{"id":3397,"date":"2018-07-09T16:02:47","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T20:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=3397"},"modified":"2025-07-02T04:21:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T08:21:25","slug":"i-spent-over-36-hours-suspended-from-a-vancouver-bridge-to-stop-a-tar-sands-tanker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/3397\/i-spent-over-36-hours-suspended-from-a-vancouver-bridge-to-stop-a-tar-sands-tanker\/","title":{"rendered":"I spent over 36 hours suspended from a Vancouver bridge to stop a tar sands tanker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bridge

Activists formed an aerial bridge blockade in the path of a Trans Mountain tar sands oil tanker traffic. The tar sands oil tanker was docked at the Kinder Morgan\u2019s Westridge Marine Terminal. The blockade is part of wave of growing resistance against the controversial Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline and tanker project (TMX). The activists suspended from the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia.<\/p><\/div>\n

It was the most beautiful action I\u2019ve ever been a part of.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For over 36 hours, six other climbers and I hung from the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge in Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver), putting our bodies in the way of a massive tar sands oil tanker and preventing it from passing through.<\/p>\n

Above us flew seven giant pennants, each designed by an Indigenous artist from some of the Indigenous communities leading the fight against the dangerous Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline and tanker project. Each one of those pennants was (and still is) a symbol of resistance and hope. Each one a constant source of inspiration for all of us.<\/p>\n

Five other people supported us from the bridge. The entire team was made up of three Albertans and people hailing from British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, the U.S.A. (Seattle), the UK, Mexico, Coast Salish territories here in Vancouver (Will George who is a Coast Salish community member who has been leading opposition<\/a> to this project from Burnaby Mountain).<\/p>\n

\"Rainbow

Crews work to clean up at Rainbow Pipeline’s oil spill, the worst oil spill in Alberta in 35 years, dumping about 4.5 million litres of oil into a wetland area at Evi, Alberta. The spill is near the community of Little Buffalo in Lubicon Cree First Nation traditional territory in the Peace River region. Greenpeace is calling on the Alberta government to release all the information it has on the Rainbow Pipeline following the leak and in light of a spill of 1 million litres from the same pipeline in 2006.<\/p><\/div>\n

We were all there for many reasons, some shared and some our own.That motivation helped us scale the bridge, overcome our nerves, and risk arrest. For me it was because I\u2019ve seen the damage oil spills can cause. I was there just after a pipeline burst into the Red Deer River<\/a>, risking the water supply of a city of over 100,00 people.<\/p>\n

I was also with my friend and colleague when a pipeline ruptured in her community of Little Buffalo<\/a> (one of the largest spills in Alberta\u2019s history). I felt the helplessness she felt as community members called her asking for help that the government and the company never provided.<\/p>\n

Those experiences stay with you.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also seen the damage being done up north in the tar sands. I\u2019ve seen entire forests turned into barren moonscapes, and lakes full of toxic chemicals \u2014 all for the pursuit of oil.<\/p>\n

\"Bridge

Activists set up to form an aerial bridge blockade in the path of a Trans Mountain tar sands oil tanker traffic. The tar sands oil tanker was docked at the Kinder Morgan\u2019s Westridge Marine Terminal. The blockade is part of wave of growing resistance against the controversial Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline and tanker project (TMX). The activists suspended from the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia.<\/p><\/div>\n

We have more choices for how we get our energy and how we travel. We have more choices for how to create jobs and build economies. And we have a choice about whether or not we repeat the mistakes of the past and compound the damage that\u2019s already been done by reckless oil extraction.<\/p>\n

The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is the wrong choice. It violates our commitments to climate change, it breaks our commitments to Indigenous Peoples, and it threatens water resources all along the pipeline route. With the roughly 400 tankers it could bring to the Vancouver coast every year to load up and transport tar sands oil to U.S. refineries it also threatens the entire west coast \u2014 including the economies, communities and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that depend on it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised climate action. He promised to respect Indigenous rights, including Indigenous Peoples\u2019 right to consent (or not consent) to projects that impact them. He promised to fix the broken review process but they he put the Trans Mountain pipeline through the broken one anyway. He promised to end fossil fuel subsidies and he promised to protect this coast. If he continues to push this project, he will have violated all of these commitments.<\/p>\n