Fossil Fuel Exports on the Columbia River?

from Earth First! News

Saturday July 27th, 2013, in a day-long affair involving hundreds of activists, the Portland Rising Tide and 350.org collaboration, Summer Heat, went off yesterday without a hitch.

Activists congregated in the morning at the Vancouver Landing in Vancouver, Washington, where  this week port authorities approved a terminal to ship hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil carried on trains from the Bakken Shale.

Hosting info sessions about secret corporate trade agreements, direct action, and infrastructure resistance, the event carried a festive air into the early afternoon. By 3pm, around 250 activists in more than 100 boats took to the river for a symbolic blockade and massed under the Columbia Bridge.

Hundreds more activists gathered on the bridge, and three climbers repelled down with a long, transparent banner that read, “Coal, Oil, Gas: None Shall Pass.”

The crowd that came out to the protest showed that they will not be intimidated.

Police presence was relatively minimal at the protest compared to other Rising Tide and Occupy actions that have occurred. Nobody was arrested, and the message was sent: Expect Resistance.

Summer Heat was only a high point in what has been a long, hard, and in many ways successful struggle, which has seen three three proposed coal terminals shut down so far.  Today, Portland Rising Tide looks invigorated, confident, and more dedicated than ever to the mission of stopping climate change.