Tar Sands

Washington Supreme Court Establishes 'Very Important Precedent' for Climate Necessity Defense in Case of Valve-Turner Ken Ward

07/09/19

Author:

Jessica Corbett

Link:

As part of a multi-state action in 2016, valve-turner Ken Ward temporarily shut down the Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline. (Photo: shutitdown.today)

[ Editor: Common Dreams reported yesterday that the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that environmental defenders have the right to employ a defence of necessity when being tried for climate-related offences. This decision follows a similar one from the Minnesota State Supreme Court.

To date this defence has not been allowed in Canada. Will Offley]

The court's decision, explained one attorney, "creates a strong legal basis for climate protesters to justify their actions in a court of law."

September 06, 2019

Read the full article.

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Mel Lehan: Statement Regarding Sentencing For Violating TransMountain Injunction

30/08/19

Author:

Mel Lehan

Link:

Mel Lehan

Thank you for this opportunity to speak.

Before my arrest and throughout more than half a century of volunteer community contributions, I’d always worked within the bounds of law.

I took the longer, legal route to reverse government policies because it was viable to take those routes.

But there are things we know, without a doubt, about climate change that made my response to it on Burnaby Mountain fundamentally different.

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Barry Morris: Statement Regarding Sentencing for Violating TransMountain Injunction

30/08/19

Author:

Barry K Morris

Link:

Barry Morris

As a Minister of the Christian faith, with the United Church of Canada, I’m mindful of the duty to protest, if not resist, if and when civil authorities fail to provide due process and fair outcomes to grieving peoples.

I do not take this to mean that I have the right to disobey court orders anytime I might disagree with them.

I understand and appreciate the importance of our justice system – especially its checks and balances.

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Rita Wong’s Sentencing Statement Following Conviction For Violating The TransMountain Injunction

28/08/19

Author:

Rita Wong

Link:

Pencanada.ca

[Rita Wong was sentenced to 28 days in prison.]

I’m grateful to be here alive today with all of you on sacred, unceded Coast Salish territories, the homelands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh peoples.

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Statement Before Sentencing For Violating TransMountain Injunction: Will Offley

28/08/19

Author:

Will Offley

Link:

Vancouver Ecosicialists

[Will Offley was sentenced to 14 days in prison]

In the last year the Court has seen people from all walks of life, class backgrounds, nationalities and political persuasions appear, charged with the same allegation, criminal contempt of court, for blocking Trans Mountain’s operations.

What unifies us all is the shared understanding that humanity is teetering on a precipice, and only decisive action to reverse climate change can prevent an unprecedented catastrophe.

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Unwilling to live with the lie - Matthew Linnitt, The Price of Oil Coverups and lies ‘a systemic cancer’ in the world of oilpatch health and safety

20/08/19

Author:

Elizabeth McSheffrey, with files from Mike De Souza and Carolyn Jarvis

Link:

National Observer

Matthew Linnitt says he's grateful his livelihood no longer depends on oil and gas. He no longer fears reprisal against his family. Photo by Jennifer Osborne

August 20th 2019

The words may not have been explicit, but oilpatch contractor Matthew Linnitt says he read between the lines: lie on official documents about an incident that could have killed him, or someone would be fired.

The tacit threat, he alleges, was handed down by his supervisor at Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) after a close call with hydrogen sulfide on a northwestern Alberta well site on May 2, 2016.

Read the full article.

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Pipeline fight is not over, and Canadians everywhere have a stake

17/08/19

Author:

Robert Hackett

Link:

National Observer

A shot of Fort McMurray, Alberta in 2012. Photo by Kris Krüg from Flickr

August 9th 2019

The Trudeau government and the petrobloc (the fossil fuel industries and their political, financial and media allies) would like you to believe that the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline (TMX), intended to triple the flow of diluted bitumen from the Athabasca Sands to the port of Vancouver, is a done deal.

But the latest approval of TMX by the Trudeau government and the industry-friendly National Energy Board does not settle the issue.

Read the full article.

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'Alternative' energy and less energy

Insurers Pressured to Drop Coverage of Canada’s Oil Sands Pipeline

09/08/19

Author:

Valerie Volcovici

Link:

Insurance Journal

Photograph: Mining equipment called a bucketwheel reclaimer is used at oil sands mines in Alberta, Canada.

August 8, 2019 by

A coalition of 32 environmental and indigenous groups on Thursday urged insurers to stop underwriting the Trans Mountain pipeline to pressure Canada to cancel its plan to expand the project which carries crude from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia’s Pacific coast.

Read the full article.

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The Koch Brothers and the Tar-Sands

06/07/19

Author:

John McMurtry

Link:

The Bullet

July 5, 2019

Big Lies and Ecocide in Canada

As we know, big lies can run free across borders with few people joining the dots. For example, no media has been reporting that China’s growing dispute with Canada is based on Canada’s enforcement of the Trump administration’s unilateral embargo against Iran. This is what politicians called ‘the rule of law’. In fact, it is assisting the US takedown of China’s superior IT competition – Huawei – for not obeying the illegal US embargo.

Read the full article.

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Canadian companies dominate the oilsands

01/07/19

Author:

Deborah Jaremko

Link:

jwnenergy.com

May 31 2019 - Canadian Natural Resources Limited’s announced acquisition of Devon Energy’s oilsands assets continues the “Canadianization” of the massive resource as international-based companies exit the sector.

The trend was already well underway well before this week’s announcement, but it’s worth taking a look at how ownership of Alberta’s massive resource will sit following the deal’s close, which is expected in June.

Category:

Alberta

Energy

Tar Sands

Tar Sands

Big Lies and Ecocide in Canada

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