EDITED VERSION FOR WPKN - BRIDGEPORT - NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

WILLIE CORDUFF - www.shelltosea.com Rossport, Ireland - An Irish environmental activist from the farming community of Rossport, parish of Kilcommon, Erris COUNTY MAYO Ireland. Corduff's parents first arrived in Rossport in 1947, and reclaimed a farm by hand out of bogland. He became a campaigner against Shells' activities in his local area. His farming existence changed with the discovery of gas eighty three kilometres offshore to the west of Broadhaven Bay. In 2000 he discovered the exploitation of the gas involved the construction of a high pressure pipeline, 70 metres from their house, to a new refinery to be built in Bellanboy townland, just across the bay from his farmIn 2005 Corduff refused Shell access to his land and was subsequently jailed for 94 days; along with four other local men now known as the Rossport Five; for defying a court order not to interfere with Shell's work. In 2006 he said he was "prepared to die" rather than see the pipeline cross his land. He was one of the founding members of the Shell to Sea campaign group.

ELIZABETH BOUISS - www.nofrack.org - New York - June 25th Rally at 1pm to Ban Fracking and why a ban is crucial. Why regulations will not work and the harm to water, farming and agricultural lands that fracking will cause. Frack waste evaporates and the toxic chemicals end up in the air, land and water. The beauty of upstate New York will be forever scarred. Fracking is the process of extracting methane (a potent greenhouse gas, sometimes called "natural gas") or oil by drilling into the earth and injecting millions of gallons of water mixed wtih toxic and dangerous chemicals.

CHRISTINA CHAUVENET- www.survivalinternational.org- Washington D.C. –Today, S.I. called for tourists to boycott the main highway in India’s Andaman Islands – an illegal road which cuts through the land of the endangered Jarawa tribe. The Andaman Trunk Road is both illegal – India’s Supreme Court ordered it closed in 2002, but it remains open – and highly dangerous for the Jarawa, who number just 365.The hunter-gatherer Jarawa have only had friendly contact with outsiders since 1998 and so tourists risk passing on diseases to which the tribe has little immunity. An epidemic could decimate the tribe. Thousands of tourists, both Indian and international, travel along the road each month. Rules supposed to protect the Jarawa are routinely broken, and the Jarawa reserve is in effect a human safari park.

BEN CARNES www.eaglemanz.blogspot.com - Oklahoma – Releases article after testifying at the Cobell Hearing: “Cobell Settlement: A knife in our backs”

“Real justice for these Indians may still lie in the distant future; it may never come at all. This reality makes a statement about our society and our form of government that we should be unwilling to let stand.” Judge Royce Lamberth

Those prophetic words by Lamberth became a reality on June 20 when the federal court in Washington, DC approved the Cobell settlement. There is much ado how this was a major victory as in a David and Goliath scenario. However, one only needs to read in between the fine print to know this was a serious setback. I had already suspected it was a foregone conclusion when the settlement was first announced and Obama signed off on it. This was an easy out for the government; they secured the victory, not us.

The basic provisions of the settlement are: $1.4 billion to pay Individual Indian Money (IIM) account owners $1.9 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund to "purchase" fractionated Individual Indian trust lands. Not more than $60 million for an Indian Education Scholarship Fund to assist Native people to attend college or vocational school.

More details are available at www.indiantrust.com

Initially, the estimates arrived by Cobell was that approx. 176 billion was missing from the IIM accounts. So why did she and the attorneys spend more than 2 million dollars encouraging people to accept this settlement? A settlement that only constitutes less than 2% of the original estimates?

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