[Ost-news] Shell Shocked: Over 400 Residents Come Together to Oppose Shell Coalbed Methane

[gispwudwada]

Shell Shocked: Over 400 Residents Come Together to Oppose Shell Coalbed Methane

http://www.nationtalk.ca/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9874

May 25, 2008 (Smithers, BC) – Over 400 First Nations people and other Northwest BC residents packed Gitanmaax Hall in Hazelton, BC, Saturday to speak out against Shell’s plan for coalbed methane extraction at the shared headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers.
  
  The Sacred Headwaters Summit brought together members of the Gitxsan, Tahltan, Wet’suwet’en, Tsimshian, Haisla, Carrier-Sekani, and Nisga’a, as well as guide outfitters, anglers and other concerned citizens. 

“This event was an unprecedented demonstration of opposition by a united region,” said Des Nobels, Chair of Friends of Wild Salmon. “We hope both the BC government and Shell have heard the message that people do not plan to give up.” 

Shell currently holds a 400,000-hectare tenure for coalbed methane exploration in the Sacred Headwaters. Its project poses risks to the region’s wildlife and wild salmon. 

Jack Stanford, a salmon ecologist from the University of Montana, delivered the day’s keynote address. He described how similar development has caused serious environmental destruction in his home state. Greg Brown of the Pembina Institute also spoke about the probable impacts of Shell’s project on wild salmon. 

The Honourable John Fraser spoke from the floor to ask why the federal fisheries ministry had not taken a stand on a project that poses such significant threats to wild salmon. 

Member of Parliament Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) said never seen a project in the northwest that posed more risk and delivered less benefits than Shell’s. A poll Cullen conducted last month showed twice as many people in the Skeena watershed oppose Shell’s project as support it. 

Rhoda Quock, a member of the Tahltan Nation, spoke of her people’s struggle against Shell, including road blockades and an ongoing court case. “We are not going away. We will fight to the very end,” Quock told the crowd to loud applause. 

Shannon McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, got the crowd on its feet, stomping and cheering, as she invited people to show Shell that residents will stand in solidarity until the company withdraws its plans. 

Kathy Penny, who heads Shell’s Klappan Coalbed Methane project, spoke briefly. She said she had heard many important messages, but gave no hint as to whether Shell would cancel their drilling plans. 

Shell planned to drill 14 exploratory wells this spring, but has recently announced it will postpone until fall. 

The Sacred Headwaters Summit was co-hosted by Friends of Wild Salmon, the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition and the Gitanmaax Band of the Gitxsan Nation. 

Contact: 
Des Nobels, Friends of Wild Salmon: 250-627-1859 
Shannon McPhail, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition: 250-842-2494 
(photos and b-roll available by request)
       
---------------------------------
All new Yahoo! Mail - Get a sneak peak at messages with a handy reading pane.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.oilsandstruth.org/pipermail/ost-news/attachments/20080529/018bb200/attachment.html>