Dharm Makwana

Coastal First Nations said no good could come from an Enbridge pipeline built in Northern British Columbia.

The proposed 1,170-kilometre Northern Gateway line, which would carry crude oil from Alberta tar sands to Kitimat B.C. where it would be loaded onto tankers and shipped to refineries along the Pacific Rim, poses a perilous threat to the environment and the very existence of Aboriginal ways of life, said Art Sterritt, Coastal First Nations executive director.

“There are some who believe the Enbridge pipeline is a done deal,” he said Tuesday at press conference in downtown Vancouver. “It isn’t.

“Enbridge completely ignores the fact that the larger part of the pipeline is going through the traditional territories of B.C.’s First Nations. You see them here today in opposition.”

The First Nations alliance, representing 28 bands and councils, expressed their opposition to the Northern Gateway project formally by declaring oil tankers carrying will not be allowed to "transit affected lands and waters."

More than 125 groups, businesses, environmental organizations and prominent Canadians including Dr. David Suzuki and Margaret Atwood support the opposition group.

“We are not trifling with this,” Sterritt said, adding CFN is prepared to launch legal challenges based on rights and titles.

Coastal First Nations would establish a blockade on the water should plans go forward and tankers travel through Aboriginal territories near Kitimat, said CFN director Gerald Amos.

To “add insult to injury” the statement came on the 21st anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Sterritt explained.

A map produced by the alliance showed a similar ecological disaster would consume land and water from the southern tip of Alaska to Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island.

Enbridge Inc. is in the final stages of preparing a regulatory application to file with the National Energy Board in the coming weeks.

“The results of our consultation efforts are considered and incorporated where possible into the project design and routing to ensure we meet best practices with regards to safety and environmental protection,” said a statement released by Enbridge Inc.

Kitimat Mayor Joanne Monaghan has kept a close eye on the consultation process but will not commit one way or the other to the Enbridge project until all the environmental reviews are completed.

“I don’t think that anyone can make an educated decision unless they have all the information,” she said.

B.C. Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Blair Lekstrom sees benefits for rural communities like Kitimat, which has lost 2,000 jobs since November.

“Many people would like to think we can be off of fossil fuels tomorrow but the reality is its going to be a considerable length of time when we see that, if ever,” he said “I think we have to be realistic.

“As we move to look at opportunities that may create jobs we also have to recognize that we have to do it in an environmentally sustainable way. If that’s not possible then that’s a big road block.”