The Woodland Cree First Nation (WCFN) is pursuing legal action against the province of Alberta, arguing the government breached its legal obligation when they granted Shell (and other companies) land tenure in order to pursue oil sands development projects within their Traditional Territory. At no point did the government consult the Woodland Cree.

Simultaneously, they are also seeking to block Royal Dutch Shell’s multibillion-dollar expansion of the oil-extraction plant at Carmon Creek, which, as described in a Press Release dated June 22, 2007, has …

Earlier this week, the Ecuadorian government held a press conference where it announced that Canada’s Ascendant Copper must suspend all its activities at the controversial Junin project, an open pit copper mine located in the Tropical Andes of Ecuador, for violating the country’s mining laws. This is the fourth stop work order since last December.

Immediately after the conference, Ascendant issued a statement emphatically denying it has violated any laws, and even says the Minister of Oil and Mines just doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Should …

For 22 years the Government of Sudan (GOS) and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) fought one another, among several reasons, for control of the oil in the Southern Sudan.

In 2005 the fighting came to an end however, as both parties signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) - which promised not only peace, but also economic prosperity for the Dinka, Nuer and other indigenous people in the Southern Sudan who have suffered profoundly throughout the 22 years of violence - being subjected to summary killings, forced relocations, …

On Friday August 31, Shell will be seeking an injunction in Vancouver’s BC Supreme Court to have the Elders of the Iskut and Telegraph communities forcibly removed and arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

There is a Support Rally on the same day, August 31 at 10am-1pm at the BC Supreme Court House, 800 Smithe St., Vancouver.

You can call 778 885 0040 for issues related to the rally.

* For more information, you can go to sacredheadwaters.com/commentary/ and www.skeenawatershed.com

* Or contact:
Shannon McPhail: info@skeenawatershed.com or call 250-842-2494
Rhoda Quock: (250) …

Invoking the 15th century legal procedure we know as the Doctrine of Discovery, on August 2nd a Russian submarine placed a titanium Russian Flag on the Arctic seabed under the north pole, claiming sovereign ownership of the resources in the region, which includes an estimated 10 billion tons of oil and gas.

As discussed in some detail on Native America, Discovered and Conquered, “Russia is primarily relying on the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea for its claim to the Arctic floor, and the estimated 10 …

Sweet Crude, a documentary now in post-production, tells the story of Nigeria’s Niger Delta and the struggle of the People in the region. For 50 years, the people in the region known as the ’south-south’ have lived a life of hopelessness and desperation as they watch the land become devastated, and their own lives become unsustainable—not just because of the 6,000 reported oil spills (less than 50% of which are cleaned) rampant gas flaring (2.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day) and several major pipeline explosions that …

Piedra del Aguila, an oil corporation funded by US capital, is occupying lands belonging to Mapuche community Wentru Tahuel Leufu– and the Argentine government has responded by giving the land to Piedra del Aguila. And to top it off, the company filed an appeal against community, which was promptly accepted by Cutralco’s Judge Graciela Blanco–overtly ignoring the guaranteed rights of the Mapuche and all other Indigenous People in Argentina.

From Real World Radio - In an interview with El Arka radio station, Curruhuinca described the situation suffered by …

Three years ago the BC government sold Shell Canada drilling rights to explore for coalbed methane within Tahltan Lands, located in what’s now known as British Columbia, Canada.

The Talthan were never truly consulted in this business deal, hadn’t been informed of the dangers connected to Coalbed Methane, and in fact didn’t even known where Shell was planning to drill until they bulldozed an access road through a Tahltan trapper’s camp in the Sacred Headwaters region.

Once Shell completed drilling some test wells (in 2005), questions started to be asked …

The Peoples’ Permanent Tribunal (PPT), an independent non-governmental body that examines and judges complaints regarding violations of human rights as submitted by the victims themselves (or their representatives)—recently held a hearing against the Oil Industry in Colombia.

On August 3rd and 4th, the Panel of 130 Judges gathered in Bogota, receiving testimony from nearly 400 People with regard to the actions of Repsol-YPF, Occidental and British Petroleum, and the Colombian state-owned oil company.

The Judges concluded: “The Tribunal –which is non-binding- believes that there are reasonable grounds to qualify a …

In a court ruling last Friday, a Canadian Federal Court sided with the Ka’agee Tu — saying that the Federal government violated the Ka’agee Tu’s right to “meaningful consultation” when in 2005, it approved an application for Paramount Resources to drill several new oil wells in the Cameron Hills area — Traditional hunting grounds for the Ka’agee Tu, and also a location of their drinking water.

From CBC News - “The court has clearly ruled that Canada can’t make unilateral decisions about major industrial projects on aboriginal lands without, …