Alma Hasse Challenges Oil and Gas in Idaho

“Welcome to Halt the Harm Podcast, I’m your host Ryan Clover. In this episode Alma Hasse joins us from Idaho to share how she became involved in organizing to protect her community from oil and gas impacts.

Alma is a recipient of the Community Sentinel Awards presented by FracTracker Alliance. In this conversation Alma shares why she began confronting the oil and gas industry in Idaho.”

 

Bio:

Alma is a wife, mother and grandmother. She raises chickens, horses and hay in Payette County – Idaho’s oil and gas epicenter.

In 2014 Alma was arrested, jailed, and charged with “trespass and resisting arrest” while speaking at a public hearing. After a groundswell of community support, Payette County dropped the charges against her. But now, Alma is suing Payette County for false arrest, imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

 

Main Message:

“NEVER give up and NEVER stop speaking about the things that matter! “ – Alma Hasse

 

What we talked about :

In this interview Alma shares how her life was both disrupted and transformed by the oil and gas industry. Living in the epicenter of Idaho’s extraction economy, Alma experienced the impacts directly – but originally she was “part of the problem” as she says.

Her story is one of self-reflection and then dedication and courage. She shares her unique perspective on community organizing, building coalitions, and understanding the bigger picture – specifically in how she learned how to organize with people who would never consider themselves environmentalists.

She talks about setting aside pride and communicating the issues with oil and gas in a way that’s relevant to the concerns those we’re talking to.

Later in the program she shares her experience of getting arrested and experiencing injustice first-hand. This experience helps her understand other movements working against police brutality and continued colonization.

Alma brings an optimistic view on organizing and encourages us to “NEVER give up, and NEVER stop speaking about the things that matter!”. I hope you enjoy this episode of the Halt the Harm Podcast with Alma Hasse.

 

Links to stuff we talked about:

• Idaho Concerned Area Residents For The Environment : ICARE
• Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability : www.integrityandaccountability.org
• Don’t Frack Idaho : www.dontfrackidaho.org
• IRAGE – Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction
• Connect with Alma on Twitter : @CitizensAllied