Carney’s deal with the devil: a deadly tar sands pipeline through B.C., violating Indigenous rights and risking another Exxon Valdez oil spill

OTTAWA | TRADITIONAL, UNCEDED TERRITORY OF THE ALGONQUIN ANISHNAABEG PEOPLE – While governments and civil society meet in Brazil for COP30 to address the climate emergency, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are advancing the most controversial fossil fuel project in Canadian history – a dirty tar sands bitumen pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast. This financially unsound project, already stopped once, risks First Nations and civil society opposition and international condemnation, and is a complete break with Canadians’ efforts to advance Indigenous Reconciliation and climate commitments.

In 2016, after years of Indigenous and civil society opposition and legal challenges, the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline – which would have transported 500,000 barrels of toxic bitumen oil per day – was halted. In 2019, a federal moratorium on oil tankers in coastal waters of B.C. stretching from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to Alaska was enacted in law, affirming the critical value of this region to coastal communities, First Nations, and marine life. An informal moratorium had been in place since 1972.

At the UN climate talks in Brazil, over 80 countries are calling for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels. And some, from China to Pakistan, are making unprecedented leaps forward in renewable energy generation, particularly solar power. By contrast, Canada is moving in the wrong direction, expanding fossil fuel production, including recently announcing support for two new liquified methane gas (LNG) facilities. Fossil fuels are the single largest driver of human-caused climate change.

Liz McDowell, Stand.earth Senior Campaigns Director, said:

“Any attempt to build another pipeline to move the dirtiest oil on the planet through one of the most ecologically fragile places on Earth will be met with an opposition that will make the Trans Mountain, Enbridge and Keystone XL protests look like a kid’s birthday party. Every climate and social justice civil society organization on these lands, and beyond, will be tireless and dogged in our resistance. This is not just about Canadian wildfires and droughts, this is about fossil-fueled storms decimating nations like Jamaica and the Philippines, and entire islands sinking due to rising seas. Lawsuits will be filed. Protests will fill the streets and the halls of government. We will mobilize nationally and internationally to rise for legally-protected Indigenous rights.”

Regarding Northern Gateway 2.0, Kiki Wood, Senior Campaigner with Stand.earth said:

“Danielle Smith doesn’t seem to understand that ‘no’ means ‘no’. Advancing a dirty tar sands bitumen oil pipeline through sacred temperate rainforest and unceded territory, trampling Indigenous rights while world leaders meet to tackle the climate crisis is a stab in the back, a traitorous offense, a disappearance of leadership, and morally repugnant. The Trans Mountain tar sands oil pipeline cost taxpayers $35 billion and it still isn’t operating at full capacity. With global oil demand projected to tail off, why would we need another pipeline? People living in B.C., including Coastal First Nations, have been clear, we are not willing to risk another Exxon Valdez-sized tanker disaster. Canada has the chance to invest in clean energy and protecting nature, not doubling down on the very fuels driving wildfires, floods, deadly heat and droughts.”

Regarding the rolling back the tanker ban, Anna Barford, Oceans Campaigner with Stand.earth, said:

“Setting the tanker ban adrift means losing billions of dollars in the ocean economy by exponentially increasing the timeline for the big oil spill. Tankers inevitably have accidents that lead to spills, which are impossible to clean up. Tar sands products are sticky and sink, the impact from a spill will last generations within the ecosystem, which is why the ban was in place to begin with. Removing the decades long protections against a worst case scenario oil spill is an act of designating a sacrifice zone for tar sands prosperity.”

Regarding moving ahead with carbon capture and storage technology (CCUS), Sven Biggs, Oil and Gas Campaign Director with Stand.earth said:

“Carbon capture and storage is nothing more than another subsidy for the fossil fuel industry and an excuse to keep burning oil and gas. The federal government has already spent $9.1 billion on it at the behest of the fossil fuel industry only to show that it’s costly, unproven at scale, and to date has captured roughly 0.5% of national emissions. Either way, carbon capture is not a solution to the majority of fossil fuel emissions, which come from burning oil, gas, and coal by the end user.”

Liz McDowell, Stand.earth Senior Campaigns Director, added:

“In just months Carney has undone a decade of climate progress, dragging Canada back to the Harper years. This shortsighted focus on expanding oil and gas is only going to hurt Canadians. While other countries are making unprecedented leaps in renewable energy production, Canada’s stuck in the past – and we’re going to get left behind.”

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Contact

Liz McDowell, Senior Campaigns Director – Stand.earth +1 604-219-6337, liz@stand.earth (Pacific Time)

Sven Biggs, Canadian Oil and Gas Programs Director – Stand.earth +1 778-882-8354, sven@stand.earth (Pacific Time)

Richard Brooks, Climate Finance Director – Stand.earth +1 416-573-7209, richard@stand.earth (Eastern Time)

Kiki Wood, Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner – Stand.earth +1 604-367-1865, kiki@stand.earth  (Pacific Time)

Arin de Hoog, Communications, Oil, Gas and Shipping – Stand.earth. +1 613-978-7329, arin.dehoog@stand.earth (Eastern Time)