On July 27, activists in Vancouver, Washington, dropped a banner off a bridge protesting fossil fuel exports on the Pacific Coast. The action was directly responding to a recently approved oil export
terminal in the Port of Vancouver, Washington and the banner said, "Coal, Oil, Gas, None Shall Pass." There were speakers from along the Pacific Coast, including a resident from the Lower Mainland.
It isn't difficult to make the connections between fossil fuel exports in the Lower Mainland and exports proposals south of the border in Washington and Oregon. The entire region, also known as Cascadia, is being eyed by industry as a gateway to new markets and increasing profits.
In Burnaby and the rest of Metro Vancouver, there has been increasing concern about the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project, which would almost triple the capacity of the current pipeline system to 890,000 barrels of crude per day and increase tanker traffic in the Burrard Inlet from 70 to 80 per year to 400 tankers per year.
This pipeline could also have separate arms which transport tar sands north to Kitimat and another one that would split from the main system at the Sumas pump station and
head south to Puget Sound, Washington. Kinder Morgan is exploring all its options in Cascadia.
Add Kinder Morgan's initiatives to all the other big oil, gas and coal companies that operate throughout the region. With unfettered expansion, we can see fracking pipelines turn into
oil pipelines; liquefied natural gas terminals begin the port industrialization process; and train tracks used for coal transport and potentially oil and gas, as industry flirts with the idea of pipelines-on-rail.
And this happens on both sides of the border.
Take coal for example. The Fraser Surrey Docks would be the final destination for U.S. coal trains. Coal dust and diesel particulates from these trains have been associated with increased air pollution and pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. This is one reason people have been mobilizing throughout Oregon and Washington.
As the corporate attack ignores borders, the action happening on a river between Oregon and Washington and featuring speakers from Canada, people who will face the impacts of these projects are showing that the organized fight back with also ignore borders. People are connecting across borders and across issues.
The growing fight against tar sands pipelines in B.C. has been incredibly inspiring and has equipped communities with the skills and relationships to protect themselves. That being said, other sectors of the fossil fuel industry - namely coal and gas - have been trying to ensure their proposals fly under the radar of public scrutiny.
Ultimately, much of it comes down to corporate profits.
As certain corporations are targeted, others try to push through. Just look at the ten LNG proposals in B.C. alone, or the coal port expansion in Delta, or the Fraser Surrey Docks proposal. Washington and Oregon similarly have been inundated with increasing coal and LNG proposals.
As the fight against the Kinder Morgan expansion in Burnaby grows, we need to ask ourselves if the water, the land, and our community's health is valuable enough to protect from all corporations who simply seek to profit. In my opinion, the answer is: absolutely.
Maryam Adrangi is the climate and energy campaigner with the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest social action organization with chapters and members across the country.
