Chief taking a long look at pipeline

By George T. Baker
The Daily News (Prince Rupert)
Friday, December 05, 2008

Lax Kw'alaams elected Chief John Helin expressed cautious concern about Enbridge Inc.'s plan to build its Northern Gateway pipeline though Northern B.C. to Kitimat.

While the project would dip southward before it reaches Prince Rupert, it will partially go through Lax Kw'alaams territory, meaning the First Nation band is expecting to be consulted.

Helin said Enbridge had approached the band about the project and he said he was waiting to hear more.

"We understand the proposed route and we have some concerns around tanker traffic and where it is going to go," said Helin of the conversation he and Lax Kw'alaams council had with Enbridge officials. "We just have to see how that is going to go."

The proposed project consists of two pipelines going east-west with Alberta tar sands oil and west-east with condensate. Enbridge expects to pump 525,000 barrels of oil and 193,000 barrels of condensate each day.

Helin added that Enbridge representatives have insisted that it will be the safest project of this type in the world but he said the band has not said 'yes' or 'no' at this point.

For North Coast residents, the environmental concerns that have been raised centre around the oil tankers moving through the province's northern shores - a scary proposition for some.

If a condensate tanker were to spill in Hecate Strait, according to Bruce Hill of the Headwaters Institute, it would kill any species within contact. The good news is that it would evaporate fairly quickly.

As for the oil, they are still cleaning up the mess Exxon Valdez left in 1989.

In an effort to subdue those fears, Enbridge has taken to touring the northern-half of B.C. to give their side of the story and, as the company's representatives claim, to receive feedback on their plans and mold their plans into what northerners want to see.

As part of that wooing, the Calgary-based pipeline operator has added an extra incentive to First Nations communities in the North by offering them a collective 10 per cent stake in the project. There are also potentially 4,000 temporary jobs at stake, which for a community like Lax Kw'alaams suffering from sever unemployment could mean jobs.

Helin said economics were an important consideration and part of the reason why he could not just turn his back on Enbridge even though his community has serious environmental concerns about the proposed project.

"I think any opportunity like that we would be very interested in," said Helin.
But he added that Lax Kw'alaams leadership was very concerned about the salmon in the region and conservation efforts for the environment.

"We have to be comfortable in the fact that nothing is going to happen to harm the environment."

Enbridge's vice president of communications and aboriginal affairs Roger Harris said that Enbridge has already got almost 20 First Nation communities to sign on to the agreement. Harris said that agreement does not mean they approve the project, it just means they are working on the design aspect.

The challenge for Enbridge is that its proposed pipeline runs through 60 First Nations communities, many of which are still dealing with land claims and treaty rights and still undecided. Navigating through different politics will be just as important as planning the line itself.

Opposition to the proposed project among First Nations communities along the projected line run from expectations needing to be met to outright refusal.

There are tribes, such as the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council whose territory is just west of Prince George, who have said they will not approve the pipeline until there is an independent First Nations-led Environmental Assessment. And there are tribes like Haida Nation who have said that they would not sign an agreement with Enbridge and that they were opposed to any oil tanker traffic in Hecate Strait.

"There is absolutely no doubt that there are communities that have problems with the federal government's environmental process," said Harris, who is the former BC Liberal MLA for the Skeena riding and who has been at odds with the Haida Nation in the past over forestry on Haida Gwaii.

He recognized there was opposition to oil tankers but said Enbridge would continue to try to work with all First Nations communities during the lifeline of the project.