‘NOT ON OUR WATCH’
Protesters vow that the war has just begun after the federal government on Tuesday approved the twinning of the Kinder Morgan pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby
VICTORIA — B.C. environmental groups, First Nations and local politicians admitted Tuesday they’d lost the battle to convince Ottawa to reject Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, but vowed that the ground war had just begun to stop the project from being built.
Opponents assailed the federal government’s decision Tuesday to approve the twinning of Kinder Morgan’s Edmonton-to-Burnaby Trans Mountain oil pipeline, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has dramatically underestimated the social and political unrest the project will cause on the coast.
Meanwhile, the B.C. government, which appeared largely caught off guard by the timing of Ottawa’s announcement, said Kinder Morgan had yet to meet its five conditions (mainly oil spill response and financial benefits), nor had the province finished its own environmental assessment of the project.
While Alberta Premier Rachel Notley joined Trudeau on Parliament Hill for a celebratory photo opportunity, B.C. Premier Christy Clark was unavailable for interviews. Clark had said on Monday that she’d expect Trudeau to personally travel to B.C. to explain himself if he approved Kinder Morgan.
Coastal First Nations and environmental groups did praise Tuesday’s federal decision to ban oil tankers off the coast — from Quadra Island to north of Prince Rupert — and reject Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat.
But those same groups also attacked Ottawa for its duplicity in then approving the twinning of Kinder Morgan, which will triple the capacity of the existing pipeline to 890,000 barrels a day and increase the number of tankers in Metro Vancouver waters seven-fold to 34 per month.
They argue B.C.’s coast would be catastrophically harmed by a spill of diluted bitumen from the pipeline or a tanker.
“B.C. will not be a sacrifice zone for the prime minister’s incoherent climate and energy policy and Alberta’s deluded demands for tidewater access,” said Sierra Club of B.C. campaigns director Caitlyn Vernon.
“The Kinder Morgan pipeline will not be built. Not on our watch.”
The pipeline was a defining issue in the 2013 B.C. election, and could be again in May 2017. NDP Leader John Horgan, like Clark, did not return an interview request by deadline.
Business groups largely praised the pipeline decision. The B.C. Chamber of Commerce called it a “big economic win for B.C. and for Canada,” that will generate thousands of jobs.
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade said the Kinder Morgan approval would prevent Canada from continuing to be held captive by its only oil customer, the United States.
“Here in Greater Vancouver, the project will generate more than a billion dollars in construction spending, create thousands of high-paying jobs, and help attract new investment to our region,” said CEO Iain Black.
B.C. Green Leader Andrew Weaver said “the social unrest on this issue will be something we’ve never seen in British Columbia”.
“I argue it will make Clayoquot Sound and the war in the woods pale in comparison.”
The Clayoquot protests in the early 1990s saw protesters stare down logging trucks on Vancouver Island to protect old growth forests, resulting in more than 800 arrests.
The epicentre of Kinder Morgan protests is likely to be Burnaby, where the pipeline terminates in the Burrard Inlet and where there has already been prior public action that became violent at times.
Derek Corrigan, the mayor of that city, called the decision depressing.
“We’ve put so much work into trying to convince the Trudeau government that this process was so deeply flawed that it’s unreliable and that the information they received wasn’t credible,” he said. “To have them dismiss (that) as ‘politics’ is really offensive.” Corrigan said he hoped any civil disobedience would be done peacefully.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said he was “profoundly disappointed.”
“Vancouver’s work with the federal government on transit, housing, welcoming refugees and other shared priorities has been overwhelmingly positive, but approving Kinder Morgan’s heavy oil pipeline expansion is a big step backwards for Canada’s environment and economy,” he said.
Robertson was in Mexico City Tuesday at the C40 mayor’s conference on, ironically, climate change.
A representative of the Tsleil-Waututh, the First Nation whose traditional territory encompasses the Burrard Inlet terminal, said she was disappointed with the decision and particularly with Trudeau.
“He talks about all the pristine coastline but then is ready to endanger it all. You can’t say one thing and then do another,” said Charlene Aleck, spokeswoman for the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust Initiative.
Aleck hopes her nation will be able to stymie Kinder Morgan during the consultation and reconciliation processes that the federal government has requested as a condition for final approval. “It is definitely a beginning to a long road with Tsleil-Waututh,” she said.