Monday, Oct. 21 – At around 12:30pm, 10 protesters began a sit-in at the Allegheny County Courthouse, blocking the main hallway in County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s office suite. The protesters called on Fitzgerald to drop plans to open up Allegheny County Parks for fracking. The County Executive’s office is currently reviewing proposals from natural gas drilling companies to lease the oil and gas rights under Deer Lakes Park for fracking.

The sit-in is part of a day of action against dirty energy to culminate the Power Shift conference. Over a thousand supporters from Power Shift participated in an un-permitted march to the County Courthouse to support the sit-in, following a rally on the North Shore’s Allegheny Landing earlier this morning. The marchers arrived shortly after the sit-in began and filled the courthouse courtyard, with dozens joining the occupation of the County Executive’s office. No one was arrested.

“Fitzgerald is trying to cut a deal with the natural gas industry without seeking formal input from the residents of Allegheny County on this issue. There is no public participation process, so we have to create it and that’s what we’re doing today with this sit-in. We are bringing our message straight to Fitzgerald that the residents of Allegheny County do not want fracking in our parks.” said Ben Fiorillo of O’hara Township.

Keith Brunner of Rising Tide Vermont was part of the support rally, “We stand in solidarity with the Protect Our Parks campaign, knowing that this fight is part of a much larger movement against all forms of fossil fuel extraction which are devastating local communities and the climate.”

Opponents to the plan to frack the parks highlight the health and safety risks associated with shale gas development.

“This plan will bring many more wells to the Deer Lakes area, and with it heavy truck traffic, noise, stadium lighting, and air pollution, all of which will impact park-goers and nearby residents, whether the well pads are in the parks or not,” according to Jessica McPherson of Pittsburgh who also joined the sit-in.

The three lakes, which give Deer Lakes its name, are all fed by springs, which could also be impacted by fracking under the parks.

McPherson continued, “What I’m most worried about is that fracking under the park will contaminate the groundwater which feed these three lakes these lakes are a destination for hundreds of local residents. An accident like that could ruin this treasured fishing hole and expose park-goers to dangerous fracking chemicals.”

The day of action also included civil disobedience led by the Earth Quaker Action Team at PNC bank branches throughout the city, who are calling on the bank to stop financing mountaintop removal coal mining.

Helena, MT – On the morning of July 12th, six activists from Earth First! and Northern Rockies Rising Tide have risked arrest by occupying Governor Schweitzer’s office in an act of non-violent civil disobedience. The activists have locked their arms in a mock oil pipeline made out of PVC plastic pipe. In the wake of the Silvertip spill, Governor Schweitzer has publicly chastised Exxon Mobil, while simultaneously continuing to promote the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, megaload shipments bound for the Alberta Tar Sands and other extreme fossil fuel projects throughout the state.

“If the Governor has his way, Montana will be transformed into what is essentially an energy extraction colony for Big Oil. The Silvertip spill is simply a short preview of what this would mean for the lives and livelihood of all Montanans,” says Great Falls native Peter Dolan, one of the eight occupying the office.

Activists inside the Capitol are also demanding that Schweitzer stand up to TransCanada and other international criminal organizations by publicly opposing Alberta Tar Sands exportation. This project is widely known as the most destructive energy process on the planet by leading environmental organizations. According to a recent report by University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professor John Stansbury, neither TransCanada nor the regulators evaluating the proposed Keystone XL pipeline have properly considered the risks. Stansbury said TransCanada underestimated both the frequency of spills on the pipeline and the severity of the worst-case scenario spills.

“As the recent Exxon Mobil pipeline disaster has made clear, Governor Schweitzer is attempting to turn Montana into an extraction state, while at the same time publicly proclaiming his supposed support for clean energy, protecting the environment and building healthy communities. It’s one or the other. You can’t be clean and dirty at the same time,” according to Bozeman’s Erica Dossa, who also took part in the action.

Earth First! was named in 1979 in response to a lethargic, compromising and increasingly corporate environmental community. Earth First! takes a decidedly different approach towards environmental issues by using all the tools in the toolbox, ranging from grassroots organizing and involvement in the legal process to civil disobedience. Northern Rockies Rising Tide is the Missoula based chapter off the international, decentralized, grassroots movement Rising Tide. They are an all-volunteer network of groups and individuals who promote local, community-based solutions to the climate crisis and take direct actions to confront the root causes of climate change.

On April 20th, communities marked the 1-year anniversary of the start of the Gulf Oil spill. Across North America and as far as Helsinki and Wellington the destruction wrought by BP, Halliburton, TransOcean, and a complacent government was not just remembered, but resisted.

Equally important, Rising Tiders and our allies demonstrated to communities, energy companies, and government agencies that it’s not just this oil spills, but the toxic coal pollution, gruesome tar sands pits, the poisons of natural gas fracking, and many other types of extraction that poison people and the planet that must come to an end. A wrap up video is below:

This is just a partial list of communities that marked the anniversary with action:

Below are some photographic highlights! If you missed the day of action, there’s no better time then the present to get involved with the Rising Tide – a summer of action against dirty energy extraction and burning is right around the corner!

About seven members of Board Riders Against Drilling demonstrated what it would be like to swim in a sea covered in oil, in a national day of action commemorating the first anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

Co-founder and spokesman Dominico Zatata, from Mount Maunganui, said the day was an opportunity to highlight the issues surrounding offshore oil drilling and create public awareness and protest the action occurring in the Western Bay of Plenty.

On Wednesday, several dozen protesters marched through downtown Fort Worth, waving signs and chanting anti-drilling slogans that reflected concern over air and water pollution.

The anxiety centers on a recently expanded drilling method called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which is now used in more than half of new gas wells drilled in Texas. This practice — which involves blasting water, sand and chemicals far underground to break up rock and extract gas — is common in the Barnett Shale, a major shale-gas field around Fort Worth.

The protest, organized by the group Rising Tide North Texas, is the latest sign of a backlash against drilling in Texas. Yard signs saying “Get the Frack Out of Here” and “Protect Our Kids/No Drilling” have appeared in some yards in Southlake, a Dallas suburb. A few communities have declared a temporary moratorium on drilling permits, and Dallas set up a task force last week to examine drilling regulations within its city limits.

More than one-hundred people turned out in Wellington to protest against oil exploration off the east coast of New Zealand by Brazilian oil company Petrobras.

People from the East Cape Maori tribe, Te Whanau a Apanui, were supported by Maori from around the country, environmentalists, activists and concerned New Zealanders.

A large crowd of fishermen and concerned residents gathered beside the shrimp boat docks on Biloxi Bay Wednesday to mark the one year observance of the BP oil spill.

About 50 Vietnamese fishermen were a part of the group. They carried protest signs urging BP to restore the gulf and pay their damage claims.

Following on the massive sit-in at the Department of the Interior on Monday, activists in Washington DC joined collectives from around the country to take action today for the Rising Tide Day of Action against Extraction.

The activists tied a banner around the doors of the DC Government Affairs offices of British Petroleum to send them a message on the anniversary of the start of the Gulf disaster that corporate polluters will be held accountable.

The groups are demanding the closure of the plant just one day before the much-anticipated Clean Power Ordinance hearing, which could force the plant to undergo major modifications to upgrade their pollution controls.

LVEJO, Rising Tide andRAN Chicago are calling for the closure of Chicago’s two toxic coal-fired power plants, the Crawford plant in Little Village and the Fisk plant in Pilsen, both owned by Midwest Generation. These two plants are Chicago’s largest sources of particulate air pollution. In the last three years alone, these plants combined have spewed over 45,000 tons of pollution into the air, compromising the health of all Chicagoans.

Day of Action Photos from Gisborne, New Zealand (where Petrobras is currently exploring for deep sea oil & gas)

Cascadia Rising Tide protest in Hood River Oregon in opposition to shipments of drilling and refining equipment up the Columbia river for use at the Alberta Tar Sands.

Wednesday (20 April) artists from art activist group Liberate Tate are staging a performance in the Tate Britain on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days.

A naked member of the group has had an oil-like substance poured over him by silent figures dressed in black and wearing veils, and is now lying in a fetal position on the floor in the middle of the exhibition Single Form. Dedicated to the human body, Single Form is one of a series of ‘BP British Art Displays’ staged throughout the galleries of Tate Britain.

Attendees of the “ Gulf Coast Leadership Summit” received a pleasant surprise this morning upon hearing a representative from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announce a ban on toxic dispersants — as well as a free health care plan for spill and cleanup victims. Even more surprising: a BP co-presenter expressed regret for his company’s past actions, and said the oil giant would foot the bill for the new health care plan.

But the news was too good to be true. Surprise turned to confusion when an intensely irate BP representative barged into the room and interrupted the press conference. Comedy ensued as the two reps pointed fingers at each other, each claiming to be the real BP employee. Members of the press, confused, attempted to discover who was real and who wasn’t.

The answer was: except for the audience, everyone was a fake. The impostors Dr. Dean Winkeldom and Steve Wistwil, both Gulf Coast residents, collaborated with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an organization whose goal is to create sustainable communities free from industrial pollution. The organization decided to create a hoax to publicize what should be happening in response to the emerging health crisis.

Over 50 people braved sub-zero temperatures and pouring rain to become a lively torrent of ‘human oil’ rushing through downtown streets today, forcing wildlife and residents to flee for their survival and Enbridge workers to scramble to save their public image. The large-scale street performance, organized by Climate Justice Montreal, dramatized the hidden dangers of pipeline construction and dirty oil extraction.

The pipeline breach occured at approximately 12:30 pm at the corner of Sherbrooke and McGill College. A sea of human beings dressed in black garbage bags and covered in sticky crude rushed southwards crying chants of “This Bullshit, Get Off It, Planet Over Profit” and “D-I-R-T-Y Enbridge Got No Alibi, They’re Pipeline’s are DIRTY!” As the crowd moved on, the spill only gained in intensity as the dragon spewed balloons full of sticky crude in its trail.

A PR team in Enbridge outfits rushed ahead of the torrent trying to downplay the dangers of the oncoming tide with statements such as “there is nothing to worry about here,” “Enbridge has only the highest standards in safety monitoring and control,” and “please return to your energy-intensive lifestyles.” This time, Enbridge’s campaign of greenwashing could not keep the human and environmental costs of their pipelines out of the public eye.

In fact, organizers brought attention to Enbridge’s track-record of failing to protect the environment and ensure the safety of communities. “Just last year, an Enbridge pipeline spilled 20,000 barrels of oil into rivers in Michigan. We don’t want that to happen here,” said Robin Reid Fraser, a member of Climate Justice Montreal. The group is targeting Canadian energy giant Enbridge in opposition to its proposed Trailbreaker pipeline project which plans to bring 200,000 barrels/day of Alberta tar sands crude through Montreal.