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Ralph Nader on TPP, GM Recall, Nuclear Power & the "Unstoppable" Left-Right Anti-Corporate Movement
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: For the rest of the hour, we’re joined by Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, corporate critic, attorney, author, activist, former presidential candidate. For well over 40 years, Ralph has helped us drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, work in safer environments. His devotion to political reform and citizens’ activism has fueled a number of critical policy victories and the creation of generations of watchdogs and activists to carry them forward.
In recent years, Ralph Nader’s name has become synonymous with challenging the nation’s two-party political system. He ran for president in 1996 and 2000 as a candidate on the Green Party ticket, again in 2004 and 2008 as an independent.
Now, he’s out with a new book; it is called Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. It highlights the common concerns shared by a wide swath of the American public, regardless of political orientation. These concerns include resisting mass surveillance, opposing nebulous free trade agreements, and punishing criminal behavior on Wall Street. Throughout, Ralph Nader argues in favor of transcending divisive partisan labels and instead working in concert to pursue shared interests, all the while offering practical solutions rooted in collective organizing.
We go now to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Ralph Nader. Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Ralph. So, talk about what gives you hope. When the headlines are blaring out around the country that there is a complete logjam in Washington between the Democrats and the Republicans, you say the alliance between different—the whole political spectrum is actually coming together.
RALPH NADER: Yes. You’ve got to think of politics in America now as two stratas. On the top, dominating the left-right emerging alliance, are the corporate powers and their political allies in the Congress and elsewhere. And what we’re seeing here is a corporate strategy of long standing that fears a combination of left-right convergence on issues that would challenge corporate power. So, they really like the idea of left-right fighting each other over the social issues. They really work to divide and rule these left-right public opinion and representatives. And so far, they have been dominant, the corporatists.
But they’re beginning to lose. And we have enough historical evidence to show that the tide is running against them. For example, on the minimum wage fight, that comes in 70, 80 percent in the polls, which means a lot of conservative Wal-Mart workers think they should get a restored minimum wage, at least to what it was 46 years ago plus inflation adjustment. That would be almost $11 an hour.
The left-right alliance is coming through at the state legislative level on juvenile justice reform and addressing the whole problem of prisons in our country. Newt Gingrich and others have started a group called Right on Crime. And the progressive forces are working hand in glove with right and left state legislatures, and they’ve gotten through some bills in over a dozen legislatures.
The third area where it’s breaking through, the left-right alliance, is to block the further expansion of these globalized trade agreements. The Pacific trade agreement, which is being negotiated with Asian countries by President Obama, is not going to be blocked under an opposition in the House of Representatives to fast track. In other words, Republicans and Democrats, I think, have about a majority of the House, even defying their leadership in the Democratic and Republican Party, Boehner and Pelosi. They have enough votes right now to block a fast-track, zip-through-the House trade agreement. And that’s a left-right.
A little over a year ago, there was almost a majority vote in the House to block the NSA from dragnet surveillance. That was a bubbling up of public opinion, going from the grassroots all the way to the House of Representatives, in defiance of Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
So we’re seeing this emerge. And if we really want to get things done in this country, long-overdue redirections, then we better pay attention to this emerging left-right alliance that I describe in detail. There are 25 areas of left-right convergence in this country, and they represent a majority. That’s why I called the book Unstoppable. And all we need now is to start the conversation level locally, have it bubble up into the media—the media sort of likes this idea of unlikely allies, especially at the local level—and have it move into the political stream and then put it on the table, all these issues, for the electoral campaigns that are coming up.
AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Nader, I want to go to this global issue of the TPP, because over the weekend President Obama spoke to young leaders during this town hall-style meeting at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His talk was briefly disrupted by peaceful protesters holding up signs denouncing a sweeping new trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership—the TPP often referred to by critics as NAFTA on steroids, as you were talking about, establishing a free-trade zone that would stretch from Vietnam to Chile, encompass 800 million people, about a third of world trade, nearly 40 percent of the global economy. Obama defended the TPP.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The trade agreement that we’re trying to create, the TPP, part of what we’re trying to do is to create higher standards for labor protection, higher standards for environmental protection, more consistent protection of intellectual property, because, increasingly, that’s the next phase of wealth. All those things require more transparency and more accountability and more rule of law. And I think that it’s entirely consistent with Malaysia moving into the next phase.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s President Obama in Malaysia. Who is advising President Obama on TPP? The unions? Environmental organizations? Ralph Nader.
RALPH NADER: Well, they can’t get back through the secrecy of these negotiations in these drafts. As Lori Wallach of Global Trade Watch has pointed out repeatedly, even members of Congress couldn’t get the draft negotiations from the TPP, although the corporate lobbyists have access to these drafts. But it’s quite clear that the TPP is nothing more than an extension of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization on steroids.
And here’s where we have a left-right alliance, each one with their reason. On the left, they’re opposed to these agreements because they’re bad for workers; they’re bad for the price of medicines being affordable, under the intellectual property rules that are being negotiated; they’re bad for open government; and they’re bad for the environment. On the right, they don’t like these trade agreements because they shred our sovereignty. I happen to agree with that, too. All international treaties reduce sovereignties, by definition. But this one, these trade agreements are the greatest usurpers of local, state and national sovereignty in American history. And so, we have this growing alliance. And, by the way, it goes back to documents like the 2002 Texas Republican state platform, that was dead set against these trade agreements on sovereignty issues.
So, I don’t think President Obama is reflecting his campaign assurances in 2008 when he said he was going to work to revise NAFTA and WTO for better environmental, labor and consumer protections. He hasn’t done that for WTO or NAFTA, and he’s not doing it for this trans-Pacific trade agreement.
AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of the power of corporations, General Motors is asking a court to shield it from legal liability for all conduct predating its 2009 bankruptcy. The motion was filed earlier this month that seeks recognition of the split from "Old GM" into the post-bankruptcy "New GM." If approved, GM’s request could protect it from claims over the defective ignition switch linked to at least 13, maybe hundreds of deaths. General Motors knew of the defect for over a decade, of course, but only issued a recall earlier this year. The company’s request was disclosed in a federal lawsuit filed in Texas over the defect. In its court motion, GM says, quote, "Just like the other 'ignition switch actions' that other plaintiffs have filed in the wake of public reports regarding the outstanding recall, this case relates to a vehicle designed, manufactured, originally sold and advertised by Old GM," unquote. Meanwhile, GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said the automaker will create a global organization that will focus on product safety and quality. This is Mary Barra speaking in New York earlier this month.
MARY BARRA: This new way of developing vehicles will provide the highest levels of safety, quality and customer service, and ensure that a situation like the ignition switch recall doesn’t happen again.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s GM CEO Mary Barra, the new CEO of GM. Ralph Nader, the old, the new, what does this mean?
RALPH NADER: Well, as a longtime, unpaid consultant to General Motors, I would advise Mary Barra, first of all, to reopen all these product liability suits by the bereaved families, before the bankruptcy and after the bankruptcy. You’ve got people who want their day in court. They want a trial by jury. They want to bring General Motors to compensate them for their horrendous losses, before their jury, peers. And GM is resisting reopening these prebankruptcy cases. And here’s another example of convergence. When it comes to having your day in court, if your loved one was killed or seriously injured in a defective GM car, it doesn’t matter whether you call yourself a Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative: You want your day in court. When we get down to where people live, work and raise their children, these manipulative ideologies that are controlled by the plutocracy, both from Wall Street to Washington, tend to dissipate as people focus on simple fair play, simple Golden Rule, simple justice.
And GM better realize that this imbroglio that they’ve gotten themselves into is only going to get worse. The press is competitively covering it. They’re looking for media prizes on it. It’s not going to stop. More is going to spill out of the impenetrable bureaucratic bungling of GM with other car models beyond the 2.6 million vehicles they’re recalling for the faulty ignition switch situation. Mary Barra has already suspended two project engineers, with pay. So, obviously, she’s conducting an internal investigation. The only way, really, this is going to be prevented in the future is not only for tougher regulation; stronger legislation in Congress; better budgets for the Department of Transportation to enforce the safety laws; stronger safety standards; stronger reporting standards, so that the auto companies, not just GM, are required, under heavy penalty, to report immediately evidence of vehicle defects on the highway—but it’s also going to require protection of whistleblowers inside GM through an independent ombudsman, which I hope that she will establish, with direct contact to her CEO office. So the engineer who wants to bring his conscience or her conscience to work and report a covered-up defect, that might later kill people on the highway, can go to the ombudsman, get protection so they don’t lose their job, and the ombudsman can go directly to the CEO. That’s the internal requirement to get people in GM to be able to freely bring their conscience to work without risking their careers.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, Ralph, just before we go to break, then we’ll come back, on this issue of GM, it goes to where grassroots movements are. I mean, you were the leading champion of car safety. You took on General Motors in the 1960s. They put a tail on you. They tried to bring you down by compromising you, sending women to you and tracking your every move. And you exposed them in Congress. You got a big settlement and started your organization. But it’s a half a century ago. Do you think progress has been made?
RALPH NADER: Oh, yeah. I mean, motor vehicles are safer, more fuel-efficient, more controlled in their pollution, far more than 50 years ago. However, there’s a whole new wave of innovation that can move our motor vehicle fleet toward even greater crash safety, greater operational safety in terms of brakes and handling, and, above all, transform them into non-emitting vehicles. That is, you can have hydrogen-powered cars, electric cars. The technology is here. It will become less and less expensive to the consumer to purchase these cars. And as David Freeman, the longtime head of the Tennessee Valley Authority and other public utilities, has stated recently, we can transform our entire economy into an all-electric economy powered by solar energy and driven by energy efficiencies that are already on the table and practical in terms of their application within 30 to 40 years, replacing entirely—almost entirely—fossil fuels and nuclear power. So this is the vision that I think the motor vehicle industry—and Tesla seems to be leading the way here—that we would like to see on the horizon.
AMY GOODMAN: Yet we speak to you as Arkansas is devastated from a string of tornadoes. At least 17 people have died, almost all in Arkansas. You have Congress, the House, voting, though this won’t be passed by the Senate, that the National [Oceanic and Atmospheric] Administration cannot talk about the causes of climate change, can only talk about extreme weather. You have Tennessee passing legislation that would outlaw some public transit.
RALPH NADER: Yeah, I mean, this is the corporatist pressure against what I can see around the country as an emerging left-right alliance on—not just on climate change, but on the effect that it has on agriculture, effect it has on disasters that cost the taxpayer, the effect it has on the need for fuel efficiency—good for motorists’ pocketbook—and reducing pollution on the ground. This is a great opportunity for a left-right alliance here.
Remember, we defeated the Clinch River Breeder Reactor in 1983, supported by big business and Ronald Reagan, and we beat them in the House with a left-right alliance. It was a stunning defeat for then the powerful Senator Howard Baker, who wanted this boondoggle Clinch River Breeder Reactor built in his state. And not many years later, in 1986, there was a left-right alliance, Senator—Republican Senator Grassley from Ohio, Congressman Howard Berman, Democrat from California, to pass the False Claims Act, which has saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, protecting internal government whistleblowers. And we just got through, a little over a year ago, a further protection for government whistleblowers, overwhelmingly, in the House and Senate. Again, you see bubbling up from the grassroots. Yeah, it’s a pretty good idea to protect government employees who blow the whistle on corporate fraud, corruption, fleecing Medicare, defense contract abuses, etc.
It comes up from the bottom, Amy. And that’s what we’ve got to do. And we can start with, you know, like the pre-Revolutionary committees of correspondence way back, when they really got together in Massachusetts and elsewhere. And that’s what started the drive. And it can start again with conversations and these little alliances where you live in—throughout the United States, which then bubble up into the media, then bubble up to your members of Congress or the state legislature. Pretty soon, it becomes a political issue. Pretty soon, it’s back on the table. And you’ve got to get all these issues, many of which I describe in my book, Unstoppable—
AMY GOODMAN: Ralph, we’re—
RALPH NADER: You’ve got to get all these issues, like corporate welfare and the bloated defense budget and—yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to talk about the issue of militarism in a moment. We’re speaking with Ralph Nader, longtime consumer activist, corporate critic, former presidential candidate many times over. His new book is called Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. We’ll come back with him in a minute.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: We continue our conversation with Ralph Nader, longtime consumer advocate, four-time presidential candidate. His latest book is called Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. Ralph, front page of The New York Times today, huge pictures, it says, "Putting a 32,000-Ton Cap on Chernobyl." There’s another piece by Matthew Wald that says, "Environmentalists and the nuclear industry are beginning a push to preserve old nuclear reactors whose economic viability is threatened by cheap natural gas and rising production of wind energy. They argue [that] while natural gas and wind are helpful as sources of electricity with little or no production of greenhouse gases, national climate goals will be unreachable if zero-carbon nuclear reactors are phased out." And they talk about some of the people who are involved with this, like Carol Browner, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and a former climate adviser to President Obama. In over 30 years, no administration has succeeded in pushing forward with building nuclear power plants—until President Obama, now two being pushed forward in Georgia, this in the aftermath also of the disaster in Japan, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and the meltdowns. Your thoughts on nuclear power and where we stand on climate change and these being put forward as green alternatives?
RALPH NADER: Well, Wall Street will not finance any new nuclear plant because they’re so uneconomic, as Warren Buffett has said it, more than once, without a full government guarantee by the taxpayer. That alone should raise questions. The second thing is that nuclear power is a long-range, troubled construction project. We haven’t had a new one ordered and opened since 1973. The third is that nuclear power represents a national security problem. It not only is uninsurable in the private market, but is a national security problem with radioactively deep spent fuel rods and transportation vehicles carrying radioactive waste to who knows where—we still don’t have a permanent storage place in America for all this waste. Those are all very vulnerable points to accident or sabotage.
So, nuclear power is extremely costly. Right now, the bulk of new electric-generating capacity, installed, as well, in the last year was solar. So, solar power, wind power are going down in price, especially solar panels that are being put on roofs all over the country, especially in California. That is really replacing it. Now, natural gas is coming in and also tanking nuclear power. And the nuclear power barons know that. So why are we messing around with another potential Fukushima disaster such as Indian Point’s two aging reactors, 30 miles from where you are right now in Manhattan, Amy? Aging plants, even Senator Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Cuomo said, when they were in those posts, they need to be shut down. They’re near active earthquake faults. It’s totally unevacuable in case of an accident. The people can hardly get out of town in rush hour.
AMY GOODMAN: And yet, interestingly, talking about the left-right alliance, although I’m not exactly seeing left here, but Evan Bayh, Indiana Democrat; Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican; Spencer Abraham, Michigan Republican, former energy secretary; and William Daley, the former chief of staff of Obama, being—starting this new lobbying effort for the nuclear industry.
RALPH NADER: Yeah, and there—
AMY GOODMAN: And since we just have two minutes, if you might pivot to the issue of militarism, which you take on in your book, Unstoppable?
RALPH NADER: Well, a lot of these coalitions are funded by the nuclear industry themselves. By the way, there is a corporate-liberal convergence with corporate conservatives for years. That’s what’s driven this country into the ground—corporate liberals like the Clintons and corporate conservatives like John Boehner, etc.
The militarism part is another invitation for an emerging left-right alliance. Barney Frank, Congressman Barney Frank, left, and Ron Paul, Congressman Ron Paul, Libertarian, got together in 2010 to develop a caucus against a bloated military budget and the militarism that comes from it. That’s an example in Congress of a far larger number of left-right convergences being repressed by their leadership, which has other corporate campaign cash incentives in mind. So what we’re seeing here—listen, even after 9/11, there was a public opinion poll saying that we shouldn’t do war on Afghanistan; we should pursue the backers of 9/11, bring them to justice, but not this massive invasion of Afghanistan. And for years, left-right public opinion polls have said we should get out of Afghanistan. So there is a large, emerging left-right alliance here against militarism. It was against the invasion of Iraq by Bush and Cheney—the unconstitutional, criminal invasion of Iraq. You had over 300 retired generals, admirals, national security leaders and diplomats speaking out against it before the invasion in March 2003, and they were Republicans and Democrats.
So there is this huge potential here to turn this country around. I don’t sugarcoat the obstacles in this book, Unstoppable. I go into them one after the other, and how we can overcome them and how we can establish a new political realignment here. We have enough historical precedent of successful left-right breakthroughs. We’ve got to break through to the political and electoral sphere here and start turning the country around.
AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Nader, I want to thank you very much for being with us, a longtime consumer advocate, presidential candidate, has written a new book. It’s called Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.
Cowboy Indian Alliance Protests Keystone XL Pipeline in D.C. After Latest Obama Admin Delay
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Thousands of people rallied in Washington, D.C., on Saturday calling on President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. The rally came four days after Earth Day, when a group of ranchers, farmers and tribal communities from along the pipeline route rode into Washington, D.C., and set up the Reject and Protect encampment near the White House. The group called themselves the Cowboy Indian Alliance.
During Saturday’s procession, members of the alliance presented a hand-painted teepee to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian as a gift to President Obama. The teepee represented the Cowboy and Indian Alliance’s hopes for protected land and clean water. Legendary musician Neil Young joined the protesters who rallied on the National Mall, then marched past the Capitol building.
NEIL YOUNG: We’re all children of Mother Earth, and that’s why I’m here, because I feel we’re all threatened by what’s happening. As a planet, we’re threatened. I feel that the fossil fuel age is ending. It’s having its first death gasps. And we need to keep pushing. We need to stop this pipeline, which is bringing this really bad fuel from Canada, from the tail of the snake, all the way down to the head of the snake in Texas.
AMY GOODMAN: Saturday’s rally came a week after the Obama administration announced it had again delayed a decision on approval or rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. The State Department says it will await the results of legal challenges to the pipeline’s proposed route through Nebraska. That means a final move would not likely come until after the midterm elections.
To talk more about the protests and the pipeline, we’re joined by three guests. In Washington, D.C., Gary Dorr is with us. He is the media and logistical coordinator for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Shield the People project, an effort to defend against the Keystone XL pipeline. He’s a member of the Nez Perce Nation and was one of the organizers of the Reject and Protect encampment in D.C.
Joining us here in New York is actress and activist Daryl Hannah. She participated in the Reject and Protect protests in D.C. She has been arrested three times for protests against the Keystone XL.
Also with us here in New York is Art Tanderup, a Nebraska farmer who was in Washington, D.C., for the protests. He’s also a member of the Cowboy Indian Alliance.
We welcome you all to Democracy Now! Let’s begin with Gary Dorr in Washington. Why is this issue, the Keystone XL, so important to you?
GARY DORR: Ta’c meeywi. Good morning. This issue is important to me, certainly for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Great Sioux Nation, because it threatens the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides drinking water for 2.3 million people. It also threatens the Missouri River, which provides drinking water for probably a couple 'nother million. So we're talking about five million American citizens who are—who have their drinking water supply threatened. This water supply also provides crops, water for our crops, for irrigation. So now we’re talking about more and more millions and millions of people who could be affected. This could be an economic bust for the Midwest.
AMY GOODMAN: Art Tanderup, you’re a Nebraska farmer. You’re part of the Cowboy Indian Alliance. Explain how this came together and why you feel so strongly about this. This could bring business to Nebraska, couldn’t it?
ART TANDERUP: Yes, it could—it could bring business to Nebraska, but it’s the wrong type of business. It’s the business that would bring temporary jobs for the construction period, and then there would only be approximately 35 jobs for the duration—or, for after that, for maintenance, etc., of the pipeline.
The Cowboy Indian Alliance was formed a couple years ago, because of common interests between farmers, ranchers and Native Americans in northern Nebraska and southern South Dakota. We’ve come together as brothers and sisters to fight this Keystone XL pipeline, because of the risk to the Ogallala Aquifer, to the land, to the health of the people.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain what that is, the Ogallala Aquifer.
ART TANDERUP: OK, the Ogallala Aquifer is like the United States’ largest clean water aquifer, underground aquifer. It covers—it starts up in South Dakota, covers most of Nebraska and on down into Kansas and parts of Oklahoma, as well. And it’s—you know, it’s not necessarily a big lake under the ground; it’s more of a huge sponge of—in gravel, sand, etc., that provides clean drinking water. It provides water for livestock, for wildlilfe, for human consumption, for irrigation. It’s the livelihood of the Heartland.
AMY GOODMAN: And explain why your farm, your community is threatened. Where do you live?
ART TANDERUP: We live north of Neligh, Nebraska, and we’re right on the pipeline route, as well as part of our farm is on the Ponca Trail of Tears from back in the 1870s, when Chief Standing Bear and his people were driven from the Niobrara area to Oklahoma.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to Cindy Schild. She is a senior manager of the American Petroleum Institute’s refining and oil sands program, defends the pipeline. She was on our show earlier this year.
CINDY SCHILD: At this point, we have spent five years reviewing the environmental impacts time and time again, despite the five assessments and most transparent and thorough process to date on anything of its nature. We have seen the same conclusions: minimal impacts, negligible impacts. The climate answer, the environmental answer and concerns have been addressed. This is one factor to be considered amongst several, and it’s time to determine that the project’s in the nation’s interest.
AMY GOODMAN: Daryl Hannah, what’s your response to Cindy Schild?
DARYL HANNAH: Well, first of all, I’d just like to say that we can’t really afford to fall asleep on this one, because a delay is not a rejection. And that’s why even though there was just this delay, so many people came together to, you know, show continuing solidarity and support for a full-on rejection of the Keystone pipeline. You know, there’s a lot of disinformation out there. There’s a—a good amount of American citizens still believe that the Keystone has something to do with reducing our dependence on foreign oil or will reduce the gas prices, which is a complete fallacy. I mean, the lion’s share of the oil that will be refined down in the Gulf of Mexico, if the Keystone goes through, is intended for the global market, and we’d still have to be the highest bidder. So—
AMY GOODMAN: So explain. This pipeline that would go from Alberta, Canada, down to the Gulf of Mexico—
DARYL HANNAH: Right, through six states.
AMY GOODMAN: —actually would not be providing oil to the United States.
DARYL HANNAH: No, no, no. This is a landlocked resource, and they need to get it to a coastline so that they can refine it and make it available for the global market. Now, there are many proposals on the table. If you look at a map, any, you know, simpleminded person could see that the closest route would be for them to get to one of the Canadian coasts, but so far none of those proposals have succeeded.
AMY GOODMAN: Why?
DARYL HANNAH: Well, the First—First Nations communities in Canada have their treaty rights built into their constitution, and so far they’ve been successful at blocking those proposals. But the United States, obviously money tends to rule our political and legislative systems, and so they’ve had a little bit more success in getting the proposal of the Keystone through, although you see all the way through every single state that this pipeline would pass, there has been pushback from the citizens. And it’s just like what you said in the opening of your—of the show today: You know, this country was built for the citizens, not for the corporations. And we would still—we would still have to be the highest bidder, no matter what coastline that this oil gets to. And so, you think about how much natural gas we’ve produced in the last several years, and yet, still, the gas—natural gas prices were exorbitant, and natural gas was almost inaccessible in some parts of the country. So this is similar, a similar situation, where this pipeline would threaten our aquifers. Water, luckily, is not a liberal or a conservative issue; it’s an issue that concerns us all, and so it’s brought all of these forces together.
AMY GOODMAN: Why did you get involved with this? I mean, you’re a famous, well-known actress. You have gotten now arrested a number of times around this.
DARYL HANNAH: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Why is the Keystone XL so critical for you?
DARYL HANNAH: Well, I’ve seen the impacts of some of the extreme extraction processes that we’ve resorted to since the easy-to-access fossil fuel supplies have become harder to reach. I’ve visited people in the Appalachians who were affected by mountaintop removal. I’ve seen communities that have been affected and, you know, their water supplies poisoned by fracking. Of course, the Gulf of Mexico, which was just recently declared clean, is still suffering from this sludge at the bottom of the Gulf that is affecting the food chain. And BP was just issued new permits to drill again. So, you know, these extreme forms of extraction should be against the law, and we should be—we should be starting to build some resilience and some self-sufficiency by developing renewable energy infrastructure. We have the technology. We just need the will.
AMY GOODMAN: And what word do you have on this delay? You talk about the delay at this point is not a victory. It is pretty astounding that it has been delayed repeatedly. What do you think is going on in the White House right now?
DARYL HANNAH: I have no idea. I have a—I have a suspicion that they don’t want to lose any constituents before the midterm elections. And so, they’re—you know, so the delay will probably be put off until after that election is resolved. But nevertheless, you know, this is a—the Keystone pipeline is a conduit to further expansion of the tar sands. And that’s really what’s at the bottom of this proposal.
AMY GOODMAN: Gary Dorr, the kind of alliance that’s taking place, you have this new Cowboy Indian Alliance, but also the Native nations on both sides of border. Can you talk about the kind of organizing that’s going on from Canada to the United States?
GARY DORR: Well, they’ve been down here to the camp, Winona LaDuke and a couple of other people, Cheryl—Crystal Lameman—what was the other—Chief George, [Rueben] George. And we have formed—you know, we have had visits with them. They’ve visited our communities. I know some of them have been to the Nez Perce Nation in Idaho. And they’ve brought to light those things that—you know, like Daryl said, there was a couple of mistruths or untruths that were put out. And I think the American Petroleum Institute needs to go up to Fort Chipewyan, where, before, there was a negligible cancer rate, before this all started, and now Fort Chip, that little, tiny, little hamlet has a cancer rate 400 times the national Canadian per capita average. So, there’s all sorts of, I guess, truths that are coming out from our alliances with these people, from speaking with these people, from having them come down here and speak. It’s like yesterday, Winona LaDuke was saying, you know, that every single person up there, every single family—every single family has cancer in their families now in Fort Chip. It’s been—
AMY GOODMAN: Because of?
GARY DORR: Because of the tar sands mining going on up there and the minimum refining process and dilution process that’s going on up there.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup about what happened earlier this month when activists unveiled a massive crop art opposing the Keystone XL pipeline on his farm in Nebraska. Using tractors, organizers dug into their cornfields an image of a rancher and a Native American with the inscription "Heartland = No KXL." The image is said to be the size of 80 football fields. How did this come about, Art?
ART TANDERUP: Actually, artist—aerial artist John Quigley was so concerned about this that he—about the pipeline, that he wanted to help make a statement. And he felt that the best place to do that would be in the Heartland on the proposed route. And so, we came together on this, and we took a field, a half-mile long and a quarter-mile wide, and created a magnificent piece of art. And it makes such a statement. We’ve literally drawn a line in the sand, because this is sand. It’s a very sandy soil that allows—it’s highly permeable and allows substances to move through it rather quickly. But this—you see the image there. The Native American image there is the image of Gary Dorr, and the cowboy image is that of Ben Gotschall, a rancher from the Atkinson area. And the lines underneath them signifies the water and how important that water is. The sun around the outside has seven rays for the seven generations.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain the Nebraska governor’s position on the pipeline.
ART TANDERUP: The Nebraska governor—back when this pipeline was first proposed, it was further west of us, and he came out very strongly and said, "We will not—we will not have this go through the Sandhills. We will not have it go over the Ogallala Aquifer. So the route must be changed if it’s to come through Nebraska." So—and a map was used that put the area I live out of the Sandhills, and they forgot about the aquifer issue. So, they moved it east a few miles, and it’s still in the bottom part of the Sandhills, and it’s still very much over the aquifer. So now he wants it built as fast as it can be built. And he’s forgotten about the people of Nebraska and what this thing could do to them and how it could ruin our aquifer.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, in a moment we’re going to be speaking to Ralph Nader. He feels there’s a kind of right-left alliance that is happening in this country at the grassroots level that is unstoppable. But I wanted to ask you, Daryl Hannah, the former energy secretary, Steven Chu, told the Oil & Gas Journal, "I don’t have a position on whether the Keystone Pipeline should be built. ... But I will say that the decision on whether the construction should happen was a political one and not a scientific one." That’s very interesting.
DARYL HANNAH: Yeah. Well, I mean, in this country, it seems that business has always been the bottom line. The mighty dollar, you know, has been the bottom line, rather than the interests of people thriving. And it has been very encouraging to see all of these disparate forces come together despite all of the polarizing that’s going on in the media. People are really uniting over these basic life support systems and protection of our futures.
"We Need to End the Fossil Fuel Age": Music Legend Neil Young Protests Keystone XL Oil Pipeline
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to end with Neil Young. Neil Young, the famous musician, was in Washington at the rally on Saturday speaking against Keystone XL pipeline.
NEIL YOUNG: We stand with you. We are with you. We’re with the farmers. We’re with the ranchers. We’re with the Indians in the U.S.A. We are with the First Nations people of Canada. We say, "Honor the treaties. Honor our agreements. Honor your word. Keep your word." My mother always said to me, "Keep your word, and clean up your mess, Neil." So this is what we want the government of Canada to do: Keep your word; don’t let this happen. It’s on First Nations land. They have the right to stop it. Let them speak. Don’t bowl over them like they weren’t there, because they are there. And there will be hell to pay.
There’s an ancient story about a black snake that comes and threaten the First Nations people across North America. And this is it. It stretches from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. And it carries this poison that is going to do incredible damage to Mother Earth, three times as much CO2 in this oil as any other oil on the planet. It turns a Toyota Celica into a Chevy Suburban if you burn gasoline in that. That’s what happens. This is what’s going down this pipeline. For who? For what? It’s not for you. It’s not for us. It goes to a tax-free zone in Texas, so that it can be shipped to Asia or somewhere else in the world and used in automobiles to pollute. And we can’t have any more pollution. We need the CO2 to stop.
That’s why I stand with my friends. They are the people of the Earth. They are the caretakers of the Earth. We love the Earth. We don’t want to see this happen. Our grandchildren will be trying so hard to dig themselves out of the hole that we’re digging right now just to make a few bucks over the last few years of the fossil fuel age. We need to end the fossil fuel age and move into something better. So, I say—I say to President Obama: "This is your defining moment in the history of the world. Make your statement. And make a statement that’s good for all time. It’s a change. The change is coming. Why not give it a push? Why not stand up and put America on the right side of history?" Blessings.
AMY GOODMAN: Neil Young speaking at Saturday’s rally against the Keystone XL pipeline. Thank you to our three guests: Gary Dorr, media and logistical coordinator for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Shield the People project, member of the Nez Perce Nation, speaking to us from Washington; Art Tanderup, Nebraska farmer with the Cowboy and Indian Alliance; and Daryl Hannah, the actress and activist.
When we come back, Ralph Nader on Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. Stay with us.
Headlines:
Tornadoes Kill 17, Level Homes in Arkansas and Oklahoma
The death toll from a string of tornadoes in the Midwest and South has reached at least 17, almost all in Arkansas. Dozens of homes were destroyed, and thousands of people have lost power. In the Arkansas town of Vilonia, a witness described the flattening of an entire neighborhood.
Phil Ellis: "I saw some of the biggest trees just turned upside down and literally the houses picked up and set on top of cars. Over there, some of the garages are just literally out — the cars and the garage in the yard."
The deaths are the first of this year’s hurricane season in the United States.
U.S. Grows Military Presence in Philippines with 10-Year Pact
The United States has signed a deal to revive its military presence in the Philippines over 20 years after being forced to leave its bases. Under the 10-year agreement, U.S. forces, warships and fighter jets will be stationed on Filipino territory for training and exercises. The Philippines was a U.S. colony from 1898 to 1946, and the U.S. maintained bases until popular protest forced their ouster in 1992. In a signing ceremony today, U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg said the United States does "not intend" to re-establish permanent bases.
Philip Goldberg: "A commitment to democratic governance and international law, the mutuality of benefits for both nations as we develop our individual and collective defense capacities, respect for Philippine sovereignty over all locations covered under the agreement, and the understanding that the United States does not intend to establish a permanent military presence in the Philippines."
The deal is being unveiled today amidst a visit to the Philippines by President Obama. At a protest in New York’s Times Square, a Filipino activist with the group BAYAN criticized the accord.
Gary Labao: "We are definitely against more U.S. troops in the Philippines and in Asia-Pacific region because we believe that the presence of U.S. military in the Asia-Pacific region is not beneficial to the sociopolitical and economic development of Asian countries."
Anti-TPP Activists Protest Obama Speech in Malaysia
President Obama is in the Philippines today as he continues an Asia-Pacific tour. On Sunday, Obama faced protest at a public event in Malaysia over the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The secretive pact would establish a free-trade zone among Pacific Rim countries, encompassing nearly 40 percent of the global economy. As Obama spoke at a town hall event, a group of demonstrators stood up in the audience and held placards in silent protest.
Egypt Court Issues Mass New Death Sentence for Brotherhood Supporters
An Egyptian judge has sentenced hundreds of people to death as part of the continued crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. The 683 defendants were convicted of violent acts on behalf of the Brotherhood, which the military regime has deemed a terrorist group since overthrowing President Mohamed Morsi in July. The defendants include the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, Mohammed Badie. The judge in the case is the same judge who sentenced more than 500 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death in another mass trial last month. In today’s hearings, 37 of those death sentences were upheld while the rest were changed to 25 years in prison.
Afghan Panel: New Secret Prisons Found on NATO Bases
A government panel in Afghanistan says it has uncovered two previously undisclosed secret prisons run by U.S. and British forces. The prisons are said to be on the NATO coalition bases of Kandahar Airfield and Camp Bastion. The Pentagon has not denied the claim, but says all of its prisons are known to the Afghan government and the Red Cross.
U.S. Expands Russia Sanctions; Separatists Seize European Monitors in Ukraine
The United States has announced new sanctions on Russia in the continued standoff over the crisis in Ukraine. Speaking today in Manila, President Obama said he would expand the list targeting Russian individuals and firms with financial and diplomatic action.
President Obama: "Russia has not yet chosen to move forward, and these sanctions represent the next stage in a calibrated effort to change Russia’s behavior. We don’t yet know whether it’s going to work. And that’s why the next phase, if in fact we saw further Russian aggression towards Ukraine, could be sectoral sanctions, less narrowly targeted, addressing sectors like banking or the defense industries."
Tensions in Ukraine remain high with continued violence and a new hostage crisis. Over the weekend, pro-Russian separatists seized a group of monitors with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the town of Slavyansk. The separatists say they want to trade the monitors for a group of their jailed activists. Meanwhile, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has been seriously wounded in a shooting. Doctors say the mayor, Hennadiy Kernes, is fighting for his life.
Nigerian Schoolgirls Remain Missing After Abduction by Boko Haram
In Nigeria, about 200 girls remain missing nearly two weeks after they were kidnapped from their boarding school. The Islamist militant group Boko Haram is suspected of abducting about 230 schoolgirls during a night raid in the northeastern town of Chibok on April 15. Some have managed to escape. The Nigerian military initially reported most of the girls had been freed, but that statement was soon retracted.
Judge Backs Gov’t on Seizing Overseas Data; Phone Company Tried to Halt NSA Compliance
A federal judge has ruled the government can force Internet companies to hand over customers’ private data, even when that data is held overseas. The case saw Microsoft challenge a warrant for a user’s email account stored on a server in Ireland. Microsoft had argued the United States does not have jurisdiction over a foreign server, and says it plans to appeal. The ruling comes amidst news an undisclosed phone company tried to stop involvement in the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of call records earlier this year. The New York Times reports the firm cited a federal judge’s ruling that found the bulk collection unconstitutional and "almost Orwellian." But the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court denied the request.
NBA Stars Call for Owner’s Removal over Racist Comments
The National Basketball Association is facing one of its biggest controversies in years after a team owner was recorded making racist remarks. On the tape, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is heard telling a woman identified as his girlfriend not to spend time with African Americans.
V. Stiviano: "People call you and tell you that I have black people on my Instagram, and it bothers you.
Donald Sterling: "Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?"
Sterling has faced previous allegations of racial discrimination. In 2009, he paid more than $2.7 million after being accused of driving out people of color from apartment buildings he owns. A former Clippers general manager has also sued Sterling for racial bias. The Clippers players reacted to the controversy on Sunday with a silent protest against Sterling’s remarks. They wore their warm-up jerseys inside out, hiding their team’s logo, and then stacked them in the middle of the floor. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is investigating.
Adam Silver: "The audio recording posted by TMZ is truly offensive and disturbing, and we intend to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. … I think our track record is stellar, and while I understand anger that would be naturally expressed over hearing a tape like this, I also believe that ultimately the players and the rest of the NBA family has confidence that we’ll deal with it appropriately."
Several current and former NBA stars, including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson have condemned Sterling’s remarks. James, one of the league’s top players, said: "There’s no room for Donald Sterling in our league."
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