#StopTMX

Kanahus Manuel

Ever night the warlike floodlights from #TransMountain Blue River man camp BLARE right at us & our homes. We do everything outside because we live in tiny homes with limited space indoors this is very intense on the eyes especially at night. This is used as war torture tactics.

That is great news but I fear it will lead to the taxpayers of Canada becoming the de facto insurers.

..i still see more struggles that need to play out.

..for one the tsleil-waututh nation have sworn to lay down their bodies to stop the pipeline. this nation has built up tremendous support across canada, across the border and across the globe. if this turns into a pitched battle with the police no one and i mean no one can predict the outcome.   

The Tsleil-Waututh have extremely capable matriarchal leadership. There is no division between the First Nation and the hereditary chiefs. As a people they went to the original treaty tables in the late 1990's with one message, "we will not surrender title to our lands under any circumstance." I watched a presentation to business leaders by two young women that was legally sound and elegantly delivered. I am sure that thirty years on these women are some of the matriarchs still fighting the fight. 

The battle right now that is not getting enough attention is in Blue River. The Tiny House Warriors are trying to defend their unceded territories but their people do not speak with one voice. The last floods that washed out bridges and other infrastructure should have people willing to stop the pipe from being laid. This pipeline will almost certainly be destroyed by climate chaos at some point in the future so lets stop it now.

Breaching the injunction for TMX now comes with jail time and has for a couple of years. It is deemed criminal contempt of court to stand in front of a truck delivering pipe or other construction goods as soon as the police arrive and read the injunction aloud.

If I was younger I would think about going to Blue River to lend support to the embattled women fighting the private security guards paid for by the company that owns TMX, that in turn is owned by taxpayers. The RCMP of course helps out with ongoing harassment of these land defenders on behalf of the state.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfEOB8JJSSM&t=16s

Indigenous land defender sentenced to jail time over Trans Mountain pipeline protest

An Indigenous man will serve time behind bars in British Columbia for his actions in protest of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Will George, a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation described by the term "land defender" for his activism to protect the environment, was sentenced to 28 days in jail Tuesday.

The sentence followed a breach of an injunction issued by the B.C. Supreme Court ordering those named in the order from physically obstructing or impeding access to a Trans Mountain terminal in Burnaby.

In a statement outlining the decision made at George's sentencing hearing, a group calling itself Protect the Planet, Stop TMX said George(REMOVED COMMA) is the first member of the Tsleil-Waututh nation to be convicted for resisting the pipeline "while on his own ancestral, unceded land."

The group said George, who was tried in the fall, was the only one charged despite several people having been at the site that day......

Trudeau government provides $10-billion loan guarantee for Trans Mountain pipeline

An environmental group has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland of lying to Canadians about a high-profile pipeline project.

On February 18, Freeland declared that the federal government would not spend any additional money on the $21.4-billion Trans Mountain expansion.

However on May 10, Politico reported that the cabinet has approved a $10-billion loan guarantee on April 29.

Stand.earth pointed out today (May 11) that the loan is being administered under the Canada Account at Export Development Canada, which a federal Crown corporation.

The environmental group also noted that loan guarantees are considered to be subsidies by the World Trade Organization.

The Ministry of Finance told Politico that no additional public money is going into the project, so this does not signal a change of course.

“This is just more evidence that this pipeline is not viable, and that is way past time that the Liberal government allowed this project to be cancelled," Sven Biggs, a spokesperson for Stand.earth, said in a news release.

quote:

The loan guarantee comes in the wake of UN secretary-general António Guterres accusing the globe's largest polluters of committing "arson on our own only home".

Since that comment was made in February, Canada has approved the Bay du Nord fossil-fuel project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

“In a world that is already reeling from forest fires, floods and the other very real impacts of climate change, Canada needs leadership that is fully committed to taking on the greatest challenge we have ever faced,” Biggs said. “We are long past the time where governments can be talking about fighting climate change in one breath, and approving new oil extraction projects or propping up a failing pipeline in the next.” 

Energy Mix

The decision by Canada’s six biggest banks to sink another $10 billion into the troubled Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is no surprise after a federal loan guarantee made it a straightforward business decision to back the project, says the financial analyst who accurately predicted the decision 2½ months ago.

Yesterday, Stand.earth revealed that the Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, Scotiabank, CIBC, the Bank of Montreal, and the National Bank of Canada are putting up the funds to help the taxpayer-owned Trans Mountain Corporation continue work on the pipeline. The deal only recently showed up on the Bloomberg Terminal financial reporting database, but it was dated April 29, the same date the federal cabinet approved a loan guarantee for the project.

“Once again, we see that Canadian banks are leading the world in financing climate-destructive, Indigenous rights-violating projects like the Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project,” said Stand Climate Finance Director Richard Brooks said in a release. “It’s time for them to choose sides—are you going to help us reach our national climate goals, or do everything possible to hold us back?”

Omar Mawji, energy finance analyst for Canada at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), traced the banks’ decision back to the federal backstop that made it possible.

They’re a bank. Their job is to lend,” said Mawji, who predicted the loan guarantee in a mid-March release and says he even pegged the value of the deal at $10 billion.

“I don’t think they would fund the project if there was no guarantee. If this was a corporation that was not government backed, I don’t think any bank would even touch it,” he told The Energy Mix yesterday.....

70 Organizations and Groups Renew Pressure on Insurers to Cut Ties with the Trans Mountain Pipeline

Today, 70 Indigenous rights, climate, environmental, consumer rights, and community organizations and groups sent a letter to 22 insurers that are at risk of insuring the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project and the existing Trans Mountain pipeline network. 

The recipients of the letter were: AIG, Apollo, Ark, Ascot Group, Beazley, Berkshire Hathaway, Brit, Canopius, CNA Hardy, Energy Insurance Limited, Hiscox, Inigo, Liberty Mutual, Lloyd’s of London, Markel, MS Amlin, Navigators, Newline Group, Sirius, Starr, Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting, and W.R. Berkley.

The organizations called on these companies to:

1. Publicly rule out insuring the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and existing pipeline network;
2. Adopt a policy that rules out underwriting tar sands expansion projects and companies that are expanding tar sands;
3. Adopt a policy to ensure that all of the projects it insures have obtained the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of impacted Indigenous communities.

As the letter details, the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and Trans Mountain Expansion Project pose massive risks to our global climate, Indigenous rights and sovereignty, and the health and safety of communities along the supply chain.

To date, 18 insurers have committed to not provide any coverage for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in light of these grave climate, environmental, and human rights threats, and many have also ruled out support for the existing Trans Mountain pipeline. In recent months, Aspen and Arch have announced that they will be cutting ties with Trans Mountain when their existing policies expire on August 31, 2022. 

By contrast, the 22 recipients of the letter have not made any commitments regarding involvement in Trans Mountain’s operational insurance policy or insurance coverage for the expansion project. The 70 organizations pledge to spotlight these companies for their potential role in enabling the climate crisis and human rights abuses.

As the letter puts it: 

“We urge you to rule out insuring Trans Mountain, as well as any projects or companies that are expanding the tar sands sector. We also call on you to require that clients obtain and document the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of impacted Indigenous peoples. Until you do, we will continue spotlighting your company’s failure to publicly distance yourself from this project, rule out all tar sands expansion, and respect Indigenous rights. We will urge the public and corporate clients to purchase insurance only from those companies that have taken a stand against Trans Mountain.”

Taxpayers likely to eat $17 billion of Trans Mountain’s debt, report says

Finance Canada won’t confirm whether it will consider forgiving Trans Mountain’s massive public debts at the expense of taxpayers, despite ample indications that loan forgiveness is inevitable.

The federal government has employed a series of strategies to create the illusion the pipeline expansion project is commercially viable, a new analysis finds, arguing this doesn’t change the fact that cost overruns and insufficient tolls are expected to result in massive losses for taxpayers.

These strategies include withholding information from the public, using a confusing corporate structure and “accounting wizardry,” said independent economist Robyn Allan, author of the analysis published Thursday by West Coast Environmental Law, a non-profit group of environmental lawyers that has been critical of TMX in the past.

Drawing on financial statements, government reports, hearing documents and more, the analysis reveals ongoing financial support for TMX at the public’s expense, despite Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s pledge to stop financing the project with taxpayer money.....

Hug Burnaby Mountain: Stand in Unity Against TMX!

Stand in unity against the Transmountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) at Hug Burnaby Mountain on June 18!

The event, hosted on unceded territories of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) ,Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and kwikwəƛ̓ əm (Kwikwetlem), will feature music, dance, ceremony, booths, and a parade to show our fierce love for our planet.

In the face of the climate crisis, we will keep persisting, one Hug at a time. It’s not too late to change things for the better!

THE SCHEDULE
12:00pm – Welcome
1:00 – 2:00pm – Parade to form the Hug
2:00-4:00pm – Music, dance and love heart booths

LOCATION Forest Grove Park, Burnaby 200 Soccer Field (8505 Forest Grove Dr, Burnaby, BC) By Transit: Take the skytrain to Production Way/University station, from Bay 3 catch the 136 Brentwood Station bus, and dismount at Hillside Place. Parking is available on the street and at the park.