WMAN Hot Topic and Skill-Building Webinars and Lectures 2018

Fast tips for your fast pitch | Wednesday, January 10, 2018, 10 a.m. Pacific Time

Do you have an idea for a program or a campaign approach, or a new nonprofit, but you want help figuring out how to effectively “sell” it? You might already know that your pitch might not entail talking about all the facts about your proposal. And throwing a story in there might also not be enough. Join this webinar with Liz Banse to learn tips, tricks and a methodological approach to the “art of the pitch.” You’ll leave with new ways to inspire and persuade your audience to support your concept, whatever it might be!  Led by Resource Media with funding from the True North Foundation.

Communicating on Climate | Wednesday, February 7, 2018, 10 a.m. Pacific Time

Best practices for communicating on climate change:  political, polarizing, but possible!  What’s the secret sauce for mobilizing people around climate solutions? Is our current approach misguided? Is there any way to get people to act on something that may seem far in the distant future for them? How do you frame this problem without overwhelming your audience? Get the answers to these questions, plus the stumper of all time:  why do highly educated people still not believe in climate change?! During this webinar, Liz Banse from Resource Media will talk about climate politics and climate communications, the best practices for people working on mining and other resource extraction issues where climate change factors into current and future impacts and planning.  Led by Resource Media with funding from the True North Foundation.

NEPA Strategies and Approaches: Submitting Alternatives and Preserving Litigation Options | Friday, March 9, 2018, 10 a.m. Mountain Time

This webinar, organized and facilitated by Anne Mariah, will provide an introduction to two different strategies for leveraging NEPA to accomplish campaign goals. First, Mary O’Brien will introduce the strategy of putting together community alternatives and generating broad support for the agency choosing this alternative as its preferred alternative in an EIS. Second, Travis Stills will introduce key points for advocates submitting public comments with an eye toward preserving options to litigate.

About the Presenters:

• Mary O’Brien  (Ph.D., Botany) has been serving as Utah Forests Program Director at Grand Canyon Trust since 2003, and with other conservation organizations since 1981,  developing alternatives to be considered in NEPA projects since the early 1980s: e.g., for comprehensive management and forest plans, vegetation treatments, pesticide use, wetlands protection, grazing, and transportation. Prior to Mary’s work as the Utah Forest Program Director for the Grand Canyon Trust, she worked as a consultant on alternatives to risk assessment and toxic-chemical use. Mary has been a staff scientist for the Environmental Research Foundation in Annapolis, Maryland, and for the U.S. Office of Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide. Mary authored the book “Making Better Environmental Decisions – An Alternative to Risk Assessment.”
• Travis Stills, Executive Director and Attorney of Energy & Conservation Law, has advised and represented various organizations throughout the country since 1996 and serves as E&CL’s attorney for the uranium and nonconventional law program.  He has taught and developed graduate and undergraduate courses in sociology, environmental law, environmental justice, and environmental policy and politics for Fort Lewis College and the University of Colorado-Denver. He earned his J.D. at Vermont Law School, and has received specialized training in administrative and environmental law while earning his Masters Study in Environmental Law (cum laude) at Vermont Law School. He has litigated numerous reported state and federal cases in which he successfully promoted the interests of the particular campaign/organization and which helped improve the legal protections available through the courts.  A significant portion of his legal work focuses on the National Environmental Policy Act.
• Anne Mariah Tapp, J.D., is the principal for Canyon Country Consulting, LLC. where she focuses on using her education in federal Indian law and environmental law to uplift Tribes and protect the Grand Canyon and Colorado Plateau. Anne Mariah’s work is grounded in the belief that the path toward stewardship and restoring balance on the Colorado Plateau lies with the indigenous people who have called it home since time immemorial. Prior to launching Canyon Country Consulting in 2016, Anne Mariah worked at the Grand Canyon Trust for four years, first as a staff attorney and then as the Director of the Energy Program. Anne Mariah has worked with and for non-profits, foundations, and tribal nations in a variety of settings for the past eight years, serves as an advisor to the Colorado Plateau Foundation, and is the acting legal representative for the Western Mining Action Network’s Steering Committee.

Going head-to-head on messaging | Wednesday, March 14, 2018, 10 a.m. Pacific

Politics has always been a blood sport, but America’s political rhetoric is growing more virulent and higher pitched. Controlling the narrative frame in the middle of a high-speed, high-octane conflict is a constant challenge. Mining activists often face opposition working to drive attention to their chosen messages and facts that make it harder for us to protect our communities. What are some tools and tactics to dealing with opposition messaging? Should you tackle your opponents head-on or not? What are pitfalls to avoid? Liz Banse from Resource Media will discuss the range of tools and techniques for these challenging situations and moments. We will examine the four main ways opponents of conservation attack conservation policies, and brainstorm ways to successfully blunt or bridge from those attacks. We will also examine smear tactics that our opponents use to damage our credibility and how to effectively blunt those attacks. Led by Resource Media with funding from the True North Foundation.

Data visualization | Thursday, April 19, 2018, 10 a.m. PST

Data visualization is about telling the story behind the numbers. Join Liz Banse from Resource Media as we run through 9 best practices when presenting data through visualization formats like charts and graphs. We’ll talk about how to choose the right formats that allow you to easily uncover meaningful patterns, correlations and outliers, and other insights that allow you to discover new things, uncover trends over time, draw conclusions and make informed decisions. We’ll also go over some stumbling points in data visualization for you to look out for when reviewing others, or creating your own data visualizations.  Led by Resource Media with funding from the True North Foundation.

To find tip sheets on communications, from op-ed writing to media relations, please visit Resource Media’s Toolbox page at: http://www.resource-media.org/toolbox/

Profits from Loss: Researching HDI, the company behind the Pebble Mine | Thursday, May 14, Noon Pacific

• Joan Kuyek examined the track record of Hunter Dickinson Inc. (HDI) of Vancouver and its affiliate Northern Dynasty Minerals, the company behind the Pebble mine.  During her presentation, Joan will discuss her methodology and findings, which culminated in a report confirming that Northern Dynasty is effectively broke, calling its risk levels “unprecedented even among other junior mining companies.”
• Joan’s report reviewed 19 past and current projects promoted by HDI over 25 years revealing that the long-term outcomes of HDI projects have been bad news for investors, communities, governments, and the environment.  The benefits all flowed to the HDI group of companies.
  
• Hunter Dickinson Inc. is also behind the Sisson Mine (NB), and its affiliate Taseko is the owner of the Gibraltar Mine (BC) and promoter of New Prosperity (BC) and Florence Copper Mine (AZ).

About the Presenter:

Joan Kuyek is a mining analyst, writer, researcher and educator living in Ottawa.  She was the founding National Coordinator of MiningWatch Canada from 1999-2009. Before that, she lived and worked in Sudbury Ontario, Canada’s largest mining community. For many years, she taught Mining Law, Policy and Communities at Queen’s University Law School and Community Development and Social Change at Carleton University. She is the author of Community Organizing: A Holistic Approach (2011), and a number of other books and publications. Her peer-reviewed publications include a number of economic risk  analyses of proposed mining projects on behalf of community and First Nations partners, including the New Prosperity Mine, the Kemess North Mine, the Tulsequah Chief Mine, the Raven Coal Mine and the Ajax Mine in British Columbia, the Matamec Mine and the Copper One project in Quebec, the Pebble Mine in Alaska, and the Ring of Fire chromite project in northern Ontario.

Mining reform in the age of Trump: state actions in Montana and Colorado | Wednesday, May 16, Noon Pacific Time

Derf Johnson will discuss Montana’s ballot initiative that would allow the state to deny permits for mines that would require perpetual water treatment as part of their reclamation plans.  Derf also will talk about a unique provision in Montana’s Metal Mine Reclamation Act known as the “Bad Actor Provision.”

Expanded in 2001 in response to the Pegasus Gold bankruptcy that left behind tens of millions of dollars in cleanup costs, this provision prohibits individuals, who held high ranking positions in companies failing to complete mine reclamation, from conducting new mining in Montana until they complete reclamation and make good on their outstanding financial obligations.  

Pete Dronkers will talk about proposed legislation in Colorado, which is similar to Montana’s ballot initiative, that would specify an end date for water quality treatment and require financial assurance that includes the cost of water quality protection as part of reclamation plans.

Learn more about these existing and proposed laws in Montana and Colorado, and the impetus behind their passage, to see if similar legislation might work in your state.

About the Presenters:

Pete Dronkers is the Southwest Circuit Rider for Earthworks, focusing on energy and mining development in the Southwest and occasionally beyond.  He lives in Ridgway, Colorado.

Derf Johnson is the Water Program Director for the Montana Environmental Information Center, based in Helena, Montana. His work focuses on energy development, climate change, and hardrock mining.

Defending the Grand Canyon Mineral Withdrawal | Wednesday, June 6, 2018, 8 a.m. Pacific

Since the 2016 election, the Grand Canyon mineral withdrawal has been in the crosshairs of the Trump Administration.  On November 1, 2017, the U.S. Forest Service identified the withdrawal as a burden on domestic energy development– setting the stage for the Trump Administration to revoke it. In early May 2018, members of the Congressional Western Caucus, led by Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, sent a letter to President Trump, Interior Secretary Zinke, and Agriculture Secretary Perdue asking the administration to “scrap” mining bans on federal lands across the country, claiming they are “political” and done “to appease extremist environmental groups.”

This webinar features two speakers at the frontlines of the fight to keep the Grand Canyon Mineral Withdrawal intact. US Congressman Tom O’Halleran will join us to share insights about strategy at the national level. Amber Reimondo of the Grand Canyon Trust will discuss her efforts to bridge regional and national campaign strategies to ensure the Grand Canyon Mineral Withdrawal remains intact.

About the Presenters:

United States Congressman Tom O’Halleran

United States Congressman Tom O’Halleran  is a national leader in the effort to protect America’s public lands and defend the Grand Canyon Mineral Withdrawal. Most recently, joined by other Arizona legislators Grijalva, Gallego, and Sinema, Congressman O’Halleran authored a letter urging the Trump Administration to keep the Grand Canyon Mineral Withdrawal in place. Prior to his role in Congress, Congressman O’Halleran served as a homicide detective for the Chicago Police Department and then on the board of directors for Chicago Board and Trade. Upon retiring to Arizona, Congressman O’Halleran served three consecutive terms in the Arizona House of Representatives and one term in the Senate. Congressman O’Halleran and his wife, Pat, live in unincorporated Yavapai County. They have been married for over 48 years and have three children and four grandchildren.

Grand Canyon Trust Energy Program Director Amber Reimondo

Raised in Wyoming’s stunning Red Desert on a small, off-the-grid ranch, Amber Reimondo spent the year after her undergraduate studies in environment and natural resources doing part-time conservation work and exploring the West. A 2011 raft trip down the 277 miles of the Colorado River inside the Grand Canyon was all it took for her to fall in love with northern Arizona. She completed her masters at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where she studied groundwater policies and their inadequacies in the face of rampant energy development. That’s also where she met her husband, Evan, and discovered an addiction to trail running. Before coming to her current role as the Energy Program Director for the Grand Canyon Trust, Amber spent nearly four years in Lander, Wyoming, where she worked with folks from a wide array of backgrounds on energy-related air and water quality issues for the Wyoming Outdoor Council.

Western Mining Action Network c/o Western Organization of Resource Councils
220 S. 27th Street, Suite B, Billings, MT 59101
info@wman-info.org