The Dominion - Washington DC

Canadian Delegation Talks Pipeline Impacts in Washington

Tim McSorley — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:43:54 +0000

Fears over spills, environmental impact spurr concerns on both sides of border

VANCOUVER—First Nations and environmental representatives from Canada are ratcheting up the pressure against the oil sands by taking their campaigning to the United States. In late May, a delegation headed to Washington, DC, to lobby against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline expansion and future impacts on the environment and their communities.

The controversial project would funnel over a million barrels of oil sands bitumen each day from Northern Alberta down to the Gulf of Mexico and has caused concern over pipeline safety and environmental and land rights issues that have yet to be addressed.

“Many were intrigued that we were there. They don’t get a chance to hear from First Nations on this side of the border too often. There are a number of concerns we have with this project. Firstly there is no cohesive long-term plan on how to proceed with the Alberta oil sands. It’s really the ‘old west’ in Alberta when it comes to natural resources and downstream communities are negatively affected by this development,” said Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief for the North West Territories Bill Erasmus.

“We want to see sustainable development of this resource as well as having the downstream impacts addressed. Canada needs a strong climate change policy and right now there is no plan," he said. "We are not saying no to development, we need to take a step back, see what is truly transpiring and develop a better approach.”

Upon invitation from the US Congress and the Obama administration, Erasmus, Chief Roxanne Marcel from the Mikisew Cree First Nation and representatives from the Pembina Institute, Climate Action Network Canada and Environmental Defense Canada stated where they stood on the project.

The delegation met Assistant Secretary of Ocean and Environment Dr. Karri-Ann Jones, members from the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, members of the media and several congressmen.

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline by Calgary-based TransCanada Corporation would build upon existing pipeline infrastructure that transports Alberta oil sands bitumen to refineries in the US.

Keystone pipeline infrastructure currently sends 590,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Hardisty, Alberta to refineries in Illinois, Nebraska and Oklahoma over the 3,467-kilometre trek.

The XL would add another 2,673 kilometres of added pipeline infrastructure that will cross Indigenous lands in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the United States.

Keystone has said the XL pipeline will move 700,000 bpd from Canada and US receipt points through Steele City, NB, to Cushing, OK, and down to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

About 200,000 bpd of the payload will be delivered into Cushing and the remaining 500,000 bpd will be transported to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

Keystone has said their presidential permit application is requesting authority to transport up to 900,000 bpd, up from their initial capacity of 700,000 bpd.

The 6,140 km XL project would be over four times longer than the Trans Alaskan pipeline, and TransCanada has compared the undertaking to the construction of the Pyramids of Giza.

For Obama and other Americans the debate is on safety, energy security and vying for access to Canadian reserves while considering Asian and other international market competition.

Republicans are pressuring the Obama administration to approve the project before the end of 2011.

Only in operation for about a year, the Keystone pipeline has already had numerous reported spills.

Discussions of the XL expansion impacts come as TransCanada continues to clean up two recent spills in Kansas and North Dakota.

Keystone was shut down on May 9, 2011, after a spill in Bismarck, North Dakota where 21,000 gallons of oil leaked from a valve failure at a pumping station, and again May 29 after a small spill in Kansas.

A formal investigation has been set up by the North Dakota Public Service Commission into how the spill occurred and if TransCanada acted appropriately.

First Nations downstream from Albertan oil sands projects have felt the worst of the development, suffering serious health impacts, water, fish and soil contamination as well as massive amounts of water consumption, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Studies from respected scientists have shown increases in harmful contaminants in the area including arsenic, mercury, aluminum, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, phosphorus, selenium, titanium, total phenols, herbicides and pesticides as well as traces of ammonia, antimony, manganese, nickel and molybdenum.

These chemicals have been associated with type 2 diabetes, cancers of the bile duct, liver and urinary tract and skin and vascular diseases.

Industry and government sources suggest tailings pond leakage into soil, groundwater and surface water are insignificant despite reports in 2003 that found leakage rates were at 11 million litres per day.

The Alberta government, industry-funded Regional Aquatics Monitoring System has been widely criticized for using “questionable statistical methods and assumptions,” and for the “lack of details of methods, failure to describe rationales for program changes, examples of inappropriate statistical analysis and unsupported conclusions and inadequate monitoring sites.”

With no clear long term sustainable vision or plan for the oil sands, the Keystone pipeline expansion would allow for unabated increased production in Northern Alberta without considering present issues associated with the development.

Erasmus said he and other First Nations have taken their concerns to provincial and federal governments north of the border, including requesting independent environmental monitoring, but they have been all but ignored.

“To date the federal and provincial governments have not taken the concerns seriously of impacted First Nations,” said Erasmus. “They claim there is no proof the oil sands are adversely effecting communities. The project is seen as being in Canada’s national interest and that it must go ahead.”

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that Indigenous communities must have free, prior and informed consent before any projects like the Keystone XL get the go-ahead.

The US State Department has opted to hold a new round of public consultation hearings into the XL expansion in six different locations throughout impacted areas, after they release a final environmental impact statement on the project.

A decision is expected near the end of 2011.

Keystone refused to be interviewed for this article.

Trevor Kehoe is a journalist originally from Calgary, now based in Vancouver. You can read more at www.commoninterestcanada.blogspot.com, where this article was originally published.

War Makes Terrorists

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 23:31:46 +0000

Hundreds of thousands march for peace in D.C.

Protesters argued that resources going to Iraq would be better spent in New Orleans photo: Carey Jernigan

Between two and three hundred thousand people descended on the streets of Washington, D.C. on September 24th to protest the war in Iraq — to demand an end to violence overseas and to demand resources for the impoverished at home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Hundreds of others, traveling to the capital on Amtrak trains from New York, were delayed or prevented from coming because of "electrical problems."

The march kicked off a festival at the Washington monument with live music (from Joan Baez to the Thievery Corporation) and speakers (including Rev. Jesse Jackson, basketball player Etan Thomas, and Cindy Sheehan — the mother who set up camp outside of Bush's Texas ranch after her son was killed in Iraq). The next day, a small counter-demonstration was held by those in support of the war. There were also workshops on non-violent civil disobedience in preparation for Monday when three hundred and seventy people were arrested after refusing to back off the sidewalk in front of the White House where they were asking to present President Bush with one million reasons to end the war in Iraq — reasons assembled by people around the world. Participants were given a $50 fine. There were also protests outside of the World Bank and IMF meetings.

I travelled to Vienna, Virginia from my home in Ontario, then took the metro into D.C. to attend the march. Sitting beside me on the subway were two young men. One wore a t-shirt that said "innocent bystander" and a hat reading "Veteran — U.S. Marine Corps." His friend wore a beer shirt. They were joking around: "We should have made signs saying: 'I'M ANGRY AT … SOMETHING.'"

"Yeah, or 'DAMN WHATEVER.'"

The train was packed. We squeezed our way up the escalator to get out of the station and onto the Mall, past the National Book Fair, and on to the grounds of the Washington Monument where thousands had already gathered. We passed a silent standoff between a line of protestors and police on horseback, and then followed a throng of people up 15th Street to begin the march. We would eventually pass the White House, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Bank of America, the F.B.I. Building, the Department of Justice, the I.R.S., and the National Museum of American History — building after grand building, colossal columns and marble bricks. Several people carried signs that were provided by protest organizers: 'TROOPS OUT NOW,' for example, or 'THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT; DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME.' Perhaps most interesting, though, were the thousands of home-made signs:

PROUD OF MY SOLDIER, ASHAMED OF THIS WAR.'

'BOO BUSH.' (This in a five-year-old's scrawling hand).

'SOMEBODY LIED.' (This carried by a veteran well into his eighties).

'DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC.'

'WAR MAKES TERRORISTS.'

'BREASTS NOT BOMBS.' (Four women posing as examples.)

'MAKE LEVEES, NOT WAR.'

'WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB?'

'YOU CAN'T BE PRO-LIFE AND PRO-WAR.'

'GUERRA DE LOS RICOS, SANGRE DE LOS POBRES.'

'BUSH'S HIJAKER MATH: 15 SAUDIS + 4 EQYPTIANS = ATTACK IRAQ.'

In a few spots along the way, groups of large men with bibles shouted 'Fear God' photo: Carey Jernigan

Some people carried signs saying that they had been here to protest the war in Vietnam, and now again for Iraq. At that earlier protest, people carried candles and shouted the names of those who had died in Vietnam as they passed the White House.

At one point we decided to work our way up to the front. We never made it — people had been marching for hours already and continued to fill the streets into the night.

There was some street theatre — a dance troop with perhaps fifty paper-mâché people moving to the beat of a drum, facing off with well-dressed women in tiaras carrying shopping bags, getting shot down, getting back up.

In a few spots along the way, groups of large men with bibles shouted 'Fear God' or 'You're marching with communists!,' calling the passers-by traitors. One had a sign featuring an automatic rifle: 'GOD BLESS AMERICA. CURSE OUR ENEMIES.' Other war supporters lined a sidewalk behind police in front of the F.B.I. building. They held signs saying 'SUPPORT OUR TROOPS' and 'FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.'

There were some harsh words on both sides of the barricade, but for the most part, the march of thousands was quiet — line after line of protesters of all ages and upbringings, walking with dedication and silent anger, or sometimes sadness. Perhaps, as my neighbours on the metro had joked, they were "ANGRY AT SOMETHING" perhaps too disturbing or too difficult to shape into the words of brief protest rhymes.

Carey Jernigan marches for peace in Washington