{"id":17563,"date":"2018-07-03T16:22:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=17563"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:48:09","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:48:09","slug":"climbers-in-vancouver-blockade-trans-mountain-oil-tankers-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/17563\/climbers-in-vancouver-blockade-trans-mountain-oil-tankers-route\/","title":{"rendered":"Climbers in Vancouver blockade Trans Mountain oil tanker\u2019s route"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vancouver, Canada – Seven climbers have rappelled from Vancouver\u2019s Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and are blocking the path of a tar sands oil tanker, <\/span>Serene Sea<\/span><\/i>,<\/span> currently docked at Kinder Morgan\u2019s Trans Mountain pipeline terminal. The tanker was scheduled to leave port this morning. <\/span><\/p>\n

The climbers are flying vibrant red and teal streamers featuring artwork by celebrated Indigenous artists resisting the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline and tanker project (TMX), including Jackie Fawn, whose art became iconic during the protests at Standing Rock.[1] Five more climbers are supporting the blockade from the bridge catwalk. Greenpeace Canada is supporting the climbers as they take action.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>Our message to the world is that climate leaders don\u2019t buy pipelines. Our communities will continue resisting dirty tar sands oil every step of the way. We urgently need to protect these waters because this tanker superhighway threatens the entire coast down to California. We are taking action today to defend water, health, and the climate \u2014 and we aren\u2019t alone. Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are standing with us. Prime Minister Trudeau, it\u2019s time to choose on what side of history you will stand,\u201d said Mary Lovell, a Greenpeace Canada spokesperson and climber from Seattle, Washington. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The blockade is made up of climbers from around the world, including the Coast Salish community, the UK, the US, Mexico and throughout Canada. Coast Salish unceded territories include the British Columbia coast and Salish Sea at the end of the proposed TMX pipeline.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will remain the fierce opposition. It is in my blood to protect the water. Our Indigenous rights are being completely ignored, the safety of our water is being ignored, and most of all my son\u2019s future is at stake. I will do whatever it takes to protect the water and my family and your family.\u201d said Will George, a climber and an Indigenous Coast Salish member<\/span>. He is also the spokesperson and leader of\u00a0<\/span>Kwekwecnewtxw<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The climbers are planning to raise six banners reading \u201cProtect Water #StopPipelines,\u201d \u201cProtect Water\u201d and \u201cProtect the Salish Sea\u201d in different languages.[2] They aim to highlight the threats to clean water posed by tar sands oil spills from the TMX pipeline and the 400 tankers it could bring each year to load up at the marine terminal and transport oil through the Salish Sea to refineries all along the US coast.<\/span><\/p>\n

The climbers also plan to raise banners reading \u201cTrudeau or Crudeau: Choose\u201d, \u201cDon\u2019t bank on pipelines\u201d, and \u201cRespect Indigenous Rights,\u201d sending a message to Canada\u2019s Prime Minister, whose government is prepared\u00a0<\/span>to spend billions of dollars<\/span><\/a> of public money purchasing TMX, which was abandoned by Kinder Morgan in the face of growing public opposition. The message extends to the\u00a0<\/span>builders and financiers<\/span><\/a> of other controversial oil and gas pipelines across North America, including any considering backing TMX. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent weeks, more than 200,000 people from around the world have joined Greenpeace\u2019s global campaign calling on 12 major global banks (<\/span>\u201cthe Dirty Dozen\u201d<\/span><\/a>) to commit to stop financing dangerous oil and gas pipelines. This includes three proposed pipelines that would expand Canada\u2019s tar sands (TMX, TransCanada\u2019s Keystone XL, Enbridge\u2019s Line 3) and those proposed by Energy Transfer Partners, which has launched a meritless USD\u00a0<\/span>$900 million lawsuit<\/span><\/a> against Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace International and other groups, designed to intimidate and silence critics.<\/span><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/span><\/p>\n

Notes:<\/b><\/p>\n

[1] The seven 10-foot by 40-foot streamers were designed by seven Indigenous artists. The artists (and their Indigenous communities) are listed below in the order in which they are being flown by the climbers, from north to south: Jackie Fawn (Yurok), Ed Archie Noisecat (Salish), Ronnie Dean Harris (St\u014d:lo\/St’\u00e1t’imc), Marissa Nahanee (Squamish and Nisga\u2019a), Will George (Salish) and Protect the Inlet Community, Brandon Gabriel (Kwantlen), and Ocean Hyland (Salish).<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Translations vary slightly. The banner raised in French says \u201cProtect Water #NoToPipelines\u201d. The banner raised in Spanish says \u201cProtect Water #StopOil\u201d. The banner raised in Squamish says \u201cProtect Water\u201d. The banner raised in h\u0259n\u0313q\u0313\u0259min\u0313\u0259m says “Protect The Salish Sea”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos and videos:<\/b><\/p>\n

https:\/\/media.greenpeace.org\/collection\/27MZIFJWLMBUH<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Contacts:<\/b><\/p>\n

Jesse Firempong, Communications Officer, Greenpeace Canada: +1 778-996-6549, <\/span>jesse.firempong@greenpeace.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Leola Abraham, Global Communications lead, Greenpeace USA: +1 202-413-8930, <\/span>Leola.Abraham@greenpeace.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Greenpeace International Press Desk: +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), <\/span>pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur message to the world is that climate leaders don\u2019t buy pipelines. Our communities will continue resisting dirty tar sands oil every step of the way.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":17590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69,70,73],"tags":[65,85,87,89],"p4-page-type":[98],"class_list":["post-17563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-nature","category-social-and-economic-systems","tag-energy-revolution","tag-oceans","tag-oil","tag-climate","p4-page-type-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17563"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17597,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17563\/revisions\/17597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17563"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=17563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}