Drilling down on the debate over fossil fuel
The Pipeline Project stage collaboration aims to inspire dialogue about energy extraction
Last year, the federal government kiboshed the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. But the issues raised in an upcoming Northern Gateway-inspired production aren’t going away any time soon.
“When we started, Northern Gateway was the thing on everyone’s mind,” said Chelsea Haberlin, director of The Pipeline Project.
“Since then the conversation has shifted. But the original conversation is relevant to any form of resource extraction. We’ve taken all of the core issues around Northern Gateway and applied them to other relevant extraction conversations. The conversation around Kinder Morgan, it’s the same issues. We actually don’t talk that much about Northern Gateway.”
The Pipeline Project is the world premiere of a Vancouver co-production that seeks to illuminate the conflicts and issues around oil pipelines, and also to inspire conversations about the controversial subject. The first act features Sebastien Archibald, Kevin Loring and Quelemia Sparrow, co-writers and creators as well as actors, in scenes inspired by and sometimes taken verbatim from Extract: The Pipeline Wars Vol. 1 Enbridge, a 2013 book published by Vancouver Observer. The play also draws on the creators’ own personal experiences and perspectives.
“Quelemia and myself being First Nations, when we talk about land, we come from a different perspective than Chelsea and Sebastian, being non-native,” Loring said.
A member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation, Loring is also artistic director of Savage Society. The local aboriginal theatre company is co-producing The Pipeline Project along with Haberlin and Archibald’s ITSAZOO Productions in association with Gateway Theatre and Neworld Theatre and developed with assistance from Playwrights Theatre Centre.
“When we talk about land or what unceded territory means in British Columbia, there’s a lot of cultural teaching that had to go back and forth. That actually shows up in the play quite a bit, those struggles we had with the subject matter.”
An open forum featuring a different guest speaker follows each performance. The guests, including Vancouver Observer’s Linda Solomon and Clean Energy B.C.’s Paul Kariya, will discuss the pipelines, fossil fuels and other subjects with Haberlin and the audience.
“This is such a big conversation,” Haberlin said.
“When you talk about pipelines you’re talking about climate change, native land claims.
“A lot of people we have talking are saying, ‘We shouldn’t be talking about pipelines anymore, we should talk about hydro, or mining, or native education.’ You poke this and everything unravels.”
Haberlin says they reached out to the pro-pipeline contingent, including the industry itself, and even went as far as hiring a community cultivation coordinator from Alberta.
“She was writing to Kinder Morgan, to various pipeline organizations. We just didn’t hear from people.”
The one pro-pipeline guest scheduled is Max Fawcett of Alberta Oil.
No matter the guest, audience and creators will have plenty to discuss.
“The issue still exists,” said Loring. “Kinder Morgan has been approved to be twinned, and that runs through mine and Quelemia’s traditional territory. But more than just a pipeline, expansion of the fossil-fuel industry is something we need to address as a human society. If climate change is the greatest threat to us globally, expansion of these industries is problematic.”
The Pipeline Project isn’t about playing the blame game, though.
“It’s all fine and dandy to say, ‘Oh, we have to get off fossil fuels.’ But all of our industries and technologies, our clothing and food, everything is either derived from, or manufactured with the assistance of fossil fuels. Unless you move into the bush and weave your clothing from bark, you’re going to be using oil.
“So how do you get away from that? The play does try to at least open up the question so the second act can take over and we can hopefully have a heated and spirited discussion about these issues.”
“But more than just a pipeline, expansion of the fossil-fuel industry is something we need to address as a human society. ” — Kevin Loring