The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency (martial law) today in three provinces affected by ongoing indigenous occupations and blockades of energy infrastructure. The government has banned public gatherings and free movement within the northern province of Amazonas and the southern provinces of Loreto and Cuzco, where hundreds of indigenous protesters have seized and shut down the operation of oil, gas and hydroelectric infrastructure in protests that began on August 9.

Furthermore, the government threatened to call in the army to end the blockades.

The protests were sparked by anger over a series of recently passed and proposed laws that would make it easier for collective indigenous land to be purchased by large mining and energy companies. Some of these laws are required by the recently ratified US-Peru Free Trade Agreement.

Negotiations between the government and the protesters have stalled.

Prior coverage:

Indigenous Peruvians Seize Energy Infrastructure (August 12)

Oil Pipeline Shut Down by Ongoing Peru Protests (August 17)

Peru’s state-run oil company Petroperu was forced to shut down a major oil pipeline in the country’s north on Thursday, August 14, due to an ongoing occupation by indigenous protesters angered over new laws encouraging more infrastructure development in the Amazon.

The 500-person protest began on August 11, coinciding with the occupation of a gas field, hydroelectric dam and oil infrastructure in southern Peru.

When operating, the Norperuano pipeline moves 27,000 barrels of oil a day.

The ongoing protests were sparked by opposition to a recently signed Free Trade Agreement with the United States and a number of draft laws in the legislature, all of which would escalate commercial exploitation of indigenous territories. The protesters continue to demand the restoration of their inalienable collective rights over their land. The government insists it will not negotiate until the protests end.

The government of the Crow Tribe has signed a 50-year deal with Australian-American Energy Co. to build and operate a plant to convert coal into liquid fuel. The plant would be supplied by new coal mines on the Crow reservation in Montana.

The quadrupling of oil prices in the last decade has suddenly made coal-to-liquid (CTL) financially appealing: while oil costs approximately $130/barrel, the Oil and Gas Journal has projected that CTL fuel can be produced for $67 to $82 a barrel. The ultimate cost would be determined by prices of water and energy sources, as the process uses massive amounts of both water and electricity. CTL fuel also releases twice as much carbon dioxide as more conventional fossil fuels.

An in-depth analysis of the current legal situation faced by the effort to stop I-69 (a Corridor of the Future) has been posted on the web site of Roadblock EF! (read the whole thing here).

Highlights include:

• 15 activists arrested at a recent lockdown at a Gohmann Asphalt facility in Haubstadt, IN, are facing one to three charges each (including trespassing, resisting law enforcement, and conversion [exerting unauthorized use or control of someone else’s property]). Many of these charges are groundless and clearly an attempt to intimidate activists. The activists are represented by public defenders. Trials are expected to be ongoing throughout the fall and possibly continue into the winter.

• Gohmann has filed a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) against these activists plus another person arrested at a different lockdown, demanding an exhorbitant $27,000 in restitution. It is clear that the supposed “damages” are completely fabricated or, at the very least, hugely inflated. Defendants are representing themselves, as they cannot afford lawyers.

• Gohmann has also filed an outrageous restraining order against all 16 people, requiring that they remain a minimum of 100 yards away from any site that Gohmann has proprietary or monetary interest in. This would include all 1.77 miles of the route and many situations out of the control of defendants, such as proximity to Gohmann trucks. A pro-bono lawyer is representing the defendants in a fight against this illegal restraining order.

The restraining order seems like an attempt to portray defendants as being part of a much broader network of eco-radicalism and scare potential jurers and community members about those who’ve come to Indiana to fight I-69. It is based on laws used to protect workers from potential stalkers and violence, even though no violence has occurred or even been threatened. It also includes inflammatory documents and statements attempting to link defendants with various other environmental groups with which they have no connection, including the Earth Liberation Front.

•The legal situation can appear somewhat bleak right now, but as one lawyer commented: “These are their biggest guns and they are pulling them out now, at the beginning.” Often large companies or the state attempt to overwhelm smaller groups with a lot of legal bureaucracy, knowing that it is a greater burden for those with fewer resources. These are clearly scare tactics that legally appear to be fairly groundless. Defendants plan to continue fighting this on all levels and will not let these tactics of intimidation stop them.

• Resistance continues! Contact roadblockefyahoo (dot) com to get involved today. Although summer is nearly over, it’s much nicer in Indiana in the fall, anyway! Now is the time to ensure that they never build this road!

In coordinated protests that began on Saturday, August 9, indigenous Peruvians have blockaded and shut down energy infrastructure in both the north and south of the large country.

In the southern Amazonian province of Cusco, hundreds of indigenous protesters occupied Lot 56 of the controversial Camisea gas field, forcing the company to cease extraction there. Argentine company Pluspetrol, which operates the field, evacuated its workers from the site.

In Loreto, another southern Amazonian province, 800 indigenous protesters occupied an oil-pump, drilling platforms, helicopter port and buildings operated by state oil company Petroperu.

In the northern province of Amazonas, indigenous protesters took over the El Muyo hydroelectric plant and shut down part of an oil duct.

The protests were sparked by opposition to a recently signed Free Trade Agreement with the United States and a number of draft laws in the legislature, all of which would escalate commercial exploitation of indigenous territories. The protesters continue to demand the restoration of their inalienable collective rights over their land. The government insists it will not negotiate until the protests end.

Brazil’s environment minister has granted a license for the San Antonio Dam along the Madeira River in the Amazon basin. San Antionio is one of two dams planned for the river. The rights to build it have already been auctioned off to a group led by Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht, and construction is expected to be complete by 2012. Environmental groups have promised to keep fighting the dam.

Brazil is engaged in a massive effort to scale up its electric infastructure. The government estimates that a series of new dams in the Amazon basin will provide the majority of Brazil’s electric capacity over the next several decades — primarily for mining, metal processing and industrial agriculture industries in the Eastern Amazon. Plans for the Madiera dams recently led a group of indigenous Bolivians upstream to declare a state of emergency.

UPDATE 8-14-08: An article just published by Reuters explains another reason behind Brazil’s big dams push: “the $13 billion Jirau and Santo Antonio projects are seen as a key step in regional integration, creating a waterway that would cut transport costs for Brazil’s agriculture exports and for farming areas in Bolivia and Peru.” The article does not mention how this might fit into wider regional integration plans (IIRSA) or whether goods other than agriculture might be moved to the coast along these channels for export to the US.

An anti-climate-change march through the streets of Richmond, VA concluded today with a lockdown at the Bank of America building.

Police presence in Richmond was heavy at the end of the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action. Nonetheless, 50 protesters took part in an unpermitted march through the streets of the city, punctuated by rallies at the offices of the climate criminals Massey Energy (a major coal company involved in mountaintop removal mining), Dominion Energy (targeted with direct action only days before), and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (which recently rubber-stamped a Dominion coal plant in Wise County, VA).

“In a show of interspecies solidarity, one horse bucked a cop off its back” at the Dominion Energy protest, a press release read.

Finally, the crowed stopped at the massive Bank of America building to protest the bank’s status as one of the largest funders of the coal industry. Two activists snuck past the intensified building security and locked down to a sign in front of the customer entrance, while marchers held a die-in on the sidewalk. Eventually, police cut out the two locked-down activists and cited them for tresspassing.

Twenty- five activists occupied the welcome center of the North Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa, VA on Thursday, August 7. The power plant is operated by Dominion Energy, which has previously been targeted with direct action for its plans to build both new coal and nuclear electric plants.

The protesters occupied the visitor center for 2 hours, until police came in to remove them. They also gave their own version of a tour for visitors, revealing the true nature of the nuclear industry. Six people were arrested for refusing to leave the building.

The action was planned by Nuclear Watch South, Blue Ridge Earth First!, and Rising Tide North America, and took place during the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action.

President Bush has issued an executive order granting “national priority” status to the Columbia River Crossing (also known as the Interstate 5 Bridge between Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash, and recipient of a Corridors of the Future grant). This means that federal agencies are required to prioritize and expedite the environmental review process for the project.

The move came only one day after protesters targeted the expansion plan with direct action, following the West Coast Convergence for Climate Action (see our post about this action below). Locals have opposed the plan to expand the Columbia River Crossing for its contributions to global warming and encouragement of car culture and fossil fuel dependence; its health effects, particularly on poor communities; and the possibility that homes or businesses could be demolished for its construction.

As part of the Corridors of the Future program to reduce congestion on major trade routes, the federal government has given $15 million for highway “improvements” from State Route 500 in Vancouver to Columbia Blvd in Portland, including the Columbia River Crossing.

“The Columbia River Crossing will ease the congestion impacting one of the most important commercial routes in the country,” said US Department of Transportation head Mary Peters. “The President’s order is an important step toward making this project a reality so we can get goods to market.”

Only 20 other projects have received priority status in the last 20 years. Projects currently underway with national priority status include two Corridors of the Future projects — the construction of I-69 through Texas (the Trans-Texas Corridor) and the widening of I-5 in California between San Diego and Oceanside — and work on Rte 11 in Connecticut (construction between Salem and the I-95 Corridor of the Future); US Route 411 Connector in Georgia; construction of the I-66 TransAmerica Forridor in Kentucky; US 93 in Montana; construction of a 10-mile Trinity River Parkway in Texas to bypass I-30 and I-35; and new runway construction at Philadelphia International Airport. See the complete list here (although as of August 7, the Columbia River Crossing has not yet been added).

On August 4, activists from the Northwest Convergence for Climate Action took action to target climate criminals in the Portland, OR area.

The action began with a march along the Portland Waterfront, including street theater that featured agents from the “Oil Enforcement Agency” (which first appeared in a July protest) giving out tickets to mock cars for contributing to global warming. The march came to a halt at the Columbia River I-5 Bridge (also known as the Morrison Bridge) that connects Portland with Vancouver, WA.

Here, one activist had unfurled a banner off the side of the bridge reading “Six more lanes equal more sick people – No I-5 Bridge Expansion,” a reference to plans for a new, wider Columbia River Crossing under the Department of Transportation’s Corridors of the Future program. Another activist locked down to the bridge walkway, keeping others (including police) away from the banner. Eventually, the two agreed to leave the bridge and police cited them for criminal trespass.

As part of the Corridors of the Future program to reduce congestion on major trade routes, the federal government has given $15 million for highway “improvements” from State Route 500 in Vancouver to Columbia Blvd in Portland, including the Columbia River Crossing. The day after the protest, President Bush issued an executive order to speed up the environmental review for the plan (see our post on this story above).

After leaving the I-5 bridge, the march proceeded to the headquarters of NW Natural Gas Co., where three women had earlier locked down in the lobby. After a two-hour sit-in, the women unlocked with no arrests.

The activists were protesting NW Natural’s Palomar Gas Transmission project — a 223-mile pipeline that would run through farms and wetlands to connect the Bradwood Landing liquified natural gas import terminal with another pipeline (TransCanada) into California. In recent monts, protesters have deployed stink bombs, dropped banners and built Christmas-tree blockades against the project.