People vs. Kinder Morgan: BC government affirms support for the right side.

This week, the new NDP government in BC took a bold step by officially applying for intervenor status to support First Nations legal battles against the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline. This is a huge move and a massive blow to the pipeline project. But what does it all really mean? And how did we get to this point?

Atiya Jaffar
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read
Thousands marched in resistance to Kinder Morgan this November.

Here’s what we know so far:

This government has made it clear that the Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain expansion project is not in BC’s best interest. And as the provincial Environment Minister, George Heyman, put it, they ”will use all available tools to protect our coastal waters and our province’s future.”

They’ve already taken their first major step by hiring Justice Thomas Berger as the province’s new external counsel. Berger is a champion for social justice and environmental issues — best known for his work as the Royal Commissioner for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline project. The concerns Berger raised about the pipeline’s impact on the environment and Indigenous rights delayed and eventually killed the proposed project.

Justice Thomas Berger listens to testimonies as part of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry in 1974 (Canadian Press)

It’s no coincidence that the BC government has tasked Berger with the hefty task of helping the province seek intervenor status in the judicial review of Kinder Morgan taking place in federal courts this fall. They openly admit that this appointment is meant to signify the province’s commitment to honour Indigenous rights.

Beyond this legal battle, the government has deemed Kinder Morgan unfit to begin construction and effectively derailed the company’s plans to begin construction in September. Minister Heyman confirmed that the Texas-based oil giant “cannot put shovels in the ground” on public land in accordance with its timeline.

Before we thank politicians. Let’s thank the people.

The BC government’s decision to support Indigenous legal battles against Kinder Morgan didn’t fall out of thin air. This major victory emerged as a result of years of work by a peoples’ movement.

It began with Indigenous communities like the Tsleil Waututh First Nation uniting in opposition to the project and grew into an enormous resistance that stretches across the country. The movement gained momentum through countless petitions, opinion pieces, townhalls, marches, and acts of civil disobedience. The work of this movement transformed Kinder Morgan from a conversation on the sidelines to a mainstream discussion.

Kayaktivists flood the Kinder Morgan terminal as part of the “Break Free from Fossil Fuels” action in May 2016. (Photo by Elizabeth McSheffrey)

Ultimately, this recent turn of events has proven that when people organize and mobilize tirelessly, they have the power to achieve what would otherwise be a political impossibility. The fight to stop Kinder Morgan has demonstrated that the window for what’s politically possible moves as public opinion shifts.

This is a huge milestone — yes. But the fight isn’t over yet. The Indigenous led legal case against Kinder Morgan goes to the Federal Court of Appeals in October and there’s a chance that Kinder Morgan may begin construction on privately owned lands before then. And you can bet that over the upcoming months and years we will see the Indigenous resistance that first kindled the flames of this fight see the battle through to its end.

What does this mean for the pipeline?

At the end of the day, Kinder Morgan is a monstrous fossil fuel project pushed by Texan oil billionaires looking to fill their pockets by facilitating tar sands expansion. Its opposition counts Indigenous nations, tens of thousands of BC residents, thousands of people across Canada, entire municipalities — and now the government of British Coumbia. Kinder Morgan’s allies, like Justin Trudeau and Rachel Notley, argue that Kinder Morgan can move forward having secured federal approval last fall, and BC can do nothing to stand up for the coast, the climate and communities.

May 2017: Paddles raised at a water ceremony at the Kinder Morgan terminal this summer where participants took a pledge to do what it takes to protect the coast of British Columbia from this pipeline. (Photo by Zack Embree)

What the courts say is yet to be seen, but what’s clear right now is that on one side we have an American fossil fuel company backed up by politicians in Alberta and Ottawa, and on the other, we have a motley, but massive, and diverse, coalition opposing this unnecessary and unjust project. Whatever happens, this fight is just getting started.

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