On October 17, Council of Canadians organizer Brigette DePape spoke at a rally outside the Petronas office on West Hastings Street in Vancouver. The Malaysian company is seeking to build an export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility on Lelu Island in northwestern British Columbia. Their terminal could be operational by 2018 and would be serviced by the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline. The chiefs of the Gitxsan house of Luutkudziiwus have already said that pipeline cannot go through its territory.
The rally also fell on the one year anniversary of the RCMP raid on the Mi’kmaq blockade against fracking in Elsipogtog.
The call-out for the rally noted, “We target the LNG industry in memory of ‘Elsi’ and in support of the Global Frackdown. In ‘British Columbia’ Premier Clark is pushing investment in fracked gas regardless of the communities who said NO, the cost to human life, or the risk to our sensitive natural environment.”
To watch the five-minute video of Brigette speaking, please click here.
In her talk she mentions Petronas’ threat over an LNG tax and regulations, as well as the Mount Polley tailings disaster, the Klabona Keepers, the approval of the Site C dam, and other important issues.
The Council of Canadians has been actively opposing LNG projects in British Columbia. To find out more about that work, please read this blog by Vancouver-based regional organizer Leila Darwish, LNG Pipedreams, Fractured Futures and Community Resistance. In it she notes the May 21 public forum in Vancouver organized by the Council of Canadians and the Wilderness Committee. On September 25, Leila and Brigette were also at the LNG and Petro-State Politics event in Squamish organized My Sea to Sky and co-sponsored by the Council of Canadians. Leila will also speak against LNGs at a public forum in Delta (organized by our Delta/Richmond chapter) on Wednesday (October 22) and in Comox Valley on November 4.
For all our campaign blogs against LNGs, please click here.
