First Nations seeking pipeline power
‘Influence and control’ over environmental concerns tops Indigenous ownership wish list
First Nations seeking an equity stake in the Trans Mountain pipeline and its proposed expansion aren’t just seeking profit, they want “influence and control” over its environmental impact.
“As shareholders of this pipeline, we want to be able to appoint a director who will promote Indigenous concerns, who will provide environmental oversight,” said Michael LeBourdais, chair of the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group and chief of the Whispering Pines-Clinton Indian Band.
The band had sought an ownership stake during negotiations with Kinder Morgan Canada on a mutual benefits agreement related to an expansion that would triple the capacity of the 60-year-old pipeline.
The Trans Mountain pipeline was purchased by the federal government from Kinder Morgan in August of last year for $4.5 billion. Ottawa is expected to approve a $9.3-billion expansion in June after having completed a new round of consultations with First Nations ordered by the court.
Several First Nations have expressed interest in buying a stake in the pipeline since the purchase.
“We always wanted to buy,” he said. “We always wanted equity. But in our negotiations with Kinder Morgan, equity was not on the table. When the government of Canada bought the pipe, it opened the door to equity.”
Whispering Pines is one of 43 First Nations in B.C. and Alberta that have signed mutual benefits agreements with Trans Mountain worth about $400 million.
But a number of First Nations have opposed the project in court on a legal landscape that is exceptionally complex.
While elected band councils have signed agreements with the pipeline proponents, the courts have recognized that hereditary First Nations leaders must also be consulted and accommodated on matters concerning the use of their traditional territories.
Last week, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs wrote an open letter to B.C. First Nations warning them against investing in the pipeline.
Phillip claims that Trans Mountain isn’t profitable in its current form and that construction costs on the pipeline’s expansion have gone up 72 per cent since it was first proposed.
Phillip also questions the existence of a market for the oil that an expanded pipeline would carry. ‘NO FINANCIAL RISK,’ Page 24
“In a world where demand for oil has peaked and is declining, the oilsands, which has higher costs and higher carbon emissions than other sources of oil, will be some of the first oilfields to be shut down,” wrote Phillip.
LeBourdais ]fired back this week with a letter of his own, taking on Phillip’s claims point for point and denouncing the UBCIC positions as “dead wrong.”
“Grand Chief Phillip’s letter is indicative of an old way of thinking ... where Indigenous peoples are left out from the benefits of developments on their title land and decisions are made without their consultation,” he wrote.
Ownership will give First Nations along the pipeline route the power to lead environmental risk assessments and “realize the largest economic benefits.”
“This pipeline goes right through the middle of our reserve ... so we are very familiar with where this pipeline goes and how it works,” said LeBourdais.
“Most of us are firefighters, forestry workers and oilpatch workers, we understand how safe it is.”
“We can retain the expertise and the capacity to own and operate a chunk of this pipeline and that’s what we are going to do,” he said. rshore@postmedia.com