July 28, 2010
The Northern View: Greenpeace occupies Enbridge’s Vancouver officeFrançais
Greenpeace staged a dramatic sit in and mock oil spill this morning in Vancouver at Enbridge’s headquarters. We’ve seen what oil spills look like in the Gulf of Mexico and now in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. Nobody wants to see what a spill would look like in the rivers and coast of northern BC
Story from The Northern View. Click here for the original story and photos
Greenpeace occupies Enbridge’s Vancouver office, stages mock oil spill outside
Early this morning Greenpeace activists locked themselves inside Enbridge’s Vancouver office and set-up a mock oil spill outside the office in protest of the planned Northern Gateway pipeline, and say they are prepared to stay there until Enbridge gets the message that they need to cancel the proposed pipeline that would carry oil and condensate between Kitimat and Edmonton.
“The reason we are here today is that Enbridge and the Canadian government simply are not listening to 80 per cent of British Columbians who support a ban on oil tankers off of our coast. The coastal First Nations and those First Nations in British Columbia whose territory the pipeline passes through are all against the pipeline and against oil tankers. Clearly Enbridge and the government are not listening to that kind of widespread sentiment and not behaving in the public interest,” said Greenpeace B.C. director Stephanie Goodwin, who is locked down in a truck outside the office.
“Greenpeace felt the need to take action today, especially two weeks after the Enbridge pipeline in Michigan spilled over three million litres of oil into the water and it has impacted the ecosystem, communities, water and wildlife.”
In addition to a mock pipeline spilling mock oil in front of a picture of the coast with the slogan “Picture this on B.C.’s Coast” set up on the street, those inside the office have written “B.C. next?” on the window with oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico and have placed banners reading “Enbridge: No pipeline, no tankers” on the glass door of the office. According to Goodwin, response thus far has been very positive.
“People have been overwhelmingly supportive of it. A mother and child walked by, stopped and said ‘Oh my god, it’s an oil spill!’ They didn’t even need any more explanation what it was, they knew it was oil spilling over our B.C. coast,” said Goodwin.
“We really don’t want Enbridge to become the BP of B.C. and they will become that if we allow them to build the pipeline.”
Goodwin says that Greenpeace has sent a letter to the CEO of Enbridge but has gotten no response.
Calls and e-mail to Enbridge were not immediately returned. Response from Enbridge will be posted when it becomes available.
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