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northern gateway pipeline
Victory for First Nations in Northern Gateway Fight
Jul 01, 2016
In a stunning victory for First Nations and environmentalists, a Canadian court has overturned the approval of the highly controversial Northern Gateway pipeline in Canada.
The country's Federal Court of Appeal ruled yesterday in a 2-to-1 decision that the government had failed to adequately consult with First Nations over the pipeline, which will severely impact their way of life.
The proposed $7.9 billion Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, if built, would transport the dirty tar sands fuel from Alberta to an export terminal on the west coast of British Columbia. The cultural and ecological impact of the pipeline would be huge.
Oil tankers would have to navigate what are seen as treacherous waters. The pipeline itself crosses the Great Bear rainforest and would have run down the Skeena River, the major salmon river of northwest British Columbia.
The Court's decision effectively "shuts the door" on the pipeline ever being built, argue its critics. It also blocks yet another potential route for the tar sands to get to market. Indeed, the tar sands industry is rapidly running out of options to get its dirty fuel to the consumer.
In its 153-page judgment, the court argued that consultation with First Nations by the previous Stephen Harper Government was "brief, hurried and inadequate" even though it would have been easy for the two sides to have a meaningful dialogue.
The damning judgement said: "Canada failed to make reasonable efforts to inform and consult. It fell well short of the mark."
It continued: "Missing was a real and sustained effort to pursue meaningful two-way dialogue. Missing was someone from Canada's side empowered to do more than take notes, someone able to respond meaningfully at some point."
"The inadequacies -- more than just a handful and more than mere imperfections -- left entire subjects of central interest to the affected First Nations, sometimes subjects affecting their subsistence and well-being, entirely ignored," wrote the court.. "Many impacts of the project were left undisclosed, undiscussed and unconsidered."
Trudeau's cabinet will now have to decide what to do. At least they must undertake an adequate consultation exercise before a new permit can be issued. However, Canada's new Prime Minister said he was opposed to the pipeline back in April, and whether his Government sides with First Nations or the powerful tar sands lobby will be seen as a critical test of his leadership on both sides of the debate.
Meanwhile, First Nations and environmentalists reacted positively to the news:
"At every turn you're going, you are seeing nails in the coffin of the Enbridge project," said Peter Lantin, president of the council of the Haida Nation. "I don't think there's enough room for another nail in the coffin."
"Everybody is pretty happy - it's wonderful result," said Art Sterritt, an elder with the Gitga'at First Nation. "There is really no good that can come of the Northern Gateway project. ... Just one spill from this project basically wipes out our rights to harvest, our access to our food, our economy, and our culture."
Sven Biggs, a representative of one of the environmental groups in the lawsuit, said: " "Today's ruling shows what the people have been saying all along - this pipeline will never be built. This is a victory,"
Jessica Clogg, senior counsel with Vancouver-based West Coast Environmental Law, added, "This ruling provides an important opportunity for Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau to do the right thing and end the project for good by implementing a ban on oil tankers on the north coast of British Columbia."
However, Enbridge said it remains "fully committed" to building the pipeline.
Victory in Canada as Court Strikes Down Northern Gateway Pipeline
Opponents "said 'no' to Enbridge 12 years ago when it first proposed the project. And now that 'no' has the backing of the courts."
Jun 30, 2016
Environmentalists and Indigenous rights advocates celebrated on Thursday after a judge in a landmark ruling overturned the Canadian government's 2014 approval of a controversial pipeline project.
The court found (pdf) that the government had not done enough to consult with First Nations communities that would be impacted by building the Northern Gateway pipeline, approved under then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The decision "confirms that the environmental assessment of major pipeline projects was badly eroded by the previous government's dismantling of environmental laws," said Barry Robinson, an attorney for the environmental law firm Ecojustice, which brought the case.
Caitlyn Vernon, a spokesperson for the Sierra Club, told CBC, "Today is a good day for the B.C. coast, climate, and salmon rivers. By overturning federal approval of Northern Gateway, the courts have put yet another nail in the coffin of this pipeline and tankers project."
"First Nations, local communities, and environmental interests said 'no' to Enbridge 12 years ago when it first proposed the project. And now that 'no' has the backing of the courts," Robinson said.
The pipeline would have transported tar sands crude from Alberta to Kitimat, British Columbia. Opponents have long warned that it would expand the use of dangerous fossil fuels, delay the implementation of clean energy, and increase dangers faced by the environment and impacted communities, including possible violation of First Nations treaty rights.
Critics have also pointed out that Northern Gateway's parent company, Enbridge, has a history of environmental destruction, including a massive pipeline rupture that spilled close to one million gallons of crude oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek in 2010--eventually forcing the company to pay $75 million in cleanup costs.
Karen Wristen, executive director of Living Oceans Society, one of the plaintiffs in the legal challenge, said Thursday, "We know from Enbridge's own shoddy public safety record that tar sands oil spills have devastating consequences. Today's decision is a victory across the board: for the wildlife living in this marine environment and for the communities living at its shores."
The social advocacy group Council of Canadians congratulated the First Nations communities and all other groups involved in the court case. The organization's executive director, Maude Barlow, has previously called the opposition movement against Northern Gateway "one of the most important fights we have right now."
The court ruling also denotes an early victory for Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who campaigned on a promise of ushering in climate-friendly policies, telling voters after a landslide victory in May 2015 that "change has finally come to Alberta. New people, new ideas, and a fresh start for our great province."
Harper 2.0? Trudeau Says Canada Needs More Tar Sands Pipelines
The Liberal prime minister argues that building more pipelines to transport dirty tar sands oil is necessary to fund Canada's transition to a green future
Mar 03, 2016
Sparking outcry from environmentalist and Indigenous groups, Justin Trudeau took a pro-oil stance and argued for more controversial pipelines to carry Canada's dirty tar sands oil to coastal ports in comments at a sustainability conference in Vancouver on Wednesday.
"We want the low-carbon economy that continues to provide good jobs and great opportunities for all Canadians," said Canada's Liberal prime minister, as Elizabeth McSheffrey reported in the National Observer. "To get there, we need to make smart strategic investments in clean growth and new infrastructure, but we must also continue to generate wealth from our abundant natural resources to fund this transition to a low-carbon economy."
However, Green party leader Elizabeth May said at the same conference, "If you have an economic strategy for the oilsands that are premised on high volumes of export on the low-value product, you both ship jobs off-shore and drive up greenhouse gases. Those are inconsistent aims."
The Global Series 16 conference centers on sustainability and business, describing itself as "North America's Largest Environmental Business Summit." All of Canada's premiers are attending the talks on sustainability and business from March 2-3.
In contrast to the prime minister's attempt to make an economic argument for pipelines, social justice group the Council of Canadians noted that "the average renewable energy investment creates four times as many jobs as the same investment in the fossil fuel economy," as the group called for more renewable energy jobs on Thursday.
The prime minister's statements were made only months after he declared, "Canada is back, my good friends," to delegates at the COP21 climate conference in Paris in November. This signaled what activists hoped would be a transition to a more sustainable Canada as he signed the historic commitment to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Trudeau's party's campaign was built on the Liberals' opposition to his pro-oil predecessor, Stephen Harper, who heartily supported the nation's controversial tar sands industry that critics saw as primarily responsible for the country's failure to uphold the terms of previous climate change agreements.
During his campaign, Trudeau emphasized his condemnation of the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would have transported tar sands oil to the B.C. coast. However, activists still lobbied Trudeau to take a stricter position on pipelines after his party ousted Harper's Conservatives in October, as the young prime minister's stance was unclear.
Trudeau did announce harsher environmental reviews for the projects in December. Still, his promises appeared to lack teeth when a federal audit uncovered "systematic failures" within the country's National Energy Board that conducts the pipeline approval process.
The prime minister's talk in Vancouver this week marked a shift from the grand promises made in Paris: "The choice between pipelines and wind turbines is a false one," Trudeau argued, according to the Vancouver Sun. "We need both to reach our goal."
After his talk, the National Observer reported, Trudeau refused to answer reporters' questions about the growth in tar sands mining that would inevitably be fueled by the construction of new pipelines.
A Ricochet editorial charged Thursday:
The prime minister is wrong. Hard choices must be made, between the interests of fossil fuel corporations and the possibility of a decent collective future for Canadians and people all over the world.
First Nations also criticized Trudeau on Wednesday. According to the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), Aboriginal leaders stormed out of a climate meeting with the prime minister after it "fell to shambles. " Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam lamented that "the meeting didn't include any talks of taking care of mother earth," APTN reported, and "instead, the focus was placed on economic development and transitioning to a green economy."
On Thursday, the prime minister will meet with Canada's premiers to create a national climate plan. A 350.org campaign manager argued that Canada can achieve a 100% renewable energy economy that honors Indigenous rights, but "only if the government listens to people, not pipeline companies and big polluters."
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