Two groups of First Nations have signed option agreements to acquire a 10-per-cent equity stake in the Coastal GasLink pipeline, a natural-gas project under construction in northern British Columbia.
The agreements, announced Wednesday, are exercisable when the pipeline comes into service and are subject to customary regulatory approvals.
For the First Nations involved, the potential equity stakes are one of the first opportunities they have had to own part of a project that crosses their traditional territory.
Climate change is already threatening everyone on the planet.
For everyone alive today, this is an inescapable truth. We are on a road to extinction. Until we bring greenhouse gas emissions down to zero everywhere in the world, the planet will continue to warm. The only question is, how long will we stay on this path?
Yesterday, the Province of B.C. released the long-awaited new Environmental Assessment conditions for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. In response, Georgia Strait Alliance’s Energy Campaigner Andrew Radzik said:
[I can't help wondering if this is a maneuver to rush indigenous investor groups into the "partnership"-- groups that Trudeau and Freeland will be happy to lend money to.
"It may all be true, of course. But it would be nice to see more evidence than a handful of photos and written statements from the RCMP, the solicitor general, and Coastal GasLink. " [See Update below]
Feb. 17, 2022
Today, the B.C. RCMP issued a statement that has drawn a great deal of media attention. And understandably so.
