This film is set along the rivers of Oregon and follows activists as they enlist the necessity defense in a jury trial after being arrested for a direct action at Zenith Energy in Portland. This story of climate resistance in the Pacific Northwest brings into view a historical landscape of tribal leaders, Indigenous activists and white allies as they resist oil trains and trucks carrying highly flammable products through treaty lands. In following the path of oil-by-rail and oil resistance along the Columbia, we revisit lessons of the New Deal era building massive dams and what climate activists take from that era in thinking about a Green New Deal.

Originally released by Collective Eye Films, 2022. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on May 06, 2022.