Tag Archives: TC Energy.

Communications

The day pipeline security followed me — and what I learned later about Canada’s spy agency

Matt Simmons – The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

The truck slowly pulled alongside as I idled at the side of a remote dirt road in northern B.C. No cell service, the nearest town half an  hour away. I’d pulled off to let industrial traffic heading the other  direction pass. It was 2022 and I was on my way to meet with Indigenous  land defenders embroiled in a years-long fight against a major pipeline  being built through Wet’suwet’en lands and waters without the permission  of Hereditary Chiefs. 

Continue reading The day pipeline security followed me — and what I learned later about Canada’s spy agency →
Energy, Indigenous Nations

‘A long, hot summer’: B.C.’s approval of PRGT pipeline sets stage for conflict, First Nations leader says

Matt Simmons – The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

The British Columbia government gave a green light to an 800-kilometre natural gas pipeline on Thursday, paving the way for construction to start this summer — and setting the stage for what one First Nations leader warns could be a “long, hot summer” of conflict. 

Continue reading ‘A long, hot summer’: B.C.’s approval of PRGT pipeline sets stage for conflict, First Nations leader says →
Energy

U.S. tariffs or not, Canada needs to build new oil and gas pipeline space fast

Expansion work underway takes on greater importance amid trade dispute

By Grady Semmens, Originally published on the Canada Energy Centre

Last April, as the frozen landscape began its spring thaw, a 23-kilometre stretch of newly built pipeline started moving natural gas across northwest Alberta.

There was no fanfare when this small extension of TC Energy’s Nova Gas Transmission Limited (NGTL) system went online – adding room for more gas than all the homes in Calgary use every day.

It’s part of the ongoing expansion of the NGTL system, which connects natural gas from British Columbia and Alberta to the vast TC Energy network. In fact, one in every 10 molecules of natural gas moved across North America touches NGTL.

With new uncertainty emerging from Canada’s biggest oil and gas customer – the United States – there is a rallying cry to get new major pipelines built to reach across Canada and to wider markets.

Continue reading U.S. tariffs or not, Canada needs to build new oil and gas pipeline space fast →
Energy, Indigenous Nations

Frustrated with government, Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs wavering on support for B.C. pipeline

Editor’s note: The Wet’suwet’en Nation is about 300 miles due north of Campbell. While there is no statistical data to show how widespread this sentiment is, a number of local residents have expressed sympathy for their struggle against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline. Max Thaysen, the current Alternate Director for Cortes Island, was a legal observer when the RCMP ‘invaded’ Wet’suwet’en Territory on February 7, 2020. There were protests in support of the Wet’suwet’sen on Cortes Island and in Campbell River. Many Quadra Island residents participated in the latter. When former MLA Claire Travena held a BC Ferries meeting on February 28th, 2020, she was forced to devote the first 20 minutes to a discussion of the Wet’suweten crisis.

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

On a bitterly cold morning in early March, Gitxsan Simgiigyat (Hereditary Chiefs) stood outside the provincial  Supreme Court building in Smithers, B.C., their regalia fending off the  icy air.

“Our way of life has been subverted by the  Canadian government,” Simogyat (Chief) Molaxan Norman Moore told a  gathering of supporters and observers, his voice reverberating off the  drab concrete building.

Inside, proceedings continued for a Hereditary Chief of the neighbouring Wet’suwet’en Nation, who was found guilty of criminal contempt  in February. The Simgiigyat organized the demonstration to show their  support for Dinï ze’ (Hereditary Chief) Dsta’hyl, who was arrested in  October 2021 after decommissioning Coastal GasLink machinery at pipeline construction sites on his Likhts’amisyu Clan territory. 

Continue reading Frustrated with government, Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs wavering on support for B.C. pipeline →
Indigenous Nations, Industry

‘Heartbreaking’: an overhead view of Coastal GasLink sediment spills into Wet’suwet’en waters, wetlands

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Sleydo’ Molly Wickham was composed and quiet as she stared out the window of a helicopter flying over vast stretches of TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory (yintah). Below, a wide swath cut through forests and wetlands, crossing creeks and rivers. 

A wing chief of the Gidimt’en clan, Sleydo’ was part of a small group on a monitoring flight to document the contentious project’s impacts as soaring temperatures rapidly melted last winter’s heavy snowpack.

Continue reading ‘Heartbreaking’: an overhead view of Coastal GasLink sediment spills into Wet’suwet’en waters, wetlands →