A press release issued by the Wet'suwet'en and the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council matter of factly declares “Enbridge's pipeline and tanker project to British Columbia's coast isn't going to happen” and says the oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico has fortified B.C. First Nations’ opposition to the project.
BC First Nations took that message into a meeting of Enbridge Inc. executives and shareholders today in Calgary.
“We're not going to risk oil spills into our rivers," Terry Teegee, Vice Tribal Chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, is quoted in the release. "And the Aboriginal Title of our member Nations means that the decision is ours to make. We're hear to tell Enbridge, again, that the decision is No."
BC First Nations believe they have power to stop the pipeline based on the Delgamuukw/Gisdaywa decision and other court cases requiring their participation in making decision about land use and resource development projects.
“Oil spills on the land and waters are inevitable – it’s just a matter of time," the release quotes Namoks (John Ridsdale), a Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief from northwest BC. "All the state-of-the-art technology claimed by oil companies can never eliminate human error. We will oppose this pipeline project to protect our lands, and our waters."
The release notes that “On March 23rd, BC's Coastal First Nations alliance, representing all nine Nations affected by Enbridge's proposed tanker routes, publicly declared an outright ban on oil tankers through their territories.”
Members of environmental groups Dogwood Initiative and Forest Ethics joined the First Nations delegation in Calgary in support of their opposition to the proposed pipeline.
David Beers is editor of The Tyee.
3
Login or register to post comments
max von smartt
2 years ago
shut down dirty tar sands
right on! our rocky island studded coast with its wild weather is too treacherous for oil tankers. show me a sailor who don't drink.
Elenor
2 years ago
We really do not have to
We really do not have to waste our time looking for who is to blame but rather find ways to solve the problem. A possible scapegoat has been discovered to blame the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill on. BP has taken responsibility for cleaning the mess and Transocean has taken a percentage of the obligation too, but now the two organizations are looking at Halliburton, a cement firm. The Halliburton oil spill is said to have been a result of neglect on the company who was hired to cement the oil well. In the event the oil well isn't cemented correctly gasses can leak out causing an explosion. There were multiple other oil explosions blamed on this procedure as well. Halliburton has claimed to have completed their work merely 20 hours ahead of the explosion, but takes no liability for the oil spill or blast that possibly killed 11 people.
SharingIsGood
2 years ago
Halliburton is an oil field service company
Most generally, they cement the casing (pipe) into place, the well is "logged" to find the exact location of the deposit within the cemented casing, then a hole is blown through the casing and the cement using a high voltage electric spark. If the well needs more of an opening to let the oil/gas flow from the deposit and into the casing, Halliburton is then often called to "fracture" the well using dangerous high pressure hydraulics.
The last I read about Halliburton (of Dick Cheney infamy), it had moved its corporate headquarters to Dubai. With many American fields becoming exhausted/depleted, Halliburton executives and directors seem to have little need to be patriotic to the country that made them rich. Dubai's location offers Halliburton the chance to stay close to Mid-Eastern oil and closer to Southeast Asian oil. Similar to other international firms, Halliburton seems not to believe it owes any allegiance to any country. It takes as much as it can from where-ever it can. The dicotomy of wealthy right-wing uber-capitalist American Republicans and Canadian Conservatives/Liberals/BC Liberals etc. is that they pull on the heart strings of patriotism while using their Canadian capital to invest internationally, thus lining hidden, untaxed, off-shore accounts. You know, the big shell game at which Karlheinz Schreiber must have angered the wrong person, but which Mulroney had no illegal part! Envelopes of cash - my bucking donkey!
Here is what Haliburton has to say about the rig disaster:
http://www.halliburton.com/public/news/pubsdata/press_release/2010/corpnws_043010.html