Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline starting to fade

Talk of the Enbridge Pipeline(s) from Alberta to Kitimat has died down but we have to assume that work is being done in the background to move the project along. The proposal is for 225 supertankers per year to travel from Kitimat to the open ocean through Douglas Channel.


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Two events might have taken the wind out of the 'jobs/economy' side of the argument. In 2010 two BC organizations passed motions opposing the project. In March, the Union of BC Chiefs Council announced that they were opposed. This is significant because of the requirement to consult with all the First Nations whose traditional territory would be affected. Wayne Christian, chief of the Splats’in First Nation seconded the motion. Fabian Alexis, of the Okanagan Indian Band, abstained.

The second convention to oppose the pipeline(s) in 2010 was the Union of BC Municipalities. Its members are mayors and councilors from BC communities that at least in this area lean towards the 'development is always good' side of the political spectrum. This vote should give the Conservative/Liberal coalition pause to consider their chances of re-election without local government support. Mayors and councilors are the people who get to spend most of the 'stimulus' dollars on roads, etc. and are usually reluctant to speak against senior governments.

Unsurprisingly, the 2011 federal NDP convention also passed a motion (2-05-11 Resolution on a Tanker Ban) opposing the pipeline(s).

Nathan Cullen, MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley has been the most vocal critic in the House of Commons to date. He has turned over the task to Fin Donnelly, the MP who swam the length of the Fraser (twice) to show his support for salmon.

Fin Donnelly, the new opposition critic for Fisheries, has already reintroduced two private members bills for the new Parliament to consider:

1. C-211, a legislated ban on oil supertanker traffic on BC's North and Central Coast. 
2. C-225, the Wild Salmon Protection Act, calls for open net pen salmon farms to be transitioned to land-based closed-containment technology.

There's a lot of powerful forces aligned on the 'opposed' side, and they represent the views of the majority of BC citizens. 75% opposed west coast tanker traffic in an Ipsos-Reid poll from May 2006. In April 2010 that went up to 79%, including 65% of Conservative voters.

It is hard to get 79% of BC to agree that the sun comes up in the east. I am feeling a lot better about this particular battle, but know that Enbridge hasn't given up yet.