[antiwar-van] Release: Pacific Trails Pipeline Evicted by Unist’ot’en and Likhts’amisyu

[Harsha W.]

MEDIA RELEASE

Linked here: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=4547


PACIFIC TRAILS PIPELINE EVICTED BY WET’SUWET’EN IN INTERIOR OF BC

November 15, 2011 – Setting up a road blockade with signs “Road Closed to
Pacific Trails Pipeline Drillers”, an alliance of the Unist’ot’en and the
Likhts’amisyu of the Wet’suwet’en Nation have evicted and escorted out
Pacific Trails Pipeline drillers and their equipment.

According to Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief Toghestiy, “We evicted Pacific
Trails Pipeline drillers from our territory this weekend. The drillers in
one vehicle actually cheered for our blockade and one driller told us
‘Nobody wants to see any pipelines in the North – especially one that
operates as dirty as this one. Have a good day guys and good luck.’”

“Pacific Trails Pipeline had moved in equipment to do directional drilling
around Gosnell River where our salmon spawn. Their exploratory drilling
and whole pipeline proposal will spell certain disaster in the Peace River
area. We have to protect our sensitive aquifers from the destruction of
pipelines – from the Alberta Tar Sands to our side of the Rocky Mountains.
You cannot make compromises with the life-sustaining force of water”
continues Toghestiy.

Kloum Khun, a Likhts’amisyu hereditary Chief who also participated in the
blockade, said: “We had a sign that said ‘No Pipelines’ and pointed it out
to the drillers. We told them to take out all their equipment from our
territory.”

The Pacific Trails Pipeline, official known as the Kitimat Summit Lake
(KSL) gas pipeline, is a proposed natural gas pipeline that will move upto
1 million cubic feet per day of natural gas from Summit Lake near Prince
George to Kitimat using an underground 36 inch diameter pipeline with an
18-metre right of way on each side. Much of this natural gas is acquired
through the environmentally destructive process of hydraulic fracturing,
known as fracking. After processing, the natural gas would be shipped in
supertankers from ports in Kitamat to the international market. In
February 2011, Pacific Northern Gas sold its stake in the project to the
Apache Corporation and EOG Resources (formerly Enron).

The Pacific Trails Pipeline has a similar proposed right-of-way as
Enbridge Pipeline in Wet’suwet’en territory. According to Toghestiy:
“Enbridge is using the fact that Pacific Trails is proposing the same
right of way as Enbridge to mitigate their own ecological footprint on our
territory.” During a May 2011 interview with Fox News, Enbridge CEO Pat
Daniel discussed Enbridge’s move into the natural gas market and the
possibility of “synergies” between the Enbridge’s Gateway Project and the
Pacific Trails Pipeline.

The $5.5-billion proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline would carry
700,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta to Kitimat. In August
2010, representatives of Enbridge in Smithers, Michelle Perret and Kevin
Brown, received formal notice from Wet’suweten hereditary chiefs Hagwilakw
and Toghestiy that Enbridge did not have permission to build a pipeline on
their lands and was trespassing on unceded Wet’suwet’en lands.

Freda Huson, a spokesperson for the Unist’ot’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en,
says her community was not consulted about these proposed pipelines: “The
corporations never informed us or consulted us about their plans. Pacific
Trail Pipeline’s proposed route is through two main salmon spawning
channels which provide our staple food supply. We have made the message
clear to Enbridge and Pacific Trails and all of industry: We cannot and
will not permit any pipelines through our territory.”

The Unist’ot’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en participated in the First and
Second Indigenous Assembly Against Mining and Pipelines in BC. Says Mel
Bazil: “The plans of Christy Clark and the BC government to push mining
and pipeline developments into our territories will fail. We reject the
short-term interests of profit that motivates those mining and pipeline
developments that are trespassing on our unceded Indigenous lands.

- 30 –

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Freda Huson: spokesperson for Unist’hot’en: (778)210-1100 or (250)
847-8897 Toghestiy: (250) 847- 8897
Kloum Khun’s: (250) 847-9673
Mel Bazil: 250-877-2805


-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group