Aboriginal Rights

First Nations to debate BC pipeline plans

jessie — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:57:38 -0700

First Nations to debate BC pipeline plans

Amanda Follett, October 13, 2008, The Hook -- First Nation groups will band togehter in Hartley Bay later this month to discuss the cumulative impacts posed by pipeline projects that would slice through northern British Columbia.

Office of the Wet’suwet’en natural resources manager David deWit said he hopes to see roughly 40 communities between Fort Chipewyan, near the Alberta oilsands, and Kitimat represented at the meeting.

“We’ve all been dealing in isolation,” deWit said. “But I think there’s a reality of creating this alliance.”

Two pipeline projects are currently proposed for northern B.C.:

The 470-kilometre Pacific Trails Pipeline would carry natural gas from Kitimat to Summit Lake, 50 kilometres north of Prince George. The billion dollar project received its environmental assessment certificate from the province in August and currently awaits a decision on an environmental review by the federal government.

Enbridge’s Northern Gateway twin pipeline is proposed to run from Edmonton to Kitimat, exporting petroleum and importing condensate. The multi-billion-dollar project, which would include a marine terminal in Kitimat, is currently being reviewed by the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

Despite the environmental assessments required by government, the concern, deWit said, is that the pipelines will clear the way for additional development resulting in a higher volume of potentially damaging materials being transported through the territories.

“If this pipeline is approved it’s just the start of all these other pipelines that are going to follow behind,” deWit said. “Once an initial corridor is established we don’t know if the National Energy Board is going to look at the cumulative impacts.”

The corridor would pass through the headwaters of the Morice River, which feeds the Bulkley River before flowing into the Skeena. For the Wet’suwet’en, fears revolve around erosion and ground movement resulting from pipeline construction, which could silt the rivers and damage prime salmon habitat.

Petroleum spills in the traditional hunting, fishing and berry-picking territory are also a concern.

“No one’s looking at what is socially and environmentally sustainable and is there a threshold we’re going to cross where our ecosystems are going to start failing and our fish aren’t coming back,” deWit said. “We’re seeing some indications out there in the territories and it really begs the question of whether we’re doing enough to look at the cumulative impacts of development that is happening and being proposed.”

Environmental concerns vary across the north. At a Keepers of the Water III Conference held in Fort Chipewyan this August, attendees heard about high cancer rates in the area downstream of the oilsands and witnessed a deformed fish bearing two jaws that had been recently pulled from a nearby lake. At the conference, First Nations showed their support for the local Mikisew First Nation by passing a unanimous resolution calling for a moratorium on further oilsands expansion.

Gerald Amos, former chief councillor for the Kitamaat Band Council and director of community relations for the Headwaters Initiative, said he was approached several times about the pipeline projects during the B.C. First Nations Mining Summit, held last week in Prince George.

“Everybody’s anxious about the speed with which Enbridge gearing up,” Amos said. “One of the major points people were making was that all these proposed mining and forestry operations are looked at in isolation of each other.”

Amos notes that oolican, a small fish valued for its rich oil, was a staple food for the north coast First Nations until the 1970s, but had all but disappeared by 2003. He blames bottom trawling and water contamination as two possible culprits in the oolichans’ decline, citing the loss as a reason to start considering cumulative impacts.

“I spend a lot of time in the water. A large part of our diet is still salmon, clams, cockles,” Amos says. “At the moment, those things are being taken away from us, for a number of reasons.”

Amos said he expects at least a handful of northern First Nations to be represented at the meeting, although the date has not yet been fixed.

“Our relationships have been there for generations between communities,” he said. “We’ve had respect of one kind or another between communities, but the nature of the beast has changed drastically with the new economy and the new impacts from oil and gas development. What happens in the tarsands can have an impact in Kitimat and vice versa.”

Scream star 'horrified' by oilsands

jessie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:23:52 -0700

Scream star 'horrified' by oilsands

edmontonjournal.com, October 9, 2008 -- Actress Neve Campbell toured the Fort McMurray oilsands this week and met with leaders of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation.

"I'm horrified by the pace and scale of development in the tar sands, and the weak response by our federal and provincial governments," Campbell said in a news release today.

The tour on Tuesday and Wednesday by car and helicopter was organized by Forest Ethics.

"I'll be working with Forest Ethics and the First Nations to continue to raise awareness in the coming months," said Campbell, the Canadian-born star of the Scream movie trilogy.

Tour organizer Todd Paglia, executive director of Forest Ethics, said the tour "is just the beginning" of its efforts to raise awareness in the U.S. and Canada "about the environmental and social costs of tar sands development."

Campbell was accompanied by Colin Finlay, a Los Angeles-based photographer whose work was featured last year in Vanity Fair's green issue.

Chief Roxanne Marcel of the Mikisew Cree said: "Having lunch and meeting celebrities like Neve Campbell was nothing I ever dreamed of, but because we share the same interests around the negative impacts from tar sands development, it was an obvious opportunity to discuss collaborations and how we could work together."

Fort Chipewyan is located downstream from Fort McMurray on the Athabasca River.

Protesters move in path of pipeline

jessie — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:49:19 -0700

Protesters move in path of pipeline

Darren Bernhardt, September 30, 2008, The StarPhoenix -- Led by two men on horseback, roughly 60 First Nations people carried placards and marched through Kerrobert on Monday as part of a demonstration over the construction of a 1,590-kilometre oil pipeline known as the "Alberta Clipper" through traditional Treaty 6 territory.

The protesters say they haven't been consulted and are demanding a share of the revenues.

"We want to put out a message that we've had enough, that we're going to stand together as Indian people to make sure we get our fair share of the resources that come from our traditional lands," said Red Pheasant First Nation Chief Sheldon Wuttunee, who led the procession through town wearing a ceremonial headdress.

The march concluded with a pass through the yard of the Kerrobert headquarters of Enbridge Pipelines Inc., the company behind the Alberta Clipper.

Construction will take place about 80 kilometres from the Red Pheasant reserve northeast of Saskatoon. Topsoil has been removed along several kilometres of land to prepare for trenching as the project edges closer.

Wuttunee and his band members, along with supporters from the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) and First Nation bands in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and B.C., set up a campsite Monday adjacent to the pipeline path just south of Luseland.

Four teepees have been erected, including one directly on top of the pipeline path.

"We're not out to tar and feather anybody. This is a peaceful demonstration seeking dialogue with the company and the government to make sure Indian people get their fair and equitable share," FSIN Chief Lawrence Joseph said during a press conference at the campsite prior to the march.

When the treaties were signed 134 years ago, the First Nations in Treaty 6 -- which spans Alberta, Saskatchewan and a portion of Manitoba -- allowed European settlement in return for certain guarantees from the government.

"We did not agree to live in poverty," said Joseph. "We want a piece of the action."

"We want what's rightfully ours as per treaty," added Wuttunee.

Other speakers seemed less concerned with revenues than with the environmental impacts of oil development. Chief Allan Paul of the Alexander First Nation, northwest of Edmonton near the Fort McMurray oilsands, said the water is becoming poisoned and causing deformities in fish and killing ducks.

The cancer rate has also spiked in his people.

"It has to stop somewhere," he said. "It hurts to see what is happening."

Joseph said there has to be a balance between economic development and the desecration of the earth. First Nations people are stewards of the land, protecting it for future generations, he said.

But at the same time, the resources "given to us by the Creator" must be mined to provide economic security, he said.

Enbridge spokesperson Gina Jordan said the company has had public consultations with 40 First Nations and Metis groups during the past two years and is "looking forward to continuing discussions with Red Pheasant and other First Nations. We want to make sure they have participation (in the pipeline project)."

First Nation coalition threatens blockades over oil pipeline

jessie — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:02:43 -0700

First Nation coalition threatens blockades over oil pipeline

Jason Warick, September 15, 2008, Saskatchewan News Network -- The chief of a Saskatchewan First Nation is leading a coalition of First Nations considering blockades or other action to halt construction of a multimillion-dollar oil pipeline until their concerns are addressed.

First Nations from across Western Canada meet today and Tuesday in Edmonton to plot their strategy, Red Pheasant Chief Sheldon Wuttunee said in an interview Sunday.
Enbridge Pipelines Inc., which recently began construction of the Alberta Clipper pipeline through Saskatchewan and other provinces, is reneging on its written pledge to provide jobs and contracts to First Nations people, Wuttunee alleged.
"Promises were broken. These pipelines are running through our traditional lands, and the First Nations are getting peanuts here," said Wuttunee, whose reserve is located 100 kilometres west of Saskatoon.

An Enbridge spokeswoman called the concerns "unfortunate," and said the company is employing dozens of aboriginal peoples on pipeline projects.

The Alberta Clipper pipeline is being built to transport up to 800,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Alberta, through Saskatchewan and Manitoba, to Superior, Wis., to supply Midwestern U.S. markets. It is scheduled to be completed by mid-2010.

Canadian-owned Enbridge is one of the world's largest energy transportation and distribution companies.

Some First Nations, including Sweetgrass and Moosomin in Saskatchewan, are taking Enbridge to court to demand benefits from the pipeline. Some portions of the proposed Alberta Clipper and other pipelines run through reserve land, while other sections traverse what the band term "traditional territories."

Such disputes often revolve around interpretations of laws requiring "consultation and accommodation" when development affects First Nations.

That may be the wider issue, Wuttunee said, but his focus is on the agreement the parties have already reached.
Red Pheasant wanted to avoid a legal battle, so it negotiated an agreement with Enbridge, Wuttunee said. According to Wuttunee, Enbridge agreed to award contracts and provide meaningful employment to Red Pheasant members.

However, the only things Red Pheasant has to show for the agreement are a small handful of temporary, unskilled jobs such as erecting fencing or being a watchman at storage sites.

"I wanted to do things diplomatically, but now we're going to push. We're done waiting," Wuttunee said. A coalition of bands has formed and named Wuttunee as its spokesman. They want to see construction stopped until their demands are met.
Legal action or even blockades of the pipeline are going to be discussed, Wuttunee said.

"The pipeline has to be stopped until First Nations get this resolved," he said.

Enbridge spokeswoman Gina Jordan said her company "has an established relationship with the Red Pheasant First Nation" and other First Nations and aboriginal groups. She said it's "unfortunate" Wuttunee and others have concerns.

Jordan said Enbridge is always open to meet further with Red Pheasant officials or other groups to discuss these issues.
Jordan noted construction on the Alberta Clipper project has only recently gotten underway. Dozens of aboriginal people have already been hired or are being trained.

"We haven't (yet) hit the peak number for employment," she said in an interview.

She said Enbridge officials can provide more concrete aboriginal employment and training figures this week.

Fearful Chip residents stay out of the water

jessie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:19:44 -0700

Fearful Chip residents stay out of the water

Carol Christian, August 23, 2008, Fort McMurray Today -- The water glistens off Lake Athabasca in the hot afternoon sun.

Boisterous youngsters play, while others stroll the banks of the ancient river, yet no one tempts the beckoning waters to cool overheated skin.

They’re too afraid.

It was at the Keepers of the Water: Water is Boss conference this past weekend where people voiced their concerns about water contamination thanks to the upstream oilsands, and shared their stories of disease and the loss of their traditional way of life. For others, including the 18 environmental groups attending, it was a chance to learn about and see Fort Chip first-hand, the community immediately downstream from the multi-billion dollar oilsands industry. Six translation stations (Sioux, Dene, North and South Slavey, Cree and DogRib) were available so elders from the various First Nation bands could understand what was being said. Aboriginal peoples (First Nations and Métis) travelled from across Alberta, British Columbia. Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon to attend the conference hosted in Fort Chip.

The conference is the third in a series working to build a protective strategy. A fourth conference is planned for next year in Saskatchewan.

Talk of cancers and auto-immune disease was common, as were repeated calls such as that of keynote speaker Dr. John O’Connor for a baseline health study. O’Connor, the area doctor, garnered international headlines in 2006 as a whistleblower for publicly discussing the high incidence of such diseases. The study is wanted to determine once and for all if the water is safe.

Dr. Kevin Timoney’s independent study found levels of arsenic, mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, known carcinogens, are not only dangerously high north of oilsands sites, but are quickly rising.

A pall was cast over the last day of the conference with the arrival of a casket carrying the body of Maryanne Wanderingspirit home for burial after losing her battle to cancer.

Lionel Lepine of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation said her death shouldn’t have happened.

The 93-year-old lived the traditional way of life, recalled Lepine, getting sustenance off the land and from the water. He wondered how many more people have to die needlessly.

He accused the oilsands companies of not seeing Fort Chipewyan residents as human beings — only as First Nations, people they just have to talk to before they rip up the land.

Lepine even went so far as to say that if the water flow was reversed, carrying any contaminants south, something would have been done by now because the oil companies wouldn’t let this happen to “their people.”

“These are real lives we’re talking about,” said Steve Courtoreille, when speaking of his 18-year-old nephew Grant Courtoreille, who died in January of cancer.

He recalled Grant’s doctor being unable to determine what caused the teen’s cancer, yet saying he wouldn’t be moving his family to the oilsands any time soon.

In front of a photo of Grant was a piece of art created by local resident Trevor Michaels depicting a pair of hands covered in oil emerging from the lake. It asked, “How many barrels of oil is my life worth to you?” Michael’s mother, who lives in Fort Chip, has been diagnosed with cancer. His grandmother, aunt and uncle have died from the disease.

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam said industry and government are too close, citing Premier Ed Stelmach’s recent $25-million campaign promoting the oilsands. He reminded the diverse audience his band withdrew from the Cumulative Environmental Management Association and the Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program because they were treated unfairly. To get the Athabasca Chipewyan back to the table, the requirement is “be true to us.” Adam added the community would also want full disclosure of environmental impacts instead of being denied so-called “proprietary” documents.

“We owe it to the land,” said Adam. “You have to change your ways, and what’s happening to Fort Chip.” He added people are wrong if they think it’s only oil and gas.

Mike Mercredi said youths in Fort Chip are scared to swim in the lakes they did as children or eat the foods they were raised on.

“That fear is there,” he stressed. “They’re the ones that are going to have to face the consequences.” Mercredi added area youths are angry and frustrated, ready to take action.

“It’s about our very lives,” he said. “We’re facing slow industrial genocide. We’re going to fight a good fight, “ he said, urging the community to fight government and industry and receiving a standing ovation for his words.

Adam also received a standing ovation when he announced a unanimously approved resolution calling for aboriginal unity in protecting the water and their traditional way of life.

Lawyer Vivienne Bisel, who was approached in the spring to explore the possibility of litigation as a way to assert First Nations water rights, said clean drinking water is a treaty right, as is the right to traditional and modern livelihood.

Bisel, along with Monique Passalec-Ross of the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, said consultations are problematic, as government and industry prefer to manage them by delegating the process to project proponents. Also, it was noted there is a proposal for First Nations to do their own environmental impact assessments, which would also include oral negotiations, because there is nothing in the current process to protect First Nations rights. The Energy Resources Conservation Board process is a general one, not specific to those rights.

“I was very moved as many were by the emotion and concern about people’s heath and their future,” said Liberal MLA and environment critic David Swann. “Clearly government and many observers don’t get the spiritual connection First Nations have with the land. Scientific reassurances just don’t wash when they have experienced such dramatic cultural, economic, social and environmental change in this last decade particularly.

“You can’t argue with smells and tastes, and a way of life that has been so dramatically changed, and the knowledge that science is way behind in terms of measuring impacts of long-term, low dose exposures to multiple chemicals.”

Swann called requests for a moratorium on development reasonable. “When we know that these elements going into the environment are fundamentally toxic to living systems, it is imminently reasonable to ask them to stop expanding while we get some of these baseline indicators and monitoring systems set up."

First Nations communities prepare for battle over water, culture

jessie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:11:46 -0700

First Nations communities prepare for battle over water, culture

Carol Christian, August 20, 2008, Fort McMurray Today -- It was a weekend of concerns over unnecessary death and pain, but also of hope, praise and planning.

And when the doors closed on the Keepers of the River: Water is Boss conference, First Nations communities united in an unprecedented move, preparing for a David and Goliath fight in protecting their culture and traditional way of life.

The leaders of the more than 12 aboriginal communities represented unanimously approved a resolution “to take all steps in our power to protect our lands, sustain our communities and assert our rights.”

The resolution, to be passed on to government, outlined the leaders’ belief the pace of development in their territories is unsustainable and “are deeply concerned that governments are permitting development to proceed without our consent.”

The leaders resolved to initiate legal action to assert their rights, build unity in the communities, and work in solidarity with organizations that support their goals.

When the resolution was read out, it was greeted with a standing ovation from a diverse audience that included leaders, elders and others from across Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan and the N.W.T. — further signalling the scope of unity.

“There is going to be unified resistance to industry and government about the way they proceed with development throughout the whole region,” said Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam. “The First Nations have unified under one common goal: to work hand in hand with the NGOs (non-government organizations) and the general public to move forward on the basis that water is the key element resources that sustains all life and we have no other choice but to protect the water issue and further destruction of the land that provides our well-being.”

The conference was hosted by Adam’s community of Fort Chipewyan, an aboriginal community gaining worldwide attention for concerns around about several incidences of rare cancers and auto-immune disorders some have linked to contamination from oilsands operations upstream.

An independent report released last year by Dr. Kevin Timoney showed elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a known carcinogen. Industry and government maintain the water is safe.

The constant themes of the weekend were lack of consultation by industry and government with aboriginal communities, a call for unity of action and fear, fear of what was in the Athabasca River and what the future held for the traditional way of life. Many Aboriginal people continue to follow that way of life, gaining their subsistence from the land and water.

A fish with a second mouth caught earlier in the week was displayed at the conference Sunday, prompting one leader to challenge the presidents of Suncor Energy and Syncrude Canada to eat it.

A band councilor from the N.W.T., who recovered from a non-cancerous brain tumour in 2002, said no matter how much money oil companies donate to cancer research, the water will never be pure again. He added something has to be done no,w otherwise what’s happening in Fort Chip will start happening in northern communities such as Fort Smith.

“Our people will be dying too,” said the councillor.

During one of his weekend presentations, Adam said the communities need to build the coalition to protect the water and environment at all costs, but that doesn’t mean civil disobedience.

“What it means is we’re going to push the fight to the government at the table and industry. We would rather have them at the table during negotiations to resolve this issue. We get more support from the general public if we were to do it the proper way through the proper channels,” said Adam. “If need be, if the governments and industry will not listen to us, we have no other choice than revert to court action.”

Whether those two parties have their ears open may not be too promising as concerns raised in the past to government and industry have “always fallen on deaf ears,” said Adam, pointing to the revenue they gain from the oilsands.

“Wealth can’t buy you happiness. It’s the land that provides the services for you that provides that happiness that comes from within.”

As for the conference, which featured numerous panel and group discussions focusing on the water quality and environment, Adam was impressed, saying it surpassed all of his expectations.

“It went excellent,” he said. “It’s a world class conference.”

He added he was surprised by the number of people attending the event, not only from his own community, but from outside, across the north, and other parts of Canada.

“It shows that people are concerned. It’s at forums and conferences like this that speak of the issues, people will come to support, because they’re finding no support within the government structure right now.”

Mackenzie Pipeline or Pipe Dream? Grand plan for Alaskan gas mired in uncertainty

jessie — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:31:17 -0700

Mackenzie Pipeline or Pipe Dream? Grand plan for Alaskan gas mired in uncertainty

Ed Struzik, July 6, 2008, Edmonton Journal -- In the summer of 2001, Northwest Territories Finance Minister Joe Handley was sitting on the banks of the Mackenzie River betting $50 that a multibillion-dollar pipeline transporting Arctic gas up the 1,200-kilometre-long valley would be built before Alaska could figure a way of piping gas from its fields in Prudhoe Bay.

Like executives from Imperial Oil Ltd., which had a vision for the all-Canadian project, Handley was so confident of the prospects of success, he suggested 2007 was not an unrealistic date for completing the project, estimated at $4 billion.

That was then. This is now.

Now, after a term as the N.W.T. premier, Handley is taking time at his cabin outside Yellowknife to ponder a more lucrative future outside of politics.

The way things have been going lately, he will not be collecting on his bet any time soon.

The Mackenzie Valley project is no longer projected to cost $4 billion, or the $7 billion it was pegged at when Imperial and the pipeline consortium made the first regulatory applications in 2004.

The price is now $16.2 billion and rising.

Today, no one is placing bets on when the gas will start flowing up the valley. The odds are on whether gas will ever flow along a Mackenzie Valley route, at all.

Long dismissed as too expensive, the rival plan to bring huge reserves of natural gas from Prudhoe Bay through the Yukon and northern British Columbia is gaining momentum.

If an Alaska Highway pipeline goes ahead anytime soon, it will delay or possibly kill the Mackenzie Valley proposal.

If that happens, most of the more than $100 million invested so far in research, training, socio-economic agreements, negotiations and the regulatory review process will have been wasted.

"This is a mess," said University of Alberta energy expert Andre Plourde.

"A nightmare," according to Doug Matthews, a Calgary-based energy consultant who was director of minerals, oil and gas for the N.W.T. when the pipeline was first proposed.

"Worst-case scenario? The Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline will not be built," said Rob Huebert, an Arctic expert and associate director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

Publicly, the companies behind the Mackenzie Valley pipeline consortium -- Imperial, Shell Canada, ConocoPhillips and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group (APG) -- are trying to be optimistic.

They say negotiations with northern aboriginal groups for access and benefits agreements are progressing nicely. So too, they say, are discussions with the federal government to get a fiscal framework for the project in place.

But the latest in a long series of setbacks is clearly testing their patience and, perhaps, their resolve.

Told last fall that the Joint Review Panel report looking into the environmental and socio-economic impacts of pipeline development would be ready sometime around now, the pipeline consortium recently learned, through unofficial channels, it won't be out until sometime in 2009. If that's the case, the earliest date gas would start flowing south is 2015.

"All I can say is this is not a welcome development," said Pius Rolheiser, spokesman for Imperial Oil.

Rolheiser, of course, is just doing his job being so polite. The reaction in Imperial's boardroom was undoubtedly a lot more salty.

In the eight years since the idea of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline was revived, virtually everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Land claims disputes, aboriginal ownership issues, court challenges, rising costs, competing proposals and regulatory delays have slowed the process to a glacial pace.

So, too, has the failure of three different federal governments to take the bull by the horns and lay out in clear and certain terms where Ottawa stands on royalties, taxes, and infrastructure support for the project.

The fact that no government has resolved a long list of environmental and socio-economic issues hasn't made it easy for the Joint Review Panel either.

If built, the Mackenzie Valley Gas Project would carry about 1.9 billion cubic feet of gas per day. That's enough to satisfy most of the additional energy demands required by Alberta's booming oilsands operations in ten years.

Things were actually looking pretty positive for the project back in 2002 when Handley and others were suggesting the 2007 target date.

As promising as the start was, it would be another two years before the pipeline consortium made its application to the National Energy Board.

Doug Matthews says the first mistake was made by Imperial Oil when it failed to recognize the value the Aboriginal Pipeline Group would bring to the table if it were given an ownership stake in the project. Representing aboriginal groups from across the N.W.T., 30 northern aboriginal leaders formed APG in the hopes of maximizing ownership and benefits from the pipeline and to support greater independence and self-reliance among Mackenzie Valley residents.

"Given the fact that Imperial had been in the North since the 1920s, one would have thought they'd find a way of arranging for aboriginal equity in the project very quickly," Matthews said. "But that didn't happen. They insisted on the APG coming up with all the money required to give them a stake. It was a lot of money they didn't have. That really slowed things down."

In the meantime, continued uncertainty about the regulatory regime hampered the consortium's ability to get hundreds of permits needed to collect field data.

Overwhelmed and unable to resolve issues that were outside its control, the consortium threw in the towel in 2005, taking a six-month breather. As it turned out, it was time it couldn't afford.

Given the torrid pace of energy developments in northern Alberta, the cost of manpower, equipment and steel was quickly going through the roof. Forced to revise its cost estimates, the consortium had to go back to the National Energy Board in early 2007 with the new, eye-popping $16.2-billion price tag.

If all this weren't bad enough, Alaskan producers ConocoPhillips and BP PLC added a nightmarish subplot to the story last month by unveiling a $25-billion proposal to rival TransCanada Corp.'s plan to build a pipeline from the North Slope of the state to the lower 48 states.

Worse still for the Mackenzie pipeline interests, the announcement came on the heels of a report that suggested the Horn River area of northern British Columbia could hold up to 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That's more gas than is now recoverable from the entire North Slope. It's also gas an Alaska pipeline could tap into.

If an Alaska Highway pipeline were built any time soon, most experts believe it would delay or kill the Mackenzie project. There simply isn't enough labour, steel and equipment to build two pipelines at the same time.

Joe Handley admits he's sorely disappointed with all that has transpired over the last seven years, putting much of the blame squarely on the federal government for not being more forthright on royalties, taxes and infrastructure.

"The fact is no government in Ottawa, especially a minority government like this one, wants to be seen giving any kind of break to Imperial or Exxon or any other energy company," he said.

Shell refinery opponents celebrate

jessie — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:56:37 -0700

Shell refinery opponents celebrate

Jack Poirier, July 9, 2008, The Observer -- Gayle Farr no immediate plans to remove the "No Shell" sign planted in her St. Clair Parkway yard.

While local business and government leaders touted the economic windfall promised by a proposed Shell Canada refinery , some neighbours and First Nation residents questioned its environmental costs.

So they were relived by news the project has been mothballed.

"This is one little step to protect what we have in the (St. Clair) river," Farr said.

Her sign has stood in opposition to the proposed refinery for two years.

"It was presented as this miracle cure to cure all the economic woes (in Sarnia-Lambton).

"We have to diversify. We have to find another way to produce jobs. We can't afford to do it with chemical plants and refineries," she said.

Farr was co-organizer of a project information meeting scheduled for Thursday in Courtright.

"Maybe we'll just get a big cake and celebrate," she said.

Aamjiwnaang's Ron Plain, a project manager with Environmental Defence, said the refinery wasn't a good fit for the area.

"The reality is we would have had to deal with more emissions. I consider this a victory for Sarnia-Lambton," he said. "The environmental and health impacts that we already suffer would have been compounded with the addition of a new plant."

Walpole Island First Nation Chief Joseph Gilbert said his community objected to the site location because of existing impacts from neighbouring industry.

The Shell project would have increased emissions to the air and water from the 67 industrial plants already located upriver from Walpole, he said.

“We’ve never been against progress, but we expressed concern (about) what the impact would be on future generations.”

Shell had received unanimous support from municipal, provincial and federal government officials, with some stating they would do anything to move the project forward. Local business, labour and economic development officials cited the many positive economic impacts another refinery would bring.

"What good is that if your environment is destroyed?" Gilbert asked

Métis Nation denied intervener status; More than 100 attend first day of hearings for Petro-Canada oilsands upgrader

jessie — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:52:39 -0700

Métis Nation denied intervener status; More than 100 attend first day of hearings for Petro-Canada oilsands upgrader

Robin Collum, June 24, 2008, The Edmonton Journal, FORT SASKATCHEWAN -- A bid by the Métis Nation of Alberta to be granted intervener status in the latest upgrader hearing was rejected by the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board on Monday.

The ERCB is conducting hearings to decide whether to approve Petro-Canada's application to build an oilsands upgrading plant northwest of Edmonton in an area called Upgrader Alley.

The Métis Nation argued it had a legal right to be included in the consultation process before the hearing stage, and claimed members' constitutional rights as Métis gave them a place in the consultation process separate from their rights as landowners.

The group asked on Monday to be given full intervener status in the proceedings, but the request was denied.

The organization can now be involved in the hearing only as discretionary participants, though members may appear as private citizens as well.

As a group, the Métis Nation will be allowed to present a summary of evidence and concerns after Petro-Canada representatives have spoken.

They will get no funding or extra time, and the presentation cannot touch on constitutional issues.

"We wanted to be consulted on what impacts this would have on the Métis people of this area," said Cecil Bellrose, regional president of the Métis Nation.

Bellrose said the Métis Nation had wanted to be able to put forth concerns regarding land and water use, as well as hunting and fishing.

"I'm disappointed, I guess," Bellrose said. "It was argued here today that we don't have constitutionally protected rights, but that's not true."

While Bellrose said the Métis weren't interested in stopping the Petro-Canada development, some people who live near the proposed site want it moved somewhere else.

More than 100 people were at the hearings on Monday to watch the proceedings and register to speak later in the week.

Some say they're concerned about the negative effects they claim the Petro-Canada project will have on the environment.

Luzmaria Groot was at the hearing with her husband, Wayne. Their farm is in Upgrader Alley.

They don't want more heavy industry built on quality agricultural land, and are worried about the impact on the air and water.

"They are building this on prime farmland, and it's not acceptable. There are better places to go for them," Luzmaria said.

"I want them to know that we are worried about our children."

Neil Camarta, Petro-Canada's senior vice-president in charge of oilsands, said his company has good reasons to build in this part of Alberta.

"We'd like to build in the Heartland because it's close to Edmonton," he said.

"It's easier to build here than in Fort McMurray, and it's easier to attract workers here to build it and run it. There's lots of good reasons to build it in this area."

Camarta defended the development's projected environmental footprint.

"From an environmental perspective, this is a pretty good project," he said. "We're not using any fresh water, we're (carbon dioxide) sequestration-ready, and other emissions are lower than the previous generation of upgraders."

Camarta said he's confident the upgrader will get the green light from the board and that Petro-Canada is prepared to begin construction as early as this fall.

"We want to start preparing the site, and we've already ordered some of the materials. As soon as we get the approval, we're good to go."

If approved, Petro-Canada's upgrader could process 140,000 barrels of bitumen each day by 2012.

This hearing is scheduled to continue until July 4.

Petro-Canada presented witnesses in favour of the project on Monday. They will then be open for questioning by the board and those on the other side of the issue. Then the process is repeated with the anti-development side and its experts.

Petroleum meeting greeted by protesters

jessie — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:04:01 -0700

Petroleum meeting greeted by protesters

CBC, June 16, 2008 -- Oilsands protesters challenged investors at a Calgary petroleum conference on Monday to drink from bottles of murky water from Lake Athabasca, which sits near Alberta's major oilsands developments.

Environmentalists joined residents from the Fort Chipewyan area in northern Alberta at the annual symposium of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers to ask the oil and gas industry to slow down development long enough to fully study the water supply downstream from oilsands projects.

The protesters also wanted to attract the attention of hundreds of investors at the symposium.

"Our kids, my children, they swim in that water. They drink that water every day. They drink it and we drink it out of our taps, so if it's safe, they should be able to take a drink of it too," Lionel Lepine, a member of the 1,500-member Athabasca Fort Chipewyan First Nation, told CBC News outside the downtown meeting.

Lepine said he's lost several friends to cancer and that other friends and family are living with the disease.

"Who's to blame? I don't know. But … I bet my life it's coming from the tarsands," he said.

"These projects keep happening. That means nobody is listening, so I'm here to get the message across that you're killing us. We're dying," said Lepine.

After years of complaints about high rates of cancers and other illnesses in Fort Chipewyan, the Alberta and federal governments announced in May that they were launching a thorough review of health concerns in the region.

Protester Leah Henderson of Forest Ethics said they want to let the investor and financial communities know that there's a risk in the petroleum projects they back.

"They don't want to be investing in the destruction of life on earth as we know it," Henderson said.

Ross Levin, an investment analyst from New York, spoke to the protesters about their water challenge but declined to take a sip.

"I think that there are always environmental costs to any type of, sort of, natural-resource extraction, whether you're cutting down a tree or pulling oil out of the tarsands, and there's always going to be some kind of balance struck. We may argue about where the proper line ought to be drawn," he said.

"Where that balance gets struck and where securities are priced in the market creates sort of the matrix in which I try to understand what's a reasonable thing to own."

Pierre Alvarez, president of CAPP, said oilsands companies are responding to the environmental concerns as projects move forward.

"Sustainability reports are being submitted on an annual basis, so they're not just reporting on financial results, we're reporting on environmental results, and investors know that," he said.