Two federal agencies on Friday quietly finalized two reports, set for release next week, that found offshore fracking in California poses no "significant" risk to the environment—paving the way for oil and gas companies to resume the controversial extraction method in the Santa Barbara Channel and imperiling the region's wildlife in the process, opponents said. The announcement Friday from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (OEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement puts an end to a court-ordered ban on offshore fracking in federal waters off the coast of California. The moratorium was put into place in January as part of a settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), which challenged the Obama administration's 'rubber-stamping' of offshore drilling activity without an environmental review.

Environmental activists warned on Friday that kicking off a new round of drilling in the area puts wildlife at risk from chemical-laden wastewater and said they would be willing to file another lawsuit to keep it from happening. "The Obama administration is once again putting California's beautiful coast in the oil industry's crosshairs," said Miyoko Sakashita, director of CBD's Oceans program. "Our beaches and wildlife face a renewed threat from fracking chemicals and oil spills. New legal action may be the only way to get federal officials to do their jobs and protect our ocean from offshore fracking."

Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch, criticized President Barack Obama for "doubling down on fracking, instead of providing climate leadership and protecting our communities and our environment." "This move paves the way for offshore fracking permits that were previously frozen and the dumping of toxic wastewater directly into the Pacific Ocean where Californians swim, fish, and surf," Hauter said. The news comes a year after a pipeline rupture in Santa Barbara sent tens of thousands of gallons of crude spilling onto public beaches and into the Pacific Ocean. The operator of the pipeline, Plains All American, has a history of wreaking environmental havoc throughout Southern California and elsewhere.

And it also follows the recent signing of the historic deal reached in Paris last December to keep global temperature rise under 2°C, a goal that climate advocates say can only be reached by keeping fossil fuels in the ground and investing in renewal energy. "It's clear that Americans want an inspiring new vision for our energy system," Hauter said. "The president continues to indicate that he is not the person to fulfill that vision. It’s a vision that can only be achieved by keeping fossil fuels in the ground and moving swiftly to a system driven by energy efficiency and renewables."


Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/28/california-back-big-oils-crosshairs-feds-quietly-ok-offshore-fracking

Anti-corporate activists, organic farmers, Indigenous peoples, environmental groups and others took to the streets across six continents and over 400 cities on Saturday in a global grassroots march against bioengineering giant Monsanto.

"The fight against corporate control of our food is global," a food sovereignty campaigner with UK-based nonprofit Global Justice Now rallied the crowd marching in London.

The grassroots March Against Monstanto campaign began in 2013 as a coordinated movement to "take back the food supply." This year's march takes place amid allegations of collusion and industry rigging of the regulatory processes surrounding the company's toxic weedkiller Roundup and GMO crops in Europe and the United States.The campaign, based in the U.S., described why so many are fighting the chemical behemoth in a statement:

Monsanto has infiltrated various agencies within the United States government, and as a result both public health and the health of our environment has suffered greatly. Glyphosate, the cancer-linked herbicide that is an essential component in the expansion of GMO crops, is already being banned around the world over safety concerns. Here in the United States, glyphosate is consistently being discovered in everything from hospital feeding tubes and tampons to the breast milk of nursing mothers.


Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/21/activists-farmers-indigenous-people-rise-march-against-monsanto

Police told ABC News that a Secret Service agent shot an armed man at a security checkpoint near the building.

The White House is on lockdown in response to the shooting. President Barack Obama was golfing in Maryland at the time.

The victim is being transported to a local hospital with critical injuries, authorities have said.

Vice President Joe Biden was in the White House at the time.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36348361

Citing her work "exposing the structural causes and responsibility for the climate crisis," the Sydney Peace Foundation has awarded its 2016 Peace Prize to author and activist Naomi Klein.

That work, said the jury, inspires people "to stand up locally, nationally and internationally to demand a new agenda for sharing the planet that respects human rights and equality," and serves as a reminder "of the power of authentic democracy to achieve transformative change and justice."

Responding to the news, the 46-year-old author of This Changes Everything, The Shock Doctrine, and No Logo said she hoped the award would highlight the need for a "justice-based transition from fossil fuels, highlighting policies that dramatically lower emissions while creating huge numbers of jobs and battling systemic inequalities."

"It comes at a time when the impacts of the climate crisis are being acutely felt, from the devastating bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef to the horrific wildfires tearing across my own country," said Klein, who lives in Canada. "A great many people know in their hearts that now is the time for bold action..."

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/15/inspiring-new-agenda-naomi-klein-wins-2016-sydney-peace-prize