To the editor:
Sierra Club BC is pleased about the June 30 decision to the overturn the federal approval of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline and tankers project.
Today is a good day for the British Columbia coast, climate and salmon rivers.
By overturning federal approval of Northern Gateway, the courts have put yet another nail in the coffin of this pipeline and tankers project.
Enbridge’s project has no social license, no shipping agreements and thus no ability to meet its conditions of approval.
It was facing the impossibility of navigating oil tankers around a tanker ban. With the June 30 court ruling, the project has no approval and no permits, period.
Now the Justin Trudeau government has the opportunity to do the right thing: reject this climate-polluting pipe dream for once and for all, and legislate a permanent oil tanker ban for B.C.’s north coast.
The First Nations who went to court to protect their lands, waters and indigenous rights were not standing alone. British Columbians from all across the province raised more than $600,000 to support their legal challenges, through the Pull Together initiative led by Sierra Club BC and RAVEN Trust.
We will continue to stand together to protect B.C.’s wild salmon economy from the risk of oil spills, until Prime Minister Trudeau legislates a permanent ban on oil tankers on the north coast.
Caitlyn Vernon
Campaigns Director, Sierra Club BC