The Sumas Pump Station on June 13, 2020, prior to clean-up. Transmountain
Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline spilled as many as 190,000 liters (approximately 50,193 gallons) of crude oil in Abbotsford, British Columbia (BC) Saturday, reinforcing concerns about the safety of the pipeline's planned expansion.
<p>Chief Dalton Silver of the Sumas First Nation told <a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/trans-mountain-oil-spill-released-roughly-150-000-litres-of-oil-company-says-1.4983835" target="_blank">CTV News</a> that the spill occurred on his reserve on fields over an aquifer that supplies his nation with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a>. It marks the fourth time in 15 years that the pipeline has spilled on his community's land.</p><p>"We cannot continue to have our land desecrated by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spills</a>," he said in a <a href="https://www.ubcic.bc.ca/stop_tmx_devastating_trans_mountain_pipeline_spill_reinforces_urgency_to_halt_further_expansion" target="_blank">statement</a> issued by the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) Sunday.</p>
<div id="82ac1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ac200d03077ca023966ba862e3cfdef5"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1272235491601989632" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Stop TMX: Devastating Trans Mountain Pipeline Spill Reinforces Urgency to Halt Further Expansion: “Trans Mountain p… https://t.co/ONHM3G30Ub</div> — UBCIC (@UBCIC)<a href="https://twitter.com/UBCIC/statuses/1272235491601989632">1592159552.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The spill occurred early Saturday morning at the pipeline's Sumas Pump Station, Trans Mountain told <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trans-mountain-pipeline-spill-abbotsford-150000-190000-litres-1.5611973" target="_blank">CBC News</a>. The company said no construction work related to the pipeline's expansion was being done at the time of the spill.</p><p>Instead, the spill appeared to have been connected to a fitting on a smaller piece of pipe attached to the main line, the company said in a <a href="https://www.transmountain.com/news/2020/statement-from-trans-mountain" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p>"The cause of the incident is under investigation and that will continue," company spokesperson Ali Hounsell told CTV News. "At this time, it's believed to be a failure of a small-diametre, one-inch piece of pipe."</p><p>The company estimated that between 940 to 1,195 barrels (or 150,000 to 190,000 liters) of oil was released and fully contained.</p>
<div id="3cd98" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="120d2d202c4507d1e916ba246dac3556"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1272267142516191234" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Update from Trans Mountain: Company estimates btwn 940 and 1195 barrels of oil was lost in spill at Sumas Pumping S… https://t.co/MU30LHnAEd</div> — Ben Miljure (@Ben Miljure)<a href="https://twitter.com/CTVNewsBen/statuses/1272267142516191234">1592167099.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"Clean-up is well underway with trucks and crews working around the clock," the company said in a Sunday afternoon statement. "The free-standing oil has been recovered and is being transported to an approved facility for disposal. The site has permanent groundwater monitoring in place and air monitoring continues. Monitoring has not identified any risk to the public or community."</p><p>The pipeline was initially shut off in response to the spill, but restarted around 2 p.m. local time Sunday.</p><p>The company said it was working with local authorities and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a> communities on the clean-up, but Silver told <a href="https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/06/14/trans-mountain-restart-surprises-sumas-chief/" target="_blank">CityNews 1130</a> he had not received timely, accurate updates about the amount spilled or the company's restarting plans.</p><p>"That they're up and running Sunday afternoon, my sister just read that to me off her phone. That was the first I heard of it, so there you go with the openness and transparency," Silver said. "I would really rather hear it from those at the incident command post."</p>
<p>Many Indigenous communities, environmental groups and the BC government oppose the expansion of the pipeline, which would <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-2645043384.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">triple</a> the oil it carries from Alberta's tar sands to the Pacific coast. They are <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-kinder-morgan-2570751996.html" target="_self">concerned</a> about its impact on the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, Indigenous sovereignty, local water supplies and endangered orcas that would be harmed by increased tanker traffic.</p><p>Oil spills have also remained a persistent worry for pipeline opponents.</p><p>"We conducted our own assessment of Trans Mountain using leading science and Tsleil-Waututh's Indigenous law that concluded that oil spills are inevitable, can't be fully cleaned up, and have devastating effects," Chief Leah George-Wilson of Tsleil-Waututh Nation said in the UBCIC statement. "This most recent spill is another reminder that the risk is too great to accept. The Trans Mountain pipeline has already spilled more than 80 times since it began operating. This is why we continue to fight the Trans Mountain Expansion in the courts."</p>
<p>The BC Ministry of Environment told CBC News that Saturday's spill was "deeply concerning."</p><p>"Our government maintains that the TMX project poses unacceptable risks to our environment, our coast and our economy," the ministry in a statement.</p><p>Meanwhile, BC Indigenous communities pledged continuing opposition.</p><p>"The price of oil has plummeted due to decreased demand caused by COVID-19, and yet another pipeline spill is like a nail in the coffin for investors," UBCIC Vice President Chief Don Tom said in a statement. "The ongoing demonstrations across Turtle Island right now show that people are ready to stand up and defend their beliefs including upholding Indigenous Title and Rights. I have no doubt this will extend to the widespread opposition that already exists to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion."</p>
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Greta Thunberg in a video conversation with Swedish professor and joint director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research Johan Rockstrom, broadcasted live to a global audience from Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, Sweden on April 22, 2020. JESSICA GOW / TT News Agency / AFP via Getty Images
When you want a seat on the UN Security Council, the last thing you need is a teenage activist, practiced at the art of shaming government officials, working against you. However, that's just what Norway and Canada have.
<p>Canada, Norway and Ireland are vying for the two available seats on the UN Security Council. Enter <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/greta-thunberg">Greta Thunberg</a>, bearing some free and stern advice.</p><p>The 17-year-old Swedish climate activist is the headline signatory on a letter to UN ambassadors of small developing nations. The letter argues that Canada and Norway both say they are concerned about the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a>, but will not shed their ardent commitment to expand <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> production, build <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipelines</a> through native land, and subsidize oil companies, as the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/greta-thunberg-canada-un-1.5605830" target="_blank">CBC</a> reported.</p>
<p>"For the young generation who will inherit the consequences of these decisions, it is critical that those who claim to be leading on climate action are held to account for decisions they are making back at home," the letter reads, according to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/greta-thunberg-canada-un-1.5605830" target="_blank">CBC</a>.</p><p>The letter also featured the signature of three other youth activists and 22 climate scientists.</p><p>The writers argue that if Canada wants to honor its commitment to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a>, it should make permanent its temporary ban on extracting oil and gas in the Arctic, cancel both the Trans Mountain and Keystone XL pipeline projects, and end all subsidies to the oil and gas industry, according to <a href="https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2020/06/10/greta-thunberg-delivers-message-to-canada-ahead-of-un-vote/" target="_blank">Radio Canada International</a>.</p>
<p>Canada, despite its pristine air and forests, is actually among the worst in the G20 in meeting its Paris agreement greenhouse gas emissions targets, according to data compiled in 2019 by <a href="https://www.climate-transparency.org/" target="_blank"><em>Climate Transparency</em></a>, as <a href="https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2020/06/10/greta-thunberg-delivers-message-to-canada-ahead-of-un-vote/" target="_blank">Radio Canada International</a> reported.</p><p>The letter is addressed to the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sids/list" target="_blank">Small Island Developing States</a> since there are 38 members of the UN and they, more than larger countries, recognize the imminent danger the climate crisis poses. There are also 20 non-UN members. While together they are not strong enough to wield power, they do make up 20 percent of the votes. That's a significant number since the countries running for a two-year term on the security council starting in 2021 must win the backing of two-thirds of member states, whether they are contested or not.</p>
<p>"The Small Island Developing States understand more than most the existential threat posed by climate change to our peace and security, even fundamental statehood, and as such have a strong interest in ensuring that climate commitments are a central consideration when deciding which candidates to support," the <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/06/10/greta-thunberg-seeks-influence-un-security-council-election/" target="_blank">letter</a> states.</p><p>"As the Ambassador of a country that understands the grave risk posed to our security and yours, we ask that you raise these issues in your conversations with representatives of the candidate countries, and demand that they unite behind the science.</p><p>"If Norway and Canada are serious about our climate security, they should commit to no new fossil fuel exploration or extraction, and begin phasing down their domestic production at a pace that is consistent with limiting warming to 1.5C," the authors wrote.</p><p>Canada is criticized in the letter for being the second biggest financer of fossil fuels in the G20. Norway is slammed, in the letter, for its unwavering support on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/arctic">Arctic</a> drilling.</p>
<p>Gail Whiteman, founder of Arctic Basecamp and professor of sustainability at the University of Exeter, UK, explained why she added her signature to the campaign.</p><p>"Climate change is a hugely important security topic, it is a hugely important global risk that is coming fast down the pipeline," said Gail Whiteman, founder of Arctic Basecamp and professor of sustainability at the University of Exeter, UK, who added her name to the letter, as <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/06/10/greta-thunberg-seeks-influence-un-security-council-election/" target="_blank">Climate Home News</a> reported.</p><p>"On both the Canadian and the Norwegian side, they have some quite strong stated policies on climate change but when you look at the details, that is very problematic."</p>
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Canadian Groups Fight for Covid-19 Recovery That Prioritizes Human and Ecological Health
26 May
Climate
Nearly 200 Canadian organizations rolled out their demands for a "just recovery." DKosig / Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
Nearly 200 Canadian organizations on Monday rolled out their demands for a "just recovery," saying that continuing business-as-usual after the pandemic would prevent the kind of far-reaching transformation needed to put "the health and well-being of ALL peoples and ecosystems first."
<p>The choices we make now about how to recover from this pandemic will shape not only our health and economic future, but also the future of human life on this planet," Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff said in a statement.</p>
<div id="a6ce8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b890babe2973f907692d9aec860dfe90"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1264892910828486657" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: Almost 200 organizations from across the country are demanding the government put people first with a Jus… https://t.co/ski8lyiXF9</div> — Leadnow (@Leadnow)<a href="https://twitter.com/leadnowca/statuses/1264892910828486657">1590408945.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"This moment is a reminder that the status quo can and must be disrupted," the new Just Recovery for All website declares. "We are standing on the threshold between the old world and the next and we must choose to build the future we want."</p><p>A just recovery—which would enable the government and civil society to "build back better"—rests in six key principles:</p><ol><li>Put people's health and well-being first, no exceptions. Health is a human right and is interdependent with the health and well-being of ecological systems.</li><li>Strengthen the social safety net and provide relief directly to people. Focus relief efforts on people—particularly those who are structurally oppressed by existing systems.</li><li>Prioritize the needs of workers and communities. Support must be distributed in a manner consistent with Indigenous sovereignty, a climate resilient economy, and worker rights, including safe and fair labor standards and a right to unionize. Improved conditions for essential service workers must be maintained beyond this crisis.</li><li>Build resilience to prevent future crises. We cannot recover from the current crisis by entrenching systems that will cause the next crisis.</li><li>Build solidarity and equity across communities, generations, and borders. In a globalized world, what happens to one of us matters to all of us.</li><li>Uphold Indigenous rights and work in partnership with Indigenous peoples. A Just Recovery must uphold Indigenous Rights and include the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, in line with the standard of free, prior, and informed consent.</li></ol>
<p>The principles were endorsed by progressive groups focused on a broad range of issues including 350.org, the Canadian Federation of Students, Oxfam Canada, and The Leap.</p><p>"The huge collaborative effort that brought these principles to life over many weeks of rich, challenging discussions exemplifies the kind of action we expect of political leaders as we move through this crisis," Catherine Abreu of Climate Action Network Canada said in a statement.</p><p>"It's going to take a massive and diverse community of voices to encourage governments to be bold in the face of corporate lobbies, and to put people and communities first," she said.</p><p>"Our goal was to capture the immense amount of care work happening throughout Canadian civil society right now and present a vision of a Just Recovery that leaves no one behind," Abreu explained. "We know this is a vision the majority of Canadians support, and millions of people are ready to take action."</p>
<p>As for the inevitable question—How are you going to pay for it?—the groups say the money is already there. It's just a question of changing who's on the receiving end. From the new site:</p><blockquote>The government currently gives billions of dollars in handouts to industries that harm our environment and communities, including the oil and gas industry. Canada also loses billions of dollars to offshore tax havens every year.<br><br>Right now, the government is working on a plan to rebuild our economy. It is likely that they will unveil a stimulus package, but it's on all of us to ensure that money goes directly to workers and communities, not corporations. By bailing out people, not big businesses, and closing tax loopholes, we can start to build a sustainable and just future for all.<br></blockquote><p>Dr. Courtney Howard of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment says it's clear from what she's witnessed amid the global pandemic that people are willing to use moments of crisis as turning points for positive change.</p><p>"To feel safe," she said, "we need to manage two planetary health emergencies at once—Covid-19 and its economic fallout, and climate change."</p><p>"We've shown that when pressed, we prioritize health. We take care of one another," said Howard.</p><p>"We have a generational opportunity to use this time of crisis and reflection to bring to life a vision of planetary health for all," she continued. "We've stayed home to save lives. By working together on a just and healthy recovery, we'll save more." </p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/25/nearly-200-groups-canada-vow-fight-covid-19-recovery-puts-human-and-ecological" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Alberta Energy Minister Calls Pandemic ‘a Great Time’ to Build Pipelines Due to Protest Restrictions
26 May
Politics
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage in Edmonton on Friday, April 24, 2020. Chris Schwarz / Government of Alberta / Flickr
Anti-pipeline protests work.
That's the implication behind comments made by Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage Friday on how coronavirus social distancing requirements could ease the construction of Canada's controversial Trans Mountain Expansion project.
<p>"Now is a great time to be building a pipeline because you can't have protests of more than 15 people," Savage said, as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/pipelines-alberta-protests-physical-distancing-1.5584025" target="_blank">The Canadian Press reported</a>. "Let's get it built."</p><p>Savage made the comments while speaking on a Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors podcast. After the remark, the interviewer laughed, but Savage did not.</p>
<div id="6dfba" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2098090f0b918bd43b6654c98da84560"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1263835829413335040" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Have you listened to the Weldcor Supplies CAODC Podcast featuring Alberta Energy Minister @sonyasavage? If not, che… https://t.co/qdbMrwV3Op</div> — CAODC (@CAODC)<a href="https://twitter.com/theCAODC/statuses/1263835829413335040">1590156917.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Savage also argued that the political and economic climate caused by the pandemic would not favor protesters.</p><p>"People are not going to have tolerance and patience for protests that get in the way of people working," she said on the podcast. "People need jobs and those types of ideological protests that get in the way are not going to be tolerated by ordinary Canadians."</p><p>The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which would nearly triple the amount of oil carried from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day, has faced fierce opposition from environmental groups, the B.C. government and some <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">indigenous</a> communities along its route, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52804344" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Pipeline opponents cite the risk of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spills</a>, the threat to endangered orcas off the B.C. coast and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> as reasons the project should not be expanded.</p>
<p>Construction on the project began in December, but in the podcast Savage acknowledged that protests had been a major hurdle.</p><p>"The activists have been so effective because the industry has been so ineffective," Savage said, as <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/alberta-energy-minister-pipeline-protest_ca_5ecc1dc5c5b6fd5bd57f1215?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACZLberJaRiI3IUecNLxlObw0VUGa0voqOClhc59lw9R-GhSH90WGTBduckFaRR4tyjBO1Bhszp82L6E5sFRFZcpb2bnc7_SK6oGNl-396Mv68dfczXkeJhu6UohURTawVCYUJH8S9LGdDjwZvethwPJqnzrwqIZah4_enMre5cn" target="_blank">HuffPost reported</a>. "They outsmarted the entire industry […] they got ahead of everyone."</p><p>Both Alberta and British Columbia have actually increased their upward limit on outdoor gatherings to 50, according to The Canadian Press. But while protesting in person against a pipeline might be more difficult because of the coronavirus pandemic, the outbreak has actually given environmental groups and frontline communities another reason to oppose them. Because <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> has been designated an "essential service" by the Alberta government, work camps have spread the new disease to rural areas, HuffPost pointed out. In one April incident, an outbreak at Imperial Oil's Kearl mine led to more than 100 cases in Western Canada. Another outbreak at the Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Horizon oilsands mine generated at least five new cases last week.</p><p>"Can't believe we have to say it but it absolutely is NOT a 'great time' to build a pipeline," <a href="https://350.org/no-cgl/" target="_blank">350 Canada</a> tweeted in response to Savage's comments. "We are in the midst of a health and climate crisis. And setting up man camps will endanger the lives of Indigenous and rural communities with already strained healthcare systems."</p>
<div id="2d8aa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9168979297ad2c6c59131061d4a90728"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1264994069287034889" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Can't believe we have to say it but it absolutely is NOT a 'great time' to build a pipeline.
We are in the midst o… https://t.co/5i8oG3M37B</div> — 350 Canada (@350 Canada)<a href="https://twitter.com/350Canada/statuses/1264994069287034889">1590433063.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Savage's spokesperson Kavi Bal acknowledged that she spoke on the podcast but denied that social distancing measures were good for the industry.</p><p>"We respect the right to lawful protests," Bal told The Canadian Press. "I would note that the limitations to public gatherings … have benefited no one – including project proponents and any opposition groups."</p><p>Irfan Sabir, the Opposition New Democrat energy critic, denounced Savage's remarks and Alberta's ruling United Conservative Party (UCP), led by pro-<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil-fuel</a> Premier <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-2645607020.html" target="_self">Jason Kenney</a>.</p><p>"These comments do not come as a shock," he said. "The UCP have already used the pandemic as an excuse to suspend environmental monitoring. When combined with the minister's latest comments, this will harm the reputation of Alberta's energy industry and inhibit our ability to attract investment and get our product to market."</p>
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Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has restricted the ability to gather in peaceful assembly, a Canadian company has moved forward with construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, according to the AP.
<p>As <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-2645607020.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">EcoWatch</a> reported, last week Canada-based TC Energy said it would start construction despite the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate</a> impacts of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a> and the concerns about transporting construction crews during the coronavirus outbreak.</p><p>The construction that began yesterday involved around 100 workers in a remote border crossing between Montana and Canada, which is home to cattle ranches and wheat fields, according to a spokesperson from TC Energy, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported. The number of people involved in the construction is supposed to grow into the thousands as construction advances.</p>
<p>The government in Alberta is throwing in $1.1 billion to support construction of the pipeline, which will stretch 1,210 miles from the town of Hardisty, in Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, and will begin operating in 2023, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/490419-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-to-proceed" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported. The investment from Alberta's government will support construction through 2020 and triggered the surprise announcement that construction would begin. The pipeline is predicted to carry 830,00 barrels of crude every day for transfer to refineries and export terminals in the Gulf of Mexico.</p><p>Alberta will also guarantee a $6 billion loan to TC Energy.</p>
<p><br>On Friday, Montana's Department of Environmental Quality issued the final state permits the company needed, agency spokeswoman Rebecca Harbage said, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>Even though the pipeline has been delayed for some time as it has been held up in court and demand for oil has plummeted, and even though Montana is under "stay-at-home" orders, the pipeline was granted an exception to Gov. Steve Bullock's order. The "stay-at-home" directive did not address worker camps, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>The plans for the pipeline call for 11 worker camps, some housing up to 1,000 people. Local officials and tribal leaders for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples" target="_self">indigenous people</a> say the camps could potentially spread the coronavirus into the area. Gov. Bullock, who is concerned about the virus spreading, "would want those concerns addressed prior to TC Energy and their contractors finalizing their plans of operations for those segments of construction," said spokeswoman Marissa Perry to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>TC Energy said it would check all workers for fever and ensure they practice social distancing.</p>
<p>However, as Bill McKibben, founder of 360.org, noted in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/05/climate-crisis-villains-oil-industry-big-banks-pipelines" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, the worker camps on the edge of Native American territory bring up memories of introduced epidemics that wiped out 90 percent of the Native American population.</p><p>"As Faith Spotted Eagle of the Yankton Sioux put it, 'this causes eerie memories for us [of] the infected smallpox blankets that were distributed to tribes intentionally,'" McKibben wrote.</p><p>Environmental activists agreed with that assessment.</p><p>"This is a shameful new low," Catherine Collentine, associate director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, said in a statement, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/490419-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-to-proceed" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported. "By barreling forward with construction during a global pandemic, TC Energy is putting already vulnerable communities at even greater risk."</p>
<p><br>A hearing to block the work is scheduled for April 16. In January, the federal judge who will hear arguments did not issue an order to stop work because TC Energy said there were no immediate plans to begin work, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>Stephan Volker, an attorney for the environmental groups asking the judge to intervene, said the company's decision to "jump the gun" before next week's hearing was an insult to U.S. District Judge Brian Morris, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p>"We are confident the court will not be bullied, and will overturn President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump">Trump</a>'s second approval, just as he overturned President Trump's first approval, as unlawful," Volker said.
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A First Nations protester walks in front of a train blockade in Tyendinaga, near Belleville, Ontario, Canada on Feb. 21, 2020. LARS HAGBERG / AFP via Getty Images
An indigenous rail blockade that snarled train travel in Canada for more than two weeks came to an end Monday when police moved in to clear protesters acting in solidarity with another indigenous community in British Columbia (B.C.), which is fighting to keep a natural gas pipeline off its land.
<p><br>Ten members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk nation were arrested for participating in the rail blockade on their own territory near the town of Belleville, Ontario, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/24/canada-police-indigenous-anti-pipeline-activists-rail-blockade" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. After warning them they faced arrest, police rushed and tackled protesters before cuffing them. Remaining demonstrators then heeded community leaders' calls to stand down.</p><p>"The video is pretty damning to watch," University of Manitoba native studies associate professor Niigaan Sinclair told <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-mohawk-tyendinaga-blockades-solidarity-1.5473552?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar&fbclid=IwAR3OpHNYNubGxuOI7Rphirix0u5XBsu2ia1Ly53rlowIFhNdlx6UvCTyO-Q" target="_blank">CBC News</a> of the arrest footage. "It's a video of dozens of police officers armed to the teeth, lined up with paddy wagons, prepared to throw individuals who are standing on their own territory into them."</p>
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<p>The blockade <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pipeline-protests-canada-indigenous-2645171362.html" target="_self">first went up Feb. 6</a> in response to another police raid. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had cleared a protest camp set up by the Wet'suwet'en to block the construction of the $6 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline in B.C. While elected Wet'suwet'en councils have approved the pipeline, hereditary chiefs oppose its construction on land they never ceded to the Canadian government.</p><p>The police action came after the rail blockade had disrupted travel for 103,000 Canadians and led to temporary layoffs of rail workers, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/world/canada/rail-blockade-protest.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. Weeks of solidarity demonstrations across the country have involved both indigenous groups and non-indigenous protesters who oppose <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> pipelines.</p>
<p>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at first urged dialogue with indigenous protesters, but took a firmer tone on Friday.</p><p>"Everyone involved is worried," Trudeau said, as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-incident-response-group-friday-1.5471095" target="_blank">CBC News reported</a>. "Canadians have been patient, our government has been patient. But it has been two weeks and the barricades need to come down now."</p><p>He ruled out calling on the army, but his words were interpreted as a greenlight for police to move against the blockade, according to The New York Times.</p><p>Monday's police action has set off other demonstrations, however. Wet'suwet'en hereditary Chief Woos has said protests would likely continue until the RCMP and pipeline workers left his nation's territory, according to The Guardian.</p>
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<p>Protesters set up a new rail blockade in Hamilton hours after the Belleville arrests, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6590842/hamilton-rail-blockade/" target="_blank">Global News reported</a>. Demonstrations in B.C. also succeeded in canceling West Coast Express trains from Vancouver to Mission Monday, as well as blocking the Port of Vancouver and the steps of the B.C. legislature, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/demonstrators-blocking-entrance-port-vancouver-1.5474332" target="_blank">CBC News reported</a>.</p><p>In Manitoba, around 100 stopped traffic on Portage Avenue with a "die-in" outside RCMP headquarters, while another group occupied part of the Trans-Canada Highway in the afternoon.</p><p>"They're just trying to support our relatives across Turtle Island," Metis student Carter Graveline, who represents Indigenous Youth and Allies for Wet'suwet'en, told CBC News of the protests. "When one of our nations is under attack it's like we all are."</p>
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42 Nobel Laureates Urge Trudeau to Act With 'Moral Clarity' and Stop Climate-Wrecking Teck Frontier Mine
23 February
Popular
Greenpeace activists unfurl banners after building a wood and card 'oil pipeline' outside the Canadian High Commission, Canada House, to protest against the Trudeau government's plans to build an oil pipeline in British Colombia on April 18, 2018 in London. Chris J Ratcliffe / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
In an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, 42 Nobel laureates implored the federal government to "act with the moral clarity required" to tackle the global climate crisis and stop Teck Resources' proposed Frontier tar sands mine.
<p>"The importance of leadership in the coming few years cannot be understated," reads the letter, published Friday in the Guardian's opinion section. "Governments are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/21/the-governments-sudden-passion-for-climate-technology-is-newfound-and-insincere" style="" target="_blank">lagging scandalously behind</a> what science demands, and what a growing and powerful people-powered movement knows is necessary."</p><p>"There is enough carbon embedded in already operating oil, gas, and coalfields and mines to take us beyond 2°C, let alone 1.5°C," the letter continues, referencing key temperature targets of the 2015 Paris climate accord. "The implications of this are clear: there is no room for expansion of the fossil fuel sector. There is no room for the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/05/when-it-comes-to-climate-hypocrisy-canadas-leaders-have-reached-a-new-low" target="_blank">Teck Frontier tar sands mine</a>."</p>
<div id="3c0df" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9SDIWF1582463719"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1230889418786885632" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Projects that enable fossil-fuel growth at this moment in time are an affront to our state of climate emergency, an… https://t.co/RFmem6gGr4</div> — 350 Canada (@350 Canada)<a href="https://twitter.com/350Canada/statuses/1230889418786885632">1582301880.0</a></blockquote></div><p>According to the letter:</p><blockquote>Projects that enable fossil fuel growth at this moment in time are an affront to our state of climate emergency, and the mere fact that they warrant debate in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/canada" target="_blank">Canada</a> should be seen as a disgrace. They are wholly incompatible with your government's recent commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. And with clear infringements on First Nations rights, such projects fly in the face of rhetoric and purported efforts towards reconciliation.<br><br>The response to the climate crisis will define and destroy legacies in the coming years, and the qualifications for being on the right side of history are clear: an immediate end to fossil fuel financing and expansion along with an ambitious and just transition away from oil and gas production towards zero carbon well before mid-century.<br></blockquote><p>Signatories to the letter are from all around the world and have received Nobel prizes in chemistry, economics, literature, medicine, peace, and physics dating back to 1973. They include Canadian author Alice Munro, awarded a literature prize in 2013, and Canadian biologist Jack W. Szostak, awarded a medicine prize in 2009.</p><p>The tar sands project, first proposed in 2011, has pitted environmentalists in Canada and across the globe against conservatives in Alberta, where the mine could create thousands of jobs while <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/01/20/bc-and-alberta-indigenous-leaders-demonstrate-against-major-oilsands-project.html" target="_blank">producing</a> about 260,000 barrels of oil daily and four million tons of climate-heating emissions annually. Trudeau's cabinet is expected to weigh in sometime this month.</p>
<div id="7b286" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="EVWE711582463719"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1230840271111360513" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The world is watching @JustinTrudeau and @CAFreeland! Over 40 @NobelPrize Laureates are calling on you to… https://t.co/qRuz0ictbR</div> — Oil Change International (@Oil Change International)<a href="https://twitter.com/PriceofOil/statuses/1230840271111360513">1582290163.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Teck still hasn't committed to building Frontier if it's approved," Bloomberg <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/markets/trudeau-e2-80-99s-in-a-bind-over-an-oil-sands-mine-that-might-never-get-built/ar-BBZVdot" target="_blank">reported</a> last week. "The Vancouver-based company's current focus is on advancing the project through the regulatory process, and further decisions will depend on the outcome of that process, market conditions, and other considerations, said Chris Stannell, a Teck spokesman."</p><p>Although Trudeau often presents himself as <a href="https://apnews.com/e294259c977f412cb5ebf24dfc961bbe" target="_blank">committed </a>to addressing the climate crisis, the Liberal prime minister and his government have been criticized for decisions that conflict with scientists' warnings that the world must rapidly move to 100 percent renewable energy to avert climate catastrophe. One such decision was the Trudeau government <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/05/29/immense-moral-cowardice-trudeau-trashed-government-purchase-climate-killing-kinder" target="_blank">buying</a> the Trans Mountain pipeline and long-delayed expansion project in 2018, which Indigenous people and climate activists <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/05/we-will-continue-fight-protesters-vow-after-canadian-court-dismisses-indigenous" target="_blank">continue</a> to challenge in court.</p><p>Among those <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/rival-rallies-teck-frontier-mine-approval-ottawa-oilsands-calgary-protests-1.5436228" target="_blank">opposed</a> to the Frontier mine are leaders and members of Extinction Rebellion, Indigenous Climate Action, the Tiny House Warriors and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, who have <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/01/20/bc-and-alberta-indigenous-leaders-demonstrate-against-major-oilsands-project.html" target="_blank">held</a> protests aimed at pressuring the Canadian government to block the contested project.</p>
<div id="4ab0f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="RWGZPT1582463719"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1230931456471523329" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Over 40 Nobel Laureates call on @JustinTrudeau and @cafreeland to reject the largest tar sands mine proposal EVER.… https://t.co/lLOx1kmojK</div> — Global Witness (@Global Witness)<a href="https://twitter.com/Global_Witness/statuses/1230931456471523329">1582311903.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Ultimately, this mine will be so devastating to the climate, and we're in a climate crisis," Extinction Rebellion member Sarah Flynn <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/rival-rallies-teck-frontier-mine-approval-ottawa-oilsands-calgary-protests-1.5436228" target="_blank">told</a> CBC News in January, "so the short-term advantages of the jobs and the income that this mine will offer will be far outweighed by the climate devastation that the whole world will experience."</p><p>Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/01/20/bc-and-alberta-indigenous-leaders-demonstrate-against-major-oilsands-project.html" target="_blank">told</a> the Toronto Star last month that Trudeau should "walk the walk" of transitioning to a green economy. Phillip noted that "there were commitments made during the last election that the Trudeau government would make decisive moves toward renewable energy and this is an opportunity to follow through on those promises."</p><p>In an op-ed for the Guardian earlier this month, author and activist Bill McKibben <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/05/when-it-comes-to-climate-hypocrisy-canadas-leaders-have-reached-a-new-low" target="_blank">wrote</a> that "it's disturbing in a different way to watch leaders pretend to care — a kind of gaslighting that can reduce you to numb nihilism. Trudeau, for all his charms, doesn't get to have it both ways: if you can't bring yourself to stop a brand-new tar sands mine then you're not a climate leader."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/21/42-nobel-laureates-urge-trudeau-act-moral-clarity-and-stop-climate-wrecking-teck" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Pipeline Protestors Are Still Blocking Railways in Canada, Paralyzing the Nation's Rail System
21 February
Energy
Protesters holding signs in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en Nation outside the Canadian Consulate in NYC. The Indigenous Peoples Day NYC Committee (IPDNYC), a coalition of 13 Indigenous Peoples and indigenous-led organizations gathered outside the Canadian Consulate and Permanent Mission to the UN to support the Wet'suwet'en Nation in their opposition to a Coastal GasLink pipeline scheduled to enter their traditional territory in British Columbia, Canada. Erik McGregor / LightRocket / Getty Images
Tensions are continuing to rise in Canada over a controversial pipeline project as protesters enter their 12th day blockading railways, demonstrating on streets and highways, and paralyzing the nation's rail system
<p>The arrest of dozens of people, including some Wet'suwet'en Nation leaders, earlier this month for blockading railways in protest of the $4.6 billion TransCanada Coastal GasLink pipeline sparked sympathy protests across the country. The protests bring up longstanding questions over Indigenous land rights in the region, illustrated by the years-long fight by the Wet'suwet'en against the pipeline, which some members of the tribe say is being illegally built on their territory. Two Canadian railways said they would temporarily lay off hundreds of employees as travel and trade stalls, and the crisis represents a major challenge for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. </p><h4>For a deeper dive:</h4><p><a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/c/*W61nlLS7JTrscW1VgGBc4Vm-Jd0/*W7dbhHT7lJBR_W1lxKy37Sq4Z60/5/f18dQhb0S66X6_rzZBV1vjlL5v1hxQW4_7-hp1k8SyfW2b-k-41vjtQRW2vwCrt5cSsYXW2fRp8V4wj8wwW1jmjsW6FpFPzW55yhTN6Pt_YPW4FRMDn8N5MhMW4KWpVJ87Tv-sW8Sf_YB6LvC3JW7bSGDk1_HYn6W7tRHxh1w8wDFN2dqT-Mf-RGqW2zfC0F71Qcm4W7XhKw42NwnxKN41fbhLrRKsgN5br6c3hR3vCN1h86BSGFfK3W11GwJ32MdvW6W6rXjys62Thj-VPyMBq5Nyg5HW1XtZfz5jS0q0W8n5TrX7JSsMVW9kxNML606K8LW2mtZYd5qTfqnW4nMy0h2LBzLGW7t8JWJ26J2DvN8w8dmWYHcpmN3FDf-Lq7-rSW3YzwLK3BGC9gVMDwSc1J-mzCW5CKBcJ5BCR_9W1z4F7d1nlkqpW6MVJxL5mNTWVVP0FRJ4cngrpW7S8jXR2BRwbNW7w89G12ybNnrW6Xm8PS7rmrq9W6mgzC92HlWTMW1JwpYc68BR62W6-ZxfS5_zt3rW2W9H1k6JvVVDW4ZD8wN8S4yp1W8JytMQ3R78m1W4x8Mjy7LCsBNW1lqNmS3t97yH111" target="_blank">LA Times</a>, <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/c/*W61nlLS7JTrscW1VgGBc4Vm-Jd0/*N79j4ZfQp3wnW6gpm-V96JLDM0/5/f18dQhb0S1Wd2RMFdXTvLhB2_V3RqW2yc7Z07334qsW6__whW3zbTnnW4WWPJl6lb4zJW7glRp0602f59W5CzZQK6fsZDzW8Zf1cD1dzW5YN3nt9KjF0rrsW4vzKkp4CvnsCW7xRs2Z39hw6rW3jgVKg3cMk96VprCXF81-Bb7VFVjJB3TTSdRW4Xp6RM5PzlkyW5Wzfnf3Lt17SW7NYWGJ5gV8Z7W357JBy2YpYFJW7J1r9q1m2YFCN3jjZMHPtfrzN2531WKJ7hc2W1D34bC40H5hzW81-77k6BX5mmW6MQY8X3RD-TmW6LpWdW4f02CKMcYDj2Sqz4tVHPL5F1ZDLgDW38_tmH19trpwW4qt8Bs65kdJcW2_KdxB5YP6zQW2vsQ9c8mHb_VW4hVRRb6wpxMlW8GRlgj3FHVr4W70hF3_2vXMR2W75CYbm97jmMvW71PJYB84cPB3W4j2ltV2dclQBW8KHjGD2b6gv6Vytrt23041k8W45pCZS1MXsCVW5-Mslw5-K933W9jnMxt68pGLwW28Vj9g8Sq8cRW6wGRSN17MZY4N2dJ_TQRH2rQW8xJ4gr7_y2XjW8cSs2F7pVnG2Mm5F5ZGzwdWVRv87d7R4fzVW5vsvdg8XcFzhW55H9-B7PVy8lW4FyvGs8LxM-FW7_wXz35fMkJ9N7RB--tN6bSMf892kzg11" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/c/*W61nlLS7JTrscW1VgGBc4Vm-Jd0/*W4SDwrN87Kv8dN2SHvzcYVCcr0/5/f18dQhb0S1Xm6Xvx7LSp6m1g7dvjN19h5jtzcCyYW83-rlt1fjgMcW1PMkdH8Cd570W7Vnzc11Msv76W4xxNkN6fsS_qW8BvNS61C-CWTW13HhB53QPslpW7mRKDV913MTQW6XFdbW6QZbvSW6JnDMt3ZsydlW5GqZVH7x-sWqW3jVc9k541-9_N1PM_q8_jJZ6N8mw1BmrW239W29RkQz3wpYmWN4JyFcg9_V5YVsTlvz59lNPKW8jb3gH8qYQw0W69Bdkl662vbjN7PWNCJyCFXlV9t8G92g6_mVVMPtKd7-PBq2VCwfhZ4-m94lVvXSvF5h9tNkW6bz4CZ59nJMzW89rrDW7gK-jMVm2yT18BZ2pXN4c1HXMp_JnrW40179K16S5YRW6RHfFt8zgKB5W1MnHzx7CyllBW3xJWkS1Rd5v3VhK3bp77JsdQW74K44R42w3DpW3nTGjY3_w0wwW6jSRl091S2WYV1S8-J9kjZzTW8z7jtK5w2Y4XN14XzmMV_sDnW7z4TN42brkqlW51lDb48RgcVvW6N13Cz8ByJdZW6B000n8V1mFhW88v5X_9lBF0FW1rQTQf66J5FQW7g1sZ84nRy1Qf19sl8t02" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/c/*W61nlLS7JTrscW1VgGBc4Vm-Jd0/*W25GF6w2Ll57bW4VVpM33pdDmx0/5/f18dQhb0S66X6XvPVTN12P5fYSwTf0W1gRWCM52lSNjV-r4fv3jXhx-W5rZ36h8Qm6_MW7V_BmR872XJDVj5Xy06Qr1qcW2TWYxG6S-w2rW4JsyPy8DqSRjW5SsXMv8YlQQ_W2WyF2k784YsKW1Vtn981SqFSJW6cgbgZ7p3n6MW2fqRbD7QnYSbN3NGD1M3_Z7lW7VWL8q8ffvwtN1ds3s-DCfSBW3bngmH3y_75jW2_ZJQt1QkJK0W62H0Jq5wyj_GW2wJQLw1mWYFdM12YsnHHKsDW2x5b7G6y1gCLW404H6w23GTC1N9lcZJQH8n1tVCmFy53TmVKhN5NHrgGml30kW61sJB882MJhbW4QZmKW1LDndVW1mpmn06ntDdDW4sllGj4crTN-N37TV5G8vKbdW5zKD533yfmgmW6G4qGm3j4w8YW7-JZjM3jp89lW3w8dKs2LltblW7zkw576PKbK1W6Bpc631GmNyPW86KGMy6yMKJZMswSnCyHt5LW3N_5jL16bbm4W4WRMrk1jkncNW4CdDj3184N9yVTXHGg8kJnzVW7sfgh13bvVW-W6TSvmK58xdMPW1ffQ4Z6rpTcDf4-lKYR04" target="_blank">CBC</a>, <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/c/*W61nlLS7JTrscW1VgGBc4Vm-Jd0/*N2YFrXl7dJX1W68njt76Hpc5W0/5/f18dQhb0Sjvm8YHrG2N834vY8HyjJqMRYC34RrT2vN3hHhdQVMsQMVnQ9Qq8--HBkW8-xTw88-y10rW8_h6YV568f8VW557xkq2N312QMLmywpHqGmhW2Rx7tb56kV0rN2MTPSyKng6qW1Wg4bj2gd99PN58jrSK-YypWW7dDxTN7mWsnXW7dzcsS51vDG6W1f928N1x4lQBW6Hq46z4MW8X3W4r1Pm71nq9rhW18dKPT1VJrykW5lX8fq13bD4hW6dkdGD8VCTsYW84h9wn2MbG0XW2QkLxL4RqxZ1N4x_LnC58nrlN1FxdvjL6vr8W8hh_DW8TyHk5W7qHWdQ57D2zLW755Z652MVCmtW4QyswZ1fzdlCW3qwdzr6W1bz9W59ZKNy1D4j7MW4byY1S2KdCNjW8nDXSj38HdJ-W3Cdk0d3wv7SmW6x_qSw7z1PCfW7zNb082SwVJfW1DnMVK960ZMJW2LdjVl8jHW7PW4-3c0F2VK8YMW246bpk87mHLXW8MyC8R3S6TzpW2mtLGx4Pxhj5N3DlwBbVv0nHf33MjNb04" target="_blank">BBC</a>, <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/c/*W61nlLS7JTrscW1VgGBc4Vm-Jd0/*W3_zxZP3D_qfRW9l9mxg4yZ3Mn0/5/f18dQhb0S66X2dYTs8Slkq5nbT4TW1gS0d71tb8r1W600lPz7D5nFDW3Qx91_4gX_LhW7-SLvf62_8V5W5MjS3Q7H18F1N45TVsFycNKPW1zRGTN5TW7JzW8hSNHZ152SLsW18wV8T1jgPPfW1BJ1l_4CdhtmW57QfB_61XMm8W2JjJsT51c-bfW5FVhwT7l6vjkVJLv6C3z_YCsTbC538lmwmQV7ZCgR4JPSkQM7mjK_s85MPW10sMxM2_SRp4W2tR92q5kGNZJW37d-hF9lB5m3N4JXzPggsvjnW2kzzfQ2r2BXXW8gwgt03_WtPPW17MGXx70YftnN5jrjYj3wT6vW6YMt3M71DcXNW5GyDmY3WkLnzN3r8z-RTZFYJW6Q3Yq988QZ8bVKJSSw6zNwTKW9fYnPZ5PXrkcW3fJt5w1MB5SyW6f66Pr2ztdCgW2KCGdm5_r_wlW38TGy31vhXJrW43wSPP52_156N4m9vXzk3j4tN1n4PgKHYTySW21pfYd1DdD72W4fPWP26Sr1SzW51RtMb3v9hrSW5xPZKk5kCG_-W9fR5s85JrQrmW3wnn4X5-2x_9111" target="_blank">WSJ, Michael Taube op-ed</a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Land defenders and protestors gather for a direct action on the second largest rail classification yard in Canada on Feb. 15, 2020. Jason Hargrove / Flickr
Anti-pipeline protests have shut down major rail networks across Canada as indigenous rights and environmental activists act in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en people of British Columbia, who are fighting to keep a natural gas pipeline off their land.
<p>Canadian National Railway (CN) said Thursday it would shut down its freight network east of Toronto in response to rail blockades, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/14/americas/canada-rail-disruptions-pipeline-protests/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. The same day, VIA Rail, which predominantly uses CN tracks to run passenger trains, said it was suspending the majority of its service. Then, on Sunday, CN announced 1,000 temporary layoffs, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ottawa-rejects-police-intervention-to-put-an-end-to-blockades/" target="_blank">The Globe and Mail reported</a>.</p><p>"It's our future that's going to be destroyed – it's really important for youth," 17-year-old Malika Gasbaoui, an Ojibwa-Métis from the Laurentians in Quebec who visited one of the blockades, told The Globe and Mail.</p>
<p>Gasbaoui was visiting a blockade in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Belleville, Ontario, which has cancelled train trips for more than 83,000 people since it began. The blockade was launched Feb. 6 in response to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raid on camps set up by the Wet'suwet'en to block the construction of the $6 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline, according to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/mohawks-rails-continues-1.5461971" target="_blank">CBC News</a>. The demonstrators say they will maintain the blockade until the RCMP leave Wet'suwet'en territory.</p><p>Another blockade in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory outside Montreal has shuttered a commuter rail into the city, The Globe and Mail reported. Anti-pipeline activists also held weekend demonstrations in Vancouver, Vaughan, Ontario and Niagara Falls, Ontario.</p><p>The Vaughan protesters blocked trains en route to London, Hamilton, New York and Michigan Saturday before disbanding around 5 p.m., <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/anti-pipeline-protesters-block-trains-leaving-vaughan-rail-yard-in-solidarity-with-wet-suwet-en-1.4813635" target="_blank">CTV News reported</a>.</p>
<p>"We are here for as long as we can be disruptive," indigenous land defender Vanessa Gray told CTV News. "We are here in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en land defenders, the hereditary chiefs that oppose the pipeline, with solidarity with everyone who has faced violence from the police arrests and people who are still faced with surveillance from the police. We are here also to shut down Canada."</p>
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<p>At stake is not just the environmental impacts of the pipeline, but the sovereignty of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. The pipeline company got permission from Wet'suwet'en elected councils to build the pipeline, but not the hereditary chiefs who say they never surrendered their control of the land to the Canadian government, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-wet-suwet-en-protests-arrests-1.4805620" target="_blank">CTV News explained</a>.</p><p>"These shouldn't be viewed as anti-pipeline protests. These are really demonstrations by Indigenous people all over the country to say we don't want the government using the RCMP to violently take down people who are living on their own territories," indigenous rights activist Pamela Palmater told CTV.</p><p>Both CN and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have asked the government to remove the blockades, arguing that they were harming the country's economy, CNN reported.</p><p>"Until we have rail service resumed, I would say no level of government is fulfilling its duties to help uphold the rule of law and ensure that commerce can flow freely throughout our country," Ryan Greer, senior director of transportation policy for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, told <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/business-group-blasts-government-inaction-on-wet-suwet-en-solidarity-blockade-near-rail-line-1.4809983" target="_blank">CTV Thursday</a>.</p><p>CN did obtain an injunction to end the Belleville blockade, but the police have not enforced it, according to CNN.</p><p>The Canadian government said Sunday it hoped to resolve the tension through dialogue, The Globe and Mail reported. Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller pointed to two raids on indigenous camps in the 1990s that had ended poorly.</p><p>"My question to Canadians, my questions to myself and to fellow politicians regardless of the party, is whether we do things the same old way and repeat the errors of the past, or do we take the time to do it right?" he told The Globe and Mail.</p>
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Climate Justice, Indigenous Rights Advocates Rally for Wet'suwet'en People as Canadian Police Continue Raids
11 February
Politics
Demonstrators block the Port of Vancouver in support of the Wet'suwet'en, who are blocking a pipeline from being built on their land, on Feb. 9, 2020. Sally T. Buck / Flickr
By Julia Conley
Indigenous rights supporters held solidarity actions across Canada over the weekend as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police continued their raids on Wet'suwet'en land in British Columbia.
<p>The <a href="http://unistoten.camp/" target="_blank">Unist'ot'en Camp</a> reported on its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/unistoten/posts/3475585559182331" target="_blank">official Facebook page</a> Sunday that at least 21 people had been arrested since Thursday, when, as Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/06/colonialism-all-its-ugliness-indigenous-land-defenders-condemn-violent-police-raid" target="_blank">reported,</a> the RCMP conducted a violent pre-dawn raid to fulfill an injunction on behalf of Coastal GasLink, which aims to build a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a> in Wet'suwet'en territory in northern British Columbia.</p><p>The camp uploaded several videos over the weekend of the resistance to the police, who were reportedly<a href="https://www.facebook.com/wetsuwetenstrong/videos/192164805496867/UzpfSTM5MTQ3MTM0MDkyNzExNzozNDczMzIyNjUyNzQxOTU1/" target="_blank"> set to meet</a> with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs Saturday to discuss reconciliation regarding the injunction, which was filed despite a long-standing Canadian Supreme Court decision stating the Wet'suwet'en had not given up their homeland in the province. The RCMP reportedly refused to attend the meeting after arriving late.</p>
<p><a href="https://ricochet.media/en/2920/police-fly-to-unistoten-gitxsan-show-solidarity-as-siege-continues-in-northwest-bc" target="_blank">According to</a> Ricochet<em>,</em> the RCMP expanded its "exclusion zone" Saturday, taking control of most of the territory of the Gidimt'en, one of the five clans of the Wet'suwet'en.</p><p>"The exclusion zone has been created by the RCMP to force Wet'suwet'en land defenders off our land," the Unist'ot'en Camp said in a statement. "It is a colonial and criminalizing tool to illegally and arbitrarily extend RCMP authority onto our lands. The massive exclusion zone, completely under RCMP authoritarian discretion, falls outside the injunction area. Chiefs and Wet'suwet'en people are illegally being denied access to their own territories."</p><p>The neighboring Gitxsan Nation led a solidarity action on Saturday, blocking a rail line in protest of the RCMP's actions, the injunction, and the Canadian government's failure to intervene on behalf of the Wet'suwet'en people's rights.</p><p>"The Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and their house members have fought the forcible removal from their territories as they seek to protect their sovereign rights and protect the land, water and air," Gitxsan hereditary chief Norman Stephens <a href="https://ricochet.media/en/2920/police-fly-to-unistoten-gitxsan-show-solidarity-as-siege-continues-in-northwest-bc" target="_blank">told</a> Richochet. "If their rights are being trampled, our rights are being trampled."</p>
<div id="d2d29" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="HATXZU1581455109"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1226257753590595584" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">More raw footage from Jerome Turner of the Gitxsan blockade of rail lines near New Hazelton, B.C. happening now in… https://t.co/WR6ZD4ivAM</div> — Ricochet (@Ricochet)<a href="https://twitter.com/ricochet_en/statuses/1226257753590595584">1581197605.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Other rail blockades were <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/02/08/protests-shut-down-ontario-rail-lines-in-support-of-wetsuweten-nation.html" target="_blank">reported</a> across the country, and solidarity actions took the form of rallies and protests at government buildings in Canada as well as in the U.S.</p>
<div id="52996" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FIB1U11581455110"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1226597913423380480" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#WetsuwetenSolidarity rally now blocking John Counter Blvd at train tracks. #ygk https://t.co/fYJ4WRtZ0u</div> — Kingstonist (@Kingstonist)<a href="https://twitter.com/kingstonist/statuses/1226597913423380480">1581278706.0</a></blockquote></div>
<div id="67ac5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="B6F1FT1581455110"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1226306501620334593" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">52 hours in, and this Indigenous youth-led lockdown at the BC Legislature continues to grow.
Ignore it or not,… https://t.co/ayMLTXTLEM</div> — Torrance Coste (@Torrance Coste)<a href="https://twitter.com/TorranceCoste/statuses/1226306501620334593">1581209228.0</a></blockquote></div>
<div id="82cdf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2GXG4E1581455110"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1226632375011954689" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Action shoot from today in Seattle. Marched from Westlake to the canadian consulate #AllEyesOnWetsuweten… https://t.co/DSVdABbvge</div> — Ben Jones (@Ben Jones)<a href="https://twitter.com/totalactivate/statuses/1226632375011954689">1581286922.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Climate action leader <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/greta-thunberg" target="_self">Greta Thunberg</a> also expressed support for the Wet'suwet'en on social media.</p>
<div id="3578f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="RE8ZUH1581455110"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1226137808865243136" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Indigenous rights = Climate justice
#WetsuwetenStrong #KeepItInTheGround https://t.co/1kYNumyoQT</div> — Greta Thunberg (@Greta Thunberg)<a href="https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/statuses/1226137808865243136">1581169008.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"Indigenous rights equals climate justice," Thunberg tweeted.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/09/climate-justice-and-indigenous-rights-advocates-rally-solidarity-wetsuweten-people" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The entrance to the Kinder Morgan Westridge Marine Tanker Terminal is pictured adjacent to the Burrard Inlet in Burnaby, British Columbia on June 20, 2019. JASON REDMOND / AFP via Getty Images
The Federal Court of Appeals in Canada ruled against its First Nations tribes in a unanimous decision, allowing expansion of the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline to proceed. The expansion will triple the amount of oil flowing from the Alberta tar sands to the Pacific coast in British Columbia, as the AP reported.
<p>In its 3-0 decision, the court rejected the claims of the First Nations, saying that the federal government engaged in "adequate and meaningful" consultations with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples" target="_self">indigenous peoples</a>, as required by law, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51317384" target="_blank">BBC</a>. It applauded the government's efforts, saying it was ""was anything but a rubber-stamping exercise," according to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/indigenous-challenge-trans-mountain-pipeline-dismissed-200204182044889.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a>.</p><p>"While the parties challenging the cabinet's decision are fully entitled to oppose the project, reconciliation and the duty to consult do not provide them with a veto over projects such as this one," reads Tuesday's court decision, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51317384" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p>
<p>The legal challenge revolved around whether First Nations had been adequately consulted about the expansion of the 715-mile Trans Mountain route, which currently carries 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The government wants it to carry 890,000 barrels per day, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51317384" target="_blank">BBC</a>. The Canadian government actually bought the pipeline in 2018 to ensure its success and survival.</p><p>One of the plaintiffs in the case, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, said it is considering an appeal of the decision. The indigenous tribes have 60 days to appeal to the nation's Supreme Court, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/28d118f4ab05da0c824a2fced52da7c6" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>"This is not over," said Tsleil-Waututh Nation spokesperson, Reueben George, to the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6505980/tsleil-waututh-nation-to-appeal-federal-court-of-appeal-decision-on-trans-mountain-pipeline/" target="_blank">Global News</a> in Canada. "We are still trudging forward. We have always said we would do everything in our power to stop the pipeline. We have proven it's not in the best interest of our nation's standing here."</p>
<p>The Federal Appeals court heard from four different parties in the case: the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations, the Coldwater Indian Band, and a coalition of smaller indigenous nations from the British Columbia interior. The groups claimed the government did not properly consider their concerns about the project's effects on their way of life and the environment, as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/indigenous-challenge-trans-mountain-pipeline-dismissed-200204182044889.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a> reported.</p><p>George claimed that the court violated the law because it did not allow the Tsleil-Waututh Nation to submit all the information they had, according to the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6505980/tsleil-waututh-nation-to-appeal-federal-court-of-appeal-decision-on-trans-mountain-pipeline/" target="_blank">Global News</a>.</p><p>However, while the court acknowledged that the indigenous people will be unhappy with the expansion, it felt the government had accommodated them properly.</p><p>"The evidentiary record shows a genuine effort in ascertaining and taking into account the key concerns of the applicants, considering them, engaging in two-way communication, and considering and sometimes agreeing to accommodations," the court said, as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/indigenous-challenge-trans-mountain-pipeline-dismissed-200204182044889.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a> reported. "It is true that the applicants are of the view that their concerns have not been fully met, but to insist on that happening is to impose a standard of perfection, a standard not required by law."</p><p>George, and representatives from the other nations, felt the court did not take a proper look at their evidence.</p><p>"We have done studies. Economical assessments. Studies on the orcas. These things were ignored today. Reconciliation stopped today," said George, as the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6505980/tsleil-waututh-nation-to-appeal-federal-court-of-appeal-decision-on-trans-mountain-pipeline/" target="_blank">Global News</a> reported. "This government is incapable of making sound decisions for our future generations. So we are and we will. Even for their children we will take those steps to make sure Canada stays the way it is."</p><p>Chief Lee Spahan of the Coldwater Indian Band, a Nlaka'pamux Nation community in the British Columbia interior spoke of Canada's consultation with his tribe.</p><p>"It wasn't meaningful. Canada had their mindset already on this decision," he said, as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/indigenous-challenge-trans-mountain-pipeline-dismissed-200204182044889.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a> reported. "We will continue to stand strong and do everything in our power to ensure our sole source of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a> is protected."</p>
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