November 12, 2015

The Wilderness Committee is among the 100 groups that signed an open letter on November 12th, 2015 asking the Prime Minister and Minister of Environment and Climate Change to immediately stop oil pipeline reviews underway, including Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain and TransCanada’s Energy East proposals, and address the weaknesses in the environmental assessment process. 

In recent years, Canada’s pipeline review process has been increasingly criticized for its failures, which include limiting public participation, failing to meaningfully consult First Nations governments, and allowing proponents to withhold important information. 

On top of all this, the energy board’s review process fails to consider greenhouse gas emissions or the cumulative impacts of large energy infrastructure projects on the climate. That is why the Wilderness Committee along with 34 other participants dropped out of the flawed and bias NEB process earlier this year.

By halting the review processes right away, we believe the new government will send a strong signal that they are serious about following through on the commitments they made during their campaign. 

Because energy infrastructures last a long time and define the landscape for decades, the reviews can only be restarted once the federal government has fixed the review process so that it enables meaningful and ongoing public participation. We also believe it is critical that the review process assess the climate impacts of each proposal, and ensure the ability of Indigenous Peoples to exercise their decision making authority according to their respective governance systems in accordance with constitutional and international human rights obligations. 

To help put an end to Kinder Morgan's risky tar sands pipeline, write your letter now. 

To help put an end to TransCanada's Energy East pipeline, write your letter now.

To read the open letter, click here >>

Photo: Defend our Climate Rally, Victoria BC. (TJ Watt)