Spring is almost upon us, and change is in the air. It's shaping up to be a really busy season for all of us working to keep tar sands crude exports off our pristine Pacific coast.

As grey whales migrate north along the Pacific coast, along with the various migratory birds and other species, we are reminded of what is at stake with this fundamentally important debate.

In BC, there is widespread and growing public opposition to two major proposed pipeline projects that aim to bring more tar sands crude oil to the Pacific coast for export: the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and the proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline. Both of these pipelines are all about exporting un-refined crude oil from the tar sands, which means billions of dollars for Big Oil executives and unnacceptable risks for our invaluable coast.

Big Oil and their supporters in government are on a major PR campaign to justify this expansion of infrastructure to export tar sands crude oil. And yet the public opposition to more pipeline and more tankers off our coast is stronger than ever. Its clear to anyone that looks at these proposals that they present a clear and present danger to our environment.

Furthermore, the global community is also pulling for us to stop these projects that would facilitate the expansion of the tar sands, which would mean an increasingly unacceptable contribution to global warming. Each pipeline that takes tar sands to export is like a long fuse on the world's largest carbon bomb. Working together with all of our allies we can defuse this threat to our collective future.

To help draw attention to these issues we have a number of important events coming up in the next week and month against tankers, pipelines and tar sands.

First, you can join us next Monday, March 26, 12 Noon at the Vancouver Art Gallery for a rally against tankers featuring 350.org founder Bill McKibben, who helped lead the effort to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to Texas. I will be joining a handful of other speakers including Art Sterritt from the Coastal First Nations as well as music by 11 year old activist/musician Takaiya Blaney. Later that night, McKibben will be the keynote speaker at the Canadian Centre for Poilicy Alternatives's (CCPA) Gala dinner at Fraserview Hall (the Wilderness Committee will be there with an information table.)

For those of you on Vancouver Island, you finally are about to get your first chance to respond directly to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel hearings. They are still in the "intervenor" stage so they won't yet be taking comments from the general public but we have joined forces with a number of groups on the island to organize a protest at the hearings in Comox on Saturday March 31st. If you want to join the caravan of folks heading to the hearings from Victoria and Nanaimo contact James at our Victoria office at (250) 388-9292.

Also, please remember to mark your calendar for Earth Day, Sunday April 22. The ever inspiring youth group Youth for Climate Justice Now are planning another big Earth Day parade and this year the focus will be on oil tankers. The parade this year will start near the Skytrain Station at Commercial and Broadway and make its way down the Drive to a free concert at Grandview Park.

This is a critical moment in the history of our province. This is one of the biggest issues we have ever faced and many are calling this the environmental campaign of our generation. There’s never been a better time to join the movement. Please get involved and help spread the word. If you would like to get more involved in the campaign overall we could use help setting up local meetings and circulating our new paper on the oil pipelines and oil tankers.

Thanks for all the supportive emails and phone calls. It doesn't matter how much money these big oil companies have, they can't beat the wave of opposition that is coming their way.

Ben West | Healthy Communities Campaigner
Wilderness Committee