Above Photo: Police carry a protester away from a demonstration at Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby, B.C. terminal on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.
NOTE: On Saturday, March 20 at 10:00 am, Protect the Inlet is holding a mass march against Kinder Morgan to launch the next phase of resistance against the pipeline. Click here for more details.
An anti-pipeline protest outside the Kinder Morgan terminal in Burnaby, B.C. ended with the arrest of a self-described “middle-class, middle-aged mom” Tuesday morning.
Lini Hutchings was among a group of demonstrators who blocked access to the terminal to delay work on the controversial Trans Mountain expansion, and she refused to leave when RCMP officers arrived.
“The twinning of the Kinder Morgan pipeline threatens not just the land and the sea, it threatens First Nations sovereignty,” Hutchings told CTV News before her arrest.
“If the opposition to the pipeline has reached someone like me, it’s very significant. I’m not a radical.”
Hers was the second arrest of a Kinder Morgan protester this week, and pipeline opponents have vowed to continue their efforts to peacefully disrupt the project.
“This is just the beginning. We are determined,” Yvon Raoul said.
The protest was broken up shortly before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced challenging questions about his energy policy from the likes of celebrity scientist Bill Nye.
The pair appeared before a university crowd in Ottawa for an event dubbed “Science in Canada,” which saw Nye suggest the country could be entirely powered by renewable energy sources.
“I have been to Fort McMurray, Alta. – it really is an amazing place in the most troubling way,” Nye said.
“In the Prairie provinces there is so much wind, even here on a day like this there is so much solar energy, that if you could capture it and solve the storage and transmission problems, you could run the whole place. Nevertheless, there’s this enormous fossil fuel industry.”
Trudeau acknowledged a “tremendous potential” in renewable energy sources, but noted that fossil fuels are still necessary as the country slowly transitions.
He also defended Canada’s environmental policies, including the federal carbon pricing standard.
“There are people who love the fact that we have a national price on carbon, but really wish we weren’t approving the Kinder Morgan pipeline. There are other people, many of them in Alberta, and on the other side of the political spectrum from me who really like the idea that we’re building that pipeline, but really hate the idea that we’re bringing in a national price on carbon,” said Trudeau.
It’s unclear whether Hutchings is facing charges for Tuesday’s demonstration. Police are considering a charge of mischief against the 25-year-old arrested on Monday for allegedly climbing on top of a work truck.
There have been numerous protests in recent months in response to Kinder Morgan’s expansion, and there is no sign opponents are slowing down. The next major event is planned in Burnaby, where thousands of people are expected to gather for a march and demonstration Saturday.
