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“Along the proposed route of the pipeline expansion, which stretches almost 1,000 kilometres from northern Alberta to Burnaby and will triple existing capacity, grassroots activists, First Nations and environmental groups are girding for a fight.
First Nations and environmental groups are girding for a fight. Despite a green light from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November, quickly followed by approval from B.C. Premier Christy Clark, foes of the project aren’t backing down. It’s the next phase of a battle that started in 2011, when Texan energy giant Kinder Morgan announced plans to build a second pipeline. Tensions culminated in 2014 with a standoff on Burnaby Mountain that led to the arrest of 130 protestors; now opponents are planning measures from roadblocks to a possible referendum. For First Nations, emboldened by the defeat of Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway project, it’s part of a revival in indigenous activism that flowed from the Idle No More protests.
The scale of their involvement is a big change for the environmental movement in B.C., says Karen Mahon, the Canadian director of Stand.earth, the environmental group formerly known as Forest Ethics, and a veteran of the so-called War in the Woods during the early 1990s to preserve Clayoquot Sound. “The contrast is that [First Nations] are really in a leadership position now,” Mahon says. “The relationship is a lot tighter; we’ve learned to step back and let them take the lead.””
– BCBusiness, First Nations activists take the lead in the battle against Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
“British Columbia on Wednesday gave the green light to Kinder Morgan Inc’s plan to nearly triple its Trans Mountain oil pipeline, which runs from Canada’s oil sands through the province to a marine terminal on the Pacific Coast.
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark said in a statement the C$6.8 billion ($5.16 billion) project had satisfied or was close to satisfying the five conditions she laid out in 2012 for any company wanting to build pipelines in the province.
The Canadian government in November approved Kinder Morgan’s proposal to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline, which would help ensure oil exports from the oil sands in the neighboring province of Alberta reach Asia.
Although inter-provincial pipelines fall under federal jurisdiction, if provinces are opposed they could impose conditions that would make it onerous for a company to build a pipeline.”
– Reuters, British Columbia approves Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.
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Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #21 – Reject Kinder Morgan.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
