Oil Gateway

http://stoptheflows.com/
Stop the Flows is the working title for subMedia.TV's next project. Over the next five years we will document resistance movements that are working towards stopping the flows of hydro carbons, mineral extraction, natural resources and capital, through grassroots and underground organizing. We will publish our dispatches as we complete them with the goal of compiling them into a feature length documentary to be released on 2016.

In this dispatch we look at how members of the Unis'toten nation are pre-empting the construction of 4 pipelines through their traditional territories.

Stop the Flows
Dispatch No.1

Oil Getaway

The oil industry is a dirty business.

The governor of Montana is expected
to detour the damaged

to areas today of that oil spill.

One of the great western rivers
now stained in oil.

A Calhoun county river rushing with a sheen
of oil tonight.

People still haven´t forgotten the disastrous

BP oil spill of the gulf coast
of the US in 2010.

But tanker accidents and pipeline
raptures happen frequently

and spill thousands of liters of oil
to densely populated areas,

rivers and natural environments.

So it´s no wonder why people are
coming together

to opose megaprojects that will bring oil
and gas infrastructure to their communities.

Others see a position to these oil
freeways

as a way to show us solidarity with
communities fighting industrial expansion.

The main reason we oppose these projects

is because this is the dirtiest project
on the planet - the tar sands.

And we are standing in solidarity with people

affected and impacted currently by
tar sands developments.

And we understand that the volumes

proposed to be transported through
our territories either by pipelines

or also pipelines on rail, that would
facilitate the expansion of the tar sands.

The building of oil and gas infrastructure

also has global implications.

Climate scientists warn of the ecological
catastrophy that planet faces

if greenhouse gas emisions are not
stopped.

In the face of overwhelming scientific
evidence, governments

and corporations continue to fight wars

and destroy lands, to extract and
burn hydrocarbons.

All the while big environmental groups
cut deals with industry

and claim false victories
in the name of the Earth.

It is increasingly clear that the only
hope for our planet

is for uncompromising resistance
movements to organize

outside of mainstream environmentalism
and fight to win.

In august of 2011 over a thousand people

including some high profile celebrities

voluntarily handed themselves over to
the cops in Washington D.C.

to try to stop the proposed
Keystone XL pipeline.

Around the same time the US State Departement
issued a statement

saying, that the proposed project will have
no significant impact

on the environment.

Hinting that the US government
is ready to rubber stamp Keystone XL.

This was a wakeup call for activists.

That it will take more than
non-violent civil disobedience

to stop new pipelines.

If approved, the Keystone XL

would bring millions of barrels of
tar sands oil from Canada

through the US.

And some 840 000 gallons of oil
continues to flow

down the Kalamazoo River.

Last year, Enbridge had a spill in the
Kalamazoo and it was a disaster.

A river that the community had spent

decades cleaning up and making into a really

wonderful place for people for fishing

and for leisure activities,
suddenly became unusable,

because Enbridge spilled thousands
of liters of diluted bichamen

into the Kalamazoo River and it´s still
not safe to eat fish from that river.

Enbridge has proposed a pipeline project
called the Northern Gateway,

that will begin in Alberta
and traverse through

central British Columbia,

bringing unrefined oil from the tar sands

to the pacific coast of Canada.

This pipeline is proposed to cross a number
of rivers and streams.

If there were a spill or a construction
impact on water quality,

the effects could be felt downstream.

Especially because of the migration of fish
and wildlife.

Not only does Northern Gateway
pose a threat to ecospheres in B.C.,

if would also encroach on the sovereignty

of indigenous peoples lands.

Most of the lands the pipeline will cross
in B.C., were never surrendered

or ceded to governments.

This includes the lands of the Uni´sto´ten
clan of the Wet'suet'en Nation,

whose territory includes
parts of the Maurice river.

We have never ceded or surrendered
our lands to anybody here.

There is no treaty, there is no relationship
built with any government

in the past, none of our people signed
anything to let them make

decisions on our territory.

This is Wetsueten land.

This is not Canada, this is not B.C.

What we are standing on is Unistoten
territory.

And this river is probably one of the top
rivers that we can drink

directly from. It is not a whole lot of these
rivers in the world left.

Even though they say it´s safe,
we have been hearing all of the media,

all these pipes breaking and all of the
waterways getting damaged

and we are just not gonna accept
that risk.

Because we don´t want it be 25 years,
10 years down the road

telling our kids: "We used to have moose here",
and "We used to fish",

"and these are the species
that we used to catch".

We don´t want it to become stories
like that.

We want actually to be going out there
and doing that with them.

The Unistoten sent a clear message
to the oil industry

and to all levels of government:

No pipelines will go through their terrritory.

Pipelines are trying to go right through

where the salmon spawn.
And that´s where we decided

to put the action camp.

And last year we put a cabin right
smack in the way of the pipeline.

Right now we are standing directly on
a GPS point

of the proposed Enbridge Inc.
Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal.

And this is also our place where we´re
going to be standing off with them.

The Northern Gateway is one of the many

pipeline projects that would attempt
to cut through

stolen native lands.

The proposed Pacific Trails Pipeline
has already been approved

by the canadian government

and it will bring liquified natural gas
from Summit Lake B.C. to Kitimat

for export to the pacific coast.

Pacific Trails Pipeline stays in the way
for Enbridge.

Their right of way is exactly the same
follows Enbridge wants to go.

And Enbridge has had huge opposition.

If Pacific Trails goes in and opens up
a right of way,

Enbridge can say,

"Well, our impact on the land,
and the waterways is mitigated,

because there is already an existing
pipeline in there."

We are stopping you.

And one of the things that is really,
really important about this,

is that we don´t expect you to secede,

whether your so called B.C. government
occupies our territories,

is approving you or not.

We are stopping you.

In Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish territory,

opposition is growing to the planned
increase in capacity

of an existing pipeline owned and
operated by Kinder Morgan.

Today this pipeline brings over
300.000 barrels of oil

from Alberta to Vancouver.

Kinder Morgan would like to double that.

This new oil surge would mean more tankers

navigating in and out of the sensitive ocean

ecosystems around Vancouver.

Bumping the odds of oil spills
reminescent of the

Exxon Valdez in Alaska.

It could also mean pipeline raptures
through natural environments

and residential areas.

Like the 2007 pipeline rapture
in the city of Burnaby.

It´s sprayed like a gaiser.

Thick crude oil spurted more than
30 meters into the air

from the raptured pipeline,

coating everything it touched.

So we are just in between the Chevron
refinery and the storage facility

that they have on the west side of
Willington Drive.

As in north Burnaby, just on
the broad end..

..we are just above the water right now.

This is, I guess, some of the pipelines that
run from the rafinery out to the storage area.

How close to the water are we
roughly.

I am guessing about two or three hundred yards.

In our next report we will look on Vancouvers
dirty little secret.

The massive conglomerate of oil infrastructure
facilities in neighbourinig Burnaby.

Subtitles by Mieroslav