It’s local election time!

On November 15th, British Columbians will go to the polls to vote for local leaders to represent their communities.

While local elections may not generate as much attention on the airwaves or around the water cooler as provincial and federal races, they are vitally important – and not only at the local level.  Newly elected mayors, councillors and regional representatives will not only make countless decisions that will affect daily life in our communities – they can also play a major role in a much wider political arena.

For many of us concerned about the local and global impacts of pipeline projects and other fossil fuel development in BC, it increasingly feels like the provincial and federal governments are simply not listening. But communities like Burnaby (which is using all the mechanisms at the city’s disposal to prevent the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, including a drawn-out legal battle to prevent the company from carrying out invasive surveying work on Burnaby Mountain conservation lands), or Kitimat (where last April, citizens rejected the Northern Gateway project in a plebiscite) are showing us how local governments can flex some serious political muscles and be influential players in this vital national conversation.

We need more local champions like these, and the upcoming municipal elections are an important opportunity to spark community debates about the risks and benefits of Kinder Morgan and other energy projects, and for citizens to choose representatives who will stand up for the rights of communities over fossil fuel companies.

Georgia Strait Alliance is working in strategic locations around the Strait to encourage such debates during the election period, and in particular to raise awareness among candidates and voters of the risks coastal municipalities would face in the event of an oil spill. 

If you live on the Sunshine Coast or the Nanaimo and Parksville areas,click here to find out where your candidates stand on these issues, and other useful information as you prepare to vote on November 15th.

Wherever you live, if you’d like to see your local government be a champion for the coast and the climate, here are three things you can do to make the most of the upcoming local elections

1. If you have five minutes: ready, set vote! Visit your municipality’s website and make sure you know when and how to vote.  Talk to your friends and family and make sure they’re ready to vote as well.
2.  If you have half an hour: write an email. Contact your candidates (see here for an email directory of candidates running across the province) and ask them their views on issues of concern to you (you can use our candidate survey as a guide). You could also consider writing a letter to the editor of your local paper – a great way to contribute to the debate in the wider community.
3.  If you have an evening to spare: attend an all-candidates’ meeting in your area to find out more about your candidates, and ask them questions about what matters to you (feel free to use ours). Your local newspaper or municipality’s website is the best place to find out dates for the meetings.

If you would like help with any of the above – who to contact, what to write, no question is too big or too small – we’re here to help! Contact alexandra@georgiastrait.org or call 604-633-0530.

Whether it’s pipeline and tanker projects that worry you, or other local environmental or community issues, November 15^th is too important an opportunity to miss – so mark your calendars, and get out and vote! 

New chapter, new resolve against unwanted pipelines

The approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline makes it clearer than ever that BC is going to have to have to stand up for itself in the face of a federal government willing to impose unwanted projects despite overwhelming opposition – and the response of First Nations and British Columbians to the news this week has shown an unwavering resolve and an inspirational source of hope that we can win this fight.

Although Northern Gateway has now cleared another major regulatory hurdle, a combination of First Nations legal challenges, a citizen push-back that could range from a province-wide vote to civil disobedience, and (at least currently) a strong ‘no’ from the Provincial government mean that the pipeline is unlikely to ever be built.

When Enbridge first floated the proposal in 2005, no one could have imagined how controversial it would become: at the time such projects were usually nodded through without a great deal of interest. Now it’s shaping up to be a defining issue for many BC communities and  a top voting issue in the 2015 federal election.

The campaign to stop Northern Gateway has also built a broad and strong coalition, and sparked a powerful citizen’s movement. We are grateful to everyone who has worked so tirelessly for so long, especially First Nations and non-indigenous communities on the front-lines in northern BC, and we want you to know that we stand with you, and are inspired by your leadership and resolve.

We are also grateful for the path that has been forged –  the lessons learned and the alliances built –  that those of us working on the south coast are now following in our efforts to stop Kinder Morgan’s pipeline proposal. This project too was once seen as a “slam-dunk”, and now struggles against “overwhelming opposition” (to quote the Financial Post, no less). Polls are showing rising levels of concern, at least two legal challenges are already underway, and the NEB’s review process has more people involved as intervenors and commenters than any project in its history. In other words, the Kinder Morgan pipeline is shaping up to be a battle royale too.

Protect Our Sacred Waters rally, Vancouver, June 2014
Photo: Alexandra Woodsworth

And for good reason. Kinder Morgan’s expansion poses the same threats as Enbridge – an oil spill that could devastate our environment, economy and coastal communities, and a yearly climate impact greater than the combined annual emissions of 90 nations – and the same negligible benefits for BC. Opponents of these projects aren’t NIMBYs. British Columbians don’t want risky tar sands pipelines or tankers anywhere in our province – we want to go in a different direction.  Our investments should help us transition away from fossil fuels, not tie us to more resource extraction and increase our contribution to climate change.

In the days leading up to the Enbridge decision, Premier Clark came under immense pressure to say ‘no’ to Enbridge, and it worked: the province said Enbridge had not met their five conditions, and they would deny permits if necessary. Those same five conditions apply to Kinder Morgan, and we need to bring the same pressure to bear to ensure the province takes a strong stand on the southern tar sands pipeline.

Compared to the JRP’s Enbridge hearings, the NEB’s Kinder Morgan review has dramatically restricted public participation and speeded up the timeline. And this week we learned just how brazenly the federal cabinet ignored public concern expressed during the JRP. Together, this means we need to work even harder to generate public pressure outside the formal review process.

We need to talk to more people in our communities, make more noise on the streets, raise more money for First Nations legal challenges, and – whatever it means for each of us – step up to the next level of what we’re willing to do to protect our coast and fight for a better future. Here’s a list as some food for thought, and stay tuned for updates on our Save the Salish Sea page.

Make your voice heard at the upcoming Kinder Morgan hearings

The National Energy Board (NEB), the federal pipeline regulator, is holding online information sessions about public participation in the upcoming review of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion proposal.

You can take part in the sessions online or by phone. The sessions started last week and run till the end of November; dates and instructions for how to register are available here.

Photo by James Fehon

We’re encouraging everyone to join these sessions and find out more about the public participation process. It’s also a good chance to ask some tough questions about why public involvement will  be so limited, and why major impacts associated with the pipeline expansion – such as climate change – won’t be considered in the review.

Due to changes brought in by the federal government as part of last year’s Omnibus Bill C38, the NEB now gets to decide who can – and cannot – take part in the hearings, and what ‘level’ of participation members of the public will be allowed.  You can read more about what we expect from the process in this background briefing, and this presentation by the NEB.

In the application to participate, people will be asked to show either that they are ‘directly affected’, or have ‘relevant information or expertise’. We won’t know exactly how the NEB will interpret these requirements until the process is underway, but it’s a key question to raise in the information sessions. 

  

If you don’t live on the pipeline route, will you be excluded from participating because you are not considered ‘directly affected’? We all have a stake in how our resources are developed, and we will all be directly affected by the impacts of climate change. We believe that everyone who cares about this issue and wants to take the time to get involved should be allowed to have their say – not be potentially excluded by the NEB, or simply put off by an over-complicated, burdensome application process.

Once Kinder Morgan files their application, likely some time in December this year, there will be a very short window of time for the public to apply to participate. We at GSA, alongside many other environmental groups, will be providing information and support to anyone who wants to get involved. But because of the short time-frame, it’s important to prepare now.

So please do sign up for one of the NEB information sessions, and let us know what you think – and how we can help you claim your right to have your voice heard.

Help create maps of a potential oil spill in the Salish Sea

If you’re out exploring the coast this week, you might spot a bright yellow wooden card lying on the beach. Pick it up and hang on to it; the cards are part of a new research project we've launched with Raincoast Conservation Foundation to map where oil might travel if there were to be a spill in the Salish Sea.

Watch us on Global TV explaining the project

Over the past week, we dropped 1000 of these drift cards at locations where there is a higher risk of an accident along the tanker route that runs from Burrard Inlet, through the Gulf Islands and out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Just like a message in a bottle, the drift cards carry a simple message: this could be oil.

Hundreds of the cards have already been found, and plotted on a map via our new website at www.SalishSeaSpillMap.org. You can explore the map to see how far and fast oil could travel, and which beaches, communities and wildlife habitats could be affected in the event of a spill.

High school students launching drift cards 

under Second Narrows Bridge

Photo by Jill Fitz Herschbold

How does it work? Much like oil on water, drift cards are influenced by both surface ocean currents and wind. Each card (made of FSC-certified plywood and eco-friendly paints and labels) bears a unique number that links the location where it was found to the site where it was dropped, which allows us to broadly track the card’s movements, and how long it took to travel between the two points. Drift cards have commonly been used as part of oil spill research by universities and government agencies. You can read more about the science of drift card research, including how we chose our drop locations and some of the differences between oil and plywood cards, here.  

We have two goals with this project. The first is to create a set of maps showing different scenarios for a spill on BC’s south coast – data which has so far not been readily available to the public. The second is to raise awareness about the threat of an oil spill in the Salish Sea due to Kinder Morgan’s proposed pipeline expansion, and highlight how unprepared we are to deal with a major spill – especially one involving diluted bitumen. 

www.SalishSeaSpillMap.org

The little coloured markers that represent oil on our map already ring the iconic skyline of Vancouver Harbour. As we were launching some of the cards yesterday near Salt Spring Island, we had a humpback whale for company. No matter where oil was to spill in the Salish Sea, we have so much to lose.

So if you spot one of our yellow drift cards while walking along your favourite beach, imagine the consequences if it were oil instead. Then please tell us you’ve found a card (by phone, email or online) and take action to protect this incredible place we call home. 

With thanks to Patagonia and the Brainerd Foundation for their generous support of this project.

Kick-starting cross-border organizing to protect the Salish Sea

I’m writing this from a ferry in the middle of the Georgia Strait, on my way back to Vancouver from our cross-border town hall about fossil fuel exports in the Salish Sea.

Talking at the town hall, with the tanker route
and the San Juan Island meeting in the background
Photo by Megan Spencer

A few hours ago, I was standing on a bluff just outside Victoria overlooking Haro Strait, speaking to concerned residents about the Kinder Morgan pipeline. At the same moment, allies across the border were holding their own town hall meeting about fossil fuels, just 13 kilometres across the Kinder Morgan tanker route, on San Juan Island in Washington. 

We were there to highlight the combined impacts of all the fossil fuel projects currently proposed for the Salish Sea, learn lessons from campaigns on both sides of the border, and kick-start a new wave of cross-border organizing to prevent the Salish Sea from being turned into a global carbon corridor.

We heard from Eoin at the Wilderness Committee about how community campaigns against coal in the Lower Mainland have blossomed in recent months, inspired by successes south of the border. I spoke about the environmental impacts of an oil spill in the Georgia Strait, and how unprepared we are to deal with a major spill of conventional crude at current levels of traffic, let alone a six-fold increase in tankers carrying diluted bitumen. A Victoria whale watching company, Orca Spirit, expressed their concerns about increasing tanker traffic, given their reliance on a vibrant, healthy ocean for their income. Torrance from the Wilderness Committee emphasized that the Salish Sea is one ecosystem and one climate, and we need to treat it that way if we are to be successful in our organizing.

Signing the petition to Premier Clark & WA Governor Inslee
Photo by Megan Spencer

We then made a cross-channel phone call to Stephanie from Friends of the San Juans, who shared the inspiring story of how a diverse coalition managed to defeat 3 coal export projects in the Pacific Northwest, and mobilize 100,000 people to speak out against the expansion of the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point. Folks in Victoria shared stories and asked questions of their counterparts on San Juan and vice versa.

We wrapped up by pledging to continue to work together and find new ways to link up citizens who share these concerns to take action and put pressure on decision-makers on both sides of the border, and signing a petition to Premier Christy Clark and Washington Governor Jay Inslee, asking them to work more closely together to protect the Salish Sea. Watch this space to find out how you can sign it and get involved.

It was a really inspiring day, and a perfect way to launch our Save the Salish Sea campaign on Vancouver Island!

PS. Check out some more lovely photos from the meeting on our Facebook page.

Save the Salish Sea!

I am very excited to announce the launch of Save the Salish Sea, our new campaign in collaboration with the Wilderness Committee to protect our unique corner of the ocean from the threat of fossil fuel expansion.

The Salish Sea is one of the world’s most spectacularly beautiful and ecologically rich bodies of water, stretching from the north end of the Strait of Georgia to Puget Sound in Washington State. Here, hundreds of rivers meet the sea, creating a unique coastal environment that supports a huge variety of marine life, including wild salmon and endangered killer whales. Tourists, businesses and residents alike are drawn by the region’s mild climate, unique geography, fantastic quality of life and the stunning natural beauty of the Salish Sea.

Map courtesy of Wilderness Committee

All of this is at risk. Right now, plans to triple the capacity of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline running from the Alberta tar sands to the BC coast, and to dramatically increase coal shipments from our ports, risk turning the Salish Sea into a superhighway for fossil fuel exports.

If these projects are approved, BC will be responsible for millions of tonnes of extra carbon emissions and go from being a green leader to a global climate change export hub. And the magnificent Salish Sea will be under the constant threat of a catastrophic oil spill that would devastate the marine environment, coastal communities and BC’s entire economy for decades to come.

Save the Salish Sea is a new rallying point for concerned citizens: a place to find out more about fossil fuel development in the region, come together, and take action to protect the Salish Sea. So please take a moment to explore our new website, and if you have a bit more time, write an email to Premier Christy Clark asking her to stand up to the federal government and take back our power to say ‘no’ to projects like Kinder Morgan that aren’t in the best interests of British Columbians.

For us here at GSA, Save the Salish Sea is a natural extension of our efforts to protect the Georgia Strait from the threat of increased tanker traffic. We want to highlight the combined impacts of fossil fuel exports in the region, both to our local waters and our global climate, and contribute to the national conversation about how we make the transition to a clean energy future. By banding together with allies from all corners of the Salish Sea, we are building on our strong history of working across the Canada-US border to protect our shared waters, and ramping up the pressure on decision-makers in both countries.

We love feedback, so please get in touch with any thoughts, questions or ideas about the campaign. Now that we’re off and running, we’ll be holding a series of town hall meetings and other events across the Salish Sea this summer and fall, so stay tuned to our events calendar to find one near you - I hope to see you there!

Dear Kinder Morgan: our province is not for sale

At Kinder Morgan’s annual shareholder meeting in Texas this week, oil executives gathered in the heart of the American oil patch to celebrate another year of profits and investor payouts.

It’s a timely reminder of whose interests are really served by Kinder Morgan’s plan to triple the capacity of the Transmountain pipeline. Here’s a hint: it’s not you and me.

So who benefits if the Kinder Morgan pipeline goes ahead? Certainly not BC, which bears all the risk of a new pipeline and increased tanker traffic, and faces a devastating oil spill that could ruin our coast, our communities and our economy for decades to come.  In the long run, not Canada either, as we commit ourselves ever further to a boom and bust resource cycle, and our over reliance on bitumen undermines a diversified, resilient economy.  And not the rest of the world, as we pump billions of extra tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and take another giant step towards the cliff of catastrophic climate change.  The real winner is Kinder Morgan, and people like CEO Richard Kinder – a former Enron executive and one of the richest men in the world.

But BC has a history of standing up against those who would sell off our heritage to the highest bidder. Pipelines and tanker traffic are proving to be a defining issue of the BC election, and opposition to Kinder Morgan’s expansion plan is at an all-time high.

So, Kinder Morgan, British Columbians have a message for you: our province is not for sale.

Pipelines and Public Relations

"Information Session". Now isn't that a friendly, non threatening term. And indeed that's exactly what the Kinder Morgan Information sessions on their proposed new pipeline to bring Alberta Tar Sands crude to the coast to load onto tankers were for the most part.  These are almost over, with just one left in this region on Salt Spring Island in January.

 I attended the one in Nanaimo and saw nothing but overt good cheer and intentions from the full spectrum of opinions that we all know this project has. Apparently there were some minor kefuffles in Hope and Victoria but not having been there I can't give a perspective. Kinder Morgan seems to know they cannot just ram this project through as perhaps once was the case and have developed a strategy that is all about public relations at this stage.

When I got there quite a few people had already gathered awaiting entry. When the doors opened I was one of the first in and was asked if I wanted to sign in. I presented my card and asked if I could speak to the main PR person expecting someone from Vancouver or Calgary. I was surprised to find they actually have someone based in Victoria. This means they are taking this PR stuff very seriously.

Lots of opposition at the Nanimo info session

Looking around the room the essence of slick PR professionalism was everywhere. From the many members of the young fresh faced PR team to the few experienced company, port and response representatives. The comprehensive, very professional looking information signage covering almost every conceivable aspect of the project including the inevitable environmental and socioeconomic concerns of course and the general layout of the room which allowed for the one-on-one discussion method to be most effective.Having been a somewhat serious student of the martial arts for almost 30 years I recognize this strategy of drawing your opponent in.

However a large number of the folks who were there seemed to be highly informed about the project already and were not letting themselves be drawn in. In fact many stayed outside the room singing songs and handing out  information from a different perspective. There were all sorts of signs in opposition and many blue drops (a sign of solidarity for clean water).



I let myself be drawn in order to tell the main PR guy very clearly and firmly that Georgia Strait Alliance does not support this project or any that would increase the risk of a major spill in our sensitive waters or significantly contribute to climate change. The environmental, social and economic consequences are just not worth any risk! Prepared to extract myself from a conversation geared to convince me to the merits of the project if necessary, I was pleased but not overly surprised to be told that he would not try to dissuade us from our position (another tactic I'm familiar with).

What I was surprised at however was a cheerful, though perhaps unintended, admission that there was really no point in me trying to convince him of our position either. I understand some of these folks are not just about growth or short term gain and they actually believe this is a good project, but I guess I'd call that a a bit of a PR disaster.
I thought they wanted to hear from us. Well maybe they do but they certainly didn't seem to want to actually listen.

In martial arts, a strategy following the drawing in, is a reversal of your opponent's energy to use it against them. I'm curious if Kinder Morgan will try this next? And will it work if they cannot actually draw people in? Another option of course would be to actually listen to the community concerns, in fact be part of the community - not opponents at all, and be prepared to pull out of the project if it is not supported, rather than forge ahead regardless.