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Butch Otter & Education Reform

In April, Otter signed into law 3 anti-education bills.

2 of the bills ended tenure for new teachers, instituted merit pay and removed discussions of workload and class size from contract negotiations for the 12,000 teachers represented by the Idaho Education Association.

The 3rd bill forces districts to equip high schools with mobile computing devices and potentially shifts funds from teacher pay to technology.

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/09/idaho-education-reform_n_847048.html

Cattle Ranchers Destroying Amazon

The Ayoreo who live in the Amazon Forest are being displaced due to cattle ranchers. Some Ayoreo have already moved out of the forest with relatives remaining inside. Below is a video interview with some who have left and their concern for their relatives. Notice how these Ayoreo now dress like Americans  since leaving the forest instead of their traditional attire.

The ranchers plan to bulldoze a huge section (map in video) of Ayoreo's forest, making 2/3 cattle ranch and 1/3 will be a 'nature preserve!'  Yep. The Ayoreo's home will become a ranch and preserve, making the Ayoreo "conservation refugees."

Largest Oil Spill in Alberta, Canada April 29th

Little Buffalo community members, including school children, continue to experience nausea, burning eyes and headaches after one of the largest pipeline spills in Alberta history last Friday by Plains All American leaked nearly 30,000 barrels of oil into Lubicon traditional territory in the Peace Region of Northern Alberta.

Instead of attending an in-person community meeting, the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) faxed a one-page fact sheet to Little Buffalo School.

 The fact sheet was also in a news release May 3rd:

Air monitors are in place at the site and have detected no hydrocarbon levels above Alberta Ambient Air Quality guidelines. There have been no injuries resulting from the incident and there is no threat to public safety.

 

May 4th release on Plains All American website:

Physical pipeline repairs have been completed.  We are awaiting regulatory approval to restart the line.  The oil has been contained and recovery efforts are ongoing.

Additionally, immediately upon hearing of concerns raised at the school in the community of Little Buffalo, approximately 14 KM from the spill, the company began air quality monitoring at that location.  These monitors have been in place since Monday, and have detected no hydrocarbon levels whatsoever.  We will continue monitoring air quality at the spill site and in surrounding areas. 

Typical oil company. 

The person in charge of aboriginal relations for ERCB is below. If you'd like to send them an email as to why they merely sent an inaccurate "fact sheet" instead of attending the community meeting and addressing the effects the spill is having on the air and physical health of the native community.

Bruce Gladue
Ph: (780) 460-3823
E-mail: bruce.gladue@ercb.ca