More thoughts & photos from NCMR 2007
 
On this week’s show I have more from the Media Reform Conference which was sponsored and put on by FREE PRESS. There is a growing forum on their site for blogging and talking about the conference and what we can all do next. Be sure and check that out to find out what’s happening in this dynamic and growing movement. Helen Thomas has been a staple in the white house press room for the last several presidential terms. She is an icon among journalists and throughout this dark time of the Bush Presidency, she has tried to ask the tough questions. She has been silenced, ignored, patronized and lied to by White House press secretaries including the current former fox news guy (& flute player) Tony Snow. She is one of my sheros and she provided one of the lighter (and funnier) moments of the conference. She was seated in the front row (right in front of me...heart be still...these guys are my rock stars ok?) and a mic was set up for her. Half way through the evening show, they had a Bush impersonator (From Sat. Night Live) do his routine which was really funny because he sounded just like the little twirp. Anyway, “Mr Bush” starts this pretend press conference and low and behold...Helen is the only member of the press there to ask all the questions. It’s on the Free Press web site if you want to check it out.  Laura Flanders from Air America Radio was there too and broadcasted her weekend show “Radio Nation” from the conference. If you haven’t heard any of the terrific programing on Air America go check them out. I download their shows off the internet and listen to them on my Ipod but you can also listen to them with XM radio too. Hey here’s a plug for them to all you lesbians out there. THERE’S A LESBIAN DJ! How cool is that? She out and she talks about her lover, Susan, on the air. Her name is Rachel Maddow and she’s smart. Hell she’s a Rhodes Scholar PHD smart. Dr. Maddow...She’s funny too. She’s from my home state Massachusetts and she’s from that great lesbian mayor-lesbian town North Hampton. Not sure if they still do but they did have a lesbian mayor. It was like Gate to Women’s Country in real life up there. (That’s Emily’s favorite book by the way and we even named a creek on the farm Tepper Creek in honor of the writer: Sherry S. Tepper) anyway... Have you ever thought about the fact that ALL talk radio in Nashville is right wing? It is. That’s unacceptable don’t you think? I do. Media reform is trying to stop that. We can’t get GLBT issues on the mainstream radio around here but hell, we can’t even get democratic, progressive issues on either. Fat ditto head, Liddy the felon & Michal (Weaner) Savage is our choice. Did you know that’s his real name? Kinda fits don’t it? Oh and we get to hear that jesus guy that talks about finances. give me a break! give me my air america! oh and those low-power guys at Radio Free Nashville. They’re very cool too. Choices...we’d like some choices around here! So cspan is getting interesting if you haven’t turned it on in awhile you might want to check it out. While the new house is raising to pass 100 bills in 100 hours (or something like that) the Senate is holding hearings to find out who’s spying on who, who’s stealing all the treasury money and how we lost the constitution on the way to Bagdad. (at least i hope that’s what they’re asking about) Cheers to all of you and have a great week! peace & love, Val Here’s an email I received...Please Read... Oregon Women's Land Trust's property, Owl Farm, is facing a serious threat from Energy 
Companies and the Federal Government. A natural gas pipeline right-of-way has been 
proposed through Owl Farm. It would require a 95' wide clearcut for about 2,400 feet 
(almost a half mile) on OWLT property. 

This is a very serious situation, but it is not a done deal. We still have several opportunities 
to influence a final decision. Magic and letters from women on this list will help. Pictures 
of Owl Farm and the proposed right-of-way have been posted in the Photos section of the 
Land Dykes group.

Owl Farm, 147 acres, is an incredible asset owned by the Oregon women's community. 
The land consists of a beautiful natural meadow surrounded by forests that go up to, and 
over the ridge tops. In fact, Owl Farm includes mountain ridges on three sides, affording 
the land the utmost in privacy and opportunities to protect an entire watershed. National 
public forests border Owl Farm on two sides, giving us even more land to wander and 
access to old growth forests. Owl Farm also has cell-phone coverage and good south 
aspects for solar power. We could never buy anyplace like this today, but Owl Farm was 
bought 31 years ago, giving invaluable opportunities for us and our sisters that come after 
us.

All this is threatened by a 3' diameter natural gas pipeline proposed to be buried on Owl 
Farm. The 95' wide clearcut right-of-way would travel down the very steep hill behind the 
garden, coming from the ridge-top, where it would have destroyed dozens of centuries-
old 4-5' diameter mother madrone trees. 

After the pipeline is buried, men would regularly arrive, unannounced, to keep the clearcut 
from regrowing trees or brush, and to try to prevent the constant soil-erosion problems 
on the steep hill. Herbicides would be sprayed to keep back the blackberries and other 
noxious weeds. Airplanes or helicopters would fly overhead to monitor the pipeline. The 
easement corridor, once established, could get wider and busier with cable or power lines. 
After all, if we couldn't stop the first easement, we won't be able to stop other easements 
on the same route.

If this nightmare scenario were to happen, Oregon Women's Land Trust could not meet its 
mission at Owl Farm, now or in the future. This intrusion into our privacy and the assault 
on the ecosystems we have pledged to protect would turn our one-in-a-million real estate 
prize into just another piece of industrial use land. A small amount of money would be 
offered to us as a one-time payment for the easement and conifer trees, but the old-
growth madrone trees would have no monitory value. It would be impossible to 
compensate us for our losses, and equally impossible for us to pick up and move 
somewhere else after the property has been so devalued.

Please help Owl Farm by sending some good magic her way. After that, please write a 
letter. Addresses and talking points are at the end of this article.

Where is this Natural Gas coming from and where is it going? 

It is going to California. It is coming from places like Russia and Indonesia and various 
other foreign countries. There, the natural gas will be liquefied (LNG) so it can be 
compressed into huge ocean tankers the size of four football fields. It will be transported 
across the Pacific Ocean, through whale migration routes that are already disturbed by the 
noise from industrial ocean traffic.

At Coos Bay, on the Oregon coast, the Energy Company will build a large terminal to re-
gasify the LNG back into natural gas, and push it through a 230 mile-long pipeline, under 
5 major rivers, over 2 mountain ranges, and through Owl Farm. Near Klamath Falls the 
pipeline will connect with an existing gas pipeline going from Canada to California.

Last May the Energy Companies notified people living near Days Creek (about 3 miles from 
Owl Farm) that their properties had been chosen for the pipeline right-of-way. Those 
people wrote letters and some refused to allow the surveyors on their land. They 
convinced the Energy Company there would be "easement encumbrances". In other words, 
eminent domain would have to be evoked. So the Energy Companies decided to move the 
route north, through the national forests and private industrial timberland, with Owl Farm 
in the middle. 

Now it's our turn to write letters, in fact, we need to write two letters, one now, and one in 
August.

What happens next? 

The federal government is preparing an Environmental Impact Study (EIS). This study will 
include alternatives to the pipeline. The Days Creek route is part of the "proposed" 
alternative, and Owl Farm is the route that the Energy Company is calling their "preferred" 
alternative. The EIS will study the environmental and social effects of pipeline.

The government is accepting comments now so they know what to include in the EIS. We 
need to write again in August when the EIS comes out for public review.

What should we say? 

Pick something from the following suggestions to write about: 

* Write about Owl Farm. Tell the government what Owl Farm means to you, and how a 
pipeline through the land will damage our use of the land. Identify Owl farm as in 
Township 29, Range 4w, Section 25, near pipeline mile #83. 

* Tell the government to move the pipeline into nobody's backyard. Instead, the 
government should consider alternatives that use renewable energy and conservation to 
meet our energy needs. We also already have enough natural gas in North America to meet 
our needs for decades to come.

* The government should include an alternative in the EIS that does not depend on foreign 
countries to meet our energy needs. It could harm the health and welfare of the citizens of 
the other countries because Energy Companies have a history of not treating people fairly. 
Our dependence on foreign fossil fuels has also led to insecurities and wars.

* The government should consider the welfare of whales, who use the same ocean as the 
LNG ocean liners, and whose communication is compromised by the growing number of 
ocean liners.

Write to:
Magalie R. Salas, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First St., N.E., Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426

Your letter must refer to "Docket Nos. PF06-25-000 and PF06-26-000". Don't forget to 
put in your return address. The sooner you write, the more your letter can be considered 
in the EIS. 

For more information see:
http://www.umpqua-watersheds.org/local/Pipeline.html
http://citizensagainstlng.googlepages.com/

To donate to Oregon Women's Land Trust, please send a check to P.O. Box 1692, 
Roseburg, OR 97470. 

Thank you, from all the creatures and women who use Owl Farm.

Francis
(a landdyke living at Rainbow's End)
 Peace & Love, Val __._ Join the discussion over on the AVALON FARMBLOG! Comment about this week’s blog & podcast! -- http://www.umpqua-watersheds.org/local/Pipeline.htmlhttp://citizensagainstlng.googlepages.com/http://avalonfarmblog.wordpress.comshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2
AVALON FARMBLOG
Monday, January 22, 2007