Update: May 7, 2013 - Enbridge breaks safety rules at pipeline pump stations across Canada - CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/05/05/pol-enbridge-breaks-neb-safety-rules.html

Update: Nov 30, 2012 - Ottawa dials down support for Northern Gateway pipeline, citing 'huge challenges' - via Financial Post http://business.financialpost.com/2012/11/30/ottawa-dials-down-support-for-northern-gateway-pipeline-citing-huge-challenges/

Update: Oct 27, 2012 - A 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake hit BC's Haida Gwaii region - highlighting the dangers of routing a tar sands pipeline to BC's North Coast.

Update: Oct. 22 & 24, 2012 - Members of First Nations communities, environmentalists, politicians and private citizens joined together in anti-pipeline, anti-tanker protests, on Oct. 22nd at the BC legislature in Victoria and throughout BC on the 24th.

BC's Great Bear Rainforest (the world's largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest) is under siege! Plans endorsed by Canada's Government are underway to build the 1170 km long Northern Gateway pipeline to pump crude, unrefined bitumen from Alberta to Kitimat, on British Columbia's north coast. It would be built by Enbridge, a company that has been responsible for over 800 oil spills, since 1999 (1). This pipeline would cross many rivers, the Rocky Mountains and pristine wilderness. Much of this area is home to First Nations people. Oil tankers would collect and ship the raw crude to China (the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter).

We can stop this irresponsible development - BC's First Nations have a constitutional right to be consulted - and this hasn’t adequately been met. New documents reveal that the government knows that it can't address the legitimate concerns of First Nations from the area at risk.

Let Canada's government know that the voices of First Nations will never be silenced. Add your voice to the call to uphold the legal rights of the traditional custodians of the land and stop this reckless project from going ahead. It's not a matter of IF an oil spill would happen, but WHEN!

An oil spill would have devastating effects on the region and its native species. One species at great risk is the official mammal of BC (2), the Kermode or "Spirit" Bear, a genetically unique, white Black Bear possessing a recessive gene. With fewer than 400 of these bears left in the wild, they're rarer than China's Giant Pandas. In 1987, the Valhalla Wilderness Society started the Spirit Bear conservancy campaign and, along with many others including Simon Jackson's Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, were successful in 2006 in protecting over 1/2 million acres of habitat from clearcut logging. Protection never would've happened without the full support of the Kitasso Xai'xais & Gitga'at First Nations.

Now a larger threat looms for the Spirit Bear. Giant tankers plan to bring bitumen to Asia via the proposed Enbridge pipeline from Alberta's tar sands. Given the narrow marine channels, huge Pacific storms and the risk of Tsunamis & Earthquakes (3) in the Spirit Bear's homeland, an inevitable oil spill would devastate fragile marine ecosystems for decades to come, including salmon and other marine life that bears depend on. Such a catastrophic spill would also destroy the traditional livelihoods of First Nations communities and others in the area, representing millions of dollars of loss annually. We can't afford to have another Exxon-Valdez like spill or any major spill off the BC coast.

While Stephen Harper's Government openly supports building the pipeline, the BC government has recently outlined several requirements for approval (4). We have until Dec. 31, 2013 to influence the final decision during the review (5), which demands Enbridge to table the US NTSB report on the 2010 Kalamazoo spill as evidence (6). Please sign & share the petition and call for a permanent tanker ban off BC's north coast, protection of fish habitat and tell Ottawa and Victoria that the destructive Northern Gateway pipeline should NOT be approved.

The time is NOW to speak out for a healthy environment, sustainable economy and for a government that stands for all Canadians, not just for corporate elite!

Sources:

(1): Out on the Tar Sands Mainline - Mapping Enbridge's Web of Pipelines: http://www.tarsandswatch.org/files/Updated%20Enbridge%20Profile.pdf

(2): B.C. SPIRT BEAR NAMED OFFICIAL PROVINCIAL MAMMAL http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2006OTP0065-000366.htm

(3): Geological Survey identifies Tsunami hazard, possible fault line in Douglas Channel: http://nwcoastenergynews.com/2012/09/18/3753/geological-survey-identifies-tsunami-hazard-fault-line-douglas-channel/

(4): Enbridge and BC: First Nations Reject Christy Clark's Sales Pitch: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/-1684574.htm

(5): Northern Gateway Pipeline Review: Feds set hard deadline - Vancouver Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Northern+Gateway+pipeline+review+Feds+hard+deadline/7039726/story.html

(6): Northern Gateway pipeline review panel demands consideration of 'Keystone Kops' report on Enbridge: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/energy-resources/Northern+Gateway+pipeline+review+panel+demands/7089895/story.html

* Photo credit: Spirit Bear by Simon Jackson - Spirit Bear Youth Coalition Founder