Activists close Line 9 near Sarnia

[Oscar]

Activists close Line 9 near Sarnia

[ http://canadians.org/blog/activists-clo ... ear-sarnia ]

December 21, 2015 - 4:23 pm

Activists closed a valve on Enbridge’s Line 9 oil pipeline just west of Sarnia today stopping oil transport on the controversial pipeline for several hours before they were arrested and removed.

According to a press release, the activists closed the valve at 7:30 this morning and then locked themselves to it with bicycle locks.

From the press release: “Line 9 is a highly contested tar sands pipeline that began shipping crude earlier this month between Sarnia and Montreal. Those involved assert that the operation of line 9 is a violation of indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights. “It’s clear that tar sands projects represent an ongoing cultural and environmental genocide.” Vanessa Gray asserts. “I defend the land and water because it is sacred. I have the right to defend against anything that threatens my traditions and culture.”

Vanessa Gray was a guest speaker at our annual general meeting in Windsor in October.

The press release continues: “The tarsands are known to be the second leading cause of deforestation in the world and permanently contaminate over 7 million barrels of water every day. Locally Aamjiwnaang first nation experiences skewed sex ratios and high rates of respiratory illness because of nearby petrochemical refineries.”

Line 9 passes through 99 towns and cities and 14 Indigenous communities in Ontario and Quebec.

A pipeline safety expert with over forty years of experience in the energy sector, Richard Kuprewicz, has stated that the probability of Line 9 rupturing is over 90% in the first five years of operation. This is due to the large number of fractures in the aging pipeline and the fact that Line 9 will carry various different kinds of crude- including diluted bitumen- which adds additional stresses to the pipeline. [ http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/7 ... 013-08.pdf ]

The Council of Canadians has grave concerns about the likelihood of Line 9 rupturing and the consequences of a diluted bitumen spill in the heart of the Great Lakes region. In July 2010, Enbridge’s Line 6 in Michigan ruptured, spilling millions of litres of diluted bitumen from the tar sands into the Kalamazoo River system. After five years and more than $1.5 billion dollars in cleanup costs, the river is still significantly polluted and Enbridge argues that further cleanup will do more harm than good- essentially admitting that tar sands oil cannot be effectively cleaned up in the case of a spill.

The Chippewas of the Thames First Nation plan to appeal the National Energy Board’s approval of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline at the Supreme Court due to the lack of free, prior and informed consent to the pipeline reversal. [ http://theturtleislandnews.com/index.ph ... -enbridge/ ]

Council of Canadians chapters in London, Hamilton, Guelph, Peel, Toronto, Peterborough and Northumberland have also taken direct action against the reversal of Line 9. [ http://canadians.org/blog/line-9-activi ... -port-hope ]

Two weeks ago, activists in Quebec shut down Line 9 for an entire day. [ http://canadians.org/blog/activists-shu ... u%C3%A9bec ]

The three people arrested were charged several counts including Mischief over $5000 (max sentence 10 years in prison) and Mischief endangering life which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. This is the first time I have heard of anyone being charged with Mischief endangering life and it strikes me as a heavy handed attempt to intimidate anyone who is considering taking similar actions.

Click here for a report on other evidence presented to the NEB against the Line 9 proposal:
[ http://risingtidetoronto.noblogs.org/fi ... rch6-3.pdf ]


Mark Calzavara's blog
Ontario-Quebec Regional Organizer
Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blog/70/feed ]

[Oscar]

Line 9 Shut Down

[ http://briarpatchmagazine.com/blog/view ... -shut-down ]

by Anonymous December 23, 2015

Line 9 is a 639 kilometre-long pipeline operated by Enbridge [ http://www.enbridge.com/ECRAI/Line9BRev ... oject.aspx ] that carries 300,000 barrels of crude oil from North Westover (near Sarnia, Ontario) to a refinery in Montreal.
[ http://business.financialpost.com/news/ ... =5fdf-52bf ] It runs through Anishnaabe, Haudenosaunee, Métis, and Lenape territories of 18 First Nations communities. One of the First Nations, the Chippewas of the Thames, has sued the Canadian government for breaching its constitutional duty to consult before the National Energy Board approved the pipeline.
[ http://theturtleislandnews.com/index.ph ... -enbridge/ ]

On December 7, 2015, Indigenous activists and their allies shut down the pipeline. Another pipeline shut-down occurred on December 21, 2015. [ https://ricochet.media/en/843/exclusive ... own-line-9 ]

The following is a first-hand account of the December 7 action by an anonymous activist.

Despite our long and hard-fought campaign of lobbying, legal battles, and direct action against Line 9, Enbridge and the National Energy Board opened the pipeline on December 3, 2015.

On December 7, we shut it down. Literally. Mainstream media reported that Enbridge shut down Line 9 as a “precaution,” but we know better. [ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... e27638866/ ] We closed the valve manually. This is historic: to our knowledge, this is the first time that activists have manually shut down a pipeline.

On the day of the action, Enbridge stock plunged almost 8 per cent, amounting to billions of dollars of losses.
[ https://www.google.ca/search?q=enbridge ... jgTLxJz4AQ ] At the point of publishing, the stock hadn’t fully recovered.

There is a strong sense of exuberance following this action. One of the notable achievements of our radical action has been its ability to galvanize broad popular support. This lockdown was organized by anarchists, but it was publicly supported by citizens’ groups, including the former mayor of the town where the action took place.

This action was a test of Canada’s new anti-terrorism act, Bill C-51, which expands the definition of terrorism to include tampering with critical infrastructure, which can be interpreted under the law as oil and gas infrastructure like pipelines.
[ https://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/anti-oi ... report-968 ] Our line of thinking was this: if they charged us with terrorism, they’d be saying that a large segment of the population supports terrorism, and the state would lose the usefulness of the label “terrorism” to demonize an isolated political element. It wouldn’t be in Canada’s interests to charge us with terrorism, but it would be good for our movement, since in all likelihood, once C-51 is tested in court, it will get thrown out as unconstitutional. And the sooner that happens, the better.

There is a general sense that this action has breathed new life into the anti-Line 9 campaign, which many NGOs had long ago abandoned as unwinnable. For the first time in a long time, activists are expressing optimism that Line 9 can be shut down before it spills. We’ve arrived at a critical juncture, and the time for bold direct action has come.

In the aim of disseminating accurate information about this action, we present the most detailed account of events available.

MORE:

[ http://briarpatchmagazine.com/blog/view ... -shut-down ]