The Achilles Heel of the
Fossil Fuel Monster
DR. ZOLTÁN GROSSMAN
Professor of Geography / Native Studies,
The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz
Native Resistance:
Capping the Expansion
of Fossil Fuels
Native Peoples most affected by
• Fossil fuel development
• Climate change by fossil fuels
• Mitigation of climate change
But Native peoples possess…
• Cultural-ecological knowledge
• Political sovereignty
• Sense of community
Oil in Ecuador
• Ecuador 2nd largest
S. America producer
– 70% of exports
• Drilling in
Amazon rainforest
Opposition to oil
companies
• Construction of roads,
pipelines on Indian lands
• Displacement of Indigenous,
deforestation
• Oil leaks into rivers larger
than Valdez spill
• Indigenous lawsuits,
armed occupations
Oil and Repesssion
in Colombia
Native Resistance in Colombia
U’wa vs.
Occidental Petroleum
Oil in Niger
Delta region, Nigeria
Homeland of Ogoni,
Ijaw groups
Soldiers as
Gas flaring
company security
hazards
Oil spills in
mangrove swamp
Ogoni environmental & women’s protests
The New “Great Game”:
Oil & Gas Pipelines
from Caspian Basin
COAL
Fossilized, condensed
carbon-rich fuel
10 X reserves of oil/gas,
last 200 years at present rate
United
States
China
Coal mines
Surface (strip) mine,
Western U.S.
Underground (shaft) mine,
Eastern U.S.
Coal cheaper,
but polluting
Much Eastern U.S. coal has
high-sulfur content,
more expensive to mine
Much Western U.S. coal has
low-sulfur content,
cheaper to mine
But mining in semi-arid West
more damaging to land.
1872 Mining Law allows leasing
of public land sfor ~$1/ton
(industry heavily subsidized)
Effects on health
• Black Lung Disease
(miners)
• Respiratory illnesses
(public)
Effects on land
• Coal sludge releases
• Hardpan at strip mines
• Mountaintop removal
• Huge water use
– Slurry pipelines
Effects on air
• Greenhouse gases
– 3/4 sulfur dioxide
– 1/3 nitrogen oxides
– 1/2 carbon dioxide
• Toxics
– Mercury
– Uranium
Acid rain
Mining on Native
American Lands
• Reservations do have resources
– Were assumed to be “wastelands,”
but have minerals, etc., esp. Southwest
• Live in sparsely populated areas
– “National Sacrifice Areas” (NAS 1973)
SORRY TO TELL YOU
THIS, BUT IT SEEMS
WE ACCIDENTALLY
SETTLED YOU ON A
COAL DEPOSIT
Peabody
Black Mesa coal mines
on Navajo/Hopi lands
Powder River Basin
Northern Cheyenne
opposed to coal mining in
SE Montana/NE Wyoming
Joined by white ranchers in
Tongue River Valley, MT
Proposals to open new mines
to provide coal to Asian
markets, shipping coal by rail
to new Northwest terminals.
“China’s Toxic Sky,” The Atlantic (1/30/13)
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/chinas-toxic-sky/100449
Shipping:
The Achilles Heel
of the Fossil Fuel Monster
Coal Trains & Terminals
Shipments of coal from Montana
Wyoming threaten crops & health
with coal dust.
Lummi Nation opposes Cherry
Point Terminal on sacred burial
site, salmon reef netting site,
herring spawning ground
Coal export plan would
release more GHG than
Keystone XL pipeline
Unlikely Alliances
Treaty conflicts and environmental cooperation
between Native American and rural white communities
Native collaboration with white farmers, ranchers and fishers is
strongest where the tribes most strongly asserted their treaty rights
Oil drilling
Oklahoma Native lands
stolen for oil; Tribes
saw little profit
Sea exploration off
Nova Scotia, etc.
Gwich’in (Athabascan) tribe fears
for Caribou calving area in Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~gwichin
Exxon Valdez spill, Alaska 1989
BP spill, Louisiana 2010
If in WA:
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
Alberta Tar Sands
Tar sands in northern
Alberta (Canada);
Largest development
project in North America
Air quality in northern Alberta
project area as bad as Beijing;
local Cree and Métis affected
Alberta Tar Sands
Indigenous Environmental Network:
“We Speak for Ourselves”
www.ienearth.org
Greenpeace
Proposed Oil
Pipelines
from Alberta
First Nations
forbid Enbridge
Pipeline in BC
Keystone
equipment
blockade at
Pine Ridge
“Heavy Haul” to Alberta
“Heavy Haul” from Port of
Olympia to North Dakota
Kandi Mossett of
Fort Berthold Reservation
(Arikara/Mandan/Hidatsa)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ZSEEHt6FhbA
Fraccidents
Sea-level rise

Olympia city government map
that overlays a 22-feet tidal elevation
on downtown. This figure reflects
a moderate sea-level rise of only
4 feet over the FEMA-projected
100-year flood level.
Info: http://www.lightblueline.org
Blue Line March marks future
Olympia shoreline
Oct. 24, 2009
(350: International Day
of Climate Action)
r. Zoltán Grossman,
D
Faculty member in Geography /
Native American Studies,
The Evergreen State College,
Lab 1 3012, 2700 Evergreen
Parkway NW
Olympia, WA 98505 USA
Phone: (360) 867-6153
grossmaz@evergreen.edu
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/gr
ossmaz
Climate Change Project:
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/gr
ossmaz/climate.html
Ta’Kaiya Blaney (Sliammon), Coast Salish Nation