British Columbia, Canada \u2013 Two activists from Greenpeace Canada have occupied an essential piece of equipment to be used in the construction of Kinder Morgan\u2019s new tar sands oil pipeline. The peaceful protest aims to resist Kinder Morgan\u2019s plans to drill a path through Indigenous lands on Burnaby Mountain, a site of pipeline protest location in Canada.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re here in solidarity with Indigenous Water Protectors and Land Defenders who do not consent to the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline in their territory. We\u2019re here because this pipeline poses too great a threat to the land, air, and water. We can\u2019t let it go through \u2014 so we\u2019re exposing the destructive drill Kinder Morgan would prefer to keep hidden away,\u201d said Mary Lovell, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States who calls the Pacific Northwest home.<\/p>\n
Climbing duo, Mary Lovell and Laura Yates, climbed the Tunnel Boring Machine just before dawn. From atop what they\u2019ve dubbed the \u2018monster drill\u2019, they lowered a banner reading \u201cProtect Water, Stop Pipelines\u201d and waved a giant flag reading \u201cHere\u2019s the Drill: Stop KM.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greenpeace Canada tracked the \u2018monster drill\u2019 from Germany on a cross-continental journey to a holding facility in the Vancouver suburb of Delta, where the ongoing protest is taking place.[1] The drill is essential for the completion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.[2]<\/p>\n
The climbers intend to remain in place for as long as possible. They hope to expose the \u2018monster drill\u2019, and highlight the people-powered movement to stop new oil pipelines that threaten human rights, water and wildlife, and contribute to climate change.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace Canada is calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to abandon his consideration of a pipeline bail out<\/a> following an ultimatum<\/a> from Kinder Morgan, which \u2014 in the latest example of its bullying tactics<\/a> \u2014 has threatened to cancel the project if the federal government doesn\u2019t quash the British Columbia government\u2019s opposition to the project by 31 May.<\/p>\n Kinder Morgan isn\u2019t the only oil pipeline company to use bullying tactics. ETP, the company that built the Dakota Access pipeline, is suing Greenpeace entities in a baseless $900m SLAPP<\/a> suit, falsely accusing the groups of being a \u201ccriminal enterprise\u201d that orchestrated the Standing Rock protests.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the fight against Kinder Morgan to those against Energy Transfer Partners, TransCanada and Enbridge, Greenpeace stands with a united movement to stop oil companies\u2019 new pipelines from risking water pollution, fuelling climate change and violating Indigenous rights,\u201d added Lovell.<\/p>\n ENDS<\/p>\n Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n [1] Tunnel boring, if the pipeline project continues, would begin from Kinder Morgan\u2019s Westridge Marine Terminal.<\/p>\n [2] More than 200 people have already been arrested<\/a> resisting Kinder Morgan\u2019s pipeline in solidarity with Coast Salish communities and a poll released on Friday shows that more than half a million people in B.C.<\/a> may also be willing to undertake civil disobedience.<\/p>\n Photos and videos:<\/strong><\/p>\n