No pipelines, no tankers, no problem 3

Chilliwack DPAC meeting to discuss oil pipeline expansion through school yards

Parents of students at two Chilliwack schools are being invited by their Parent Advisory Councils (PAC) to a presentation to a meeting on the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project (TMX) next week.

The existing 66-year-old oil pipeline runs through the school yards at Watson elementary and Vedder middle school, something that has caused some parents concern for years.

The route and the proposed twinning along that same route prompted the Chilliwack board of education to write a letter of opposition to the National Energy Board (NEB).

That unanimous decision came at a September board meeting. Absent, however, were trustees Heather Maahs and Darrel Furgason who have expressed support for TMX, with Furgason calling opposition “paranoid” and “hysteria.”

The pipeline also runs close to Mt. Slesse middle school and Unsworth elementary, as well as across the city’s protected groundwater zone, an area of the Sardis-Vedder Aquifer, the source of the city’s drinking water. It was constructed in 1953 before the schools or much of the surrounding Sardis community was built.

In split decisions, the school board has twice declined offers of cash from Trans Mountain, once in September 2015 and more recently on Feb. 26, 2019.

Trans Mountain has an 18-metre easement along the 1,150-kilometre pipeline that runs from the Alberta oil sands to tidewater in Burnaby. The TMX will require a 42-metre easement so the company, which is owned by the federal government, was offered a $36,000 agreement bonus from Trans Mountain, that on top of the $59,400 for Vedder and $76,950 for Watson if the expansion ever happens.....

Big oil tries, and fails, to block an electric vehicle program in Minnesota

We may have just seen the first skirmish in a war between Big Oil and clean energy in Minnesota. And clean energy won.

In 2018, Minneapolis-based electricity and natural gas utility Xcel Energy announced a $25 million pilot program for electric vehicles, or EVs.

As part of the plan, Xcel would support 350 new public charging stations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, serve an all-electric bus line through North Minneapolis, and help enable 100 Xcel customers to make the switch to EVs by providing new charging technologies and allowing cheaper rates overnight and on weekends, which are off-peak hours. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved the project in July, and Xcel began to move forward.

A quick response

The response from the fossil fuel industry was swift. In August, a group of Xcel’s large industrial customers filed a petition with the commission for reconsideration. One backer was Flint Hills Resources of Wichita, Kansas, which operates the Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount, and is a subsidiary of Koch Industries, the oil empire that has spent millions waging regulatory and lobbying battles across the country to keep utilities from building charging stations. Another backer was Marathon Petroleum of Findlay, Ohio, the largest oil refinery operator in the United States.

The petitioners argued that the commission had no authority to regulate “behind-the-meter” infrastructure such as charging stations — charging in places such as parking lots and garages — and that the utility’s ownership of such infrastructure would not provide a benefit to the public.

The commission disagreed on both points and on Oct. 7 allowed the project to go forward. Among groups submitting comments supporting Xcel’s project were electric vehicle companies, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, five Minnesota environmental groups, and St. Paul Chief Resilience Officer Russ Stark.

“We were pleased that the PUC stood by its original approval of the project,” Stark said. “St. Paul sees this as an important step toward significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”

quote:

The commission’s decision may set the stage for future legal battles over EVs in Minnesota — not to mention political battles. Last month, Gov. Tim Waltz announced that the state’s Pollution Control Agency will require car dealers to carry more hybrids and EVs, starting with the 2023 model year. “If you want to drive your F-150 (pickup) to take your ice house out to the lake, continue to do that,” he told the Star Tribune. “But we’re going to also make sure that there’s ice on that lake in January.”

Joining with other states

By setting car emissions standards at a more stringent level than the federal government’s, Minnesota has followed the lead of California, Colorado, and 12 other states in addressing climate change without help from the president of the United States, who famously and embarrassingly called the crisis a “hoax.” Our state has also joined 20 others in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for not enforcing its previously established greenhouse gas emissions standards.....

First Nation,environmental groups seek leave to appeal pipeline ruling

A British Columbia First Nation and three environmental groups hope to appeal a Federal Court of Appeal decision that limited their ability to challenge the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in court.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Ecojustice, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Living Oceans Society announced Tuesday they are seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Federal Court of Appeal decided in September that it would allow six First Nations, including the Tsleil-Waututh, to challenge the pipeline project but ruled arguments could only focus on the latest round of Indigenous consultation.

The Tsleil-Waututh says the court is wrong not to consider its arguments that Canada failed to justify infringement of its Aboriginal rights and title or obtain its consent for the B.C.-to-Alberta pipeline expansion.

The Federal Court refused to hear any of the environmental groups' arguments, which urged the court to consider the project's risk of a "catastrophic" oil spill and threats to endangered southern resident killer whales.

The Supreme Court does not automatically hear appeals and instead issues a written decision, usually within one to three months, on whether it will consider a case.

Chief Leah Sisi-ya-ama George-Wilson says in a news release the Tsleil-Waututh are confident in their case.

"This appeal is about making sure that the government follows (its) own constitution and statutes when making decisions that impact us all," she says.....

the project has already started breaking ground and we got 7 pages in the mail detailing what's going on like  explosives  happening etc.

not sure what the court cases are going on for when things on the ground here are happening?

epaulo right at the start of TMX in BC. Valemount. 

..as far as i know what is happening in valemount may be in violation of the original federal court of appeal decision. when kinder morgan tried to do work after that decision the court found out and ordered it to dismantle what they had done. there is a fine line of work that didn't violate the decision. it's been a while though and i forget the parameters. 

..in any case openly defying the courts is not a real option. not even trump can do that. the court processes will proceed and it's a risk, financial and otherwise, for any work to proceed. i lay the odds in favour of the indigenous case as the second consultation process was as farcical, if not more so, than the first. which was the main reason for the court to stop tmx dead in it's tracks. 

This map shows every oil and gas spill in Sask. between 2000 and 2018

Information about thousands of oil and gas spills across Saskatchewan has been put into one convenient location by a group of researchers at the University of Regina.

Viewers can click on the map for information about spills in their communities, dating back to the year 2000. The data presented shows 18.9 billion litres of oil and other substances spilled in the province from 2000 to 2018.

“The spills map is all based on publicly available data. So anybody can see this data, it’s not secret, but the problem is people don’t know where to find it,” Patricia Elliott, one of the researchers involved in the project said.

The points on the map show the 14,958 spills that have occurred over the 18 year period. Spills involved bodies of water 578 times. Seventy-one per cent of the spilled substances were reported as recovered, which leaves 77 million litres behind in Saskatchewan soil and water.....

..i posted about this earlier. washington folks raising funds to stop tmx.

 Help Mosquito Fleet fight Trans Mountain

Support grassroots direct action against the world's biggest tar sands pipeline!

We just blocked a ship full of tar sands pipe, and we need your help to keep fighting!

In the early morning hours of November 5th, we took to the frigid waters of the Columbia River under the cover of darkness, blocking the arrival of a 24,000 ton ship carrying pipe for construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion. Joined by our allies, we shut down the Port of Vancouver, WA for the better part of a day with a team of 25 kayakers, several small craft, and 7 brave climbers who chained themselves to the pier, forcing the ship to temporarily dock elsewhere, causing major subsequent delays for the shipment. 5 activists were eventually arrested.

if she isn't  she should be coming to Valemount  next week for the public meeting on putting the worker camp on regional district land.

it's proposed to be put about 1000 meters from my parents farm.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids - The Warriors

The Warriors is a resistance song made specifically for the Tiny House Warriors' battle against Kinder Morgan.

eta:..this is a report not a plea for money. from an email.

quote:

On Sunday, 300 people sat down to a pancake breakfast in Seattle. Bellies were filled, friendships were forged, and an amazing $15K was added to the legal fund to stop Trans Mountain!

Our campaign is gaining some sweet momentum. With events popping up from Toronto to Portland (https://pull-together.ca/events) , and matching funds doubling every dollar raised, we’re now halfway to our goal of $400k.

Just for accuracy re Post #208, the Supreme Court does not give "a written decision" when it dismisses an application for leave to appeal.  If the Court decides not to hear the Indigneous and environmental groups whose applications were dismissed by the Federal Court, we will not know the reasons.

Kanahus Manuel wins 2019 Eugene Rogers Environmental Award

The Wilderness Committee is awarding the 2019 Eugene Rogers Environmental Award to Kanahus Manuel at their Annual Open House today. 

Kanahus Manuel and her family created the Tiny House Warriors, a group of mostly Secwepemc women who have built and placed five tiny houses strategically in the path of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. 

“Kanahus and the Tiny House Warriors are bravely living on the frontlines enduring cold winters, hostile neighbours and police violence,” said National Campaign Director Torrance Coste. “The Wilderness Committee is proud to honour her efforts and show the Tiny House Warriors they do not stand alone.” 

Manuel leads organizing in Secwepemc communities in defence of their territories against the threat of man camps and oil spills, carrying on the work of her father Art Manuel in standing up for Indigenous rights and title.....

How Black & Indigenous Groups Won the Fight to Stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline

quote:

We’re going now from Standing Rock to Appalachia, where anti-pipeline activists won another massive victory over the weekend when Duke and Dominion Energy said they had canceled plans to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile pipeline that would have carried fracked gas from West Virginia to North Carolina.

Indigenous leaders and environmental groups have opposed the pipeline since it was announced in 2014, saying it threatened rural Indigenous, Black and Brown communities. The pipeline’s planned route would have run through Union Hill, Virginia, a historically Black community founded by freed slaves after the Civil War, and Robeson County, North Carolina, home to the Lumbee Tribe.

The massive utility companies said lawsuits had increased costs for the pipeline by at least $3 billion, citing increased costs, ongoing delays and potential future legal battles as reasons for canceling the project.

quote:

DONNA CHAVIS: Absolutely. In fact, Friends of the Earth, over the last 18 months, released no less than three reports that showed the risk of investing in this project, and not just this project, but fossil fuels, in general. Gas and oil are no longer the cheapest source for energy. And I know that, at least in North Carolina, decisions are supposed to be made about what is the best product for the citizens. And in this case, gas and oil is not the best. As you just pointed out, the price for both of those has just plummeted.

In the United States, we have a glut. We have a glut of both gas and oil. So, even though it was said that it was going to be used in North Carolina, in my case, it was clear that this was going to be for export. So, there were so many factors that were involved with the calamity that happened — to the companies, anyway. They see it as a calamity.

AMY GOODMAN: In 2017, Unicorn Riot interviewed John Laury, a lifelong resident of Union Hill, the historic Black community founded by the descendants of freed enslaved people in [un]incorporated Buckingham County, Virginia. Residents of Union Hill for years spoke out against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would have cut right through Union Hill. This is what he said.

JOHN LAURY: We are in the zero zone. In other words, we are first to go. We know that it will emit poisonous gases. We know that. And we know that it will definitely contaminate the water. We are now just recently beginning to find slave cemeteries. This community is perhaps 85% Black. Perhaps that’s why they say this area has no culture or natural resource, which is both lies.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s John Laury, lifelong resident of Union Hill. If you could, Donna Chavis, talk about the solidarity between Indigenous people, the African American community, as well, what this solidarity meant in defeating the pipelines — the pipeline?

DONNA CHAVIS: This solidarity was absolutely necessary. Early on, we began to say that we were in sacrifice zones. I relate totally to everything that Mr. Laury said, because, in so many cases, the communities, the Black communities, the Indigenous communities, are sometimes officially declared sacrifice zones. And so, as we were working up and down the pipeline in resistance and opposition, we found ourselves in a wonderful situation of crossing the boundaries between race and class, and bringing together the Indigenous and African American communities.

I’ll give you one example. Northampton County, which is what I call — used to call the northern gate of the pipeline coming into North Carolina, it is a majority-Black community. And then you have Robeson County, that is a majority-Native American and Black community together. So, along the pipeline route, we were joining together the northern gate and the southern gate, and all those in between, to work against this substantial problem that we were facing. And we held each other up and kept going, until we were on the phone Sunday calling and texting and emailing all over the place with celebration.

Enbridge Line 5: Canada invokes 1977 treaty again over dispute

The Canadian government is invoking for the second time in less than a year a 1977 treaty that will force the American government to negotiate over the fate of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline through Michigan.

That state’s government has been fighting in court to try to get the pipeline shut down, citing fears that the aging pipeline will leak and cause serious environmental damage. Enbridge has rejected those fears, saying the pipeline is still safe but that it will build a new tunnel to contain the pipeline.

Canada previously invoked the treaty in November 2021.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced the invocation of the treaty in a statement on Monday, pointing to the “significant” impact shutting down the pipeline would carry for Canadian jobs and bills.

“The economic and energy disruption and damage to Canada and the U.S. from a Line 5 shutdown would be widespread and significant. This would impact energy prices, such as propane for heating homes and the price of gas at the pump,” she said.

“At a time when global inflation is making it hard on families to make ends meet, these are unacceptable outcomes.”

Joly added that the government fears the “domino effects” of a shutdown into both the oil industry and other areas of the Canadian economy, as well as into communities on both sides of the border.....

Federal Court Rules Enbridge Trespassed on Indigenous Land to Build Line 5 Pipeline

In Wisconsin, a federal judge has ruled in favor of an Indigenous tribe on the south shore of Lake Superior after it challenged construction of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. Judge William Conley found the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians acted within its rights when it revoked permission in 2013 for the pipeline to cross tribal territory. The judge ruled the company is trespassing and must pay damages.

I am stunned. I just watched an hour long advertisment for oil, natural gas and the Conservative party( although it was never mentioned) on "Global Current".  It is a new series.

Landlocked: A Global News series exploring Canada’s energy dilemma

 The episode I just watched is already on youtube. Landlocked: Canada's Energy Dilemma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqadXy5fLrU&ab_channel=GlobalNews

It opens with the war in Ukraine and a soldier saying he hopes they can find some solution  to the energy crisis....people will freeze to death. 

They claim oil paid for medicare etc. and that it is the backbone of Canada's economy, brought up equalization payments falsely claiming they are paid by Alberta. They say the dollar used to rise and fall with oil and doesn't anymore as though that is a bad thing. 

The usual arguments come out. 

If Canada were providing LNG then Europe wouldn't have to burn coal which would reduce global emissions more than Canada sticking to reduction targets. So, we should lift our limits for the sake of the world. 

It's crazy that Canada is importing oil when we could provide energy security for Canada and Europe. (no mention that the market is North American with oil going north and south even though the US doesn't need to import oil because geographically it makes more sense.

Carbon capture is a great technology but it is expensive and for the oil industry it isn't profit generating so the government needs to provide subsidies. 

It's our fault Putin has the power he does over Europe because Trudeau cancelled the LNG project in Quebec. No mention that Quebec vetoed it first. 

There is a lot of talking in a reasonable tone saying things like Canadians are getting more pragmatic and common sense not that they didn't have common sense before. 

 An indigenous woman chief that leads some organization spoke reassuringly of how it was better for indigenous people to be involved in development so they could protect the land.

This stuff will be core to Poilievre's campaign but they remain deluded.  Quebec will not accept an Energy Corridor. It threatens Quebec land. We are not developing our own reserves. 

I suggest watching it. 

PS it's not Canada's problem it's Aberta's problem.

..this is good news. from an email. 

Here at RAVEN, we’re starting to feel the ripples of support you all showed us at the end of 2023 lifting us up, and making some bigger waves. 

It’s only February but: here at RAVEN, the surf’s up!! 

Nourished by the outpouring of love and support we received throughout our year-end campaign in December, we want to share a few things that are coming right up that you won’t want to miss:

February 22: Join “When the Glacier Melts, the World Catches Fire” to hear directly from Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs about their strategic Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge that could be the most consequential, and effective climate justice case Canada has ever seen. Save your spot here.

March 7: “Rooted Solidarity: Allyship and Land Back”, a hybrid live/online event with First Unitarian Church of Victoria digging into what it means to be an accomplice to achieve justice with Indigenous Peoples. Save your spot here.

June 30, Vancouver: Festival Afloat will be back for another joyful, on-the-water beachside festival aboard the tall ship Providence. Stay tuned for more information about performers, artists, and Indigenous knowledge keepers who will be joining us at this unique floating fundraiser this summer. 

quote:

A Generous Donation from the Krawczyk Family Foundation

We are also thrilled to share that the Krawczyk Family Foundation has made a remarkable and transformative $2 million donation to RAVEN. We are deeply thankful to them for believing in our cause and providing unwavering support of our mission. It is a validation of years of dedicated work by Indigenous leaders, grassroots community organizers, and the many generous donors who have shared the vision of environmental justice for Indigenous communities.....