On Exxon Valdez anniversary, indigenous group hopes to raise awareness

Marking the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Canadian First Nations groups launched an oil spill awareness campaign Monday as part of broader efforts to marshall public support against large fossil fuel projects that the groups argue adversely affect their lands.

“Once oil is spilled, the battle is lost. Exxon spent more than $2 billion trying to clean up its Alaska spill, but recovered less than 7 percent … Rarely is more than 10 percent of a marine spill ever recovered,” the group said on its Oil Spill Truths page.

“Twenty-five years after the Alaska spill, scientists are finding oil on the beaches,” the group said on its website, adding that only 13 of 32 monitoring populations and habitats are considered recovered. Herring and killer whale pods are examples of populations that haven’t recovered according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Coastal First Nations, a major alliance of First Nations in British Columbia on Canada’s west coast, also called on residents to support them in their existing ban on oil tankers in their traditional territories, according to a press release from the group on Monday.

The tanker ban was implemented years ago, Art Sterritt, executive director of the Coastal First Nations, told Al Jazeera. 

“We have rights and titles that are recognized by the constitution and Canada’s Supreme Court,” Sterritt said, adding that in polls over recent years about 80 percent of British Columbia residents said they opposed a proposed pipeline project, called Northern Gateway, that would snake through the province.

The group’s Oil Spill Truth campaign is aimed at launching awareness and opposition to Alberta-based Enbridge Energy Partner’s Northern Gateway oil pipeline and tanker project. 

Northern Gateway is one among several large pipeline projects recently proposed by Canadian energy companies. Enbridge’s proposed Line 67, or Alberta Clipper, and Alberta-based TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline are both cross-border projects that need U.S. presidential approval to move forward.

Coastal First Nations are trying to bring awareness to the damage oil spills can do and are using the Exxon anniversary to speak out also against Enbidge’s recent proposal to launch the massive pipeline and oil tankers project that they say could adversely affect their traditional territory.

“Oil companies have been spending millions and millions trying to deceive British Columbia into thinking they can do this safely,” Sterritt said. “For them to think they’re going to make a profit by jeopardizing a sustainable economy we’ve created on the coast over the past 150 years — it’s just not going to fly.”

The project would see a pipeline built in Canada from Alberta to British Columbia’s west coast. Northern Gateway would open up new markets for Canada’s massive crude oil resources — 99 percent of which have gone to the U.S. at “discounted prices.”

Despite concerns from First Nations groups and environmental groups, however, the energy company says the project would be committed to protecting the environment from disasters like the Exxon spill. 

“Northern Gateway’s commitments to marine environmental protection are unprecedented in Canada,” Ivan Giesbrecht, communications manager for Enbridge, told Al Jazeera. "Tankers calling at the Northern Gateway terminal will have two tugs escorting them ... [with] first response equipment on board.”

Meanwhile, Giesbrecht said Enbridge has made agreements with 26 aboriginal “equity partners” — which have been offered a 10 percent stake in a project estimated to be worth $300 million. Those groups represent 60 percent of the indigenous population along the proposed pipeline route, he added.

Sterritt said most of the groups who have made agreements with Enbridge are in Alberta, not British Columbia – where he said only three First Nations signed on to support the project. 

Enbridge is the company responsible for one of the worst inland oil spills in U.S. history. Almost 1 million gallons of tar sands oil spilled near Michigan’s Kalamazoo River in 2010, contaminating the river, which has yet to be fully restored.