celilo Falls and the confluence of the Columbia
River with the John Day and Deschutes Rivers is renowned for its
environmental, scenic and is culturally and historical significant to both
Native and non-Native people. The Columbia Hills has recently been
designated an "Important Birds Area" under National Audubon Society's IBA
program.
 
 

Indigenous Environmental Network
P.O. Box 485
Bemidji, Minnesota 56619-0485  USA
Phone (218) 751-4967
Fax (218) 751-0561
email: ien@igc.org
Internet Web Site: http://www.alphacdc.com/ien

"An alliance of Indigenous Peoples empowering Indigenous communities
towards sustainable livelihoods, environmental protection of our lands,
water, air and maintaining the sacred Fire of our traditions."
 

<+>=<+>
Information Pages: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
Online Petition: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net
Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm
<+>=<+>
if you want to be removed from the KOLA
Email Newslist, just send us a message with
"unsub" in the subject or text body
<+>=<+>