Local environmentalists fighting pipelines and perceptions in the heart of oil country

EDMONTON—Deep within oil country is a group of anti-pipeline activists who aren’t afraid to challenge Alberta’s reputation as an oil and gas bastion.

From occupying the Calgary offices of Kinder Morgan in March, to hanging a large, anti-pipeline banner on the side of the High Level Bridge last fall, members of Climate Justice Edmonton (CJE) hope to counter the narrative that all Albertans are pro-pipeline.

“One of our main goals was really to be a very vocal force of opposition in the province,” Emma Jackson said. “A lot of people in this province — especially young people — are not necessarily pro-pipeline, so it was to boldly communicate that there are other people who are also against these projects.”

In January, Jackson co-founded CJE, an environmental and social justice group that opposes pipeline expansion in Alberta.

The group is at the forefront of local opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline extension — a project that would twin an existing pipeline that carries bitumen from the Edmonton area to a terminus in Burnaby, B.C., and triple the amount of oil flowing to tankers on the West Coast.

While most of the opposition to the pipeline comes from communities in B.C., the group wants Canadians to know there are Albertans who oppose the project, too.

“It’s so rare for people outside the province of Alberta to see that there is opposition here,” Jackson said.

The pipeline expansion has been at the centre of a row between Alberta, B.C. and the federal government, and faces court challenges and permit delays in B.C. The project is on tenterhooks, as Texas-based Kinder Morgan stopped all non-essential spending on the pipeline last month, saying it will wait until May 31 to see if all parties can reach an agreement on moving forward.

B.C. Premier John Horgan’s government said it is concerned about the potential for oil spills on its waterways and coastline.

A core group of eight — mostly female — activists decided to start CJE following a series of grassroots demonstrations against pipelines they organized in tandem with other environmental groups in Edmonton. But protesting pipelines in a province where many still consider oil to be economic lifeblood can stir up hard feelings.

The group understands opposing reactions to an extent, but notes how some of the violent, misogynistic backlash they have faced goes too far. Following one of their demonstrations, Jackson took screenshots of several threatening messages group members received on Facebook. Jackson said she’s received death threats, too.

“It’s been pretty shocking … just reading some of the more violent and misogynistic messages,” said Hannah Gelderman, an organizer with the group. “It’s quite shocking and disheartening and eye-opening to the kind of toxic culture that produces that kind of messaging.”

Mounting opposition to the pipeline in B.C. and the uptake of renewable energy projects in certain First Nations communities gives the group reason for optimism. Indigenous leadership is “showing us the way,” said Jackson.

“These communities that have community-owned renewable energy projects, and that demonstrate what the path forward could be, give me a lot of hope.”

Alberta and the federal government are in discussions with Kinder Morgan to strike a joint financial arrangement to ensure the project gets built. The federal government approved expansion of the Trans Mountain line in 2016, but the B.C. government remains opposed to it.

CJE remains hopeful that opposition by communities, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous in B.C., means Trans Mountain will be shelved.

“All of these dominoes are falling,” Jackson said. “Without free, prior and informed consent, and without a community’s consent to build these projects, they will not be built.”

With files from The Canadian Press

[Photo: Hannah Gelderman is an organizer with Climate Justice Edmonton - a group that's at the forefront of anti-pipeline activism in Edmonton. Codie McLachlan for StarMetro]