Majority of Aboriginal communities have signed Northern Gateway partnerships, Enbridge says.
Enbridge Inc. said Tuesday that it has signed ownership-sharing agreements with almost 60 per cent of the 45 aboriginal communities along its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline route.
The company offered a 10- per- cent ownership position in its $ 5.5- billion pipeline proposal to first nations that would be affected by the pipeline.
“We made it available to about 45 of the aboriginal communities along the right ofway,” said Paul Stanway, manager of Northern Gateway Communications for Enbridge. “Almost 60 per cent of those eligible communities along the right- of- way have now signed agreements to be partners with us in ownership of Northern Gateway.”
Enbridge is not releasing the names or locations of the first nations that have signed agreements. Despite the claim of 60- per- cent support, many first nations in B. C. vow that the pipeline will not cross their territories.
Of the 45 aboriginal groups the Enbridge sought agreements with, it would have to get support from 27 to reach the 60- per- cent mark.
The Calgary- based company is seeking support from first nations along the route of its controversial pipeline, which is to cross all of northern B. C. and half of northern Alberta, a distance of 1,177 kilometres linking Bruderheim, Alta., with the B. C. port city of Kitimat.
Enbridge intends to build a terminal at Kitimat, where a steady stream of tankers would take on oilsands bitumen and transit through coastal waters en route to Asian markets.
The pipeline is one of the hottest environmental issues ever to affect B. C., bringing together in a united front of opposition first nations concerned over the potential for a pipeline rupture, climate- change advocates, ecogroups opposed to tankers in coastal waters and those who oppose oilsands development.
One of the strongest voices against the Northern Gateway comes from the Yinka Dene Alliance, which represents five first nations with territories between Prince George and the Coast Range. Their territories cover more than half the distance the pipeline would pass through in B. C. A spokeswoman for the alliance said Tuesday it remains opposed, despite the equity offer.
“The Yinka Dene Alliance position has not changed and will not change,” said Yinka Dene coordinator Geraldine Thomas- Flurer.
She said the alliance has no comment on Enbridge’s announcement. “We don’t respond to other first nations’ dealings out of respect, so we have no comment — only that the Yinka Dene Alliance position has not faltered or swayed in any way.”
On its website, the Yinka Dene say that more than 100 first nations in Western Canada have said no to pipelines and oil tankers.
Stanway said Enbridge estimates that over 30 years, the 10- per- cent stake in the pipeline would generate revenues of about $ 280 million. The equity position was allocated on a basis of population and the impact the pipeline would have on communities, Stanway said, so not all communities will receive the same number of ownership units.
The commitment by first nations is “a very good start” at obtaining broader social approval for the project, he said.
“It demonstrates that there is aboriginal support.”
And although he would not identify who accepted the equity offer, he noted that aboriginal communities in Alberta and eastern B. C. have a better knowledge of the oil and pipeline business, which makes for “an easier conversation.”
Half of the first nations that signed the equity agreement are from B. C. and half are from Alberta, the company said.
At Kitimat, Haisla First Nation chief councillor Ellis Ross said the Haisla are not part of the Enbridge deal.
He said the Haisla have a greater stake because they face the pipeline, the terminal and tanker traffic — and all the risks they entail.
The Haisla have yet to talk to Enbridge, but he said they are opposed “in principle” to the product — oilsands bitumen.
“The one guarantee I can see is that when a spill happens, the one absolute is that it will impact our way of life. And everybody will be arguing about whose responsibility it is and who is going to pay for it,” Ross said.
“And after that decision is made, they will probably take it to court. That will last 20 years and the settlement will probably be half of what was proposed.
“So it’s not that I don’t trust the people at Enbridge. I just don’t trust corporations period.”
The offer, which expired on May 31 at midnight, was made to those first nations and Metis communities with reserves or traditional territories within 80 kilometres on either side of the proposed pipeline route.