This is the view from the Tsimshian peninsula on the north coast of B.C., across Dixon Entrance and the mountains of southeast Alaska. Not far away is the area still suffering from the impact of the Exxon Valdez disaster. This territory has never been ceded to Canada or the queen, and no treaty has been signed here, on Haida Gwaii to the southwest, or between the coast and the Alberta border. Regardless, the Canadian federal government is determined to support Enbridge's plan to carve a dual pipeline from the oil/tar sands in northern Alberta to Kitimat on the west coast of B.C. so that raw crude oil can be shipped to China. Supertankers, the largest ever to be used would travel down a long fjord, Douglas Channel, from Kitimat. Here is what the First Nations people along the route think about that plan:
“Enbridge poses a grave threat to the future of coastal First Nations’ way of life,” says Art Sterritt, Executive Director of the Coastal First Nations. “We will not allow Enbridge to do to us what BP has done to the people of Louisiana.”
Ever since Enbridge applied to the federal government for permission to build the Northern Gateway pipeline, opposition on the B.C. coast has been strong and consistent.
Enbridge's campaign is an insult to our intelligence, as they actually eliminated islands in their promotional video to create the illusion that the enornmous oil tankers would be travelling safely through an obstacle free area. Fishers and indigenous people who know the area intimately are horrified; the Hecate Strait and west coast of Vancouver Island is known as the graveyard of the Pacific. Hurricane force winds are common, reefs and small islands pepper the area, creating strong currents and extreme tides. The B.C. Ferry, Queen of the North. still rests on the bottom since the tragic sinking in 2006, crashing into a small island due to human error and perhaps technological problems.
Proposed financial benefits depend on the price of oil, which do fluctuate, and most would go to Alberta, while B.C. would take by far the greatest environmental risk. This at a time when the economy in B.C. is shifting from a primarily resource base to an eco-tourism base, and there is great concern about our wild fish stocks due to over fishing and damage to the marine ecosystem. Questions are being asked about the wisdom of shipping raw crude rather than refining it here in Canada. Considering that the pipeline would have to go through the Rocky Mountains among other ranges and across a thousand rivers and waterways, little trust exists, especially in the face of recent reports of Enbridge's damaging spills in other areas of North America and resulting damning reports.
B.C.'s wildlife is counting on us to prevent this disaster in the making.
