Public health physician occupies trees for a week to halt Trans Mountain pipeline expansion

 August 10, 2020·4 MINUTES

PRESS RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUGUST 10 2020

Unceded Coast Salish Territories (VANCOUVER, BC) — After a week of protest, a Vancouver-area physician continues to risk arrest in an effort to draw attention to the health and climate risks posed by the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project.

SFU professor and public health physician Dr. Tim Takaro, 63, is occupying several trees for the seventh continuous day, putting himself physically in the way of Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project construction. He climbed the mature cottonwoods last Monday (August 3rd), within a section of the pipeline route along the Brunette River that is scheduled to be cleared between August 1st and September 15th. Supporters are camped below Takaro’s suspended platform around the clock, joining him in a physically distanced protest since he took to the trees last Monday night. Local groups have rallied around him during the week: a march organized by Extinction Rebellion Vancouver took place on Wednesday in support of Takaro, blocking traffic on nearby North Road. Educational tours led by a coalition of NGOs took hundreds of people into the proposed construction site on Saturday and gave direct action training workshops.

“It has been so uplifting to feel the support of so many people here at the site and online,” said Dr. Takaro. “Today I had Kurdish drumming and visits from colleagues and their children. Now we just need Justin Trudeau’s attention and we can transition Canada to its energy future. How about to start with laying a High Voltage Direct Current electricity transmission line instead? Use Canadian leading artificial intelligence to coordinate electricity moving efficiently. Fossil energy is so last century. New infrastructure no longer makes sense. ”

Zain Haq, 19, is a second-year SFU student who stayed overnight in a tent in the camp below to support Takaro. “Since all the legal avenues have failed and the government has broken the social contract, peaceful civil disobedience like Tim is doing is necessary. Regular citizens like us are willing to put ourselves in the way because we want a future,” he said. Takaro’s supporters intend to keep to their vigil for as long as he remains suspended in the trees.

Location of Dr. Tim Takaro’s Tree occupation:

In the forested area southeast of where the Trans-Canada Highway crosses North Road in Burnaby/New Westminster. Parking available in Lower Hume Park, 660 E Columbia St, New Westminster, or in the nearby shopping centre at Lougheed.

 

BACKGROUND

The $12-15 billion pipeline project was purchased by the federal government in 2018, despite the lack of Indigenous consent for the project and despite it being in direct conflict with Canada's commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement to keep global temperatures from rising above the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold. The project would also impact numerous drinking water sources along the route, Burrard Inlet and Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, Burnaby Mountain and Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Takaro, who has been active in the review process of this pipeline project, deemed the National Energy Board (NEB) review “rigged from the start,” noting that the NEB specifically said it would not accept health assessments that discussed global warming impacts from the project.

The existing Trans Mountain pipeline is already a major environmental and public health hazard with a long history of disastrous spills. In June this year, 50,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a pump station located above an aquifer that supplies the Sumas First Nation with drinking water. The Trans Mountain Expansion Project would multiply these risks tremendously, while a growing number of insurers have pulled out of the pipeline project and will continue to do so.

ABOUT TIM TAKARO

Dr. Tim Takaro is a physician-scientist trained in occupational and environmental medicine, public health and toxicology, at Yale, the University of North Carolina and University of Washington. He is former Canadian co-chair of the Health Professionals Advisory Board to the International Joint Commission on border waters and a lead author for the water and health chapter for the national Climate Change Health Assessment 2021.

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Media contacts:

Maayan Kreitzman, Extinction Rebellion Vancouver, 604-723-9577

Dr. Tim Takaro, Public Health Physician and Activist, 604-838-7458