The Globe and Mail reports, “Oil and gas development is to be banned from a 400,000-hectare area in northwestern British Columbia known as the Sacred Headwaters… In an announcement, expected (today), the B.C. government will confirm that Shell Canada Ltd. is immediately abandoning plans for (shale gas) drilling in the area where the headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers are located. At the same time, the province will announce that it is not going to issue any future petroleum or natural-gas tenures in the region – effectively making permanent a moratorium that has been in place for the past four years. …The Globe has (also) learned that the government hasn’t finished yet with plans to protect the Sacred Headwaters, and that the oil and gas ban may be followed by some restrictions on mining activity as well.”
The news is not all good. The article adds, “It is understood Shell Canada agreed to give up its rights to shale gas in the Sacred Headwaters, in part because it has better prospects in northeastern B.C., which the company will now focus on developing. In a related agreement, the B.C. government will issue Shell $20-million in royalty credits, in recognition of the upfront capital costs and rental payments made by the company on its lost tenures. The royalty credits are to be used by Shell to help build a new water recycling project, which will support its gas developments elsewhere in the province.”
Why did this happen? “The deal with Shell Canada is expected to give the Liberal government led by Premier Christy Clark a significant green boost as it heads toward an election next spring.”
In November 2007, the Council of Canadians chapters participated in a day of action against Shell’s operations in the Sacred Headwaters. In a major June 2008 speech, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow drew attention to Shell’s plan to destroy the shared headwaters of BC’s Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers – known as the Sacred Headwaters – by drilling for coal bed methane gas. She also donated the award money presented at that speech to the Sacred Headwaters to support their struggle to protect the ancient fishing grounds.
