There have been promises of more protests now that the federal government has approved the TransMountain pipeline expansion from Alberta to Burrard Inlet and one longtime activist believes there is the potential for an “explosion” of civil disobedience in BC.

 

Joe Foy, the national campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, compares the outcry over Kinder Morgan’s plans to triple the flow of oil through its pipeline to the huge demonstrations in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island in 1993.

 

Foy was part of the widespread protests led to international pressure to stop old-growth logging in the area.

 

“I see some huge parallels. One of the reasons it was so intense in Clayoquot Sound is the promises made by then-premier Mike Harcourt to have better environmental protection,” says Foy.

 

“People felt they’d been lied to and the same things has just happened with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He ran a campaign based on listening to First Nations people and also on having a stronger environmental record. I believe people feel lied to, and that is a recipe for quite an explosion.”

 

Foy believes the promised court challenges and civil unrest have the potential to make Clayoquot’s war in the woods “look like a small bump in the road.”

 

“This is in an urban area and people feel passionately about their environment, especially the beautiful ocean here and everything associated with that,” he tells NEWS 1130.

 

“People support First Nations rights and want to see an improvement on that and I also think that people across Canada get how beautiful the Pacific Coast is and get the climate challenge we all face.”

 

The federal government gave the go-ahead to Kinder Morgan’s $6.8 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on Tuesday, sparking protests and promises from opponents to keep fighting the planned twinning of the line over fears of a possible rupture or increased risk of a tanker spill.

 

Supporters of the project say it is needed to get more of Alberta’s land-locked oil to overseas markets.