Pipeline

In Nak’azdli Territory, People Are Firmly Against Northern Gateway

August 18, 2014 Gordon Hoekstra, www.vancouversun.com Resist! Canada, First Nations, Pipeline

The waters of Nak’al Koh are a deep emerald, almost black at times. The forest presses in at the sides — a mixture of spruce, pine, aspen, birch and willow — so thick it seems like a primeval blanket. A fierce rain rises up suddenly, hammering the water and the aluminum boat that Stuart Todd navigates, strengthening the already deep, tangy-earth smell. Todd smiles wryly at the sudden downpour, recounting tales of moose he has seen swimming the river. “They are great divers,” he says. “They can go down deep and feed on the weeds at the bottom.” The river (called Stuart River in English after John Stuart, a clerk with the fur-trading North West Company in the early 1800s) is also home to salmon, trout, dolly varden, ducks, geese, elk, grizzly, black bear and beaver. This is the heart of Nak’azdli territory — downriver from where the revered chief Kwah is buried, and where Calgary-based Enbridge wants to run its $7.9-billion Northern Gateway oil and condensate pipelines.

Canadians Arrested At Blockade Of Enbridge Dam Line 9

August 11, 2014 Michael Butler, www.canadians.org Resist! Canada, Civil Disobedience, Environment, Pipeline, Water

It had been a busy couple days on the on the 'Dam Line 9' site near the Thames River. Gardens and chicken coops had been set up, a concert was held, media requests taken, and even some time to for play. Council of Canadians chapter members from Guelph, London, Toronto, Hamilton, and Niagara have all been out to the site in solidarity with the blockaders. But, this afternoon a platoon of police showed up and served an injunction to the land defenders blockading Enbridge's Line 9 work site. While reports vary this is what is know. It is reported that the local landowners association came by to hand deliver a report against LINE 9 to the police serving the injunction. Two land defenders have locked them selves down on the site. "This is first and foremost a colonial issue. We are here in solidarity with Indigenous peoples protecting the integrity of the land and water." - Wolfgang, one of two activists currently locked down

How To Stop A Pipeline With Music

August 7, 2014 Ben West, www.huffingtonpost.ca Resist! Elections, Music, Oil, Pipeline

What role does a concert like the Salish Sea Summer Gathering hosted by the Tsleil Waututh Nation play in stopping an oil pipeline? Bringing together art, music and culture is actually really important in the work to protect our coast. First Nations and non native people working together is not only important for healing the wounds of history but also for collectively plotting a course forward. Stopping a multi-billion dollar mega-project is fundamentally a battle for the hearts and minds of the majority of people and a festival like this one can go a long way towards building a vitally important social movement and spreading awareness. We will never have as much money as Texas-based Kinder Morgan, run by billionaire (and former Enron executive) Richard Kinder, but we do have people power on our side and to succeed it must continue to grow. Cates Park, or Whey-ah-Wichen, is the perfect location to hold this Summer Gathering. To get a sense of what's at stake, you just have to look out from the park across to the Kinder Morgan terminal behind Burnaby Mountain. It's these beautiful waters, which the Tsleil-Waututh have lived on for millennia, that Kinder Morgan wants to put at risk with up to 400 giant tankers per year filled with tar sands diluted bitumen heading for export. First Nations lawsuits based on land and title rights are one of the strongest tools that are being used to stop pipeline projects. Building a greater respect and understanding within non-native communities regarding our contractual (treaty) and moral obligations to First Nations is important. Concerts like this one play a big role in helping facilitate that process. As non-native allies we have a responsibility to help spread this kind of understanding. A good way to start is inviting your friends to the Summer Gathering on Sunday.

Opponents Of KXL Pipeline Fear Worst For Water

August 5, 2014 Brian Brown, www.nbcnews.com Resist! Civil Disobedience, Indigenous Rights, Keystone XL, Pipeline, Water

IDEAL, South Dakota – Facing the sunrise on a frigid morning, Rosebud Sioux tribal leader Royal Yellow Hawk offered an ancient prayer in song, his voice periodically muffled by the whistling prairie wind. Behind Yellow Hawk was a cinematic scene from another century: 30-foot-tall tipis arranged in a half circle, quickly brightening in the morning light. This tipi encampment was erected this spring to be a visible and ongoing embodiment of opposition to the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which, if constructed, would hug the reservation’s territory in transporting diluted bitumen oil 1,179-miles from Canada’s tar sands to Steele City, Nebraska. The Keystone XL is being built by the Canadian energy company, Trans Canada. This fourth and final phase of the project—still awaiting approval by the Obama administration—will cost an estimated $5.4 billion. Other segments of the Keystone–at an estimated cost of $5 billion—have been in operation since 2010, bringing the tar sands oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to refineries in the American Midwest and the Gulf Coast.

Major Investor Pulls Out Of Kitmat LNG Project

August 3, 2014 Jenny Uechi, www.vancouverobserver.com Resist! Canada, Pipeline, Tar Sands, Victory

The future of a major LNG project in Kitimat has been thrown into uncertainty, after one of its main backers has decided to walk out. Houston-based Apache Corporation says it will leave Kitimat LNG, which was a joint project with Chevron. "Consistent with the company's ongoing repositioning for profitable and repeatable North American onshore growth, Apache intends to completely exit the Wheatstone and Kitimat LNG projects," the company announced today in its second quarter report. The news comes only one month after Premier Christy Clark took a tour of the Kitimat LNG site, and took photos with workers to promote the project. Even though the BC government has ambitious plans to build several LNG terminals in the province, with three built by 2020, some experts have warned that the proposals could be undermined by much nimbler global competitors and sinking gas prices in Asia. To date, Kitimat LNG is the only LNG export facility (of 16 proposed) that has been granted an environmental assessment certificate by the province. "While today’s news that Apache intends to leave the Kitimat LNG project changes the ownership structure of that particular proposal, we remain committed to developing a competitive liquefied natural gas export industry in British Columbia," the Premier's office told The Vancouver Observer.

Ontario First Nations Ready To Die Defending Lands

August 1, 2014 Maria Babbage, www.cbc.ca Resist! First Nations, Indigenous Rights, Land, Pipeline

Aboriginal people in Ontario are prepared to lay down their lives to protect their traditional lands from any unwanted development, a group of First Nations chiefs said Tuesday. Five aboriginal chiefs served notice on the Ontario and federal governments, developers and the public that they'll assert their treaty rights over their traditional territory and ancestral lands. That includes the rights to natural resources — such as fish, trees, mines and water— deriving benefit from those resources and the conditions under which other groups may access or use them, which must be consistent with their traditional laws, said Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy. Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy says "all those seeking to access or use First Nations lands and resources have, at a minimum, a duty to engage, enquire and consult with First Nations with the standards of free, prior and informed consent." "All those seeking to access or use First Nations lands and resources have, at a minimum, a duty to engage, inquire and consult with First Nations with the standards of free, prior and informed consent," he said.

Why First Nations Are Stopping Enbridge’s Tar Sands Pipeline

August 1, 2014 Elizabeth Douglass, www.insideclimatenews.org Resist! First Nations, Pipeline, Tar Sands

British Columbia's First Nations have fought the proposed Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline that would cross their land for years, and they have no intention of letting up just because the federal government recently approved it. They've ignored the wishes of Canadian Prime Minister Harper, shrugged off oil industry promises of local jobs, and rejected offers of part ownership in what could be a lucrative and long-lived project. In short, they've been impervious to the kinds of political pressure and financial enticements that routinely succeed in smoothing the way for oil-related projects in the United States. How come? A big part of the defiance comes from the Coastal First Nations, an alliance of aboriginal groups in British Columbia that has no interest in allowing diluted bitumen from Alberta's oil sands to pass through their territories or get shipped through their fishing grounds. The environment is too important to their culture, to their economy and to a succession of generations to come.

Vermonters Act To Halt Pipeline

July 30, 2014 Vermont Rising Tide, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Climate Change, Environment, Oil and Gas, Pipeline

Opponents of Vermont Gas’ fracked gas pipeline, including ratepayers, marched on the Williston pipe yard this morning and blocked the front driveway with a peaceful sit-in, demanding an end to construction of the pipeline. A Stop Work Order was issued to management on site, informing Vermont Gas and its subcontractors that they were to stop all construction immediately. Jen Berger, a Burlington ratepayer, said, “Last week ratepayers and Addison County residents were shut out of the Public Service Board offices. Today, we are taking our demands directly to Vermont Gas, telling them they do not have permission to build this dirty pipeline.” Berger referenced an incident last Tuesday, when dozens of ratepayers and Addison County residents were barred from entering the Public Service Board office to deliver a petition signed by 500 ratepayers, calling on the Board to suspend construction of the pipeline.

Indigenous Community Evicts Fracking Crew From Its Territories

July 28, 2014 Michael Toledano, www.news.vice.com Resist! First Nations, Indigenous Rights, Pipeline, TransCanada

The Unist’ot’en Camp, a pipeline blockade on unsurrendered indigenous land in the interior of British Columbia (BC), peacefully evicted a pipeline crew that was found trespassing in their territories earlier this week. The crew was conducting preliminary work for TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink pipeline project, which the company hopes will carry fracked gas from north eastern BC to Canada’s pacific coast. Where the eviction took place, multiple fracked gas and tar sands pipelines have been planned without consent from the Unist’ot’en clan. The clan has never surrendered their lands, signed treaties, or lost in war to Canada or BC. Under a system of governance that predates Canada by thousands of years, the Unist’ot’en have taken an uncompromising stance: All pipelines are banned from their territories. “We’re not willing to sit down at any table with them because our firm answer is no… An official letter with the clan’s letter heading and the chief’s signature will go to the company and mention that they were evicted off our territory and that they’re not permitted back and that if they come back it’s trespass,” Freda Huson, Unist’ot’en camp’s leader, explained. If TransCanada is caught trespassing again, Unist’ot’en’s laws will be strictly enforced: “They’ll leave without their equipment.”

Now Google Street View Is Mapping Gas Pipeline Leaks

July 28, 2014 John Upton, www.motherjones.com Educate! Gas, Google, Pipeline

This story first appeared in Grist and is republished here as part of the Climate Change collaboration. Some of those Google cars that drive around photographing streetscapes and embarrassing moments have captured something extra—something that should embarrass major utilities. The cars were kitted out by University of Colorado scientists with sensors that sniff out natural gas leaking from underground pipelines. These methane-heavy leaks contribute to global warming, waste money, and can fuel explosions. The sensor-equipped cars cruised the streets of Boston, New York's Staten Island, and Indianapolis. They returned to sites where methane spikes were detected to confirm the presence of a leak. The results were released Wednesday by the Environmental Defense Fund, which coordinated the project, revealing just how leaky old and metallic pipelines can be, such as those used in the East Coast cities studied, particularly when compared with noncorrosive pipes like those beneath Indianapolis. About one leak was discovered for each mile driven in Boston, Mass.:

Big Oil Threatens Maine City After Tar Sands Export Ban

July 25, 2014 Andy Rowell, www.priceofoil.org Resist! Energy, Oil, Pipeline, Tar Sands

Big Oil has always been a bad, bad loser. And it is therefore no surprise that it has threatened to sue a small coastal city in Maine which on Monday night struck an historical blow against the industry by banning the export of tar sands from its harbour. The decision by South Portland to approve, by 6-1, to ban tar sands exports, has catapulted this small coastal town which is famous for its scenic light-houses against the collective might of the oil industry and Canadian government. The decision is another blow to the tar sands industry which is desperate to find ways of getting its dirty carbon-munching oil to market. It effectively bars any attempt by the oil industry to bring oil from Alberta to the city’s port, the second-largest oil terminal on the east coast of the US. The move has ramifications for the tar sands industry, because it was planning to reverse the flow of the Portland-Montreal pipeline to carry tar sands to the coast. South Portland Mayor Jerry Jalbert told Reuters the vote was an exercise in local democracy. “From the perspective of a locally elected official, it’s a simple issue. People fear this product could be damaging to the community, and they have asked us to act.”

Residents Stage Fish-In, Demand Halt To Pipeline

July 23, 2014 Rising Tide Vermont, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Climate Change, Environment, Fracking, Pipeline

Vermont Gas Systems ratepayers and Addison County residents are holding a “fish-in” at the Public Service Board (PSB) offices, denouncing Vermont Gas’ recent cost increase for the fracked gas pipeline as a “bait-and-switch”. The group is hand-delivering a petition signed by 500 Vermont Gas ratepayers, calling on the board to reopen the project’s Certificate of Public Good (CPG) and halt construction until the 40% cost increase is evaluated. “Vermont Gas is pulling the old bait-and-switch on ratepayers and the public, and we are here today to stop them,” said Andy Simon, a ratepayer from Burlington and fish-in participant. “The Board needs to listen to ratepayers, who don’t want to fund dirty energy projects.”

Six Nations Protesters Stop Enbridge Line 9 Dig In North Dumfries

July 19, 2014 CBC News, www.cbc.ca Resist! Canada, Enbridge, First Nations, Pipeline, Protest

Protesters from Six Nations and other parts of southwestern Ontario stopped work at a dig on a portion of the Line 9 pipeline in North Dumfries Thursday morning. According to a statement from protesters, a group marched onto a work site east of Highway 24 near the Grand River between Cambridge and Brantford around 10 a.m. Thursday. They say Enbridge’s employees are working without consent or consultation on land that is on Haudenosaunee territory. "We're against the pipeline, the construction, the bitumen tarsands oil running through this pipeline running across the Grand River territory... without proper consultation [with] our people," said Missy Elliot, a Six Nations spokesperson. The dig site is just north of Beverly Court and East of Highway 24 in North Dumfries between Cambridge and Brantford. (Google) Elliot said Six Nations was not consulted in advance of the construction and they only became aware of the dig when information pamphlets were delivered to area residents. "They are supposed to consult and accommodate indigenous people," said Elliot. "Pamphlets in the mail are not proper consultation. Not sitting with us at the table... is not proper consultation."

First Nation Pulls Out Of Grand Rapids Hearings

July 16, 2014 ACFN Challenge, www.acfnchallenge.wordpress.com Resist! Canada, First Nations, Indigenous Rights, Law, Pipeline

Today the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) announced they will no longer participate in the TransCanada Grand Rapids Pipeline hearing citing impossible timelines and prejudice within the process. The First Nation is referring to the project as the “Mother of All Pipelines” feeding projects like the Energy East Pipeline and the controversial Keystone XL pipeline projects. “The AER put us in an impossible position. I am dumbfounded by this process,” stated Adam before he continued to speak about the obstacles the ACFN has faced in trying to get action from both government and industry to adequately address their concerns. Adam spoke about how TransCanada consistently showed little regard to actually addressing the concerns raised by the ACFN and were more concerned with how much it would cost to “buy us off.” Adam added, “this new [Alberta Energy Regulator] regulatory process is fundamentally flawed. It is supposed to be the test of the new regulatory regime for oil and gas and pipelines in Alberta. Yet, it has seriously undermined our efforts to address any concerns about First Nations impacts.”

First Nations Chiefs Willing To Go Jail To Stop Pipeline

July 16, 2014 Shannon Brennan, www.news1130.com Resist! Enbridge, First Nations, Indigenous Rights, Pipeline

Some First Nations chiefs are willing to get arrested to stop Enbridge’s proposed pipeline project. Numerous legal proceedings were filed in appeal court seeking to overturn the federal government’s decision to move forward with the plan. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip says he is prepared to go out onto the land itself to oppose activities being brought forward by Enbridge‘s contractors. “For myself personally it won’t be the first time that I have been arrested in that situation and it won’t be the last time,” he adds. Phillip says this effort is not about money. It’s about the sea, the environment and indigenous land rights. “We will stand with our brothers and sisters in the courtrooms, and if necessary we will stand with our brothers and sisters in solidarity on the land itself,” he warns.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 »

Daily movement news and resources