Imminent decisions on giant energy projects are sure to anger some parts of the electorate that swept him to power.
September 25, 2016
Photographs by Ben Nelms/Bloomberg [See original article for photos]
Along Canada’s evergreen-draped west coast, the fate of a multi-billion-dollar energy project and a nation’s reconciliation with its dark, colonial past hang in the balance.
The federal government’s decision on expanding the TransMountain pipeline, expected no later than Dec. 19, will be an early Christmas present for an as yet unknown recipient.
As opponents hope for a resounding “no” on the $6.8-billion expansion project, all but a few of the communities along the pipeline route — from Strathcona County in Alberta to Burnaby, B.C. — have signed agreements ensuring they get more than a lump of coal if the project goes ahead, whether they endorse it, or not.
Enbridge says they will pursue re-engagement with directly affected First Nations communities along the proposed route of their Northern Gateway pipeline, a proposed project that would carry bitumen from Alberta through to Kitimat.
Northern Gateway announced today they would not appeal the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision to reverse the pipeline’s federal approval. The court cited a lack of meaningful consultation with impacted First Nations.
Chief Namoks of the Wet’suwet’en questions the move as just a PR strategy.
At a meeting with the deputy political director of the AFL-CIO during my campaign for Congress, she looked across her desk and told me that I could get major union support by coming out in favor of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
That was five years ago. Since then, the nation’s biggest labor federation has continued to serve the fossil fuel industry. Call it union leadership for a dead planet.
Sept 16, 2016 CALGARY — The Alberta government has approved three oilsands projects that it says represent about $4 billion of potential investments, though it’s unclear whether any of the projects will go ahead.
The projects include the Blackpearl Resources’s Blackrod project, Surmont Energy’s Wildwood project, and Husky Energy’s Saleski project that together total about 95,000 barrels of potential production.
The Federal Court of Appeal has quashed a bid by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation to have the National Energy Board process for the Trans Mountain pipeline declared unlawful.
At issue in the suit filed in 2014 was whether the Crown and NEB had failed in their constitutional duty to consult the Tsleil-Waututh as a First Nation.
The federal court of appeal issued a 44-page decision last week rejecting the claim, stating the Tsleil-Waututh could have raised its concerns about the project with the federal government at numerous times over the last several years.
For Indigenous activists fighting pipelines across Canada, the following names are unforgettable: Energy East, Enbridge Northern Gateway, the Trans Mountain expansion.
The struggle to stop these projects has been carved forever into their memories, but as of last Monday, it has also been carved into the journey of a wooden totem pole that travelled more than 8,000 kilometres from the Lummi Nation in Bellingham, Wash. to the heart of Treaty One territory in Winnipeg.
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