Battle Lines and Pipelines in Canada

After the (so far) successful opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, attention has shifted to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry over 500,000 barrels of tar sands crude per day across hundreds of British Columbia rivers to the pristine coast. Getting less attention is the already operational Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline that has been carrying 300,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day to Vancouver’s harbour for many years now. The campaign to keep oil flowing and contain environmentalists is in full swing, labelling them as fringe “radicals” and “foreign interests” hell-bent on ruining Canada’s economy. Consider the following:

First, the federal government is presently reviewing the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, supposedly to “modernise” the assessment process and “speed up approvals of projects,” as reported in The Vancouver Sun. The article goes on to cite Michelle Rempel, a Calgary-based Conservative MP, suggesting that revisions to the process “could help the country avoid losing economic opportunities to lengthy reviews that need to be more ‘efficient’ and ‘effective.’” Nothing too surprising here for a government that steadfastly denies global warming and recently pulled out of the Kyoto Accord.

Second, noted commentator and CBC regular Rex Murphy recently suggested in The National Post that those who criticize tar sands “bite the hand that feeds us.” ‘Environment’ has become a narrow, bitterly focused word turning exclusively on hurts or despoilations [sic] of nature, magnifying the slightest alteration or disturbance of ‘the natural’ as an unspeakable sin. There is another wider, larger, humane dimension to the environment — larger and more vital than any reference to landscape. That is the human and social element…. In my view, this is the first and deepest justification for… the oil industry. Jobs are essential for the human environment” The title of Murphy’s article says it all: “Oil sands are a Triumph for the Human ‘Environment.’” It’s hard to believe that anyone, let alone a respected journalist, could be so stupid as to call tar sands development “the slightest alteration.”

Finally, consider the recent Globe 2012 Conference and Trade Fair in Vancouver. One has to wonder about a conference which invites Canadian politicians and avowed tar sands supporters including the federal Environment Minister, Peter Kent, and BC Premier Christy Clark, to help representatives of such corporate environmental luminaries as Dow Chemical (responsible for the Bhopal disaster), Suncor (a major tar sands developer), and the Canadian Oil Sands Network to discuss “sustainability” and find “solutions to the world’s environmental problems.” Irony, anyone?

But this is only one side of the battle. On the “optimism” side of the ledger, we have, first off, the fact that 4,500 British Columbians signed up to address the Environmental Review Commission as it travels around the Province, some 4000 more than any prior review process. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to public and popular opposition to the pipelines.

There is more or less united opposition from indigenous communities, many of whom have signed the “Save the Fraser” declaration (http://www.savethefraser.ca/). The Fraser River is the largest river in the province and is crossed or due to be crossed by all existing and proposed pipelines. These “First Nations” never signed treaties with colonial invaders, so their lands are still in legal limbo.

Finally, there is Occupy. Occupy brings a holistic approach to this issue, seeing the environmental, economic, and political crises as integral parts of one total crisis of capitalism. Our demand is for “system change not climate change.” Occupy Vancouver Environmental Justice Working Group hosted a meeting on March 26 (just before an anti-Enbridge rally in Vancouver) with more than a dozen environmental groups, including Greenpeace and Bill McKibben of 350.org. Occupy is working with these groups to coordinate resistance to the pipelines, and to tar sands more generally. We are also allying ourselves with indigenous communities.

It is not a question of ‘efficiency’ or ‘jobs’. It is not a question to be solved by so-called “corporate social responsibility.” It is a question about the future of humanity and all the species on this planet. Will it be “game over,” as NASA climate scientist James Hansen has said of tar sands development, or game on. It is a question Occupy has risen to address. And it is a question we will answer with our words and actions in the coming months.

Here’s what you can do: organize, join or participate in an Earth Day event and / or the May 5 International Stop the Tar Sands Day events (http://stoptarsands.yolasite.com/) in your local community.

By Stephen Collis