MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2008

BC activists call for no new approvals after visit to Alberta tar sands

Edmonton – A group of British Columbian activists who have just completed a three-day “learning tour” of the Alberta tar sands are calling for an end to new approvals for tar sands expansion at a press conference today.

“We have come to Alberta because we are concerned with Gordon Campbell’s proposal for an energy corridor carrying tar sands oil to West Coast ports,” says Carleen Pickard, BC organizer for the Council of Canadians. Despite having adopted California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, the BC government is backing this initiative to have tankers ply through fragile coastal eco-systems to carry oil south to the United States and West to China.”

She was joined by BC based representatives from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Greenpeace, Check Your Head, the Stop TILMA Coalition and accompanied by reporters from the Institute for Citizen Journalism, who visited Fort McMurray to hear the firsthand experiences of communities living around the tar sands.

The groups are critical of the B.C. government. “Our premier Gordon Campbell has said climate change is a top priority, yet he’s encouraging increased tar sands production and more greenhouse gases by his support for the Enbridge pipeline and northern energy corridor. This is hypocritical. He should be using his special relationship with Alberta to try to slow down tar sands development, not encouraging more”, says Blair Redlin of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Greenpeace organizer Mike Hudema, based out of Edmonton, also joined the group. “With the lack of a federal plan to meaningfully address climate change it becomes more important for provinces to take the lead in fighting global warming and working to protect our environment. Ending new approvals on the tar sands is the first step in addressing this social and environmental nightmare."

They are also calling on the Federal government to adopt a sustainable Canadian energy strategy and resist pressures to increase production to satisfy an expanding U.S. market.

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For more information, please contact Carleen Pickard: (604) 340-2455; (780) 504-5601; .

For more information about energy, visit www.Canadians.org/energy and www.IntegrateThis.ca.