Energy and Climate Change

VANCOUVER — One day after the twenty-first anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a powerful coalition of environmental groups are putting Enbridge and governments on notice that they will step up their activities to support a Coastal First Nations’ declaration made on Tuesday to keep tar sands oil tankers out of their ancestral territories on Canada’s Pacific North Coast.

SOINTULA, B.C. – Ted Leroy Trucking was found guilty yesterday on six pollution charges resulting from a 2007 accident where 11 pieces of heavy equipment carrying 20,000 litres of fuel slipped off the company’s barge into the waters of the Michael Biggs Ecological Reserve at Robson Bight, home to B.C.'s Northern Resident orcas.

In light of the failed attempts to clean up the oil that is spewing from a sunken rig in the Gulf of Mexico, First Nations and environmental groups are calling on the federal government to implement a permanent ban on oil and gas development and tanker traffic on the North Coast of British Columbia. Despite having the required safety mechanism on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, an explosion occurred, the technology to stop the oil from spilling in to the ocean failed, and the weather delayed the clean up efforts.

SOINTULA, B.C. -- On May 27 Enbridge escalated conflict on the coast when they took steps to break the First Nations ban on tanker traffic by applying to the federal government for approval of their Northern Gateway pipeline.

“Enbridge poses a grave threat to the future of coastal First Nations’ way of life,” says Art Sterritt, Executive Director of the Coastal First Nations. “We will not allow Enbridge to do to us what BP has done to the people of Louisiana.”

Vancouver, B.C. – Environmental groups are praising Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party of Canada for their commitment today to formalize the oil tanker ban in British Columbia. Such a ban would prevent crude oil tankers from traveling through B.C.’s Central and North Coast.

OTTAWA -– An unprecedented delegation of First Nations, commercial fishing, tourism representatives and environmental groups from Canada’s Pacific North Coast is in Ottawa today, calling on the federal government to ban oil tankers from the region.

The federal government is currently considering allowing over 200 oil tankers per year to travel through some of the most dangerous waters in the world, despite polls that show 80 percent of British Columbians support banning crude oil tankers.

Vancouver, B.C. - Environmental groups are praising the vote today in the House of Commons in support of a legislated tanker ban for Canada’s Pacific North Coast. The motion was put forward by Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen whose riding includes the Great Bear Rainforest and thousands of coastal jobs that depend on a healthy marine environment.

Vancouver, B.C. - Environmental groups are once again applauding MPs who are taking the necessary steps to secure a permanent tanker ban on Canada’s Pacific North Coast. A Private Member’s Bill was tabled in the House of Commons today by Vancouver Quadra Liberal MP Joyce Murray, proposing a ban on crude oil tanker traffic in Hecate Strait, Dixon Entrance and Queen Charlotte Sound.

SOINTULA, B.C.— If Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline is approved, Canadian taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars to cover the clean up and compensation costs in the event of a catastrophic oil tanker spill, claims Living Oceans Society in a report titled Financial Vulnerability Assessment: Who Would Pay for Oil Tanker Spills Associated with the Northern Gateway Pipeline written by the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Victoria.

February 24, 2011

VANCOUVER – An array of community and environmental groups, and business and fishing interests are expressing shock and disappointment with outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell’s decision to go against the wishes of the majority of British Columbians and side with the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan in asking the Prime Minister to defeat a bill that would permanently ban oil tankers through B.C.’s Pacific North Coast.