At Risk: Troy Davis is about to be killed by the state of Georgia, but he may be innocent | Amnesty International Canada - Protecting Individuals at Risk
The state of Georgia is preparing to execute a man despite serious doubts that remain about his guilt.
A Georgia judge has signed a death warrant in the case of Troy Davis, authorizing the state to execute him in the week of 21 to 28 September. Doubts persist about Troy Davis’ guilt in the crime for which he was sentenced to death two decades ago.
The county judge signed the death warrant of Troy Davis on 6 September. The Georgia Department of Corrections will set the actual date and time for the execution. The Department’s usual strategy is to set it on the first day authorized under the warrant, in this case 21 September.
Troy Davis was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia in 1989. No physical evidence directly links him to the murder – no murder weapon was ever found. The case against Troy Davis primarily rested on witness testimony. Since his trial, seven of nine key witnesses have recanted or changed their testimony, some alleging police coercion.
In 2009, the US Supreme Court ordered a federal evidentiary hearing to review Troy Davis’ innocence claim. At the 2010 hearing, US District Court Judge William Moore addressed whether Troy Davis could show “by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable juror would have convicted him in the light of the new evidence” that had emerged since his 1991 murder trial. Under this “extraordinarily high” standard, Judge Moore wrote in his August 2010 opinion, “Mr Davis is not innocent”. Elsewhere in his ruling, he acknowledged that the new evidence presented by Troy Davis cast “some additional, minimal” doubt on his conviction, and that the state’s case was not “ironclad”. In 1991, the jury had found Troy Davis guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt,” Judge Moore noted, “but not to a mathematical certainty”.
In 2007 Troy Davis was less than 24 hours from execution when the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles issued a stay. The Board said that it would not allow an execution to go ahead “unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused”. Since then Troy Davis has faced two more execution dates, both in 2008, which were stayed by the courts
Saturday
Stunner: NJ Gov Met With Pollutocrat Koch Before Pulling Out of Successful Carbon Pollution Reduction Program
Christie Stunner: NJ Gov Met With Pollutocrat Koch Before Pulling Out of Successful Carbon Pollution Reduction Program
In late May, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced he was pulling his state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, explaining that it was "not working." Now a stunning tape of a secret meeting between Christie and Charles Koch sheds light on the governor's inexplicable decision to abandon a program that was not only cutting pollution, but was funding clean energy and, as it turns out, reducing New Jersey's budget gap.
David Koch, introducing Christie: Five months ago we met in my New York City office and spoke -- just the two of us -- for about two hours on his objectives and successes in correcting many of the most serious problems of the New Jersey state government. At the end of our conversation, I said to myself, "I'm really impressed and inspired by this man. He is my kind of guy."
Koch is the biggest funder of climate disinformation in the country, a billionaire pollutocrat who pulls the string of the Tea Party, which in turn is driving the country to a ruined economy and an unlivable climate. And Christie is his kind of guy. You can see why they wanted to keep this behind closed doors.
Koch has more to say on his budding bromance:
Another example of Governor Christie's commitment to the free enterprise system is that only a few weeks ago he announced that New Jersey would be withdrawing from the [Regional] Greenhouse Gas Initiative which is a [cheers and applause], which would have raised energy costs, reduced economic growth and led to very little, if any, benefit for the environment. [A 'boo' is heard.]
Yes, Christie showed his "commitment to the free enterprise system" by pulling out of a market-based system invented by Republicans and economists, championed by President George H. W. Bush, and originally supported at a regional level by GOP Governors like Pataki of New York.
At the time of Christie's move, people monitoring RGGI were baffled. The program had raised tens of millions of dollars for clean energy projects without noticeably raising rates. But after acknowledging that climate change was real and then raiding $65 million from the program in order to close a budget gap, Christie actually had the gall to say the program was "gimmicky."
But now the reasons for Christie's awkwardly hypocritical stance on RGGI are becoming more clear. Perhaps the program wasn't "working" for the Koch Brothers, the oil billionaires who have spent of millions of dollars trying to tear down cap and trade and any other programs related to clean energy?
Friday
HRW: Tunisia: Government Lifts Restrictions on Women’s Rights Treaty
Tunisia: Government Lifts Restrictions on Women’s Rights Treaty | Human Rights WatchNadya Khalife, Middle East women’s rights researcher
(Beirut) ─ Tunisia’s lifting of key reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is an important step toward gender equality, Human Rights Watch said today. The Tunisian government should next ensure that all domestic laws conform to international standards and eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, Human Rights Watch said.
Tunisiais the first country in the region to withdraw all of its specific reservations to the treaty. These reservations had enabled it to opt out of certain provisions even though it had ratified the treaty.
The Tunisian Council of Ministers adopted a draft decree on August 16, 2011, to lift the reservations. “Many of the reservations limited women’s equality within their families, and their removal finally recognizes that women are equal partners in marriage and in making decisions about their children,” said Nadya Khalife, Middle East women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Tunisian government, by lifting major reservations to CEDAW, is proclaiming its commitment to advance women’s rights.”
The August 16 decree lifts all reservations except a general declaration that Tunisia“shall not take any organizational or legislative decision in conformity with the requirements of this Convention where such a decision would conflict with the provisions of Chapter I of the Tunisian Constitution.” Chapter I establishes Islam as the state religion. This declaration should also be removed, as no state should use its own constitution as an excuse for not complying with international standards, Human Rights Watch said. But Tunisia has not used the declaration to attempt to justify maintaining laws or practices that violate CEDAW, Human Rights Watch said.
The convention was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. It defines what constitutes discrimination against women and establishes an action plan for nations to use to end such discrimination. Some states parties have entered reservations to the treaty, to keep from having to apply certain provisions.
The Tunisian reservations concerned treaty requirements to provide equality to women in family matters. These include passing on their nationality to their children, rights and responsibilities in marriage and divorce, matters relating to children and guardianship, personal rights for husbands and wives with regard to family name and occupation, and ownership of property. CEDAW provides for full equality for women in all these matters.
Although Tunisia has one of the most progressive personal status codes in the region, the code still contains discriminatory provisions. Women are denied an equal share of an inheritance, for example. Brothers, and sometimes other male family members, such as cousins, are legally entitled to a greater share. Article 58 of the personal status code gives judges the discretion to grant custody to either the mother or the father based on the best interests of the child, but prohibits allowing a mother to have her children live with her if she has remarried. No such restriction applies to fathers....
Tunisia is the first country in the region to lift all specific reservations to CEDAW. Tunisia is also one of only two countries in the Middle East/North Africa region to adopt the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, which entitles individuals or groups of individuals to submit complaints on women’s rights violations to the CEDAW Committee.
However, Tunisia is one of only four members of the African Union that have refused to sign, let alone ratify, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). Tunisia made reservations to some of the Charter’s clauses related to marriage.
“Tunisia has proven itself a leader on women’s rights in the region, and we hope it will set an example to other countries as the calls for reform sweep the Middle East and North Africa, Khalife said. “To ensure that it continues this leadership on gender equality, Tunisia should also sign and ratify the Maputo Protocol.”
Tunisiais the first country in the region to withdraw all of its specific reservations to the treaty. These reservations had enabled it to opt out of certain provisions even though it had ratified the treaty.
The Tunisian Council of Ministers adopted a draft decree on August 16, 2011, to lift the reservations. “Many of the reservations limited women’s equality within their families, and their removal finally recognizes that women are equal partners in marriage and in making decisions about their children,” said Nadya Khalife, Middle East women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Tunisian government, by lifting major reservations to CEDAW, is proclaiming its commitment to advance women’s rights.”
The August 16 decree lifts all reservations except a general declaration that Tunisia“shall not take any organizational or legislative decision in conformity with the requirements of this Convention where such a decision would conflict with the provisions of Chapter I of the Tunisian Constitution.” Chapter I establishes Islam as the state religion. This declaration should also be removed, as no state should use its own constitution as an excuse for not complying with international standards, Human Rights Watch said. But Tunisia has not used the declaration to attempt to justify maintaining laws or practices that violate CEDAW, Human Rights Watch said.
The convention was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. It defines what constitutes discrimination against women and establishes an action plan for nations to use to end such discrimination. Some states parties have entered reservations to the treaty, to keep from having to apply certain provisions.
The Tunisian reservations concerned treaty requirements to provide equality to women in family matters. These include passing on their nationality to their children, rights and responsibilities in marriage and divorce, matters relating to children and guardianship, personal rights for husbands and wives with regard to family name and occupation, and ownership of property. CEDAW provides for full equality for women in all these matters.
Although Tunisia has one of the most progressive personal status codes in the region, the code still contains discriminatory provisions. Women are denied an equal share of an inheritance, for example. Brothers, and sometimes other male family members, such as cousins, are legally entitled to a greater share. Article 58 of the personal status code gives judges the discretion to grant custody to either the mother or the father based on the best interests of the child, but prohibits allowing a mother to have her children live with her if she has remarried. No such restriction applies to fathers....
Tunisia is the first country in the region to lift all specific reservations to CEDAW. Tunisia is also one of only two countries in the Middle East/North Africa region to adopt the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, which entitles individuals or groups of individuals to submit complaints on women’s rights violations to the CEDAW Committee.
However, Tunisia is one of only four members of the African Union that have refused to sign, let alone ratify, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). Tunisia made reservations to some of the Charter’s clauses related to marriage.
“Tunisia has proven itself a leader on women’s rights in the region, and we hope it will set an example to other countries as the calls for reform sweep the Middle East and North Africa, Khalife said. “To ensure that it continues this leadership on gender equality, Tunisia should also sign and ratify the Maputo Protocol.”
HRW: Secret Documents Discovered in Libya - Bush & Torture Rendition
Secret Intelligence Documents Discovered in Libya | Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch discovered in Tripoli tens of thousands of archived documents containing evidence of crimes – such as the US and UK governments’ complicity in torture – committed during Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s rule
The documents were found in the office of Musa Kusa, Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief. We viewed several hundred documents and photographed about 300, but didn’t remove any. We have been working with Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) to secure the building, keeping the documents safe so they can be used as evidence in court. We continue to scour Tripoli for more documents, trying to ensure that archives are secure.
Among the files were documents confirming that both the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the United Kingdom’s MI6 sent terrorism suspects to Libya for detention – despite Libya’s notorious record for torturing prisoners.
The CIA communications that we saw were drafted while George W. Bush was president and included information like flight schedules and lists of questions to be asked of suspects. They also established that the CIA sent agents to interrogate suspects in Libyan custody.
This confirms Human Rights Watch’s earlier findings of US and UK complicity in the torture of suspects in foreign countries, published in 2004. The US says it has not transferred any detainees to Libya since 2007.
The documents were found in the office of Musa Kusa, Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief. We viewed several hundred documents and photographed about 300, but didn’t remove any. We have been working with Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) to secure the building, keeping the documents safe so they can be used as evidence in court. We continue to scour Tripoli for more documents, trying to ensure that archives are secure.
Among the files were documents confirming that both the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the United Kingdom’s MI6 sent terrorism suspects to Libya for detention – despite Libya’s notorious record for torturing prisoners.
The CIA communications that we saw were drafted while George W. Bush was president and included information like flight schedules and lists of questions to be asked of suspects. They also established that the CIA sent agents to interrogate suspects in Libyan custody.
This confirms Human Rights Watch’s earlier findings of US and UK complicity in the torture of suspects in foreign countries, published in 2004. The US says it has not transferred any detainees to Libya since 2007.
Thursday
Title Fight at Cohen Commission: Morton vs. Industry-Government Juggernaut
Title Fight at Cohen Commission: Morton vs. Industry-Government Juggernaut
Alexandra Morton finally takes the stand at the Cohen commission regarding the coverup of fish farms and disease by the Harper government and investors.
Yesterday, on the penultimate day of the Cohen Commission's hearings on aquaculture and diseases, Alexandra Morton finally took the stand. To say the event lived up to its billing is an understatement, as the Inquiry often characterized by technocratic tedium was jolted to life in its final rounds.
At the heart of the conflict lay the pattern of breathtaking industry-government collusion and secrecy that has characterized the aquaculture issue for decades - to a degree even I didn't fully fathom until now.
Joining Morton and Living Oceans Society's Catherine Stewart (who acquitted herself admirably) on the stand were two industry reps: Clare Backman, Director of Sustainability for Marine Harvest (now there's an oxymoron), and Mia Parker, formerly of Grieg Seafoods, but now of DFO.
as Alexandra says:
Thank you all for the flood of email support. I will do my best to bring the issues to light, but it will be up to you and society in general to decide if salmon farm feedlots should remain on the Fraser sockeye migration routes, whether you want to know if there are brain tumours in the Fraser sockeye and whether salmon farm-origin viruses were responsible for the majority of Fraser sockeye that went missing.
The European shareholders of this industry need to consider the ethics of the situation here in BC (as well).
Alexandra Morton finally takes the stand at the Cohen commission regarding the coverup of fish farms and disease by the Harper government and investors.
Yesterday, on the penultimate day of the Cohen Commission's hearings on aquaculture and diseases, Alexandra Morton finally took the stand. To say the event lived up to its billing is an understatement, as the Inquiry often characterized by technocratic tedium was jolted to life in its final rounds.
At the heart of the conflict lay the pattern of breathtaking industry-government collusion and secrecy that has characterized the aquaculture issue for decades - to a degree even I didn't fully fathom until now.
Joining Morton and Living Oceans Society's Catherine Stewart (who acquitted herself admirably) on the stand were two industry reps: Clare Backman, Director of Sustainability for Marine Harvest (now there's an oxymoron), and Mia Parker, formerly of Grieg Seafoods, but now of DFO.
as Alexandra says:
Thank you all for the flood of email support. I will do my best to bring the issues to light, but it will be up to you and society in general to decide if salmon farm feedlots should remain on the Fraser sockeye migration routes, whether you want to know if there are brain tumours in the Fraser sockeye and whether salmon farm-origin viruses were responsible for the majority of Fraser sockeye that went missing.
The European shareholders of this industry need to consider the ethics of the situation here in BC (as well).
Tuesday
System Change not Climate Change
systemchange.ca | System Change not Climate Change
A new project by the Council of Canadians about raising awareness and transforming this awareness into action. The project aims to inspire collective actions to advance climate justice in communities across Canada and the world.
A new project by the Council of Canadians about raising awareness and transforming this awareness into action. The project aims to inspire collective actions to advance climate justice in communities across Canada and the world.
Tar sands: ‘Canada will be the next locus for civil disobedience’, says Bill McKibben
NEWS: ‘Canada will be the next locus for civil disobedience’, says Bill McKibben
Between August 20 and September 3, there were 1252 people arrested outside the White House for taking part in a non-violent civil disobedience action calling on US President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
The Globe and Mail reports, “Organizers (against the pipeline) decided they needed to be louder and chose civil disobedience.” (see Say NO to Tar Sands)
- “Bill McKibben, founder of environmental group 350.org, said civil disobedience would be employed again against Keystone on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 26, and during the final months in the U.S. ahead of Mr. Obama’s decision. ‘We need to find a different currency to work in and for the past two weeks that currency was our bodies,’ said Mr. McKibben. ‘The odds, I suppose, remain against us but we’ll continue to use our wits, creativity and our bodies. Canada will be the next locus for civil disobedience.’”
- “Naomi Klein, activist author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine, was also arrested for the first time. ‘Ever since the climate talks collapsed in Copenhagen, there’s been more and more talk that non-violent civil disobedience is going to have to be really resurrected as a mass tactic,’ said Ms. Klein. ‘A lot of the people arrested are the types who have gone to all of the UN summits and played by the rules. We’re watching the process go backwards. These are people really immersed in climate science and feel a tremendous sense of urgency.’”
Klein told CTV, “By getting arrested they are sending a message we really mean it. We care about this we are willing to get a record for this.”
Between August 20 and September 3, there were 1252 people arrested outside the White House for taking part in a non-violent civil disobedience action calling on US President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
The Globe and Mail reports, “Organizers (against the pipeline) decided they needed to be louder and chose civil disobedience.” (see Say NO to Tar Sands)
- “Bill McKibben, founder of environmental group 350.org, said civil disobedience would be employed again against Keystone on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 26, and during the final months in the U.S. ahead of Mr. Obama’s decision. ‘We need to find a different currency to work in and for the past two weeks that currency was our bodies,’ said Mr. McKibben. ‘The odds, I suppose, remain against us but we’ll continue to use our wits, creativity and our bodies. Canada will be the next locus for civil disobedience.’”
- “Naomi Klein, activist author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine, was also arrested for the first time. ‘Ever since the climate talks collapsed in Copenhagen, there’s been more and more talk that non-violent civil disobedience is going to have to be really resurrected as a mass tactic,’ said Ms. Klein. ‘A lot of the people arrested are the types who have gone to all of the UN summits and played by the rules. We’re watching the process go backwards. These are people really immersed in climate science and feel a tremendous sense of urgency.’”
Klein told CTV, “By getting arrested they are sending a message we really mean it. We care about this we are willing to get a record for this.”
Opponent of Canadian mine in Colombia killed
NEWS: Opponent of Canadian mine in Colombia killed
EWS:By Brent Patterson, Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
More info: Grahame Russell, Rights Action, 011 502 4955-3634, info@rightsaction.org
The Independent Catholic News reports, “Father Jose Reinel Restrepo Idairraga was killed by unknown assailants…on Thursday, 1 September…in Colombia. …Father Restrepo was 36 years old…and since 2009 was pastor in Marmato, where he was appreciated and respected by the locals because of his commitment to the poor. The authorities have begun investigating the case to determine whether the reason for the priest’s killing was mugging or if there is any other reason. This area of Colombia is well-known because about 80 percent of the population of Marmato works in gold mining.”
In a video posted to YouTube just days before his murder, Father Restrepo spoke against an open pit gold mine proposed by Toronto-based Medoro Resources (which recently merged with another Canadian company, Gran Colombia Gold Corp). Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper reports, “The priest had spent the past two years in Marmato where he had opposed the moving of the town, a possibility that has been considered if the mining company Gran Colombia Gold mines its open pit project.”
The Marmato Project: As noted on their website, “Medoro Resources Ltd. is a gold exploration, development and mining company with a primary emphasis on Colombia. Medoro owns most of the prolific Marmato gold district and the producing Mineros Nacionales underground gold mine located in Zona Baja at Marmato. The Company is conducting an exploration and infill drilling program at its Marmato Project to expand and upgrade its already substantial gold resources there as the basis for its plan to develop a large open pit gold mine to realize the large potential of the Marmato Project. The Company’s Marmato Project currently hosts measured and indicated gold resources of approximately 6.6 million ounces, and an inferred resource of approximately 3.2 million ounces.”
‘Economic Forced Displacement’: The company’s website also notes, ” In October 2009, Medoro acquired the Zona Alta license through its share purchase of Colombia Goldfields Ltd.” A March 2008 article in The Dominion by Micheál Ó Tuathail of Edmonton’s La Chiva collective reports, “Five years ago, (Marmato’s) roots were shaken when the CompañÃa Mineras de Caldas, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Colombia Goldfields Limited, began its project of consolidating ownership of the mountain, leading to what many call the ‘economic forced displacement’ of Marmato and the social eradication of a working community. …(An article in El Colombiano) claims that an open-pit gold mine at Marmato would be ‘one of the largest in South America’, requiring the removal of ‘between 30,000 and 60,000 tonnes of earth daily in order to produce 250,000 ounces of gold annually.’ The operation would exploit in 20 years what small miners could in 200.”
Water: The Dominion article adds, “While small mining practices are notorious for their use of harmful chemicals such as cyanide, open-pit mines are environmental disaster zones, according to critics, who say they bring limited short-term employment and leave behind gigantic holes in the ground where communities once lived.” A Colombia Goldfields media release from February 2007 says, “The first detailed water monitoring ever undertaken at Marmato was completed in December 2006 at 18 locations in three creeks and two locations on the Cauca River. The sampling was a joint effort with Corpocaldas, the State Environmental Agency responsible for the Environment in the Department of Caldas. Due to unregulated discharge from the mills and the lack of any tailings disposal facilities at Marmato, cyanide levels are toxic in all locations and the amount of suspended solids is many times above acceptable levels.”
also -
Maude Barlow to visit Goldcorp mine in Guatemala
Tomorrow, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow will be visiting the controversial Canadian-owned Marlin mine in the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, which is located about 300 kilometres north of Guatemala City.
“Community activists have risked their lives to protect their water from depletion and the discharge of toxic tailings,” says Maude Barlow.
Among the water-related concerns with the Marlin mine, Tech International, a US-based non-governmental organization, has expressed concern that tailings water from the mine is seeping into a downstream tributary. In 2009, a research team from the Pastoral Commission for Peace and Ecology confirmed the Marlin mine had contaminated local water supplies. And University of Ghent researchers believe the mine is depleting surface water causing arsenic-rich groundwater to be drawn into surface waters, and that arsenic may be the reason for skin problems being found among local residents.
“By allowing Goldcorp to operate this way in Guatemala, the Canadian government is violating the right to water of the local communities in the regional and river basin where the Marlin mine operates,” says Barlow, referring to the legally binding resolutions passed at the United Nations last year recognizing the right to water and sanitation.
“To Harper, the right to water in Guatemala, and other countries Canadian mining companies operate in, is simply a barrier to trade,” adds Barlow, noting the federal government is seeking a free trade agreement with Guatemala. “But you can’t trade away human rights.”
NOTE:
Given Canadian investments (including through the Canada Pension Plan) and subsidies that have funded the mine's operations, the Canadian government and public have a responsibility here, notes Barlow. The Council of Canadians is calling for legislation in Canada that recognizes the right to water and ends the impunity Canadian mining companies currently enjoy abroad.
“With Guatemala’s federal election less than a week away, mining should be a central issue given its widespread impacts in Guatemalan society and environment,” says Barlow. “With the terrible international record of Canadian mining companies, it should be a central issue here too.”
This past May, the Council of Canadians, along with 200+ people, participated in a protest at Goldcorp's annual shareholders meeting in Vancouver. The protest demanded that Goldcorp suspend its operations at the Marlin mine.
EWS:By Brent Patterson, Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
More info: Grahame Russell, Rights Action, 011 502 4955-3634, info@rightsaction.org
The Independent Catholic News reports, “Father Jose Reinel Restrepo Idairraga was killed by unknown assailants…on Thursday, 1 September…in Colombia. …Father Restrepo was 36 years old…and since 2009 was pastor in Marmato, where he was appreciated and respected by the locals because of his commitment to the poor. The authorities have begun investigating the case to determine whether the reason for the priest’s killing was mugging or if there is any other reason. This area of Colombia is well-known because about 80 percent of the population of Marmato works in gold mining.”
In a video posted to YouTube just days before his murder, Father Restrepo spoke against an open pit gold mine proposed by Toronto-based Medoro Resources (which recently merged with another Canadian company, Gran Colombia Gold Corp). Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper reports, “The priest had spent the past two years in Marmato where he had opposed the moving of the town, a possibility that has been considered if the mining company Gran Colombia Gold mines its open pit project.”
The Marmato Project: As noted on their website, “Medoro Resources Ltd. is a gold exploration, development and mining company with a primary emphasis on Colombia. Medoro owns most of the prolific Marmato gold district and the producing Mineros Nacionales underground gold mine located in Zona Baja at Marmato. The Company is conducting an exploration and infill drilling program at its Marmato Project to expand and upgrade its already substantial gold resources there as the basis for its plan to develop a large open pit gold mine to realize the large potential of the Marmato Project. The Company’s Marmato Project currently hosts measured and indicated gold resources of approximately 6.6 million ounces, and an inferred resource of approximately 3.2 million ounces.”
‘Economic Forced Displacement’: The company’s website also notes, ” In October 2009, Medoro acquired the Zona Alta license through its share purchase of Colombia Goldfields Ltd.” A March 2008 article in The Dominion by Micheál Ó Tuathail of Edmonton’s La Chiva collective reports, “Five years ago, (Marmato’s) roots were shaken when the CompañÃa Mineras de Caldas, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Colombia Goldfields Limited, began its project of consolidating ownership of the mountain, leading to what many call the ‘economic forced displacement’ of Marmato and the social eradication of a working community. …(An article in El Colombiano) claims that an open-pit gold mine at Marmato would be ‘one of the largest in South America’, requiring the removal of ‘between 30,000 and 60,000 tonnes of earth daily in order to produce 250,000 ounces of gold annually.’ The operation would exploit in 20 years what small miners could in 200.”
Water: The Dominion article adds, “While small mining practices are notorious for their use of harmful chemicals such as cyanide, open-pit mines are environmental disaster zones, according to critics, who say they bring limited short-term employment and leave behind gigantic holes in the ground where communities once lived.” A Colombia Goldfields media release from February 2007 says, “The first detailed water monitoring ever undertaken at Marmato was completed in December 2006 at 18 locations in three creeks and two locations on the Cauca River. The sampling was a joint effort with Corpocaldas, the State Environmental Agency responsible for the Environment in the Department of Caldas. Due to unregulated discharge from the mills and the lack of any tailings disposal facilities at Marmato, cyanide levels are toxic in all locations and the amount of suspended solids is many times above acceptable levels.”
also -
Maude Barlow to visit Goldcorp mine in Guatemala
Tomorrow, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow will be visiting the controversial Canadian-owned Marlin mine in the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, which is located about 300 kilometres north of Guatemala City.
“Community activists have risked their lives to protect their water from depletion and the discharge of toxic tailings,” says Maude Barlow.
Among the water-related concerns with the Marlin mine, Tech International, a US-based non-governmental organization, has expressed concern that tailings water from the mine is seeping into a downstream tributary. In 2009, a research team from the Pastoral Commission for Peace and Ecology confirmed the Marlin mine had contaminated local water supplies. And University of Ghent researchers believe the mine is depleting surface water causing arsenic-rich groundwater to be drawn into surface waters, and that arsenic may be the reason for skin problems being found among local residents.
“By allowing Goldcorp to operate this way in Guatemala, the Canadian government is violating the right to water of the local communities in the regional and river basin where the Marlin mine operates,” says Barlow, referring to the legally binding resolutions passed at the United Nations last year recognizing the right to water and sanitation.
“To Harper, the right to water in Guatemala, and other countries Canadian mining companies operate in, is simply a barrier to trade,” adds Barlow, noting the federal government is seeking a free trade agreement with Guatemala. “But you can’t trade away human rights.”
NOTE:
Given Canadian investments (including through the Canada Pension Plan) and subsidies that have funded the mine's operations, the Canadian government and public have a responsibility here, notes Barlow. The Council of Canadians is calling for legislation in Canada that recognizes the right to water and ends the impunity Canadian mining companies currently enjoy abroad.
“With Guatemala’s federal election less than a week away, mining should be a central issue given its widespread impacts in Guatemalan society and environment,” says Barlow. “With the terrible international record of Canadian mining companies, it should be a central issue here too.”
This past May, the Council of Canadians, along with 200+ people, participated in a protest at Goldcorp's annual shareholders meeting in Vancouver. The protest demanded that Goldcorp suspend its operations at the Marlin mine.
This Company Turns Plastic Bottles Back Into Crude Oil
This Company Turns Plastic Bottles Back Into Crude Oil - Environment - GOOD (you can be certain mr Koch is not an investor...)
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But if life gives you plastic? Make crude oil. Vadxx, an Ohio-based energy company, is taking even plastics that can't be recycled and reverting them to the material state from whence they came: crude oil.
"Plastics are made from oil, and Vadxx has figured out how to create the lowest sulfur content crude oil in the world, from a commodity that might otherwise occupy space in landfills," Vadxx CEO Jim Garret said in a press statement. Vadxx will take the picked-over scraps of plastics that don't make the cut for recycling, including "auto fluff" (the non-metal parts of junked cars) and e-waste, and run it through its reactors. Out comes crude oil, which the company will sell. Vadxx says that each of its oil production units could shrink landfill deposits by 10 to 14,000 tons a year.
Last month, Vadxx won a piece of Akron, Ohio's recycling contract and will start helping process the city's waste into oil at a pilot plant. Residents of Akron who put their recycling on the curb will be providing the raw materials for fuel. And while we might hope that some day we won't need oil at all, for now, this is certainly a step up from drilling in the Arctic.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But if life gives you plastic? Make crude oil. Vadxx, an Ohio-based energy company, is taking even plastics that can't be recycled and reverting them to the material state from whence they came: crude oil.
"Plastics are made from oil, and Vadxx has figured out how to create the lowest sulfur content crude oil in the world, from a commodity that might otherwise occupy space in landfills," Vadxx CEO Jim Garret said in a press statement. Vadxx will take the picked-over scraps of plastics that don't make the cut for recycling, including "auto fluff" (the non-metal parts of junked cars) and e-waste, and run it through its reactors. Out comes crude oil, which the company will sell. Vadxx says that each of its oil production units could shrink landfill deposits by 10 to 14,000 tons a year.
Last month, Vadxx won a piece of Akron, Ohio's recycling contract and will start helping process the city's waste into oil at a pilot plant. Residents of Akron who put their recycling on the curb will be providing the raw materials for fuel. And while we might hope that some day we won't need oil at all, for now, this is certainly a step up from drilling in the Arctic.
Leonard Peltier wins rights prize
Jailed Native American activist Leonard Peltier wins rights prize
MONTEVIDEO — Leonard Peltier, an indigenous rights activist jailed in the United States for decades, has received the first Mario Benedetti Foundation international human rights prize, the group said Monday.
The group called Peltier, a Native American activist convicted in 1977 for the murder of two US FBI agents, the longest serving political prisoner in the Americas. The case stemmed from a shootout at a reservation in the US state of South Dakota.
"Leonard Peltier, who on September 12, 2011 will turn 67, has spent more than half his life in prison. He is a symbol of resistance to repressive state policies by the United States, where there are people in jail for ethnic, racial, ideological and religious reasons," a foundation statement said.
Ricardo Elena, a member of the foundation's honorary board, said Peltier's case "is one that is repeated over and over: violation (of rights); persecution, eviction, invasion and expropriation of the indigenous people from the time it was 'discovered' until now.
"It did not just happen in the United States; it is happening in southern South America with the (indigenous) Mapuche people, and with indigenous people in North America," he stressed.
Peltier, whose family is indigenous Chippewa and Lakota, fled to Canada after the shooting and was later extradited. He was convicted in part based on the testimony of a woman, Myrtle Poor Bear, who claimed she was his girlfriend and witnessed the shootings. Poor Bear however admitted later she was pressured to make the testimony, but a judge blocked her testimony.
Elena took a swipe at the United States saying it "likes to think it is the seat of democracy, but it has political prisoners just like a dictatorship might have."
The Mario Benedetti Foundation was set up to support human rights and cultural causes in synch with the work of the Uruguayan writer who died in 2009.
MONTEVIDEO — Leonard Peltier, an indigenous rights activist jailed in the United States for decades, has received the first Mario Benedetti Foundation international human rights prize, the group said Monday.
The group called Peltier, a Native American activist convicted in 1977 for the murder of two US FBI agents, the longest serving political prisoner in the Americas. The case stemmed from a shootout at a reservation in the US state of South Dakota.
"Leonard Peltier, who on September 12, 2011 will turn 67, has spent more than half his life in prison. He is a symbol of resistance to repressive state policies by the United States, where there are people in jail for ethnic, racial, ideological and religious reasons," a foundation statement said.
Ricardo Elena, a member of the foundation's honorary board, said Peltier's case "is one that is repeated over and over: violation (of rights); persecution, eviction, invasion and expropriation of the indigenous people from the time it was 'discovered' until now.
"It did not just happen in the United States; it is happening in southern South America with the (indigenous) Mapuche people, and with indigenous people in North America," he stressed.
Peltier, whose family is indigenous Chippewa and Lakota, fled to Canada after the shooting and was later extradited. He was convicted in part based on the testimony of a woman, Myrtle Poor Bear, who claimed she was his girlfriend and witnessed the shootings. Poor Bear however admitted later she was pressured to make the testimony, but a judge blocked her testimony.
Elena took a swipe at the United States saying it "likes to think it is the seat of democracy, but it has political prisoners just like a dictatorship might have."
The Mario Benedetti Foundation was set up to support human rights and cultural causes in synch with the work of the Uruguayan writer who died in 2009.
Friday
Obama Halts EPA Regulation On Smog Standards
Obama Halts EPA Regulation On Smog Standards
WASHINGTON — In a dramatic reversal, President Barack Obama on Friday scrubbed a clean-air regulation that aimed to reduce health-threatening smog, yielding to bitterly protesting businesses and congressional Republicans who complained the rule would kill jobs in America's ailing economy.
Withdrawal of the proposed regulation marked the latest in a string of retreats by the president in the face of GOP opposition, and it drew quick criticism from liberals. Environmentalists, a key Obama constituency, accused him of caving to corporate polluters, and the American Lung Association threatened to restart the legal action it had begun against rules proposed by President George W. Bush.
The White House has been under heavy pressure from GOP lawmakers and major industries, which have slammed the stricter standard as an unnecessary jobs killer. The Environmental Protection Agency, whose scientific advisers favored the tighter limits, had predicted the proposed change would cost up to $90 billion a year, making it one of the most expensive environmental regulations ever imposed in the U.S.
However, the Clean Air Act bars the EPA from considering the costs of complying when setting public health standards.
Obama said his decision was made in part to reduce regulatory burdens and uncertainty at a time of rampant questions about the strength of the U.S. economy.
Underscoring the economic concerns: a new report Friday that showed the economy essentially adding no jobs in August and the unemployment rate stubbornly stuck at 9.1 percent.
The regulation would have reduced concentrations of ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, a powerful lung irritant that can cause asthma and other lung ailments. Smog is created when emissions from cars, power and chemical plants, refineries and other factories mix in sunlight and heat.
WASHINGTON — In a dramatic reversal, President Barack Obama on Friday scrubbed a clean-air regulation that aimed to reduce health-threatening smog, yielding to bitterly protesting businesses and congressional Republicans who complained the rule would kill jobs in America's ailing economy.
Withdrawal of the proposed regulation marked the latest in a string of retreats by the president in the face of GOP opposition, and it drew quick criticism from liberals. Environmentalists, a key Obama constituency, accused him of caving to corporate polluters, and the American Lung Association threatened to restart the legal action it had begun against rules proposed by President George W. Bush.
The White House has been under heavy pressure from GOP lawmakers and major industries, which have slammed the stricter standard as an unnecessary jobs killer. The Environmental Protection Agency, whose scientific advisers favored the tighter limits, had predicted the proposed change would cost up to $90 billion a year, making it one of the most expensive environmental regulations ever imposed in the U.S.
However, the Clean Air Act bars the EPA from considering the costs of complying when setting public health standards.
Obama said his decision was made in part to reduce regulatory burdens and uncertainty at a time of rampant questions about the strength of the U.S. economy.
Underscoring the economic concerns: a new report Friday that showed the economy essentially adding no jobs in August and the unemployment rate stubbornly stuck at 9.1 percent.
The regulation would have reduced concentrations of ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, a powerful lung irritant that can cause asthma and other lung ailments. Smog is created when emissions from cars, power and chemical plants, refineries and other factories mix in sunlight and heat.
Ontario 'mega-quarry' faces environmental review
Ontario 'mega-quarry' faces environmental review
Sometimes you get your news from the FINANCIAL sector, and not from the 'democracy' reporters - here's the headline on the currency exchange network today about the Mega Quarry, note the language - "opposition from 'wealthy' retirees"
TORONTO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Ontario has ordered a full environmental review of a proposed 'mega-quarry' backed by one of Boston's best-known hedge funds, a move that may threaten a project that has already raised local opposition.
The project, which would supply crushed limestone for Toronto's booming construction industry, has counted value investor Seth Klarman's Baupost Group as one of its investors.
Highlands Cos, the company behind the quarry, plans to carve out the huge pit on thousands of acres of potato fields it has bought up about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Toronto.
A review announced late Thursday by the Canadian province's environmental ministry could complicate those plans.
'After reviewing the company's application for a quarry, it became clear that more work needs to be done to demonstrate that the project would be fully protective of the surrounding environment,' said a ministry spokeswoman in an email.
The project is already subject to a multi-year review by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. As part of that process, the Environment ministry expressed serious concerns, especially with the project's impact on groundwater.
Minister of the Environment John Wilkinson said his counterpart in Natural Resources had agreed that a comprehensive environmental review was needed.
The company will have to submit an environmental assessment, which the ministry, technical experts and the public will then review.The quarry would extend below the water table, and its operators would have to pump 600 million liters of water each day to keep the mine, and later rehabilitated farmland, from becoming a lake.
The development has faced opposition from the area's wealthy retirees, local farmers and the environmental lobby.
Highland Companies could not immediately be reached for comment.
Baupost, which was reported last year to have $23 billion in assets, does not often publicize its investments and returns.
Klarman's reported double-digit returns over more than two decades and his celebrated book on value investing - 'Margin of Safety' - mean investors closely track his portfolio picks.
His investment in Highland is in line with recent efforts by hedge funds to seek profits beyond traditional investments such as stocks and bonds.
Sometimes you get your news from the FINANCIAL sector, and not from the 'democracy' reporters - here's the headline on the currency exchange network today about the Mega Quarry, note the language - "opposition from 'wealthy' retirees"
TORONTO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Ontario has ordered a full environmental review of a proposed 'mega-quarry' backed by one of Boston's best-known hedge funds, a move that may threaten a project that has already raised local opposition.
The project, which would supply crushed limestone for Toronto's booming construction industry, has counted value investor Seth Klarman's Baupost Group as one of its investors.
Highlands Cos, the company behind the quarry, plans to carve out the huge pit on thousands of acres of potato fields it has bought up about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Toronto.
A review announced late Thursday by the Canadian province's environmental ministry could complicate those plans.
'After reviewing the company's application for a quarry, it became clear that more work needs to be done to demonstrate that the project would be fully protective of the surrounding environment,' said a ministry spokeswoman in an email.
The project is already subject to a multi-year review by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. As part of that process, the Environment ministry expressed serious concerns, especially with the project's impact on groundwater.
Minister of the Environment John Wilkinson said his counterpart in Natural Resources had agreed that a comprehensive environmental review was needed.
The company will have to submit an environmental assessment, which the ministry, technical experts and the public will then review.The quarry would extend below the water table, and its operators would have to pump 600 million liters of water each day to keep the mine, and later rehabilitated farmland, from becoming a lake.
The development has faced opposition from the area's wealthy retirees, local farmers and the environmental lobby.
Highland Companies could not immediately be reached for comment.
Baupost, which was reported last year to have $23 billion in assets, does not often publicize its investments and returns.
Klarman's reported double-digit returns over more than two decades and his celebrated book on value investing - 'Margin of Safety' - mean investors closely track his portfolio picks.
His investment in Highland is in line with recent efforts by hedge funds to seek profits beyond traditional investments such as stocks and bonds.
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