Enbridge

The Political Stakes In The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Decision

June 11, 2014 Stephen Smart, www.cbc.ca Organize! Canada, Enbridge, Pipeline, Politics

After years of debate and political consternation, the future of Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline comes down to this: a go/no-go decision from the federal cabinet, which has to be made sometime over the next seven days. Ottawa's Joint Review Panel looked into the potential environmental impacts of the nearly 1,200-kilometre pipeline, which would carry diluted bitumen from Alberta's oil sands to a shipping terminal in Kitimat, B.C., and gave its stamp of approval in December. The government is now reviewing the National Energy Board's 209 recommendations for Enbridge. If it accepts them and approves the project those conditions must be met before the pipeline can be operational. But the reality is that, on top of the obvious environmental, economic and First Nations impacts, this proposal carries a tanker load of political implications as well. For the Stephen Harper government, the timing of this decision almost couldn't be worse. 2015 is a federal election year, which means that whatever Ottawa decides, Northern Gateway will be fresh in the minds of voters when the next trip to the polls rolls around.

MI Action Camp Holds Anti-Fossil Fuel Flash Mob

May 27, 2014 Maryann Lesert, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Enbridge, Environment, Michigan, Oil

On Monday, May 19, participants in the Backbone Campaign’s first Midwest action camp spread out a river of tie-dyed blue sheets stained with sticky black fingers of oil on the capitol lawn. They donned masks depicting Enbridge executives and state representatives who have invited all sorts of unconventional oil and gas development into the state, as others led a “Pet Coke” mascot around on a leash and singers sang a song they called “Restore Pure Michigan,” replacing lyrics to the tune of Lorde’s “Royals” with a more pertinent chorus: “No more dirty oil!” The lawn action and the flash mob in the Lansing capitol rotunda demonstrated what the Backbone Campaign has come to be known for: artful activism. The goal, as Backbone’s executive director Bill Moyer explained, was to expose the absurdity of the Michigan legislature welcoming all manner of unconventional fossil fuel extraction methods while the state’s tourism office carries out its “Pure Michigan” campaign. The juxtaposition of bold sunsets and pristine beaches with sand mines in the dunes, frack wells in the state forests, petroleum (pet) coke piles in Detroit, and the 2010 Kalamazoo River tar sands oil spill that still hasn’t been cleaned up, presented a smorgasbord of absurdity that was originally tossed about camp as “Pure Michigan my ass!” The week long action camp brought 75 participants to the grounds of Circle Pines Center, a 75-year-old cooperative based on peace, environmental education and social justice that is surrounded by state land where mineral rights, ironically, were auctioned off for oil and gas development in 2012 by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

First Nations Prepare For Fight Against Pipeline

May 21, 2014 Shawn McCarthy, www.theglobeandmail.com Resist! Canada, Enbridge, Indigenous Rights, Pipeline

First Nations activists are turning their attention to TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Energy East project, vowing to mount the same kind of public opposition that threatens the Keystone XL pipeline in the United States and Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway in British Columbia. Some 70 First Nations leaders met in Winnipeg recently to plan a strategy they hope will block TransCanada’s ambitious plan to ship more than 1 million barrels a day of crude from Western Canada to refiners and export terminals in the East, despite widespread political support for the $12-billion project. TransCanada has been holding consultations with communities across the country, including some 155 First Nations, to inform them of the Energy East project and seek their support. The company has hired Phil Fontaine, former chief of the Assembly of First Nations, to represent it in meetings. But one leading activist says the company has a tough sell. “In this era of the Harper Conservative government, there is dramatic pressure that has been placed on the shoulders of First Nations peoples, with our constitutionally protected rights, to defend Canada’s air, water and earth from the agenda of Big Oil and other extractive industries like the mining sector and the forestry sector,” Clayton Thomas-Muller, a Manitoba Cree who helped organize the Winnipeg session, said in an interview. “And so it will be First Nations’ interventions and the assertion of aboriginal and treaty rights that is going to stop the plan to build this 4,000-kilometre pipeline.”

Enbridge Pipeline Road Blocked By Protesters In Burlington

May 21, 2014 CBC News, www.cbc.ca Resist! Enbridge, Pipeline, Protest

A group of protesters has blockaded the road to an exposed section of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline early this morning in Burlington, Ont. The protesters say they plan to continue the blockade for at least 12 hours. A news release says the 12-hour stay represents 12,000 "anomalies Enbridge has reported to exist on the line." “Enbridge calls these developments integrity digs,” said Danielle Boissineau, one of the protesters, “but to anyone watching the Line 9 issue, it’s clear Enbridge has no integrity. This work on the line is just a Band-Aid, a flimsy patch over the most outrageous flaws in the Line 9 plan. “Line 9 has a lot of similarities to Line 6B that erupted in the Kalamazoo River. The risk is just not worth it,” she said. Enbridge spokesman Graham White says the company plans "to continue the integrity digs elsewhere where there are no protesters." White says the protesters are "interfering with important safety maintenance for the line. If they're interested in this being a safe line, and for us to maintain that safety for the future, this is exactly counter to those efforts."

Landslide Vote Against Enbridge Pipeline In Canadian Town

April 15, 2014 Chris Brown, www.cbc,ca Resist! Enbridge, Pipeline

One of the most divisive issues in Kitimat, B.C., in a generation came to a head Saturday night as residents voted 'no' against Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline project. The ballot count from Saturday's vote was 1,793 opposed versus 1,278 who supported the multi-billion dollar project — a margin of 58.4 per cent to 41.6 per cent. "The people have spoken. That’s what we wanted — it’s a democratic process,” said Mayor Joanne Monaghan in a statement on Sunday. “We’ll be talking about this Monday night at Council, and then we’ll go from there with whatever Council decides.” More than 900 residents voted in advance polls on a question that has split the community.

‘No Enbridge’ Protesters Drown Out Mayor At Basketball Game

April 10, 2014 Mychaylo Prystupa, www.vancouverobserver.com Resist! Enbridge, Indigenous Rights, Pipeline, Protest

In an increasingly explosive political climate in the Kitimat area over a controversial vote on the Northern Gateway pipeline, the Mayor of Kitimat was flash mobbed by a group of mostly First Nations people, donning "No Enbridge" shirts at a Haisla girls basketball championship on Sunday. "No Enbridge! No Enbridge! No Enbridge!" yelled the packed gymnasium crowd, nearly all wearing black protest shirts. "When you're in politics for 36 years, I guess I kind of expected it," Mayor Joanne Monaghan told the Vancouver Observer Wednesday. "You don't mix church and state, and don't mix recreation and politics," she added. The Mayor was invited to the Haisla Village of Kitimaat, which neighbours her municipal district, to hand out a $2,000 prize for the victorious girls team - something she's done annually for years.

Elections, Pipelines, and Protests

April 8, 2014 Yves Engler & Jenny Uechi, www.therealnews.com Resist! Canada, Enbridge, Pipeline, Protest

PERIES: Jenny, why don't you go first? Let us know what's going on in Canada, in Vancouver in particular, and with The Vancouver Observer more specifically. UECHI: Sure. So this week The Vancouver Observer broke a story about how the premier of this province, Christy Clark, was found to--we found documents that say that she was listed as a partner in a lobbying firm which had among its clients Enbridge, the big pipeline company that's trying to build the Northern Gateway Pipeline right now. It's a big, controversial project that would bring Albertan oil from the tar sands through to B.C.'s coast. Now, the premier has said that she was in the company [incompr.] by the time that she joined the company, Enbridge was no longer listed as a client and that she personally has not done any lobbying. But, still, people are wondering why this was never made public.

Why Enbridge Is Afraid Of Ta’Kaiya Blaney

April 4, 2014 Stephanie Goodwin, www.greenpeace.org Resist! Canada, Enbridge, Oil and Gas, Protest

In my work for Greenpeace I meet special people pretty regularly. And by special, I mean people who do the most unexpected things in the most wonderful ways. Meet Ta’Kaiya. She’s a ten-year old girl from North Vancouver who, while learning about sea otters in her home-school, became concerned about the devastation oil tankers would cause to B.C.’s coast. When she learned about Enbridge’s proposal to build an oil pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to the Great Bear Rainforest, bringing more than 200 oil tankers per year to this pristine coast, she got really worried. So, she wrote a song about her concerns. And it’s good…really good. Ta'Kaiya and her mom, Anne, went to Enbridge's office in Vancouver to hand deliver a copy of her music video and a letter that asks them to stop their plans. When she arrived security guards stopped her from going to Enbridge's office on the sixth floor and even entering the building, period. They also refused to send someone down to the street to accept her letter.

While U.S. Waits On KXL Decision, A New Tar Sands Pipeline Just Got Approved

March 9, 2014 Emily Atkin, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! Canada, Enbridge, Energy, Tar Sands

While all eyes in America were turned to President Obama’s looming decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, Canadian regulators on Thursday approved their own, smaller version — a pipeline that would for the first time directly connect Alberta’s tar sands to Montreal. Canada’s National Energy Board have approved a proposal by Enbridge Inc. to allow the reversal and expansion of their Line 9 pipeline. The “reversal” means that the pipeline can now carry crude oil east rather than west. The “expansion” means it can now also carry tar sands oil from Alberta — the same type of oil that would be transported by the Keystone XL pipeline if approved.

First Nations Blockade Camp Ups the Ante

January 8, 2014 Erin Flegg, www.vancouverobserver.com Resist! Enbridge, Energy, Environment, First Nations, Tar Sands

With the announcement of the National Energy Board’s ruling in favour of Enbridge’s Northern pipeline, and the fall of yet another government environmental safeguard, the organizers of the anti-pipeline blockade camp in Northern BC are more committed than ever to holding their ground. Along with partner Forest Action Network (FAN), they’ve put out a call for more volunteers, and FAN director Zoe Blunt says they’ve received a flood of applications in the past week from people eager to travel to the camp and help out. Blunt, who has been to the camp several times, said she had been involved in fighting tankers on the coast when she realized she needed to start higher up the chain. If there are no pipelines, she said, there can be no tankers. “We’ve found kind of a choke point here in the Morice River Valley, and if we can slow it down, close it off, stall it, it’s buying time for another kind of outcome.” That could mean decisions made by the courts or by the commodities markets. “If the economy contracts again, these pipelines are a lot less likely to go through.”

Kalamazoo Activist Could Face Federal Charges

December 13, 2013 Erin Flegg, www.vancouverobserver.com Educate! Climate Change, Corporatism, Enbridge, Energy, Environment, Tar Sands

On June 24—his 35th birthday—Wahmhoff climbed into a section of Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline. When he got out 10 hours later, he was arrested and charged with resisting and obstructing a police officer and trespassing. Tomorrow will be his last pre-trial court appearance before his case goes to trial at the beginning of the New Year. Along with three other Michigan activists, known at the Felonious Four, Wahmhoff could be facing more than two years in prison, but he says that so far court proceedings have gone well. At his most recent pre-trial in October, one of the lead witnesses, a Michigan detective, went on record saying that Wahmhoff had been very cooperative and a pleasure to work with, a statement that could go a long way toward refuting the charge of resisting arrest.

Acting Like A Movement

September 19, 2013 Tim DeChristopher, www.michigacats.org Organize! Enbridge, Tar Sands

I know from experience that a jury trial is a fantastic organizing opportunity, but it takes resources to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. Their next court date is September 18th, and there will be plenty more. This will be a long process, and we will have to have their backs the whole way. Their ability to mobilize support and present a strong legal defense will be crucial to the future of our movement. If we continue undermining the power structure that is wrecking the climate, we can expect more draconian responses like this one in the future. Now is the time to send a message that this is a big, interconnected movement that will not back down. Most importantly, this is an opportunity to define what kind of movement this will be. Those who will take the next bold actions that will continue to be necessary need to know that this movement doesn't leave people behind. Let this be a movement that holds people.

New Series Of Stories: The Enbridge Effect

September 10, 2013 Marty Burke, www.grangehallpress.com Educate! Enbridge, Energy, Environment, Tar Sands

The courts already allowed them to postpone my hearing date from June of this year to Sept of this year. I fully expect the court to allow them to postpone it again. It’s sheer ludicrousy. How can it be legal? How can it be happening? How can our legal system allow a company with annual sales in the tens of billions to systematically rob individuals of just compensation? Never mind the dehumanizing effect Enbridge has on thousands upon thousand of individuals and families. They even get to offset their costs of doing business on the backs of real people, families, communities. It truly is numbing and it truly is a nightmare. How can it happen in America? Who would let such a thing happen to us? Who would put themselves in our shoes?

Enbridge Crude Oil Pipeline Across Minnesota Faces Fresh Opposition

September 2, 2013 David Shaffer, www.startribune.com Resist! Enbridge, Energy, Environment, Tar Sands

Anti-pipeline activists who in July disrupted the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission as it approved a cross-state pipeline expansion say they’ll be back this week, demanding to be heard on another upgrade. Enbridge, the Calgary-based operator of the 1,000-mile “Alberta Clipper” pipeline, plans to boost its capacity another 40 percent to 800,000 barrels per day. In July, it won PUC approval for a smaller capacity increase. The expanded line from Hardisty, Alberta, to Superior, Wis., would import more oil from Canada’s tar sands region. Environmental activists who oppose the expansion cite Enbridge’s safety record and concerns about increasing greenhouse gas linked to climate change. “Enbridge is responsible for the largest on-land spill,” said Tom McSteen, lead convener for the anti-tar sands group MN350.

Kalamazoo Pipeline Protester Could Get Two Years In Jail

September 2, 2013 John Upton, www.grist.org Strategize! Enbridge, Energy, Environment

One oil spill in his community was more than enough for Kalamazoo resident Christopher Wahmhoff. To protest Enbridge’s replacement of the pipeline that burst along a Michigan riverbank in 2010, Wahmhoff spent 10 hours of his 35th birthday inside the new pipe, slowing construction for a single day in June. Now Wahmhoff, a member of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands, has been charged with two felonies and a misdemeanor, charges that could see him put behind bars for more than two years. “It was worth it, without a doubt,” he told the Battle Creek Enquireron Tuesday following a preliminary hearing before a district judge. “We got awareness out.”

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