The oil spill in the Gulf highlights the reason why the people of the Northwest shouldn’t support the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project.
That was the predominant message that a delegation of B.C. First Nation’s had after returning from a four-day tour of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill recently. It is this devastation, they continue, that cannot be allowed to happen to B.C.’s coast.
“Everywhere we went people told us the same thing: if you have a choice when it comes to big oil development, don’t do it,” Gerald Amos, a councillor with the Haisla Nation said in a press release. “And if you do, prepare for the worst.”
Coastal and Inland First Nation’s are officially against the gateway project, which would carry crude oil from the Alberta Oil Sands to a tanker port in Kitimat, B.C. This would result in approximately 225 crude oil tankers per year arriving in the Kitimat harbour.
It’s a project that could impact B.C.’s salmon industry as it has the shrimping industry in Louisiana, Art Sterritt, executive director of Coastal First Nations said.
“The shrimp fishermen told us that their economy is gone, but worse than that they risk losing a huge part of their fishing culture,” Sterritt said. “That’s a message that hits close to home for our people, who depend so heavily on fish and seafood.”
