Last week, Lakes District 亚洲天堂 wrote a story about Enbridge鈥檚 Northern Gateway, which has recently filed a request for a three-year extension to start building its pipeline project.
Ironically, one day before Enbridge鈥檚 announcement, we had written a completely different story about Northern Gateway, mentioning a seemingly revival of the contentious pipeline project (needless to say that story had to be rewritten).
What was happening before Enbridge鈥檚 announcement was that Alberta Premier Rachel Notley鈥檚 press secretary, Cheryl Oates, acknowledged that Notley was rethinking her position and was now more open to Northern Gateway. And with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promising to help Alberta deal with the oil industry slump and the Fort McMurray forest fire disaster, Peter O鈥橬eil with the Vancouver Sun wrote that Trudeau might have to say 鈥榶es鈥� to at least one contentious pipeline project.
Trudeau promised during his election campaign that if he was elected, the Northern Gateway would not happen. However, he also called for a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic for B.C.鈥檚 North Coast, which still hasn鈥檛 happened.
This made Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen describe the federal government鈥檚 actions as 鈥渃rab walking.鈥�
鈥淭o have something so crystal clear as [Trudeau鈥檚] commitments on the north coast tanker ban, they鈥檙e starting to what they call in politics to do the crab walk,鈥� said Cullen. 鈥淭hey start in one position and you can鈥檛 really tell that they鈥檙e moving, but they start sliding on over and saying 鈥榳ell, it depends on how you define oil,鈥� and 鈥榳hat is a tanker anyways?鈥欌��
That鈥檚 why Enbridge鈥檚 announcement caught many by surprise.
It was mostly surprising because we don鈥檛 often see pipeline proponents admitting that they have not done a great job consulting with First Nations communities. Or at least that hadn鈥檛 been the case yet.
John Carruthers, President of Northern Gateway, said that, from the beginning, Northern Gateway should have done a better job of building relationships with First Nations and M茅tis communities, particularly on the west coast of B.C.
First Nations of the Yinka Dene Alliance, which includes Nadleh Whut鈥檈n, Nak鈥檃zdli, Takla Lake, Saik鈥檜z, and Tl鈥檃zt鈥檈n First Nations in Northern B.C., released a statement last week saying that extra time will not sway their opposition and will only further antagonize their communities.
鈥淚t has been more than a decade since this project was proposed and Yinka Dene Alliance First Nations have clearly and repeatedly told Enbridge that Northern Gateway is not permitted in our territories,鈥� said Chief Larry Nooski of Nadleh Whut鈥檈n First Nation. 鈥淚t鈥檚 disrespectful for Northern Gateway to ignore us by continuing to push its failed project because it only prolongs the amount of time and resources that First Nations must expend to prevent it from proceeding.鈥�
Chief Stanley Thomas of Saik鈥檜z First Nation said Enbridge is seeking an extension for Northern Gateway because they are now 鈥渄esperate.鈥�
Lake Babine Nation Chief Wilf Adam also reiterated his position last week.
鈥淥ur position still remains the same, no oil pipeline,鈥� he said.
It will certainly be interesting to see what happens, but at this point I don鈥檛 think anyone is confident this pipeline project will get off the ground.
