At least six protesters have been arrested in this latest phase of the ongoing confrontation between TMX construction crews and self-styled ‘land defenders.’ The immediate struggle is to prevent workers from clearing more than 1,300 trees along the pipeline route through Burnaby. This was to have been carried out between Aug 1 and Sept 15th. The arrests began on September 7th, but a coalition calling itself “Protect the Planet STOP TMX” (PPST) has occupied this site since August 3, 2020.
The Trans Mountain pipeline has been transporting up to 300,000 barrels of diluted bitumen per day (bpd) from Alberta to the Westridge tanker terminal in Burnaby since 1955.
Plans for an expansion that would increase the pipeline’s capacity to 890,000 bpd were announced in 2012.
During the decade prior to this, there were two oil spills in Burnaby.
The clean-up company told Cortes Currents that about 100,000 litres of diluted bitumen gushed out in 2007. (CBC News reported 270,000 litres.) At least 50 homes were soaked and one of the victims subsequently told Burnabynow that it took two and a half years to restore her property to what it had been before the spill.
Close to 200,000 litres are believed to have leaked out from the Burnaby Mountain tank farm in 2009.
(Trans Mountain admits to reporting 84 spill to the Canada Energy Regulator since 1961. To which the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust initiative adds, “the longest period of time the Trans Mountain Pipeline has gone without a spill is approximately four years.” There was a 190,000 litre spill in Abbotsford last year.)
This may explain why 70% of the Burnaby respondents to a 2014 Insights West poll opposed the pipeline.
When Trans Mountain arrived to carry out a feasibility study on Burnaby Mountain, during 2014/15, they were met by protesting local residents and activists.
The battle continued.
According to a 2017 report in Burnabynow, Mayor Derek Corrigan told a cheering crowd of Burnaby residents, “We’re going to ride this thing through to the very end, because if we’re not going to win it here, we’re going to win it in the courts, and we’re going to continue to fight. If we go to court, we’re going to go to court with clean hands and ensure we’ve done everything humanly possible before I stand with you and probably 10,000 other people and get arrested to stop this (pipeline).”
Corrigan was no longer mayor when TMX work crews returned to Burnaby in 2020.
Last July New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian brought forward a motion calling on the federal government to “immediately stop” construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline project.
“No matter what the Liberals say, this project is a money pit that does not reflect our commitment to an energy transition.” he said.
Just prior to the Federal election, Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told Global News, “We will be capping oil and gas emissions in this country and we will be requiring binding five-year reductions on a pathway to net zero by 2050.”
He added, “What you’re going to start to see is declining demand for oil over the coming 30 years — 40 years perhaps in the context of some of the developing countries. And so, in that context, I would say that the utilization of the Trans Mountain Pipeline is probably in that order of 30 to 40 years.”
When TMX arrived to clear trees in the the Brunette River Conservation Area in August, PPST responded by occupying the forest canopy in their way.
The struggle intensified after construction workers erected blue fencing around the protest site on September 7th.
When she was arrested the following day, Janette McIntosh, a Presbyterian and participant in ecumenical and interfaith justice initiatives, said, “We are in a climate emergency, so why is business carrying on as usual? Why the disconnect? Why insist on old ways based on failed economic models, when we know there are better ways to live?”
Ruth Walmsley, a Quaker and founding member of Burnaby Residents Opposing KinderMorgan Expansion (BROKE) added, “As a person of faith, I am mindful of the moral imperative to think seven generations into the future. We are called to leave a world that will continue to support life as we know it, for present and future generations.”
On Thursday, September 24th, two demonstrators entered the fenced area owned by BNSF Railway. The RCMP press release states this was a violation of the “court ordered injunction stating they could not obstruct, impede, or otherwise prevent access to Trans Mountain work sites.” They employed the same hardblock tactic used at Fairy Creek. Twenty-year-old Zain Haq locked herself into the ground, while her companion sat with her as ground support.
The RCMP press release states: “The demonstrator was given the opportunity to leave the area voluntarily, but chose not to. She was safely arrested just before 10 a.m. Burnaby RCMP would like to take this moment to remind those who are involved in ongoing demonstrations that police are an impartial party and are there to ensure the safety of everyone involved.”
In a PPST press release, Haq said “The future of life on this planet is at stake. We must put a moratorium on all new fossil fuel infrastructure, as stated in no uncertain terms by the conservative International Energy Agency. This twinned pipeline poses tremendous risk locally, and globally once the product is burned. The consequences of inaction are catastrophic. As a young person, I am motivated to do whatever I can to dampen the horrors of the not-so-distant future: mass starvation, breakdown of ecosystems, mass extinction, etc. I never wanted to be a soldier, but here we are in what Extinction Rebellion calls the third world war, of profit versus life.”
The confrontation did not end when Haq and her companion were removed. There are still tree sits at Lost Creek.
An update posted on the Stop TMX website, on Saturday September 26th, states, “WE ARE IN A FULL ON SIEGE– more sitters and defenders are in play, and we need your support!”