Stunning Victory for Indigenous Nations as Canada Halts Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion
30 August 2018
Energy
Pipeline intended to cross Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Robert McGouey / Getty Images
A Canadian court "quashed" approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on Thursday, a major setback for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government agreed to purchase the controversial project from Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion Canadian dollars (U.S. $3.5 billion) in May.
It's a stunning victory for Indigenous groups and environmentalists opposed to the project, which is designed to nearly triple the amount of tar sands transported from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia.
<p>
The Federal Court of Appeal
<a href="https://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/fca-caf/decisions/en/item/343511/index.do#_Conclusion_on_Canada%E2%80%99s" target="_blank">ruled</a> that the National Energy Board's review—as explained by the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4418485/trans-mountain-pipeline-quashed-federal-court/" target="_blank">Canadian Press</a>—"was so flawed that the federal government could not rely on it as a basis for its decision to approve the expansion."
</p><p>
The project has been at the center of widespread protests from environmental groups and First Nations ever since November 2016, when Trudeau approved a $7.4 billion
<a href="https://www.kindermorgan.com/pages/business/canada/tmep.aspx" target="_blank">expansion</a> of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline that would increase the transport of Alberta tar sands oil from the current 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day and increase tanker traffic nearly seven-fold through the Burrard Inlet.
</p><p>
Specifically, the court said it was an "unjustifiable failure" that the National Energy Board did not consider the environmental impacts of the increased tanker traffic.
</p><p>
<span></span>The court additionally concluded that the government "fell well short" with properly consulting with the Indigenous groups involved in the case, including the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish on British Columbia's south coast.
</p><p>
<span></span>The ruling will force the National Energy Board to redo its review of the pipeline and the government to restart consultations with the Indigenous groups. It also means that the construction that has already began in central Alberta must cease.
</p><p>
In effect, the court has halted the 1,150-kilometer project indefinitely and it will remain in "legal limbo until the energy regulator and the government reassess their approvals to satisfy the court's demands," <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-trans-mountain-federal-court-appeals-1.4804495" target="_blank">CBC</a> wrote about today's decision.
</p><p>
<span></span>Notably, the decision was made the same day Kinder Morgan's shareholders voted to approve the $4.5 billion sale to Canada, which means the country owns a proposed pipeline project that could be subject to years of further review, the publication pointed out.
</p><p>
<span></span>The court's judgment could be appealed a final time to the Supreme Court of Canada.
</p><p>
The Minister of Finance Bill Morneau said that the government has received the ruling and will review the decision.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="a84f3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="HYPI331576683801"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1035181682998042624" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We have received the ruling by the Federal Court of Appeal, and are taking the appropriate time to review the decis… https://t.co/86j83XhDLS</div> — Bill Morneau (@Bill Morneau)<a href="https://twitter.com/Bill_Morneau/statuses/1035181682998042624">1535641520.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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Seven people were injured and hospitalized after a series of natural gas pipeline explosions in Midland County, Texas on Wednesday, according to local media.
<p>
All <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipelines</a> in the region have been shut in. Midland sits in the booming oil- and shale-rich
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/exxon-permian-basin-oil-pipeline-2577504892.html" target="_blank">Permian Basin</a>, which has multiple pipelines serving the field.
</p><p>The operator of the pipeline in question is unknown at this time, Midland public information officer Elana Ladd said to the
<a href="https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Several-people-allegedly-injured-in-explosions-13124247.php" target="_blank">Midland Reporter-Telegram</a>. She added that fire department personnel are allowing the remaining gas to burn off.
</p><p>
The incident occurred on a rural road, FM 1379.
<a href="http://www.kfvs12.com/story/38788435/5-injured-at-pipeline-explosion-on-fm-1379-east-hwy-158" target="_blank">KWES</a> reported that three total explosions occurred—the first at 11:30 a.m. After that fire was suppressed, a second and third explosion followed at 12:30 p.m. The cause is not yet known.
</p><p>
"They had a leak on the pipeline. Fire department responded to it. Midland Fire Department and Greenwood Fire Department. And while they were down there, they were fighting some grass fires along with it. Apparently something happened to the pipeline. We don't know what it is yet, because we can't get in there to look at it. But they had a failure within the pipeline itself and the first one exploded. Then they had two other small explosions, one medium and one small," Midland Fire Marshall Dale Little told
<a href="http://www.cbs7.com/content/news/Officials-responding-to-major-fire-east-of-Midland-489779741.html" target="_blank">CBS 7</a>.
</p><p>
<span></span>Initial reports said five people were injured from the explosions. Updated reports increased the number of injured people to seven. The seven were taken to the hospital with critical injuries, four with burns, according to CBS 7. One firefighter with the Greenwood Fire Department and another firefighter with Midland Fire Department were among the victims.</p><p>
The Midland Reporter-Telegram posted an eye-witness' <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheReporterTelegram/videos/10157642381878012/" target="_blank">video</a> footage of the fire that broke out.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="e74a6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="CGW2EW1576664120"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1024805210730975233" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The explosions from a pipeline southeast of Midland injured five people, including four who were sent to Lubbock to… https://t.co/ZBgurZiPif</div> — Midland Reporter-Telegram (@Midland Reporter-Telegram)<a href="https://twitter.com/mwtnews/statuses/1024805210730975233">1533167576.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/kinder-morgan" target="_blank">Kinder Morgan</a> told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-pipeline-fire/pipeline-explosion-in-midland-county-texas-injures-five-local-media-idUSKBN1KM64N" target="_blank">Reuters</a> it isolated a portion of its El Paso Natural Gas Pipeline after being alerted of the fire near the line. One of its employees was injured and hospitalized, spokeswoman Sara Hughes said.
</p><p>
"There was a third-party pipeline involved that also experienced a failure, and preliminary indications are that the third-party line failure occurred before the EPNG line failure," Hughes told Reuters in an email.
</p><p>
She said the company is investigating the incident and evaluating any damages, adding that regulatory agencies and customers have been notified.
</p><p>
As EcoWatch wrote
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/kinder-morgan-permian-pipeline-2581502479.html">previously</a>, production in the Permian shale field in western Texas has been booming. According IEA's <a href="http://www.iea.org/bookshop/768-Market_Series_Report:_Oil_2018" target="_blank">Oil 2018</a> forecast, global oil production capacity is <a href="https://www.iea.org/newsroom/news/2018/march/record-oil-output-from-us-brazil-canada-and-norway-to-keep-global-markets-well-.html" target="_blank">expected</a> to grow by 6.4 million barrels a day (mb/d) to reach 107 mb/d by 2023. Much of that growth is led by the U.S. due to oil produced from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking/" target="_blank">fracking</a> the Permian, where output is expected to double by 2023.
</p><p>
<span></span>However, there is currently not enough pipeline capacity to retrieve Permian fuels, and that bottleneck has opened up opportunities for more pipeline development in the region. In June, Kinder Morgan's Texas subsidiary <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180625006227/en/Kinder-Morgan-EagleClaw-Midstream-Apache-Announce-Joint" target="_blank">announced</a> a $2 billion Permian pipeline to transport natural gas. Earlier that month, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/exxon" target="_blank">ExxonMobil</a> and Plains All American Pipeline <a href="http://www.publicnow.com/view/014F96DA0F30332410E2CC9C6595F782F39419AA" target="_blank">announced</a> a joint pursuit to construct a multi-billion dollar pipeline that will transport more than 1 million barrels of crude oil and condensate per day from the basin to the Texas Gulf Coast.
</p><p>
<a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/06/11/the-permian-basins-pipeline-woes-are-bad-news-for.aspx" target="_blank">Motley Fool</a> also reported that Epic Midstream has proposed a 440,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil pipeline in the region, and so has Magellan Midstream Partners, which has proposed a 600,000 bpd pipeline.
</p>
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Permian Basin pumpjack east of Andrews, TX. Zorin09 / CC BY 3.0
Kinder Morgan's Texas subsidiary has announced a $2 billion pipeline to transport natural gas from the oil-rich Permian Basin.
As the Houston Chronicle noted, this is Kinder Morgan's first major project announcement since the Canadian government's controversial $4.5 billion (U.S. $3.5 billion) buyout of the company's existing Trans Mountain pipeline and its expansion project. The Trans Mountain expansion is expected to triple the amount of tar sands transported from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia and has been at the center of widespread protests by environmentalists and some Indigenous groups.
<p>
The proposed "Permian Highway Pipeline" is designed to transport up to 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day through approximately 430 miles of 42-inch pipeline from the Waha, Texas, area to the U.S. Gulf Coast and Mexico markets, a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180625006227/en/Kinder-Morgan-EagleClaw-Midstream-Apache-Announce-Joint" target="_blank">press release</a> states. Partners include Blackstone Group-backed EagleClaw Midstream Ventures and the Apache Corporation.
</p><p>
The pipeline is expected to be in service in late 2020 and is "subject to the execution of definitive agreements and the receipt of construction permits," the release says.
</p><p>
<span></span>Production in the Permian shale field in western Texas has been booming. According IEA's <a href="http://www.iea.org/bookshop/768-Market_Series_Report:_Oil_2018" target="_blank">Oil 2018</a> forecast, global oil production capacity is <a href="https://www.iea.org/newsroom/news/2018/march/record-oil-output-from-us-brazil-canada-and-norway-to-keep-global-markets-well-.html" target="_blank">expected</a> to grow by 6.4 million barrels a day (mb/d) to reach 107 mb/d by 2023. Much of that growth is led by the U.S. due to oil produced from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking/" target="_blank">fracking</a> the Permian, where output is expected to double by 2023.
</p><p>
However, there is currently not enough pipeline capacity to retrieve Permian oil, and that bottleneck has opened up opportunities for pipeline development in the region. Notably, President
<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_blank">Donald Trump's</a> pro-fossil fuel agenda means we could face a massive expansion of the U.S. pipeline network.
</p><p>
Earlier this month,
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/exxon" target="_blank">ExxonMobil</a> and Plains All American Pipeline <a href="http://www.publicnow.com/view/014F96DA0F30332410E2CC9C6595F782F39419AA" target="_blank">announced</a> a joint pursuit to construct a multi-billion dollar pipeline that will transport more than 1 million barrels of crude oil and condensate per day from the basin to the Texas Gulf Coast. <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/06/11/the-permian-basins-pipeline-woes-are-bad-news-for.aspx" target="_blank">Motley Fool</a> also reported that Epic Midstream has proposed a 440,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil pipeline in the region, and so has Magellan Midstream Partners, which has proposed a 600,000 bpd pipeline.
</p><p>
In recent years, natural gas <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25392" target="_blank">has become</a> America's primary fuel to generate electricity, displacing <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_blank">coal</a>. The energy industry has touted natural gas as the "cleanest" fossil fuel and a means to mitigate the effects of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a>. However, a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-gas-methane-emissions-2580268075.html" target="_blank">recent study</a> found that U.S. oil and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_blank">natural gas</a> operations release 60 percent more planet-warming <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane" target="_blank">methane</a> than currently estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This suggests that ramping up shale gas production could be a real climate problem over time.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="facd1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="UF7XA71576683810"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1006298828230791168" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Kinder Morgan Pipeline Leak Two Days Before Trudeau Buyout Was 48 Times Larger Than First Reported… https://t.co/JLpxHeMnZ1</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1006298828230791168">1528755311.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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Kinder Morgan Pipeline Leak Two Days Before Trudeau Buyout Was 48 Times Larger Than First Reported
11 June 2018
Energy
The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Darfield Pumping Station. Google
By Jake Johnson
Just two days before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government would purchase Kinder Morgan's faltering and widely opposed Trans Mountain pipeline, British Columbia's Ministry of Environment said 100 liters of crude oil had leaked at a Kinder Morgan pipeline pump station north of Kamloops—but the company initially refused to confirm the severity of the spill.
<p>On Saturday, with its bailout from the Canadian taxpayer confirmed by Trudeau, Kinder Morgan declared after an <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4699763" target="_blank">investigation</a> that, actually, 4,800 liters of crude oil had leaked during the May 27 spill—48 times more crude than first reported.</p><p>While the Ministry of Environment said no waterways were affected by the leak, environmentalists and Canadian members of parliament highlighted the leak as a telling example of the dangers <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipelines</a> pose to people and the environment and continued denouncing Trudeau's buyout.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="bbd2e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FXCLQO1576662964"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1005632749976162306" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Kinder Morgan initially reported that 100 litres was spilled - but it was actually 4800 litres. With accuracy like… https://t.co/ikOECGX3kU</div> — Don Davies MP (@Don Davies MP)<a href="https://twitter.com/DonDavies/statuses/1005632749976162306">1528596506.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="bf82a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="557YPO1576662964"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1005620320844144640" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">When this Kinder Morgan spill first happened I posted it and a flood of angry messages poured in telling me what an… https://t.co/XaAAlnDnWt</div> — Nathan Cullen (@Nathan Cullen)<a href="https://twitter.com/nathancullen/statuses/1005620320844144640">1528593542.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="d1a5d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="E8OYGK1576662964"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1005630527829757952" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Remember that 100 litre spill on the existing Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline days before Trudeau announced p… https://t.co/pWXYoCUeEz</div> — Treaty Alliance (@Treaty Alliance)<a href="https://twitter.com/Treaty_Alliance/statuses/1005630527829757952">1528595976.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="8458b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="HJZE0E1576662964"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1005632738341163010" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Anyone Surprised?
#StopKM #KinderMorgan #StopKMbuyout #cdnpoli #bcpoli https://t.co/hSR4s6iNYh</div> — Eric Doherty (@Eric Doherty)<a href="https://twitter.com/Eric_Doherty/statuses/1005632738341163010">1528596503.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p>Since its inception, Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain expansion project has faced fierce and widespread grassroots opposition across Canada as well as legal challenges that have brought the projection's completion into question.<br></p><p>As Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/05/29/immense-moral-cowardice-trudeau-trashed-government-purchase-climate-killing-kinder" target="_blank">reported</a>, Trudeau announced late last month that his government would buy the Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion, a move environmentalists and Indigenous leaders denounced as an act of "immense moral cowardice" that betrayed the prime minister's rhetorical commitments to bold <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate</a> action.</p><p>Trudeau's decision has since sparked opposition rallies nationwide, with green groups arguing that the billions of taxpayer money being used to rescue a leak-prone, "climate-destroying" pipeline should be spent on healthcare, education, and a just transition to a sustainable energy system.</p><p>"This could cost $15 to $20 billion all told," Andrea Harden-Donahue, energy and climate justice campaigner at Council of Canadians, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/06/04/lets-not-subsidize-our-own-extinction-rallies-across-canada-denounce-trudeaus-kinder" target="_blank">said</a> at a demonstration outside of the Ottawa office of Liberal MP Catherine McKenna last week. "That is money that could solve the drinking water crisis in Canada on First Nations reserves. That is money that could halve tuition fees across the country. Think about the affordable housing that we could achieve with that money ... That is where this money should be going."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="19ef6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="MYFYGY1576662964"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1004923861882765313" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">"This is truly a best-in-class pipeline and we look forward to many years of safe, reliable, and efficient operatio… https://t.co/1QN0sCptvJ</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1004923861882765313">1528427493.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/06/10/anyone-surprised-kinder-morgan-pipeline-leak-two-days-trudeau-buyout-was-48-times" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><br></p>
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Canada Risks Billions in a 'Carbon Bubble' as Kinder Morgan Execs Get Big Bonuses
05 June 2018
Energy
Oil sands, Fort McMurray, Alberta on Nov. 11, 2010. eryn.rickard / CC BY 2.0
By Andy Rowell
Days after Justin Trudeau blew an estimated $15 billion of hard-earned Canadian taxpayer money on Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline, scientists are warning just how financially and ecologically stupid and short-sighted the investment was.
In a peer reviewed scientific paper published Monday, the scientists warn of the existence of a "carbon bubble," due to the plunging price of renewables and improved energy efficiency measures, which will make many fossil fuel projects "stranded assets."
<p>The abstract in the prestigious journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0182-1" target="_blank"><em>Nature</em></a> could make Trudeau choke on his morning coffee: "Several major economies rely heavily on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> production and exports, yet current low-carbon technology diffusion, energy efficiency and climate policy may be substantially reducing global demand for fossil fuels."</p><p>It continues: "This trend is inconsistent with observed investment in new fossil fuel ventures, which could become stranded as a result."</p><p>Crucially, the scientists argue that many fossil fuel projects will become stranded due to changing market conditions, especially with the cost of renewables rapidly decreasing.</p><p>But this economic loss of "stranded fossil fuel assets" will be exemplified if "new climate policies to reach the 2°C target of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a> are adopted and/or if low-cost producers (some OPEC countries) maintain their level of production ('sell out') despite declining demand."</p><p>If this happens there will be winners and losers, with "winners (for example, net importers such as China or the EU) and losers (for example, Russia, the United States or Canada, which could see their fossil fuel industries nearly shut down)."</p><p>So Canada will be a net loser. And the reason will be the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tar-sands">tar sands</a>. And if the tar sands are "shut down," Kinder Morgan is a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipeline</a> to nowhere.</p><p>Professor Jorge Viñuales, co-author, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/04/carbon-bubble-could-spark-global-financial-crisis-study-warns" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>: "Contrary to investor expectations, the stranding of fossil fuel assets may happen even without new <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate</a> policies. Individual nations cannot avoid the situation by ignoring the Paris agreement or burying their heads in coal and tar sands."</p><p>Dr. Jean-François Mercure, the lead author, from Radboud and Cambridge universities, also told the newspaper: "If people stop putting funds now in fossil fuels, they may at least limit their losses."</p><p>Trudeau has just done the opposite. As the prime minister buries his political future in the tar sands, others have criticized last week's bail-out as a clear "subsidy" to the oil industry, which goes against a G7 pledge to phase out "inefficient" support for polluting sectors by 2025.</p><p>"The decision by the Canadian government to acquire the Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan has essentially been taken because, given the risk, no other private investor would step in," argues <a href="http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/05/31/canada-oil-pipeline-buyout-subsidising-market-failure/" target="_blank">Mark Campanale</a>, the executive director of Carbon Tracker. "It is government subsidizing a market failure."</p><p>But it gets worse: As Trudeau invests in "carbon bubbles" and "market failures," two Kinder Morgan bosses are literally laughing all the way to the bank. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/kinder-morgan-retention-bonuses-1.4690911" target="_blank">Two senior</a> executives have each been awarded $1.5-million "retention bonuses" in connection with the $4.5 billion sale of the pipeline.</p><p>Opposition MPs were outraged at the news: One, the B.C. New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen, said in the<a href="http://www.timescolonist.com/opposition-criticizes-1-5-million-retention-bonuses-for-kinder-morgan-execs-1.23324181" target="_blank"> House of Commons</a>: "Adding insult to injury to this public bailout, it includes a $3 million bonus to Kinder Morgan executives."</p><p>Canadian economist <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/06/01/news/kinder-morgan-execs-ian-anderson-and-david-safari-offered-15-million-bonuses-under" target="_blank">Robyn Allan</a>, who has spent the past few years <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/05/15/opinion/whats-behind-kinder-morgans-may-31-ultimatum-follow-money" target="_blank">analyzing</a> the dodgy finances behind the Trans Mountain project, also criticized the payouts: "It's a large amount of money and it's something that most people are going to be shocked about."</p><p>They are right to be shocked about another example of rewarding <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/big-oil">big oil</a> executives for climate failure.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="e0f1b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3MSN641576662665"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1002117510764924929" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Canada to Buy Controversial Tar Sands Pipeline https://t.co/fVBsX1gtz3 @TarSandsAction @NoTarSands</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1002117510764924929">1527758407.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2018/06/05/as-canada-risks-billions-in-a-carbon-bubble-km-bosses-get-big-bonuses/" target="_blank">Oil Change International</a>.</em><br></p>
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Protesters at Trans Mountain pipeline protest in Burnaby. Break Free / Flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The Canadian government plans to spend $4.5 billion Canadian dollars ($3.5 billion) to buy Kinder Morgan's existing Trans Mountain pipeline and its controversial expansion project that will triple the amount of tar sands transported from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia.
The pipeline has been at the center of widespread protests by environmentalists and some Indigenous groups. The announcement was met with condemnation from 350.org organizers, who slammed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government for "turning Canada into a fossil fuel company."
<p>
Kinder Morgan
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-halted-2558346085.html">halted</a> all non-essential spending the pipeline project last month, citing continuing opposition in British Columbia. The company set a May 31 deadline to get assurances it can proceed with the project without delays.
</p><p>
Bill Morneau, the federal finance minister, said in Ottawa Tuesday that the government's purchase will guarantee the summer construction season for workers and will ensure the project is built to completion.
</p><p>"Our message today is simple—when we're faced with an exceptional situation that puts jobs at risk, that puts our international reputation on the line, our government's prepared to take action," he said.
</p><p>
The agreement was approved by the Cabinet this morning and is subject to approval by Kinder Morgan shareholders. The purchase is expected to close this August, he said.
</p><p>
Morneau said the government will eventually sell the expanded pipeline back to the private sector.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="36f0f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3PDJ331576662766"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1001451345902120960" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: Federal government to buy Trans Mountain pipeline, all of Kinder Morgan Canada's core assets for $4.5 bil… https://t.co/22a3pmuSE9</div> — Globalnews.ca (@Globalnews.ca)<a href="https://twitter.com/globalnews/statuses/1001451345902120960">1527599581.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Kinder Morgan Canada CEO Steve Kean said he was pleased with the deal.
</p><p>
"The outcome we have reached represents the best opportunity to complete the [Trans Mountain Pipeline system and the expansion project] and thereby realize the great national economic benefits promised by that project," Kean said in a
<a href="https://ir.kindermorgancanadalimited.com/2018-05-29-Trans-Mountain-Pipeline-System-and-Expansion-Project-to-be-Sold-for-C-4-5-Billion" target="_blank">statement</a>.
</p><p>
Aurore Fauret, 350.org's Canadian tar sands campaign coordinator, said in a statement that "in a single mandate, Justin Trudeau transformed from a climate champion into a Big Oil CEO."
</p><p>
Trudeau, Fauret said, "had an opportunity to walk away from pipeline politics and get on with the real work of leading Canada, and the world, in a 100 percent renewable energy revolution, but instead he's opted to ignore science, Indigenous rights and the voices of people across Canada and bailed out a dangerous, unwanted pipeline with public money."
</p><p>
Since taking office, the Liberal party leader has introduced several environmental mandates, including a national price on carbon and a $1.5 billion ocean protection plan. However, environmentalists have criticized Trudeau's support of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. He
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bill-nye-justin-trudeau-pipeline-2544011520.html" target="_blank">insists</a> that "the environment and the economy need to go together."
</p><p>
<span></span><a href="http://priceofoil.org/" target="_blank">Oil Change International</a> pointed out that while Trudeau has signed up to the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_blank">Paris climate goals</a>, the amount of carbon that would be transported and ultimately burned by the pipeline means that Canada would <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/justin-trudeau-fossil-fuels-2571674194.html" target="_blank">miss those goals</a>.
</p><p>
<span></span>What's more, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2018/05/28/trans-mountain-pipeline-spills-crude-at-bc-pump-station-days-before-companys-deadline.html" target="_blank">The Star Vancouver</a> reported that Kinder Morgan has reported 82 spills to the National Energy Board since 1961. The most recent spill occurred this past Sunday, when 100 liters (26 gallons) of a medium crude blend was released at the Darfield Pump Station near Barriere, British Columbia.
</p><p>
Opponents said the latest leak highlights the risks of the project. "We know spills happen and we know that it won't get 100 percent cleaned up," Charlene Aleck, a Tsleil-Waututh Nation councillor, told The Star, adding that the spill gave her a "sinking feeling" and "it reinforces the risk that Tsleil-Waututh has been speaking of all along."
</p><p>
350.org vows to continue protesting the project.
</p><p>
"Today is not the end of this story. Kinder Morgan abandoned this project because people organized all across the country to stop it, and we'll do it again," Fauret said. "This fight is far from over, and now that Justin Trudeau has turned the Canadian government into a fossil fuel company, it's crystal clear who we're up against."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="260d9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FE1NGZ1576662766"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="999832538041417728" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">236 Civil Society Groups to Justin Trudeau: 'The Time for Investment in New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Is Over'… https://t.co/MYATeBUbyc</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/999832538041417728">1527213627.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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236 Civil Society Groups to Justin Trudeau: 'The Time for Investment in New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Is Over'
24 May 2018
Energy
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at World Bank Group headquarters during Trudeau's first official visit to Washington, DC in March 2016. Franz Mahr / World Bank / CC BY 2.0
By Andy Rowell
With just over a week to go until the May 31 deadline set by Kinder Morgan for the Canadian Government to resolve all financial and political issues surrounding its highly controversial Trans Mountain pipeline, some 236 civil society groups from 44 countries have written to Justin Trudeau to tell him to drop his support for the project.
Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline will triple the amount of dirty tar sands being shipped from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia.
<p>The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipeline</a> has become the most toxic Canadian political issue of the day, with Trudeau's government saying they will underwrite losses incurred by Kinder Morgan in their desperation to see the dirty pipeline be built.</p><p>Since that announcement for financial support on <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/morneau-kinder-morgan-pipeline-announement-1.4665009" target="_blank">May 16</a>, there has been growing national and international hostility to the plan.</p><p>Just in the last 24 hours, for example, award-winning Canadian journalist <a href="https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/05/23/Canadian-Taxpayers-Hostage-Kinder-Morgan/" target="_blank">Andrew Nikiforuk</a> said that Trudeau was being held "hostage" by Kinder Morgan. "The Trudeau federal government has made itself a pathetic hostage to a Texas-based pipeline company known for its cheapness and debt," he wrote Wednesday.</p><p>Also <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/youth-walk-out-of-class-to-protest-trans-mountain-pipeline-1.4675166" target="_blank">on Wednesday</a>, some 200 youths from a number of Vancouver schools walked out of class to protest the government's support for the pipeline. "This is a chance to show our elected leaders and Kinder Morgan that our lands, livelihoods and future are more important than a pipeline," said Ta'Kaiya Blaney from Vancouver. And finally on Wednesday, protesters unveiled banners at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC, saying, "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/priceofoil/?hc_ref=ARRAtMgjrw6cu8RZV720sKxEtqAKeMFsjKQqs1dej42Sf0eQ8LqK0tD-3KGS_-oJMX4&fref=nf" target="_blank">Canadian Leaders Don't Build Pipelines</a>."</p><p>And that banner refers to a simple climate circle that Trudeau can't square, however much he tries to spin it otherwise: Trudeau has signed up to the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris climate goals</a>, but the amount of carbon that would be transported and ultimately burnt by the Trans Mountain Pipeline means that Canada would miss those goals.</p><p>As the letter outlines: "Canada has been a vocal champion of the Paris Agreement and ambitious climate action, and under your leadership, Canada has finally signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."</p><p>It continues: "However, your unwavering support for the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion runs counter to both of these commitments and undermines Canada's role as a global leader."</p><p>"Climate leaders cannot expand or finance major fossil fuel expansion, and climate leaders must begin to plan for a managed phase-out and just transition away from all fossil fuel production," says the letter.</p><p>The letter, signed by the likes of Amazon Watch, Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development, Center for International Environmental Law, Christian Aid, The Climate Reality Project, Council of Canadians, Friends of the Earth International, Greenpeace, Hip Hop Caucus, Indigenous Environmental Network, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oil Change International, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, SumOfUs.org, Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, Wilderness Committee, and 350.org, says that financing the pipeline "with public money, as your government has suggested, is particularly offensive in the face of the global climate crisis."</p><p>The letter goes on to say: "As global organizations deeply concerned about the climate, communities, workers, and Indigenous Rights, we stand in solidarity with those who oppose the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline. We also support communities along the proposed pipeline and tanker routes who are standing up to protect the land, the coast, and the ocean from the risks of spills and other damage".</p><p>It points out that Canada should be leading the world in a "managed decline" of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a> and transition to clean energy. "The time for investment in new fossil fuel infrastructure is over," say the signatories, before ending with: "We urge you to reconsider your support for this project, and instead work to make Canada the climate leader that it should be."</p><p>Leila Salazar-López, executive director of Amazon Watch, said, "We stand with our indigenous brothers and sisters in the North in their efforts to protect their territories from the Kinder Morgan Pipeline and other destructive fossil fuel infrastructure. It is past time for governments—including the Canadian government—to respect UNDRIP [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] and begin a managed decline of fossil fuel extraction. Our collective futures depend on it."</p><p>May Boeve, executive director of 350.org added, "The Kinder Morgan pipeline threatens to pollute clean air and water, violate the rights of First Nations, and lock us into climate-wrecking fossil fuel extraction. Justin Trudeau has spoken about justice for Indigenous people and addressing climate change, but his actions are miles behind his words. At the end of the day, you cannot be a climate leader while supporting fossil fuel pipelines."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="61929" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SYWS0O1576662105"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="971457520601616384" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Bill Nye Confronts Justin Trudeau Over Kinder Morgan Pipeline https://t.co/EwCzoBV48n @NRDC @YEARSofLIVING… https://t.co/olSrnqvMu3</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/971457520601616384">1520448496.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2018/05/24/civil-society-to-justin-trudeau-the-time-for-investment-in-new-fossil-fuel-infrastructure-is-over/" target="_blank">Oil Change International</a>.</em><br></p>
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Environmental Groups Vow to Block Tar Sands Oil Project: 'We Are Going to Not Allow Kinder Morgan to Finish This Pipeline'
21 May 2018
Energy
Emma Cassidy / Greenpeace
By Andy Rowell
As the clock ticks down until the May 31 deadline for the controversial Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project, which will triple the amount of tar sands being transported from Alberta to the British Columbian coast, the campaign against its expansion is spreading abroad.
On Sunday in Seattle, more than 120 miles south of where the pipeline hits the coast, hundreds of "kayactivists" took to the water to protest against the pipeline.
<p>They were part of a demonstration by the U.S. environmental groups <a href="https://mosquitofleet.us" target="_blank">Mosquito Fleet</a>, <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/" target="_blank">Greenpeace USA</a> and <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> that organized a rally in the city against Kinder Morgan's proposed <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipeline</a> expansion.</p><p>Tensions are certainly rising. Kinder Morgan has given the federal government of Canada until the end of the month to resolve outstanding financial and legal issues surrounding the pipeline. Last week, in order to appease the Texan oil company, Trudeau's government announced that it will effectively give Kinder Morgan a "blank check" "<a href="https://other98.com/justin-trudeau-gives-kinder-morgan-a-blank-check-to-build-the-dirtiest-pipeline-on-earth/" target="_blank">to indemnify</a>" the pipeline "against any financial loss," suffered if they build the pipeline.</p><p>The move seems to have backfired and emboldened everyone fighting the pipeline. And as the May 31 deadline gets closer, there is a growing awareness not only of the threat that the pipeline poses to the climate, but also to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine life</a> as it would massively increase the tanker traffic up the west coast of Canada and the U.S.</p><p>Indeed, last week the <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2018/05/15/kinder-morgans-pipeline-in-canada-could-violate-us-endangered-species-law/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> warned Kinder Morgan that the pipeline project, could be "illegal" under the Endangered Species Act, which is seen as one of the world's strongest species protection laws.</p><p>"It's not just about the spills, it's not just about the orcas," said Graham Clumpner, one of the paddlers with the Mosquito Fleet: "The bigger issue that we are all facing is <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>," he said. "We are going to not allow Kinder Morgan to finish this pipeline."</p><p><a href="http://q13fox.com/2018/05/20/activists-protest-kinder-morgan-pipeline-expansion-in-seattle/" target="_blank">Ben Smith</a> from Greenpeace USA added, "It would make climate change worse, it would trample Indigenous rights, it would run over our clean water here, and it would decimate the final 76 remaining orcas, the Southern Resident killer whale in our waters."</p><p>At the rally yesterday, one of the speakers was <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kinder-morgan-protest-kayak-paddlers-trans-mountain-washington-oregon-1.4671602" target="_blank">Cedar George-Parker </a>from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, who have been leading the community opposition to the pipeline in British Columbia. "They want to bring that oil through here, but we say that we will stop Kinder Morgan," George-Parker said. "It is not happening."</p><p>Not only is the resistance growing from the local community, indigenous rights groups and local and U.S.-based environmental groups to the pipeline, but even the financial community thinks the economics and changing energy market is stacked against it. Wal van Lierop is president and CEO of Chrysalix Venture Capital.</p><p>Writing in the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-lets-get-honest-about-the-outlook-for-the-alberta-oil-sands-and-trans/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail</a> Sunday, Van Lierop pointed out what many people having been saying to Trudeau for months, but what the Canadian prime minister has flatly ignored: "There is also growing consensus that the world is going through an energy transition," he wrote, before likening the current energy transition to a baseball game, where "we could see the stages of its progression over the past decade."</p><p>In the first inning, argued Van Lierop, "coal lost to gas in the competition for power generation in North America and Europe; solar and wind lit up the scoreboard with incredible cost reductions in the second inning; but in the third, shale oil and gas rallied, creating an energy boom in U.S. gas and making that country the international swing player—supplanting OPEC in that position."</p><p>Van Lierop added: "Now we are entering the fourth inning, with a playing field of abundant cheap energy and midway through the ball game it looks like the players highest on the cost curve will be the ones striking out. Those players will likely include both new projects in Arctic oil and the oil sands, as their business case makes them weak in a game where cost is key."</p><p>He even went as far as to warn, because the pipeline makes no economic sense due to the expensive <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tar-sands">tar sands</a> extraction and transportation costs, that "we would have to presume that the Alberta and federal governments hadn't seen the Kinder Morgan order book before they announced an intention to financially support the company's pipeline, because that may show a rapidly deteriorating business case."</p><p>He is not the only one who thinks Trudeau is in trouble here. Indeed, as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-18/for-sale-stalled-pipeline-project-angry-protesters-included" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a> pointed out at the end of last week, "Justin Trudeau's pipeline nightmare may be only getting started … the prime minister could end up fighting for an asset that hardly anybody wants."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="61929" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4R871Q1576662106"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="971457520601616384" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Bill Nye Confronts Justin Trudeau Over Kinder Morgan Pipeline https://t.co/EwCzoBV48n @NRDC @YEARSofLIVING… https://t.co/olSrnqvMu3</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/971457520601616384">1520448496.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2018/05/21/we-are-going-to-not-allow-kinder-morgan-to-finish-this-pipeline/" target="_blank">Oil Change International</a>.</em><br></p>
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Protest in Burnaby Mountain in BC on April 7. Protect the Inlet / Flickr
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday he is ready to offer financial aid and new legislation to push forward the contentious Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion that will triple production of tar sands going from Alberta to British Columbia.
Houston-based developer Kinder Morgan has threatened to scrap the $7.4 billion (USD $5.9 billion) project unless political and legal opposition is resolved by May 31. The energy giant's move came after fierce opposition from environmental activists and Indigenous groups, as well as escalating tension between the Albertan and British Columbian governments.
<p>
But after a meeting with the premiers of Alberta and British Columbia on Sunday, Trudeau insisted the project will go ahead.
</p><p>
"The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is of vital strategic interest to Canada," he said. "It will be built."
</p><p>
"I have instructed the minister of finance to initiate formal financial discussions with Kinder Morgan, the result of which will be to remove the uncertainty overhanging the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project," Trudeau <a href="https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN1HM0I0-OCATP" target="_blank">noted</a>.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="d340a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="I2F3BQ1576662965"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="985673343352360965" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Why are major energy projects of vital interest to Canada? Because they’re vital to the people who work hard every… https://t.co/wSSIDJ2BHU</div> — Justin Trudeau (@Justin Trudeau)<a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/statuses/985673343352360965">1523837812.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Trudeau added that he is seeking federal jurisdiction over the pipeline "We are actively pursuing legislative options that will assert and reinforce the government of Canada's jurisdiction in this matter," he said.</p><p>But British Columbia's Horgan said after the meeting he will continue to fight the pipeline expansion due to the threat of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill">oil spills</a> in the province. <br></p><p>
"My obligation is to the people of B.C., and I will defend that until I am no longer premier," Horgan said Sunday.
</p><p>
However, he said he will back down if the court rules against his government, the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-trudeau-promises-financial-backing-for-vital-trans-mountain-pipeline/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail</a> reported. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="70460" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="TT8E8J1576662965"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="985625156390273025" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The interests of British Columbians — and all Canadians — should come before those in Texas boardrooms. I will cont… https://t.co/ryapkFxklr</div> — John Horgan (@John Horgan)<a href="https://twitter.com/jjhorgan/statuses/985625156390273025">1523826323.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
In a <a href="https://protecttheinlet.ca/media/" target="_blank">statement</a> from the <a href="https://protecttheinlet.ca/" target="_blank">Protect the Inlet</a> initiative, the Indigenous-led group reminds the federal government that Kinder Morgan's project does not have their consent.
</p><p style="">
"The Prime Minister is saying they are in negotiations with Kinder Morgan to ensure an end to uncertainty. What he is ignoring is that we are the uncertainty. We will not be bought and we will block this pipeline," Will George, Watch House guardian and project leader, said.
</p><p style="">
<a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/home/" target="_blank">Greenpeace Canada</a>'s climate and energy campaigner Mike Hudema also <a href="https://twitter.com/GreenpeaceCA/status/985592593290477568" target="_blank">commented</a>, "If Trudeau believes he can ram this pipeline through, he is misreading both the constitution and the electorate, while underestimating the opposition on the ground." <span></span>
</p><p>
"Bailing out failing projects, strong-arming Indigenous communities by ignoring their right to consent, and bypassing calls for science-based decision making are ways to create a crisis, not solve one," he said.
</p><p style="">
<span></span>Kinder Morgan told <a href="https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN1HM0I0-OCATP" target="_blank">Reuters</a> it would not comment on Trudeau's remarks "until we've reached a sufficiently definitive agreement on or before May 31 that satisfies our objectives."
</p>
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Protestors block the gates of the Kinder Morgan Richmond Terminal in California in solidarity with First Nation's people in Canada on July 24, 2017. Peg Hunter / Flickr
By Andrea Germanos
Environmental and indigenous groups are cheering after Kinder Morgan announced Sunday it was halting most work on its controversial Trans Mountain expansion pipeline project, citing continuing opposition.
<p style="">"This is a sign that organizing works, and it could well be the beginning of the end for this dangerous pipeline," declared Clayton Thomas-Muller, a Stop-it-at-the-Source campaigner with 350.org.</p><p style="">"This is huge," <a href="https://twitter.com/dogwoodbc/status/983135723896254464" target="_blank">added</a> British Columbia-based advocacy group Dogwood.</p><p style="">In the company's statement announcing the move, chairman and CEO Steve Kean said Kinder Morgan was suspending "all non-essential activities and related spending" as a result of the "current environment" that puts shareholders at risk.</p><p style="">"A company cannot resolve differences between governments," he added, referencing resistance from BC lawmakers that is at odds with support for the project coming from Ottawa and neighboring Alberta. "While we have succeeded in all legal challenges to date, a company cannot litigate its way to an in-service pipeline amidst jurisdictional differences between governments," Kean said.</p><p style="">Unless legal agreements are reached by May 31, Kean said that "it is difficult to conceive of any scenario in which we would proceed with the project." (There are still 18 pending court cases that could thwart the project, the <a href="https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/" target="_blank">Wilderness Committee</a> noted.)</p><p style="">BC Premier John Horgan, for his part, <a href="https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0050-000594" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement Sunday, "The federal process failed to consider BC's interests and the risk to our province. We joined the federal challenge, started by others, to make that point."</p><p style="">"We believe we need to grow the economy, while protecting the environment. We want to work to address these challenges together. But we will always stand up for British Columbians, our environment, and the thousands of jobs that depend on our coast."</p><p style="">Stopping the fossil fuel project, though would reap benefits beyond the two provinces the pipeline runs through, as author and climate campaigner Bill McKibben noted:</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="53fcc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SNYAPN1576661696"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="983123816485449728" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Odd to watch Alberta fighting with Ottawa fighting with BC, as if the interests of a) First Nations and b) Planet E… https://t.co/Es7PyTgBxa</div> — Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben)<a href="https://twitter.com/billmckibben/statuses/983123816485449728">1523229958.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p style="">As such, apart from Horgan's pushback, the project has faced fierce and sustained opposition from a range of groups who demand the rights of land, water, indigenous groups and others trump those of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/big-oil">Big Oil</a>.<br></p><p style="">Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of Coast Protectors <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CoastProtectors/videos/1802832849775968/" target="_blank">said</a> that "after some long hours in the boardroom," Kinder Morgan came "to the inevitable conclusion that that you simply can't ram a pipeline through in the face of such opposition—legal, political, on-the-ground opposition. It's impossible."</p><p style="">Offering a similar reaction, Greenpeace Canada's climate and energy campaigner Mike Hudema, said:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">Investors should note that the opposition to this project is strong, deep and gets bigger by the day. This announcement shows that this widespread opposition has reached critical mass. British Columbians' desire to protect clean water, safeguard the environment and stand behind Indigenous communities cannot be ignored or swept under the rug. We encourage Kinder Morgan to shelve this project before the litany of lawsuits, crumbling economics, and growing resistance against the pipeline does it for them.<br></p><p style="">While the company "looks ready to pack it in," said Wilderness Committee Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney, the opposition is "not going anywhere until this pipeline no longer poses a threat to the coast, the climate, and Indigenous communities along the route."</p><p style="">Despite such threats, Ottawa and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley are still aggressively pushing for the project.</p><p>"This pipeline must be built," Notley <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=557308B866BAB-9A99-C601-19BCD5A7237ECD71" target="_blank">declared</a> Sunday, and threatened legal action "to impose serious economic consequences on B.C. if its government continues on its present course." She added that her province "is prepared to be an investor in the pipeline."</p><p style="">Trudeau—who's <a href="https://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2017/06/01/statement-prime-minister-canada-response-united-states-decision-withdraw-paris" target="_blank">touted</a> his country's "unwavering ... commitment to fight climate change"—said on Twitter, "Canada is a country of the rule of law, and the federal government will act in the national interest. Access to world markets for Canadian resources is a core national interest. The Trans Mountain expansion will be built."</p><p style="">Thomas-Muller, however, said that "Kinder Morgan's investors have seen that people all across Canada are choosing Indigenous rights, clean water, and a safe climate over this dangerous pipeline. Now it's time for Justin Trudeau to do the same."</p><p style=""> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/04/09/huge-opposition-forces-kinder-morgan-halt-trans-mountain-pipeline" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>
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Calling Out Trudeau 'Betrayal,' Water Defenders Mobilize Against Kinder Morgan Pipeline
26 March 2018
Energy
By Jake Johnson
Indigenous leaders, lawmakers, students and environmentalists took part in a massive day of action that stretched across Canada on Friday to protest the expansion of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline, a project Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he will "ensure" is completed.
<p>Calling out the prime minister by name, demonstrators hoisted signs and banners proclaiming, "Climate leaders don't build pipelines."</p><p>In what was <a href="https://twitter.com/350Canada/status/977264456433463296" target="_blank">called a first in Canadian history</a>, two sitting members of parliament—Green Party leader Elizabeth May and New Democrat Kennedy Stewart—were arrested for demonstrating against the Trans Mountain pipeline outside of the gate of a Kinder Morgan construction site on Burnaby Mountain, where indigenous leaders <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/03/17/we-must-protect-water-indigenous-leaders-stage-sit-protest-kinder-morgan-pipeline" target="_blank">staged a sit-in last weekend</a>.</p><p>"This is because of Justin Trudeau's betrayal of British Columbia," Stewart said as he was led away by law enforcement. According to Vice, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/xw7xjz/why-nearly-100-pipeline-protesters-have-been-arrested-this-week" target="_blank">more than 100 pipeline protesters</a> have been arrested this week alone as opposition to Kinder Morgan's project mounts.</p>
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</p><div id="a97fd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5OU7XQ1576662668"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="977264456433463296" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: For the first time ever sitting Canadian members of parliament have been arrested for a political cause.… https://t.co/LTT82a5zoW</div> — 350 Canada (@350 Canada)<a href="https://twitter.com/350Canada/statuses/977264456433463296">1521832977.0</a></blockquote></div>
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</p><div id="496dd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="B3WUGO1576662668"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="977239879569498112" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Burnaby South MP @kennedystewart is at the Trans Mountain terminal with @ElizabethMay #stopkm #kindermorgan #bcpoli… https://t.co/WBglJwsF2h</div> — Lauren Boothby (@Lauren Boothby)<a href="https://twitter.com/laurby/statuses/977239879569498112">1521827118.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p>"Kinder Morgan does not have consent for this project," said Anna Gerrard, an activist with Climate Justice Edmonton who participated in a sit-in at Kinder Morgan Canada's downtown Calgary office on Friday. "Second to this, our ability to proceed with a national climate strategy should not be negotiated around the construction of a massive fossil fuel project."</p><p>"We're standing in support of Indigenous autonomy," Gerrard added. "We believe that it's time for a new narrative in this country; one that is not dictated by Big Oil but instead supports life and the much-needed healing of the land and people."</p><p>Below is a glimpse of just some of the took place throughout Canada on Friday:</p>
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</p><div id="3440d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="BN24ER1576662669"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="977275544675917824" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Dozens of #KinderMorgan protesters gathered outside #Vancouver office of federal cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybo… https://t.co/fwBUNoqNz6</div> — Marcella Bernardo (@Marcella Bernardo)<a href="https://twitter.com/Bernardo1130/statuses/977275544675917824">1521835621.0</a></blockquote></div>
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</p><div id="d2455" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="R5EIM21576662669"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="977251292241330178" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Today folks from #Ottawa and cities across Canada are making their voices heard loud and clear: Kinder Morgan will… https://t.co/61LLSuL5GM</div> — Julia Levin (@Julia Levin)<a href="https://twitter.com/lev_jf/statuses/977251292241330178">1521829839.0</a></blockquote></div>
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</p><div id="edefe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="XNOU251576662669"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="977278498023919616" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The @CouncilofCDNs @cocvic chapter and allies called on @MurrayRankin today to #DefendTheWater and #StopKM! https://t.co/SDHg5GswPs</div> — Brent Patterson (@Brent Patterson)<a href="https://twitter.com/CBrentPatterson/statuses/977278498023919616">1521836325.0</a></blockquote></div>
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</p><div id="9af09" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="54AW0X1576662669"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="977262427116056577" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">National Day of Action #defendthewater - Wellington County residents gather in front of Wellington-Halton Hills MP… https://t.co/9JuatsovTF</div> — WellingtonAdvertiser (@WellingtonAdvertiser)<a href="https://twitter.com/WellyAdvertiser/statuses/977262427116056577">1521832493.0</a></blockquote></div>
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</p><div id="1af02" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="NYHOG71576662669"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="977255923101196291" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Overflowing in MP @AnthonyRota's North Bay office to #DefendTheWater and #StopKM -- Delivered a jar of water as par… https://t.co/CPB5uZZInx</div> — Yan of Piebird Ⓥ (@Yan of Piebird Ⓥ)<a href="https://twitter.com/yan_piebird/statuses/977255923101196291">1521830943.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/03/23/calling-out-trudeau-betrayal-water-defenders-mobilize-against-kinder-morgan-pipeline" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><br></p>
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Kinder Morgan Pipeline Protest Grows: Arrests Include a Greenpeace Founder, Juno-Nominated Grandfather
20 March 2018
Energy
Rising Tide NA / Twitter
By Andy Rowell
Just because you get older, it doesn't mean you cannot stop taking action for what you believe in. And Monday was a case in point. Two seventy-year-olds, still putting their bodies on the line for environmental justice and indigenous rights.
Early Monday morning, the first seventy-year-old, a grandfather of two, and former nominee for Canada's Juno musical award, slipped into Kinder Morgan's compound at one of its sites for the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline and scaled a tree and then erected a mid-air platform with a hammock up in the air.
<p><a href="https://www.coastprotectors.ca/grandfather_scales_tree_erects_mid_air_camp_to_stop_kinder_morgan" target="_blank">Terry Christenson</a> had taken food and water with him and said he had no intention of coming down. His non-violent direct action was in protest of Kinder Morgan's tree clearing through Burnaby Mountain for the company's highly contentious <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipeline</a> to the BC coast.</p><p>It was part of a week of direct action designed to slow construction and clearing that has to be undertaken by the company before March 26, when migratory birds start flying north for the summer.</p><p>Terry Christenson outlined why he was taking action: "This pipeline does not have consent of the Indigenous Nations it would pass through. It would endanger the livelihoods and economies of all those that depend on an oil-free coast and I for one won't stand by and let it happen. I'm taking this action to protect my grandchildren's future. I care about this land, this coast and I won't let it be destroyed, all so a Texas oil company can increase its profit share.</p><p>"We are all in this fight together," Christenson added. "We have better options to produce energy and move people around than building another dirty pipeline that the world's scientific community has said we need to move away from. It's time that the prime minister got that message and I'll be doing my best to hang out here until he does."</p><p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4092408/come-and-get-me-boys-juno-nominated-grandpa-takes-to-the-trees-in-pipeline-protest/" target="_blank">Christenson</a> was arrested around 8 p.m. last night.</p><p>He was not the only one arrested. Fifteen more people were arrested by blocking the gates to <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/15-arrested-at-trans-mountain-pipeline-protest-site-in-burnaby-b-c-1.4583138" target="_blank">Kinder Morgan's</a> compound. This brings the total to about fifty people arrested in the past few days, with opposition against the pipeline growing daily. Yesterday, one of the first to be arrested at the gates was another seventy-year-old, Rex Weyler, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2018/03/19/greenpeace-co-founder-and-allies-arrested-protesting-trans-mountain-pipeline" target="_blank">who co-founded Greenpeace International </a>in 1979 and is one of the founders of the <a href="https://hollyhock.ca/about/our-story/" target="_blank">Hollyhock retreat</a> center in BC.</p><p>"Forty-six years ago, <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/" target="_blank">Greenpeace</a> got its start right here in Vancouver protecting this coastline, and the world, from the sorts of ecological disasters and social disruption that Kinder Morgan's pipeline threatens," he said. "Like then, we stand now for protection of the natural bounty that keeps our communities alive and prosperous.</p><p>"We stand here on the land and by the waters of the Tsleil Waututh people, who have shown us generosity and taught us responsibility, in solidarity and prepared to go to jail, to preserve the ecological integrity of this coast for ourselves and future generations."</p><p>Also present were Barbara and Bob Stowe, daughter and son of Greenpeace founders Dorothy and Irving Stowe. "Today, we will stand with Coast Salish Peoples against it. If our parents were alive today, they'd be standing right here with us," said Barbara.</p><p>"If someone comes on to your property and starts drilling without approval, what are you doing to do? We're going to stop it."</p>
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</p><div id="37809" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8U5G4C1576662860"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="975845645528518656" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">28 Activists Arrested at Kinder Morgan Pipeline Construction Site https://t.co/JhPdbcLfm3 @Greenpeace @wwwfoecouk @Sierra_Magazine</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/975845645528518656">1521494706.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2018/03/20/im-taking-this-action-to-protect-my-grandchildrens-future/" target="_blank">Oil Change International</a>.</em></p>
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Despite a court-ordered injunction barring anyone from coming within 5 meters (approximately 16.4 feet) of two of its BC construction sites, opponents of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion sent a clear message Saturday that they would not back down.
Twenty-eight demonstrators were arrested March 17 after blocking the front gate to Kinder Morgan's tank farm in Burnaby, BC for four hours, according to a press release put out by Protect the Inlet, the group leading the protest.
<p>According to the release, the protesters were a mixed group of indigenous people, families, retired teachers and other community members. </p><p>"We're going to do whatever it takes, and by any means necessary, and we'll show up day after day until we win this fight," Treaty-6-Mathias Colomb-Cree-Nation member Clayton Thomas-Muller said in the release. </p><p>Saturday's action was an intentional show of civil disobedience.</p><p>"Everyone was very aware of the situation, of the possibility of arrest. And everyone was given the chance at any time during the day to leave that zone and not be arrested," Amina Moustaqim-Barrette, protestor and <a href="https://350.org/" target="_blank">350.org</a> communications coordinator, told the <a href="http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/rcmp-arrest-anti-pipeline-protesters-at-kinder-morgan-site-in-burnaby" target="_blank">Vancouver Sun</a>. </p><p>According to the Protect the Inlet website, Saturday's action will kick off a two-week mobilization from March 18 to March 24. The activists need to prevent Kinder Morgan from completing key clear-cutting work by March 26, when the return of migratory birds will cause delays. </p><p>Thursday's injunction also applies to the pipeline's construction site at Westridge Marine Terminal, the Sun reported. </p><p>According to <a href="http://350seattle.org/kinder-morgan/" target="_blank">350 Seattle</a>, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project aims to triple the amount of Alberta <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tar-sands">tar sands</a> oil carried from the Canadian Rockies to Burnaby, BC and Anacortes, WA from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day. It would also increase oil tanker activity in the Salish Sea and Strait of Juan de Fuca by 700 percent, threatening vulnerable orca populations and other <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine animals</a>.</p>
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</p><div id="8c94c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8XSIG11576661698"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="893513812997021698" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">New Analysis Shows, There's No Safe Way to Transport Fossil Fuels https://t.co/vKlPHUNutf @greenpeaceusa @MarkRuffalo @LeoDiCaprio @350</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/893513812997021698">1501865268.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/justin-trudeau" target="_self">Trudeau government</a> approved the Trans Mountain expansion in November 2016, but the social action group the <a href="https://canadians.org/kinder-morgan" target="_blank">Council of Canadians</a> says it is inconsistent with Canada's commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a>. It is also opposed by over 61 indigenous groups; of the nine cases challenging the project in Canadian courts, seven were brought by First Nations. </p><p>Saturday's action comes exactly one week after indigenous leaders from the U.S. and Canada inaugurated a traditional Coast Salish "Kwekwecnewtxw<em>" </em> or "a place to watch from" in the pipeline's projected path. While construction started on the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/first-nations-watch-house-2546477424.html" target="_self">Watch House</a>, 10,000 demonstrators marched in solidarity. </p><p>Trans Mountain's lawyer Shaun Parker requested that Justice Kenneth Affleck, who issued Thursday's injunction, also order the new Watch House removed. Affleck, however, ruled that it could stay, the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trans-mountain-granted-indefinite-injunction-against-pipeline-protesters-at-two-b-c-sites-1.4578735" target="_blank">Canadian Press</a> reported Thursday. </p><p>"I'm sensitive to the concern of those who created this Watch House, that it is of considerable significance to them," Affleck said, further ruling that the pipeline could remove it only if it demonstrated an emergency need, and that it would have to replace it afterwards. </p><p>Saturday's protest wasn't the only direct action against the pipeline expansion this weekend. 30 "kayaktivists" from a group called Mosquito Fleet surrounded a Kinder Morgan oil barge in Seattle's Elliott Bay Sunday to protest the increased tanker traffic the project is slated to bring to the Salish Sea, <a href="http://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/kayak-activists-in-seattle-protest-oil-pipeline-tanker-project/281-529663142" target="_blank">King5 News reported</a>. </p><p>Mosquito Fleet's Zara Greene told King5 that the pipeline expansion would threaten communities on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. "Kinder Morgan is a threat to us all," she said.</p>
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</p><div id="cb359" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="AKCJVB1576661698"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="975475827843502080" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">There is a Kinder Morgan oil barge coming in right now! We say #StopKinderMorgan!No more oil Barges in Seattle! https://t.co/ZYpxP2Jy11</div> — Mosquito Fleet (@Mosquito Fleet)<a href="https://twitter.com/mosquitoFLT/statuses/975475827843502080">1521406535.0</a></blockquote></div>
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