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Native rift over pipelines National aboriginal alliance planned; First Nations’ backers of pipeline have secured endorsements; challenge to Northern Gateway GARY PARK For Petroleum News
The feuding over energy pipelines in Canada has taken a new twist with the emergence of a rift within the ranks of First Nations.
Meeting in Vancouver on Sept. 30, native leaders from British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario took a first step towards what they hope will be a national aboriginal alliance to fight transportation systems out of the Alberta oil sands.
They gave unanimous backing to a resolution to “develop shared positions and coordinated strategies for addressing climate change and other environmental and cultural impacts of tar sands development.”
The chiefs from outside Western Canada said they were motivated by the efforts of their peers to stall progress on Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline across British Columbia and are eager to extend that “wall of opposition” to stop TransCanada’s planned Energy East pipeline to Eastern and Atlantic Canada.
Endorsements secured However, on the same day First Nations’ backers of a pipeline called Eagle Spirit announced that after three years of negotiations they had secured the endorsement of every First Nations chief along the proposed right of way in British Columbia.
Eagle Spirit is an C$18 billion venture to establish a multi-purpose pipeline corridor to deliver 1 million barrels per day of synthetic oil sands crude from Alberta to Prince Rupert, along with natural gas to serve communities in British Columbia and as feedstock for LNG plants, plus a fiber optic cable, electrical and water lines.
The Vancouver-based Aquilini Group, a powerhouse real estate developer, has indicated it is ready to underwrite the cost of the pipeline.
When the idea went public six months ago, Eagle Spirit Chairman and President Calvin Helin said money and technical expertise were not the biggest obstacles.
“It is very clear what the problem is: First Nations’ social license,” he said, reflecting the challenge facing 634 recognized aboriginal communities across Canada.
Some, regardless of possible equity partnerships or offers of financial compensation and jobs, want nothing at all to do with industrial projects that could threaten their traditional lifestyles.
Others are eager to build on the economic success some First Nations have achieved by contracting work to major companies in the oil and natural gas sector.
Advancement not clear Despite their claims of aboriginal support, it is not clear how far Eagle Spirit promoters have advanced since April when only two small First Nations sent representatives to the launch news conference in Vancouver.
They are unwilling to provide a list of Native leaders they say have granted “social license” to their plan.
Neither is there any evidence of support from shippers who have previously made commitments to Enbridge’s controversial Northern Gateway pipeline to export 525,000 bpd of bitumen production to Asia and Kinder Morgan’s parallel plan for tripling capacity on its Trans Mountain system to 890,000 bpd.
Fresh challenge to Northern Gateway Although conditionally approved by the Canadian government 15 months ago, Northern Gateway is facing a fresh challenge in the Federal Court of Appeal.
Eight First Nations, four environmental organizations and one labor union are petitioning the court to overturn the government approval, arguing that regulators failed to properly consider threats to wildlife and oceans and ignored First Nations’ efforts to present their concerns.
Stewart Phillip, grand chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, said that faced with attempts by the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to demonize First Nations on the issue of resource development “our people have reached a breaking point.”
Jennifer Griffith, a lawyer for the Haisla Nation, told the court that the proposed Northern Gateway route poses a serious risk of an oil spill.
She said the federal government has failed to meet its commitment to engage in “deep consultation” with First Nations from the outset of the application.
Other lawyers said a federal review panel had also failed to provide detailed models showing how a tanker spill might affect First Nations’ waterways on British Columbia’s central coast and had not observed the terms of agreements to establish collaborative management of the land and marine environment.
Some First Nations leaders have vowed to stop all pipeline development regardless of the federal court’s ruling.
“I’m not leaving this fight for my children,” said Pete Erickson, a hereditary chief with the Nak’azdli Nation.
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