UK Prime Minister visits Ottawa as Canadian outrage grows against Tar Sands

Update: This was picked up by the Globe & Mail: See Keep Alberta oil off your hands, environmentalists warn British PM

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday 22nd September – For immediate release

British Prime Minister David Cameron will visit Ottawa this week to address a joint session of Canadian Parliament [1], just days before hundreds of protesters descend on the capital to oppose the tar sands. As one of Harper’s ‘ideological allies’, Cameron has repeatedly demonstrated his government’s willingness to undermine European Union climate policy on behalf of the Harper government and its friends in the Alberta tar sands.

On the occasion of Cameron’s state visit, the UK Tar Sands Network is demanding the British Government stop defending Canada’s criminal record on climate change. “The UK is one of the few countries trying to stop the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive from specifically listing tar sands as more carbon-intensive than other fuels. A raft of information uncovered by Friends of the Earth Europe [2] and others have shown this position is being influenced by obscene lobbying from the Alberta and federal governments,” says Gemma Long of the network.

Just this week, Canada put more pressure on the EU by threatening to challenge the Fuel Quality Directive at the WTO [3] if it includes a specific value for tar sands crude. This follows reports earlier this year that Canada had threatened to pull out of free trade negotiations with the EU altogether [4], for the same reason. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement that Canada and the EU are negotiating will contain investment protections designed to increase the role of British companies such as BP in tar sands extraction.

“All too recently we have seen the two governments using Canada-EU trade talks to discourage action on climate change, while prolonging investments in toxic fuels,” adds Long. “Now despite Britain having, on paper, a much better climate action program than Canada, we’re seeing this fall down before our eyes under a government keen to prioritise industry interest over climate policy.”

On September 26th 2011 Canadian citizens are planning a peaceful protest in Ottawa to say no to a toxic tar sands industry and defuse the largest carbon bomb in North America. [5]

ENDS

For more information and interviews, contact 07807095669.

Notes to editors

[1] Cameron will meet privately with Prime Minister Stephen Harper before making a speech to the House of Commons. See http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/CanadaAM/20110922/british-prime-minister-david-cameron-ottawa-canada-visit-110922/

[2] Friends of the Earth Europe report available at http://www.no-tar-sands.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/FOEE_Report_Tar_Sands_Lobby_Final_July82011.pdf

[3] Reports of Canada threatening to challenge Brussels at the WTO available at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903374004576580822352255698.html

[4] More information about Canada’s threats to scrap CETA available at http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFWEB045820110221

[5] For more information on the tar sands protests in Ottawa, see www.ottawaaction.ca.

Reverend Billy leads mass exorcism in Tate Modern Turbine Hall over ‘taint’ of BP sponsorship

PRESS RELEASE  For immediate release

18 July 2011

Reverend Billy leads mass exorcism in Tate Modern Turbine Hall over ‘taint’ of BP sponsorship

American performance group and British artists, activists and art lovers congregate in call for gallery to end its relationship with oil company

Monday (18 July) Reverend Billy and the Church of Earthalujah choir joined with art activists, artists, Tate members and concerned members of the public at 17.30 in the Tate Turbine Hall to lay hands on Tate Modern and cast out the demon of BP’s oil sponsorship of the art institution.

An exorcism of the evil spirit of BP was performed in a special service in the Turbine Hall of the national gallery of international modern art. The Reverend Billy had an oil-like substance dramatically poured over his white suit by his gospel choir before being escorted out of the building. The gospel choir sung choruses of “Tate takes money from BP, and BP’s money is the devil.”

The event was brought to Tate by five different UK-based groups – Liberate Tate, UK Tar Sands Network, London Rising Tide, Art Not Oil and Climate Rush – all of which have staged multiple performance interventions and protests at Tate, part of a growing movement to rid public arts institutions from oil companies with negative social and environmental impacts all around the world.

Reverend Billy, the world famous preacher, said: “For 20 long years, BP has embedded its foulness deep within Tate, using the fair face of the arts to mask the stench of its true nature. Today the possession of this dark beast lurking within the bosom of one of our most cherished arts institutions is coming to an end.”

“While good-hearted, god-fearing gallery-goers glory in the miracle of art, the beast below is encircling the planet with its oily tentacles, destroying righteous communities, poisoning God’s beauteous creations, and bringing us all ever closer to the climate apocalypse. Art will soon be free of big oil interests. Eviction has begun. Brothers and sisters, it’s time to liberate the Tate!”

Chris Sands, a participant in the performance said: “When Tate takes money from the fossil fuel industry it is endorsing climate change rather than backing activity which moves us away from an environmental crisis that is already destroying lives and livelihoods. We have to ensure our public arts institutions are financed responsibly, transparently and ethically for the good of the art world and the planet.”

Tate and other public cultural institutions have seen long-standing public concern about their relations with oil companies. The numbers of artists involved have grown over recent years with many hundreds of artists publicly demanding Tate end links with BP, and guerilla art performances adding to creative protests in Tate galleries. The exorcism comes less than a week after a ‘guerilla ballet’ performance took place at the BP-sponsored Big Screen in Trafalgar Square, highlighting the oil company’s involvement in destructive tar sands extraction in Canada.

BP continues to use its arts sponsorship to project a public image at odds with its operations and lobbying. As part of a multi-million pound effort to create a social license to operate, the company has launched its first television advertising campaign since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill which centres on its arts, culture and sports sponsorship in an attempt to alter public perception about the company.

*** ENDS ***

For further comment, call 07847 830164

Photos of the exorcism for commercial available through Rex Features.

Notes to editors:

The Guerilla Ballet performance took place on Wednesday evening in Trafalgar Square shortly before the BP-sponsored screening of the Royal Opera House’s Cinderella. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/jul/15/dance-oil-industry-arts-funding-ballet-bp

Reverend Billy and the Church of Earthalujah (www.revbilly.com) is part theatre piece, part church service, part performance art and wholly inspirational. The Church of Earthalujah condemns the corporate exploiters and polluters of the world to the Lake of Hellfire.

Liberate Tate (www.liberatetate.org) is an art collective exploring the role of creative intervention in social change dedicated to taking creative disobedience against Tate until it drops its oil company funding. Contact: liberatetate@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScr www.twitter.com/liberatetate.

UK Tar Sands Network (www.no-tar-sands.org) campaigns in partnership with Indigenous communities affected by the Tar Sands oil developments in Canada. It targets UK and European companies, banks and governments involved in the world’s most destructive project. Contact info@no-tar-sands.org.

London Rising Tide (www.londorisingtide.org.uk) takes creative action on the root causes of climate chaos, and promotes socially just, ecological alternatives to the fossil fuel madness that we’re living through. Contact: london@risingtide.org.uk

Art Not Oil (www.artnotoil.org.uk) encourages artists – and would-be artists – to create work that explores the damage that companies like BP and Shell are doing to the planet, and the role art can play in counteracting that damage. Contact info@artnotoil.org.uk.

Climate Rush (www.climaterush.co.uk) is a Suffragettes-inspired group taking responsibility now to prepare for the future through direct action against climate criminals and their allies. Contact: media@climaterush.co.uk.

‘Guerilla Ballet’ disrupts BP-sponsored opera event in Trafalgar Square

Swan Lake ballet dancer smeared with oil

Wednesday 13th July, 2011 – For immediate release

For further information and photos contact Jess Worth from the UK Tar Sands Network on 07807095669 and for interviews with the prima ballerina, contact Emily Coats 07831383866.

Three ballet dancers interrupted BP’s third and final Summer Screen in Trafalgar Square[1], 30 minutes before the scheduled broadcast of the opera Cinderella began. The disturbance took the form of a short piece of dance based on Swan Lake [2], with the classic tale used as analogy for BP’s controversial investment in the Canadian tar sands [3],[4]. The performance featured the White Swan being smeared by an oily substance and suffocated with a cloth. The crowd of opera-lovers were very receptive, greeting the grand finale with applause and cheers.

Charlie Byers, who played the prince, explained: “The tar sands are one of the biggest threats to the future of our climate [5]; they are also destroying local communities and wildlife, trampling indigenous rights, and running Canada out of water and natural gas. It is a key time to pressure BP to withdraw, as the corporation has already substantially invested in the tar sands but will not start profiting for years to come.”

Emily Coats, a campaigner with the UK Tar Sands Network, who played the White Swan Odette, said: “Most people have never heard of tar sands, and BP would be happy to keep it that way. We used classical dance – an unusual campaigning medium – to introduce the issue to a new audience. The performance was meant to be enjoyed, but also to shock, with a visible struggle between a vulnerable creature and a powerful oil giant.”

Will McCallum, of campaign group Art of Activism, who played the ‘BP’ villain Rothbart, said: “By sponsoring the Summer Screens, BP is bringing art to thousands of people, but it is also creating a false image which hides its dirty investments. Public pressure has in the past caused institutions to stop accepting sponsorship from destructive companies. Without being able to put its name by our beloved cultural institutions, BP would suffer a real blow to its public legitimacy.”

ENDS

Images from last night’s event now on Rex Features website and available for media use.

Notes for editors:

[1] BP sponsors the Royal Opera House’s “Summer Screens” where ballets and operas are broadcast live in public spaces around the UK, including Trafalgar Square, for audiences to watch for free. The scheduled performance on 13th July was the opera Cendrillon (Cinderella).

[2] For a full synopsis of the piece, see bpwhiteswan.org

[3] BP announced in December 2010 its investment in the Sunrise Project, shared with Canadian company Husky Energy. Extraction is due to begin in 2014. http://www.no-tar-sands.org/campaigns/british-petroleum-bp/

[4] Canadian tar sands are the world’s largest and dirtiest industrial project: exacerbating global warming through deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, causing rare forms of cancer amongst First Nations communities, destroying vast tracts of forest habitat and threatening wildlife to extinction. For more information see no-tar-sands.org and oilsandstruth.org

[5] NASA Scientist James Hansen has said that irreversible climate change is inevitable if all the oil in Canada’s tar sands is burned. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/17/barack-obama-canada-climate-change

High res images available – email info@no-tar-sands.org

Tar Sands campaigners challenge Canada-EU trade talks


 

 

Campaigners will gather in Brussels next week at the start of the latest round of Canada-EU free trade negotiations, to call for the talks to be put on hold due to concerns that they will boost Europe’s involvement in Canada’s destructive tar sands industry.[1]

On Monday they will hold a ‘Lobby Tour’[2] of the offices of organisations who have been pushing to get further rights for European oil companies to exploit the controversial oil source, and undermine the EU’s ability to pass effective climate policy, such as the Fuel Quality Directive.[3] On Tuesday they will participate in a meeting co-hosted by Keith Taylor MEP and Kriton Arsenis MEP in the European Parliament.[4]

Jasmine Thomas, an indigenous woman fighting a proposed tar sands pipeline across her territory in British Columbia [5] and Dr John O’Connor, a local doctor who first blew the whistle on the increased levels of cancers in communities living downstream from the tar sands [6] will be joined by the UK Tar Sands Network and Council of Canadians, as well as activists and NGO representatives based in Brussels.

Jess Worth, from the UK Tar Sands Network – who is meeting with UK Government trade officials on Friday 8th July to express these concerns in advance of the talks – said:

‘The negotiations are in full swing, yet most citizens have never heard of them. Climate scientists have warned that further tar sands extraction could lock us into disastrous and unstoppable climate change, but Europe is sleepwalking into major involvement with the project. In the last few months we have seen extraordinary levels of lobbying from the Canadian government and oil companies, and threats that Canada will take legal action if the EU passes the Fuel Quality Directive, which would ban tar sands imports from Europe. This level of meddling is unacceptable.’

Jasmine Thomas, a community member from the Yinka Dene Alliance working with the Indigenous Environmental Network, said:

‘More then 80 Indigenous Nations in British Columbia have banned tar sands and its related infrastructure from crossing their traditional territories and watersheds. Our communities stand in solidarity with the Cree, Metis, and Dene communities of northern Alberta who are opposed to extraction projects that threaten the fundamental rights of First Nations. We are united in exercising our inherent title, rights, and responsibilities to ourselves, our ancestors, our descendants and the people of the world, to defend these lands and waters. Our laws require us to do this. CETA will only undermine these rights, which are also protected under domestic and international law.’

Dr John O’Connor, a local doctor who has seen first-hand the devastating health impacts of living downstream from the tar sands, added:

‘The Canadian government has been purposefully misleading the world about the harmful health impacts of the tar sands for years. It’s important that the EU does not succumb to their misinformation on this issue. As more and more cases of rare cancers and other diseases are discovered in communities living downstream from tar sands extraction projects, we need Europe to play its part in curbing this destructive industry, not getting more heavily involved through trade agreements.’

Stuart Trew, Trade Justice Campaigner for the Council of Canadians, said:

‘Beyond the incessant lobbying from the Canadian government, the trade deal on the table poses a direct threat to climate policy in the EU and Canada. Proposed investment protections in CETA will give European oil companies like Shell, BP and Total a new legal right to challenge attempts to better regulate tar sands development for social or environmental reasons. In the past few years we’ve seen cigarette companies, pesticide makers and mining firms use trade treaties to sue governments over perfectly legitimate public health policies. Communities impacted by corporate activity have no equivalent right to hold firms responsible under trade agreements. These concerns were echoed in a recent European Parliament debate and resolution on the Canada-EU trade deal. [7] Without a major re-write to exclude unnecessary investment rights, Europeans and Canadians must reject CETA.’

- Photo opportunity: 10am, Monday 11 July, Mission of Canada to the EU, Avenue de Tervuren 2, Brussels.

- For more information, interviews and photos call Suzanne Dhaliwal, UK Tar Sands Network, +44 7772 694327.

ENDS

  1. This is the eighth round of EU-Canada free trade negotiations (CETA), which are due to be completed by the end of this year. Beginning 11th July and lasting a week, this is the most ambitious free trade agreement either party has ever negotiated. A legal analysis (http://www.canadians.org/trade/documents/CETA/legal-opinion-CETA-tarsands.pdf) of the potential impact of CETA negotiations reveals that it could undermine climate policy in Europe and give dramatic new powers to Europe’s multinational oil companies. For example, the European Commission has asked Parliament for permission to negotiate an investor-to-state dispute process that would allow EU companies to sue the Canadian government in the event future regulations, water use limits or other environmental protections interfere with their profits. Likewise, Canadian companies will be able to take otherwise legitimate and legal EU decisions before non-transparent arbitration panels with the power to hand out fines. The Canadian government has said negotiating an investor-to-state dispute process is one of its most important objectives in CETA. The chill effect from this process is enough to discourage governments from pursuing effective climate and environmental policy.
  2. The lobby tour will begin at 10am at the Canadian mission to the EU, where there will be a photo opportunity. For more information, see: http://www.no-tar-sands.org/events/lobbytour/
  3. For more information about Canada’s lobbying around CETA and the Fuel Quality Directive see:http://www.neurope.eu/articles/Canada-talks-dirty-on-trade/106814.php
  4. The event, entitled ‘Trading tar sands: how the Canada-EU free trade agreement will affect social and environmental policy in the EU and Canada’ takes placeon Tuesday 12 July, 12.30-2pm, Room ASP 5E1, European Parliament. Speakers will describe in detail the social, health, indigenous and environmental impacts of tar sands development, as well as popular efforts to transition to a tar sands-free future, and how CETA could undermine this. The discussion will be co-chaired by Keith Taylor MEP (Greens/EFA) and Kriton Arsenis MEP (S&D). For more info: http://www.no-tar-sands.org/events/trading-tar-sands/
  5. Jasmine Thomas is a member of the frog clan from Saik’uz British Columbia, Canada. She is strongly opposed to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project that plans to cross through her own and 52 other First Nations unceded traditional territories in British Columbia and Alberta.
  6. Dr. John O’Connor is a family physician, practising in Alberta since 1993. Currently based in Edmonton, he has provided primary care services to Aboriginal communities in the far north of the province including Fort Chipewyan since 1994. In 2006, his concerns regarding high cancer numbers in Fort Chipewyan, which is downstream from the tar sands, began to draw media attention. He was subject to a sustained smear campaign before subsequent health studies were released that backed up his concerns.

For the full text of the resolution, see:http://www.canadians.org/tradeblog/?p=1649

CANADIAN LOBBYING THREATENS UK CLIMATE POLICY – Norman Baker targeted by protesters

PRESS RELEASE and PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

Monday 20th June – For immediate release

Following Saturday’s International Stop the Tar Sands Day (1) demonstration, protesters today will deliver a petition (2) to the Department for Transport, challenging the UK’s opposition to including tar sands (3) in the Fuel Quality Directive (4).

An explicit reference to tar sands in EU legislation would ensure this highly polluting form of oil is banned from entering the European Union, a move to reduce carbon emissions which is widely supported by MEPs, the European Commission and most EU member states. Yet furious Canadian lobbying has sought to remove any mention of tar sands, watering down the legislation significantly. The UK is one of only two member states which has succumbed to this position (5).

Pete Barker, organiser of the London demonstration on Saturday which saw protesters gather at the Canadian High Commission, says, “Norman Baker has shown his green credentials in the past, but if he doesn’t support a European tar sands ban then he’s failing the so-called ‘greenest government ever’s biggest test so far.”

ENDS

Photo opportunity: 12.45pm Monday 20th June, Department for Transport, 76 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DR

Contact for interviews: Pete Barker, 0796 775 8641

Notes to Editors:

(1) International Stop the Tar Sands Day (see www.stoptarsands.eu) saw events in 30 countries around the world raising awareness of the most destructive project on Earth. In London protesters gathered outside the Canadian High Commission, laying flowers to commemorate the death and destruction caused by the tar sands industry.

(2) The spoof ‘brown envelope’, stuffed with fake cash and covered by signatures, declares ‘YOU’VE TAKEN CANADA’S BROWN ENVELOPE, NOW TAKE OURS!’

(3) Tar Sands fuels emit on average 23% more carbon than conventional oil, http://www.r-e-a.net/policy/european-policy/Euro-legislation/renewable-energy-directive For more information on tar sands and their environmental and social impacts see www.no-tar-sands.org

(4) The EU’s landmark Fuel Quality Directive aims to reduce the carbon emissions of the transport sector by 6% by 2020 and in its amended version would identify tar sands oil as above the acceptable CO2 cap for fuel imports.

(5) Under the direction of Norman Baker, the UK government, in addition to the Netherlands, intends to block the amended Fuel Quality Directive: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/pollution-fears-as-uk-blocks-european-ban-on-fuel-from-tar-sands-2291598.html

Canadian government and UK Transport Department targeted on global day of action against tar sands

Press Release

Friday June, 17th 2011 – For immediate release

Protesters in London will target Canada’s High Commission on Saturday June 18th to mark the second annual International Stop the Tar Sands Day [1]. Flowers will be delivered to the commission commemorating the communities, wildlife, and landscapes that have been damaged by tar sands extraction. Using vast amounts of fresh water and natural gas, and leaving behind lakes of toxic pollution, the Canadian tar sands are the world’s largest and dirtiest industrial project. Canada’s tar sands extraction is exacerbating global warming through deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, causing rare forms of cancer amongst First Nations communities, destroying vast tracts of forest habitat and threatening wildlife to extinction [2].

The June 18th call to global action aims to raise international awareness that oil made from Canada’s tar sands is not a viable alternative to conventional petroleum [3]. Pete Barker, UK Organiser for International Stop the Tar Sands Day, says: “There are international protests today to expose how Canada is using aggressive lobbying techniques to push tar sands onto foreign markets, blocking international climate policies [4], violating First Nations rights and risking runaway climate change by ignoring the warnings of climate scientists. In an age of declining conventional oil reserves and rising greenhouse gas levels, we cannot afford to continue to extract tar sands if we are to respond to climate change. We have to show the Canadian government that the global community believes that exploiting the tar sands is unacceptable.”

Tar sands oil has not so far entered Europe but many major European oil companies like Norway’s Statoil, Netherlands/UK-based Shell, and France’s Total Oil are currently operating in the tar sands, with BP recently investing in its first project to begin operations in 2014. Jess Worth, from the UK Tar Sands Network, says: “The EU is not guaranteed to remain free from tar sands oil unless it can actively seek to ban the substance. The Fuel Quality Directive [5] should have such an effect, by discriminating different types of fuel based on their carbon intensity.

However, the UK government has caved into Canadian lobbying, and is campaigning to water down the landmark legislation by removing the reference to tar sands. Failure to address tar sands emissions undermines the whole objective of this legislation to reduce Europe’s transport emissions”

Protesters will sign a giant petition addressed to Norman Baker, Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department for Transport who is responsible for the UK government’s intention to oppose the inclusion of tar sands fuels in the Fuel Quality Directive [6]. The petition will be hand-delivered by activists to the Department for Transport on Monday 20th June.

The International Stop the Tar Sands protest will also include a friendly game of ‘Oily World Volleyball’, illustrating that Canada is gambling with the future of the planet by devastating entire ecosystems for the pursuit of unconventional oil [7]. Emily Coats, from the UK Tar Sands Network, says: “As well as stopping further development in Canada, we must act now to prevent oil companies from exploiting other tar sands sources around the world. Currently, French oil giant Total, which has been running trial projects in tar sands fields in Madagascar, is currently considering beginning large scale exploitation of tar sands, and we urge them to abandon the project [8].”

ENDS

Photo opportunity: Canadian High Commission, Grosvenor Square – 12:15 pm

For interviews contact: Peter Barker, International Stop the Tar Sands Day Organizer – +447967758641

Notes for editors:

[1] Actions will also be taking place in universities around the UK where activists will be getting ‘tarred and feathered’ http://peopleandplanet.org/tarsands/June18 Similar events are planned in Berlin, Lisbon, Copenhagen, The Hague and Brussels, along with 25 protests in the US and 12 in Canada www.stoptarsands.eu

[2] For more information on tar sands and its environmental and social impacts see no-tar-sands.org oilsandstruth.org

[3] Lush cosmetics and the Indigenous Environmental Network organized protests across Europe to coincide with the international protests. http://photogallery.thestar.com/1008989

[4] See Canada Spurns Kyoto in Favour of Tar Sands http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56048

[5] The Fuel Quality Directive is a piece of EU legislation that sets out to reduce European transport fuel emissions by 6% by 2020 by encouraging the use of lower carbon fuels. Tar sands fuels emit on average 23% more carbon than conventional oil. http://www.r-e-a.net/policy/european-policy/Euro-legislation/renewable-energy-directive

[6] See British Government is unlikely to support an EU push to include tar sands in its new fuel directive http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/pollution-fears-as-uk-blocks-european-ban-on-fuel-from-tar-sands-2291598.html

[7] See www.no-tar-sands.org/resources for Stop the Tar Sands Going Global briefing launched by UK Tar Sands Network

[8] The World Development Movement campaigning against French corporationTotal to stop tar sands developments in Madagascar. See http://www.wdm.org.uk/action/stop-tar-sands-madagascar-total

Residents, including children, sick after large oil spill in the Peace Region

4 May 2011 (Edmonton) — Little Buffalo community members, including school children, continue to experience nausea, burning eyes and headaches after one of the largest pipeline spills in Alberta history last Friday by Plains All American leaked nearly 30,000 barrels of oil into Lubicon traditional territory in the Peace Region of Northern Alberta.

Instead of attending an in-person community meeting, the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) faxed a one-page fact sheet to Little Buffalo School. The fact sheet indicates that 28,000 barrels of crude oil, or 4,500 cubic metres, has spread into nearby stands of “stagnant water.” The spill, April 29 at 7:30 a.m., occurred only 300 metres from local waterways. The ERCB said the spill has been contained, but community members report that the oil is still leaking into the surrounding forest and bog. The ERCB also said to the community that there is “no threat to public safety as a result of the leak.” Yet people are still getting sick, the local school has been shut down and children ordered to stay at home. An investigation into the incident is underway.

“It has been four days since classes were suspended due to the noxious odours in the air. The children and staff at the school were disorientated, getting headaches and feeling sick to their stomachs,” said Brian Alexander, the principle of Little Buffalo School. “We tried to send the children outside to get fresh air as it seemed worse in the school but when we sent them out they were getting sick as well”.

“The company and the ERCB have given us little information in the past five days. What we do know is that the health of our community is at stake,” said Chief Steve Nosky. “Our children cannot attend school until there is a resolution, The ERCB is not being accountable to our community; they did not even show up to our community meeting to inform us of the unsettling situation we are dealing with. The company is failing to provide sufficient information to us so we can ensure that the health and safety of our community is protected.”

The ERCB fact sheet states that air monitors are in place on site and have “detected no hydrocarbon levels above Alberta Ambient Air Quality guidelines.” But this is little consolation for a community that is scared to breathe the air. Veronica Okemow has six children, the youngest one attending the school, and she is very worried. “We are deeply concerned about the health effects on the community,” Okemow said. “It is a scary thing when your children are feeling sick from the air. People are scared to breathe in the fumes.”

Pipeline Companies are constantly trying to ensure the public that these massive pipelines crossing North America are safe.

“With TransCanada and Enbridge pipeline corporations vying to build massive pipelines to the Pacific and Gulf Coasts, First Nation and American Indian Tribes near the path of these pipelines currently have tribal resolutions opposing the construction of these pipelines.  They foresee that these proposed pipelines would endanger their water, air and lands, for future generations.  Alberta’s big oil companies are putting our communities at risk for a short ranged economic gain”, Says Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Indigenous Environmental Network.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo, a member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation and also a Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner said:

“The Plains All American spill marks the second pipeline spill in Alberta in just a week, with Kinder Morgan spilling just days before. This is an alarm bell for Alberta residents. If this 45-year-old pipeline were to break elsewhere along its route there would be more safety and health hazards. Communities across Alberta and B.C. are demanding an end to this type of risky development; yet the government refuses to listen. Instead it continues on as business as usual without plans for the cleaner, healthier, sustainable future that is possible.”

See CBC News article on pipeline-leak here.

Edmonton Journal Health concerns after Northern Alberta spill

APTN  Oil spill threatens Lubicon

Pipeline spill could take years to clean up

For more information, please contact:

Steve Nosky, Chief of the Lubicon Cree, (780) 649-4466

Brian Alexander, Principle of Little Buffalo School, (780) 629 -2210 (h) (403) 397-9779 (c)

Melina Laboucan-Massimo, member of the Lubicon Cree and Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner,(780) 504-5567

Jessica Wilson, Greenpeace communications, (778) 228-5404

_________________________________________________________________________________

TAKE ACTION

Please help demand that the ERCB and Plains Midstream meet Lubicon needs now. The Lubicon require the following:

  • ERCB to attend Lubicon community meetings to effectively answer community members’ questions
  • Independent environmental assessment reporting to community
  • Lubicon fly-over of the spill-affected area to survey immediate damage to traditional territory
  • Health response team stationed in Lubicon community immediately to respond to those who continue to get sick from the air, especially children
  • Note that other First Nations and communities in the area have not even been informed of the spill

Contact ERCB as soon as possible via phone, fax, or email:

Dan McFadyen, Chairman

Energy Resources Conservation Board, Suite 1000, 250 – 5 Street SW, Calgary, Alberta, T2P 0R4
Chairman’s phone: (403) 297-2215
FAX: (403) 297-7336
Email: Inquiries@ercb.ca, Dan.McFadyen@ercb.ca

Also direct pressure to Alberta Premier:

Office of the Premier, Room 307, Legislature Building, 10800 – 97th Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T5K 2B7

Fax: (780) 427 1349

BP under fire at AGM for taking unacceptable risks.

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8.4.2011

Interview opportunity with community representatives from Alberta Tar Sands and Gulf of Mexico coast – see below for details.

Residents from opposite ends of North America are travelling to London for a showdown with BP. Representatives of First Nation communities affected by the massive Tar Sands project in northern Canada are working in partnership with fishermen and women whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the Gulf Coast. They will be joined inside the AGM on Thursday 14 April by UK campaigners and angry shareholders, many of whom are planning on voting against the board.[1]

This unprecedented coalition has come together following a year in which BP has been responsible for the largest marine oil spill in history.[2] Despite this, a few months later BP announced that it was heading into an equally if not more risky “unconventional oil” venture: its first Tar Sands extraction project.

Representatives of affected communities, campaigners and shareholders are therefore joining forces to deliver a simple message to BP at its London AGM next Thursday: stay away from unconventional oil, it’s just too risky. There will be a protest outside and around 30 people will enter the AGM to ask questions, deliver the message “No Tar Sands” in a very visual way, and present BP with the not-so-prestigious “International ethecon Black Planet Award” for environmental destruction. [3]

Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation fisherwoman from the Texas Gulf Coast who was recently arrested for protesting against BP and is facing a jail sentence for up to 800 days, will present the ethecon Black Planet award to BP in person, along with the Chairman of ethecon.[4] Diane will be joined by several other representatives from the Gulf Coast region. [5] She says:

“I am coming to the AGM to call BP to account for its actions in the Gulf – for the oil spill, the lies, the cover-ups, the skimping on safety, the deaths, the non-existent documents, the ‘swinging door’ with regulators. The massive nature of the oil catastrophe means it can’t be covered up, even by BP. It’s everywhere, from 5,000 feet down to miles upon miles across and then spread in the ocean’s currents. I am coming to articulate the anger of thousands of Gulf Coast residents whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed while the BP board continues to prosper.”

BP’s decision to enter into its first Tar Sands extraction project [6] will also be criticised by a group of Indigenous activists brought over by the Indigenous Environmental Network. Melina Laboucan-Massimo from the Lubicon Cree First Nation will speak from direct experience about what this kind of ‘in situ’ Tar Sands extraction really involves [7]:

“BP is touting its ‘in situ’ extraction project as an environmentally responsible alternative to surface mining, but it is nothing of the sort. There are many ‘in situ’ mines on my First Nation’s territory. They pollute the water and the air, dramatically disrupt local ecosystems, and emit more greenhouse gas per barrel than surface mining. They are operating on our native peoples’ land without consent and it’s important that BP shareholders understand the risks of legal action from First Nations. BP must do the sensible thing and leave tar sands in the ground.”

The community representatives will be joined by UK activists determined to hold this iconic British company to account for its dirty operations across the globe. Jess Worth from the UK Tar Sands Network said:

“Uncertainty in the Middle East and dwindling supplies of conventional oil elsewhere should be a signal to move into more sustainable forms of energy. Instead, BP is responding by charging head first into dangerous, expensive and highly polluting sources of unconventional and marginal oil, such as Tar Sands, deepwater drilling and the Arctic. Pollution from the Tar Sands is equivalent to a Gulf Coast oil spill every month. The Board has clearly lost the plot so we are going to the AGM to set them straight.”

The coalition[8] will gather together in advance of the AGM for a major public meeting, on Tuesday 12 April, 7pm at Rich Mix, 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA. All journalists are welcome.

To arrange an interview with any of the attendees:

UK media call Jess Worth on +447967758641 or email jess@no-tar-sands.org

North American media call Clayton Thomas-Muller, Indigenous Environmental Network,

+11 613 789 5653

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bp-faces-wave-of-protests-at-agm-2267169.html

1.     BP shareholders are angry about a whole range of issues since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. See ‘BP to face tough crowd at meeting’, Guy Chazan, Wall Street Journal, April 6, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576244990369064286.html See also an in-depth analysis of BP’s Annual Report: http://www.cbisonline.com/file/BP%20Annual%20Report%20Assessment%204-4-2011.pdf

2.     11 workers were killed and the ocean and local ecosystems were polluted with 4 to 5 million barrels of oil from BP’s controversial deepwater drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico.

3.     Members of the ethecon Foundation will also be attending to present the award. Together with the positive Blue Planet Award, the negative Black Planet Award is bestowed every year by ethecon – Foundation Ethics & Economics, a German-based international foundation.   For more information on ethecon and its work on BP see http://www.ethecon.org/465, http://ethecon/download/Dossier_Black_Planet_Award_2010_English.pdf and http://www.ethecon.org/download/Open_letter_to_BP.pdf

4.     Read a longer statement from Diane about the situation in the Gulf Coast and her arrests: http://www.ethecon.org/en/1246

5.     Tracy Kuhns, a commercial shrimper from Louisiana and board member of the Association of Family Fishermen, and other fishermen and women are being brought over by the Gulf Coast Fund. Also attending will be Antonia Juhasz, prominent US author, activist and Director of the Energy Program at Global Exchange, who has just published ‘Black Tide: the devastating impact of the Gulf Oil Spill’ which tells the stories of communities and individuals whose lives have been destroyed by BP’s negligence.

6.     In December 2010, BP announced it was releasing $2.5 billion to move forward with the Sunrise Project – a partnership with Canada’s Husky Energy. For more information see http://www.no-tar-sands.org/campaigns/british-petroleum-bp/

7.     Melina Laboucan-Massimo worked on a report that has just been released by Greenpeace Canada about the dangers of in situ mining: ‘Deep Trouble’, http://www.greenpeace.org/canada//deeptrouble

8.     For more information about the members of the coalition, see: Indigenous Environmental Network www.ienearth.org/tarsands.html, UK Tar Sands Network www.no-tar-sands.org, ethecon http://www.ethecon.de/en/793, Rising Tide  http://risingtide.org.uk/, Climate Rush http://www.climaterush.co.uk/, Greenpeace UK http://greenpeace.co.uk/, PLATFORM http://platformlondon.org/, Gulf Coast Fund http://gulfcoastfund.org/, Global Exchange http://www.globalexchange.org, This is Ecocide http://www.thisisecocide.com/, Trees Have Rights Too http://www.treeshaverightstoo.com/

“Stop sabotaging climate action!”

Tar Sands protest at the Canadian High Commission marks Minister’s visit

This morning a group of campaigners protested outside the Canadian High Commission in London, to mark the visit of Ron Liepert, Alberta’s Energy Minister. The minister is here to lobby on behalf of the Province of Alberta’s Tar Sands industry, and encourage Europe to get more involved in what has been dubbed the world’s most destructive project.

The protesters held banners saying “Stop the Tar Sands Trade Talks” and “Canadian Tar Sands: Global Climate Crime” outside the High Commission in Grosvenor Square, and handed out flyers. There was heavy security, and they were not allowed to meet the Minster himself, nor even hand in a letter for him, explaining their concerns.

Unbeknownst to most citizens, the EU and Canada are in the midst of negotiating an ambitious free trade deal (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA). The Albertan and Canadian governments are trying to use these talks to undermine EU climate policy. Specifically, they are pressuring the EU to water down a key piece of climate legislation (the Fuel Quality Directive, or FQD), calling it an “unfair trade barrier” [2]. The FQD is currently on course to set a precedent in recognising, and penalising, Tar Sands oil as dirty oil.

Liepert’s trip is clearly timed to influence vital decisions around CETA and the FQD that are being taken in Europe over the next few weeks. After two days in London, where he will meet, among others, the Canadian High Commissioner, the UK Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs, and many oil and gas industry representatives, he will travel to Brussels to lobby members of European Parliament, the chair of the Environment Committee and the Commissioner for Energy for the EU Parliament [3].

Today’s protest is just the latest expression of opposition to the Tar Sands in the UK.  In the past year, British shareholders, NGOs, politicians and campaigners have expressed increasing concern over the involvement of UK banks and oil companies in the highly polluting extraction of “dirty oil” from the Tar Sands [4]. Emitting three to five times as much CO2 as conventional oil drilling, the Tar Sands industry is destroying the livelihoods and health of local Indigenous communities and decimating ancient forests and wildlife across an area of Alberta larger than England [5].

Suzanne Dhaliwal from the UK Tar Sands Network said: “Ron Liepert has come to London on a mission to scupper the EU’s attempts to ban Tar Sands oil imports into Europe. This blatant meddling on behalf of Big Oil is unacceptable. Europe must put effective climate action ahead of corporate profits, by standing firm on the Fuel Quality Directive and putting the CETA negotiations on hold.”

Andrea Harden, Energy Campaigner for the Council of Canadians added: “No doubt Liepert will be extolling the virtues of the Tar Sands as so-called ‘ethical oil’. They are nothing of the kind. The watershed is showing signs of stress, massive toxic tailings ponds are leaking, people downstream are getting sick and the Tar Sands are Canada’s largest source of industrial carbon emissions. What’s ethical about that?”

Trade talks could wreck climate change measures, campaigners warn.

Alberta seeks to blunt EU [Climate] legistation

Notes

[1] The CETA negotiations are about halfway through and due to be completed towards the end of 2011. The latest round of talks took place in Brussels earlier this month, and were targeted by Tar Sands protests.  For a full explanation of the problems with CETA, please see “Keep Europe out of the Tar Sands!”, a briefing by Council of Canadians, Indigenous Environmental Network and UK Tar Sands Network.

[2] The EU has been negotiating a ‘Fuel Quality Directive’ (FQD), aimed at encouraging the use of low carbon energy products and discouraging the use of high-emission crude oil. In its original form the FQD would have prevented fuels with a high carbon content from being used in Europe – an effective ban on Tar Sands . But the initial draft has been significantly weakened following Canadian lobbying, and all reference to Tar Sands has been removed until after the CETA negotiations.

[3] Ron Liepert’s full itinerary can be seen here.

[4] The last 18 months have seen a growing number of organisations taking action against British banks and companies with links to the Tar Sands. Both BP and Shell have faced shareholder resolutions over their Tar Sands investments, as well as protests at their offices and petrol stations. The Royal Bank of Scotland has also come under fire for being the 7th largest global investor in the industry, using British taxpayers’ money, and were targeted by the Camp for Climate Action, who camped for a week in the grounds of their global headquarters in Edinburgh last summer. For more information see:

Indigenous Environmental Network
UK Tar Sands Network
FairPensions
PLATFORM
Camp for Climate Action

[5] For more information on the destructive nature of the Tar Sands, please see:

Indigenous Environmental Network’s Tar Sands campaign
 Dirty Oil Sands
UK Tar Sands Network

Stop Tar Sands Trade Talks!

Press Release

17 January 2010

For Immediate Release

Trans-Atlantic Civil Society Action Targets Canada-Europe Bilateral Trade Talks

BRUSSELS, Belgium – European and Canadian civil society groups joined together today outside Canada-EU free trade talks to give a clear warning to the public and negotiators that increasing Europe’s involvement in the Canadian tar sands is unacceptable.

The diverse groups held a “Stop Tar Sands Trade Talks” banner, and placards with an oily Canadian flag dripping onto an EU flag, while also distributing information outside European Commission headquarters to draw attention to the sixth round of Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations, happening January 17 to 21 in Brussels.

“We are concerned that the CETA negotiations will give dramatic new powers to European oil companies like Shell, BP and Total, allowing them to legally challenge any attempts to regulate their activities in the tar sands for social or environmental reasons. In order to prevent dangerous climate change we need to be shutting the tar sands down, not helping our companies invest in them,” said Suzanne Dhaliwal, from UK Tar Sands Network, who held a protest about the trade talks last Friday at the office of Britain’s controversial new unelected Trade Minister Stephen Green, who is the former Chair of HSBC – the world’s 13th largest investor in the tar sands.

“Tar sands are the most climate hostile energy source in commercial production today,[1]” said Darek Urbaniak, Extractive Industries Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Europe. “While Europe is working to reduce fossil fuels emissions Canada is using these trade negotiations to undermine this process. It has already been lobbying to water down the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive to treat oil produced from tar sands like conventional sources. EU decision makers should ensure that CETA enhances European climate policy and not the development of Canadian tar sands.”

Canada’s tar sands are the second largest petroleum reserve in the world, and their production is having serious social and environmental consequences. Producing oil from tar sands emits on average 3 to 5 times more greenhouse gases (GHGs) than conventional oil production. It requires and contaminates massive amounts of water and is having direct impacts on the health and way of life of First Nations communities living downstream from operations.

“The economic benefits of CETA have been oversold and the environmental costs ignored by the Canadian and European governments. The trade deal on the table leaves little room for badly needed climate change policies. In fact it will undoubtedly increase greenhouse gas emissions from mining, energy and transportation. Without a major re-write, Europeans and Canadians must reject CETA,” says Stuart Trew, Trade Campaigner with the Council of Canadians.

“The debate over the tar sands extraction needs to come down to the fundamental human rights of First Nations to exist and have a future with a safe, clean and healthy environment,” says Clayton Thomas-Muller , Tar Sands Campaigner with the Indigenous Environmental Network. “First Nations’ access to basic human necessities is supposedly protected by domestic and international law but CETA, by encouraging more extraction projects and giving that kind of investment strong new protections, threatens First Nations’ access to clean drinking water, land and sustenance.”

The CETA negotiations are currently in full swing, and due to be completed towards the end of 2011. Yet most European citizens have no idea the talks are taking place. A legal analysis [2] on the potential impact of CETA negotiations reveals that it could undermine climate policy in Europe and give dramatic new powers to Europe’s multinational oil companies. For example, the European Commission has asked Parliament for permission to negotiate an investor-to-state dispute process that would allow EU companies to sue the Canadian government in the event future regulations, water use limits or other environmental protections interfere with their profits. Likewise, Canadian companies will be able to take otherwise legitimate and legal EU decisions before non-transparent arbitration panels with the power to hand out fines. The Canadian government has said negotiating an investor-to-state dispute process is one of its most important objectives in CETA. The chill effect from this process is enough to discourage governments from pursuing effective climate and environmental policy.

The civil society groups are therefore calling for the talks to be put on hold until they can be subjected to full public scrutiny and the many social and environmental concerns adequately addressed.

FULL BRIEFING AVAILABLE HERE Stop Tar Sands Trade Talks!

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For more information, please contact:

Suzanne Dhaliwal, UK Tar Sands Network, Tel: +44 7772694327, suzannedhaliwal@googlemail.com

Stuart Trew, trade campaigner, Council of Canadians Tel: +1-647-222-9782, strew@canadians.org

Clayton Thomas-Muller, Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign, Indigenous Environmental Network, Tel: 218 760 6632, ienoil@igc.org

Darek Urbaniak, Extractive Industries Campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe,

Tel: +32 495 460 258 (Belgian mobile), darek.urbaniak@foeeurope.org

Notes:

[1] “Tar sands – Fuelling the climate crisis, undermining EU energy security and damaging development objectives,” a report from Friends of the Earth Europe, available here.

[2] “Potential Impacts of the Proposed Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on the Pace and Character of Oil Sands Development”: A Legal opinion prepared by Steven Shrybman (Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP) for the Council of Canadians, and the Indigenous Environmental Network, available here.