Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition: Working together to protect our landscape and lifestyle

August 03 2010 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Youth on the Water

YOUTH On the Water (YOW) participants scout out the Copper River’s waters below before taking it on in their rafts. YOW participant Owen Merrill guides the raft down a section of the river.

SCRAMBLING UP the side of a canyon they scout out the river. The powerful, churning and pumping white water below is their destination and there’s no turning back.

They make their way through the glacial waters of the Copper River, manning the rafts and scouting out obstacles like sweepers – fallen trees – in order to make the best line down the river.

This is just one afternoon for local youth who participated in the new program, Youth On the Water (YOW), free for participants and developed by Chris Gee with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. The program is in it’s second year, taking place last summer in the Hazletons, and coming to Terrace this year.

The nine lucky participants included Kylie Anderson, Luke and Mitch Sabal, Moses Watts, Owen Merrill, Dane Cameron, Jonas Coxen, Dillon Jensen and Patrick Moore.

The group spent the last two weeks on the waters of the northwest, learning the ins and outs of river raft guiding, first on Lakelse Lake, then taking it up a notch to the Copper, Kitimat and Skeena River.

They learned swift water rescue and river raft guiding techniques, including nearly 10 different rope ties, and how to read the water and choose the best line to travel. Guest speakers also covered educational units on specific topics such as fish species and life-cycles, wildlife habitat, First Nations culture and other current threats to the Skeena River watershed.

Ali Howard, who swam the entire length of the Skeena River last summer to raise awareness about industrial threats to the watershed, also paid the participants a visit near the end of the course.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn tangible and transferable job skills, the notion that a person can maneuver down a river, that is a huge self esteem booster,” said Gee.

The program also opens the doors for youth who may not have ever had an opportunity to be on the water, and that goes for Anderson, the lone female participant.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, I just never had the opportunity,” she says. “It’s a lot of learning, but it’s interesting….I’ve enjoyed everything, it’s all pretty awesome, it’s an amazing opportunity.”

Anderson says she know only a bit about the watershed, but taking the program has given her a more in depth insight to how everything works, with a lot more detail.

Kim Ward-Robberts facilitated the program with help from Hatha Callis with Skeena Valley Expeditions, guiding the youth through all the different units that make up the program.

This is also a starting point for some participants who are now interested in taking on a career as guides, including Watts and Mitch and Luke.

“That is the reason why I wanted to take it, I want a career in outdoor recreation as a guide,” says Mitch.

It’s evident that the program was an engaging, challenging and rewarding experience as participants tried their hand at tying different knots on the bus ride to the put-in site on the Copper, taking turns shouting out answers to Callis’ and Ward-Robberts questions about what they’ve learned so far.

And when asked what their favourite part of the program was, most answered, “well, everything.”__

July 27 2010 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Youth Take it to the Water

LOCAL YOUTH hit the calm waters of Lakelse Lake last week to practice flipping a raft and learning techniques to pull themselves out from the water and back onto the safety of the raft. This is an essential ability to learn before they take a raft down a river with faster flowing water.

BEING able to confidently guide a raft down swift white water is just one of the accomplishments youth will walk away with from a unique new program here.

The name is Youth On the Water (YOW) and it encourages youth to get outdoors and to learn about the watershed they live in.

Right now eight local youth are in their second week of the program, learning things like how to be a river raft guide, rope ties and swift water rescue.

The program started on July 19 and has had participants progress from working in Lakelse Lake, to taking on rapids in the Copper River. This Monday they were also treated to a visit from Ali Howard, who swam the entire length of the Skeena River last summer to raise awareness about industrial threats to the watershed.

The program is in its second year, first taking place last summer in the Hazeltons. It was developed by Chris Gee with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, with a goal of connection youth to the water.

Check in next week for more on YOW.

June 15 2010 » Home Feature

10,000 Salmon Art Project - Exhibit is OPEN!

Last year, we sent Northwest B.C. students 10,000 salmon templates to be coloured and decorated to carry forward the spirit of the Skeena Swim. Over 6,000 of these salmon were returned to us, beautifully decorated by youth from pre-school kids to Grade 12 students and even a lot of teachers. The salmon have been applied to 28 giant paper-maché salmon as part of a new regional art project, Grand Opening on June 18.

The exhibit will continue until the end of October. We are honoured and blessed by the incredible support received from schools, teachers, students and community members. This project truly embodies the spirit of the Skeena swim and will help that spirit of celebration and connection continue in our watersheds.
Thanks to all those that have helped us get this project going:
Village of Hazelton, The Senden Group, Bruce Chandler, Misty Rivers Art Council, Diamond Willow Boys, Cynthia McCreery, Randy’s Image Design Signs, BV Printers, Jeannine Knox, Julia Hill, From the Heart Studio, Ali Howard and MANY others!!

Communities that participated in the project include:
New Hazelton, South Hazelton, Old Hazelton, Two Mile, Moricetown, Smithers, Houston, Skidegate, Masset, Charlotte City, Gingolx, New Aiyansh, Gitwinsilkw, Terrace, Port Edward, Prince Rupert, Gitsegukla, Kitwanga, Gitanyow, Kispiox, Stewart, Telegraph Creek, Iskut, Dease Lake, Nass Valley, Gitanmaax, Glen Vowell, Kitimat, Telkwa, and Greenville.

A big thank-you to our SALMON SPONSORS: Each of these organizations/businesses sponsored 1 of these giant salmon for $500!!
Driftwood Foundation
Bulkley Valley Credit Union
Eberts Family
Prince Rupert Back Country Recreation Society
Good Hope Cannery
Silver Hilton Lodge – Sponsored 6 giant salmon!
Billabong Road & Bridge Maintenance

Want to sponsor a salmon too? Contact:
Shannon McPhail, Executive Director
Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
(250) 842-2494 or 842-8738 (cell)
Shannon@skeenawatershed.com
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June 13 2010 » » Terrace Standard

Getting Youth on the Water

By Molly McNulty
THIS SUMMER eight lucky youth will have the opportunity to take part in a unique program which will provide river raft guide training, along with invaluable knowledge about the watershed.

The program is called Youth On the Water (YOW), developed by Chris Gee with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. This is the second session for the program, which is free for the youth, taking place last summer in the Hazeltons. The program is now expanding with sessions this summer in Terrace, Smithers, Moricetown and Hazelton.

Gee developed the program because of a personal love of the river and water, and says that any means of connecting youth with the watershed is a valuable endeavour. “The idea is to connect young people to water in such a way that they take the opportunity to understand the value of the river beyond resource extraction,” says Gee. “It’s a great opportunity to learn tangible and transferable job skills, the notion that a person can maneuver down a river, that is a huge self esteem booster.”

Youth will learn swift water rescue and river raft guiding techniques, but guest speakers will cover educational units on specific topics such as fish species and life-cycles, wildlife habitat, First Nations culture and other current threats to the Skeena River watershed. YOW participants in Hazelton last year were able to take part in Ali Howard’s historic swim of the Skeena River by meeting her and her team on the water and guiding them into the community.

“I was absolutely thrilled, I could not believe the change in the young people, the confidence that was evident in their appearance, they way they walked, talked…some kids in the program didn’t know that right in their backyard they have a river people come from around the world to visit,” he says. Gee also notes that another important aspect of the program is to engage youth for future battles to protect the watershed from industrial projects. “We can only sustain our energy to fight against bad industrial [plans] for so long, big companies like Shell or Enbridge they can out wait all of us, what do they care to wait 15 to 20 years …the struggle now is people will be burnt out and tired, if we can in some way connect young people so they can recognize the need to take up the struggle against these poorly planned industrial projects,” he says.

Kim Ward-Robberts will facilitate the program in Terrace this summer, which runs from July 19 to 30. She says they will start out on the lake and gradually move onto an easy section of the Copper or Skeena River, with help from Hatha Callis with Skeena Valley Expeditions.

For this year’s session Ward-Robberts is looking for a letter of intent from eight enthusiastic youth (four boys, four girls) ages 16 to 20. “We want people who want to be out there,” she says.

Interested youth can send a letter of intent to Ward-Robberts at kimmyward@hotmail.com, deadline is the end of June.

May 27 2010 » » Reuters

Enbridge files Gateway pipeline plan, fight looms

By Allan Dowd

Enbridge says line can be operated safely

Native group calls it “act of aggression” (Updates with opposition reaction, adds details)

VANCOUVER, May 27 (Reuters) – Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO). asked Canadian regulators on Thursday for permission to build its controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry crude from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific Coast.

The long-anticipated announcement sets the stage for a bitter battle with environmental and aboriginal groups who say the risk of a tanker accident along the rugged and picturesque British Columbia coast is too great.

“The Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project will open important new markets for Canadian crude oil; it will create jobs and a substantial long-term boost to our nation’s economy as well as the communities through which it will pass,” Enbridge Chief Executive Patrick Daniel said in a statement.

The C$5.5 billion ($5.2 billion) project would move up to 525,000 barrels a day of oil from Alberta to the port of Kitimat, British Columbia, giving Asia direct access to Canada’s vast oil sands via tankers. The line would also be used to import condensate.

Enbridge has said it wants the Northern Gateway line in operation by 2016.

Opponents lashed out at the filing, with the spokesman for a British Columbia aboriginal group calling it “an act of aggression” and “arrogant”, given that it comes while crews are still fighting the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“This means all out war,” said Art Sterritt, a spokesman for the Coastal First Nations.

Opponents released a poll on Wednesday saying 80 percent of British Columbians would oppose increased tanker traffic along the coast, which has been restricted on a voluntary basis since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

Enbridge said the eight-volume regulatory application it filed with the National Energy Board will demonstrate that the 1,172 km (760 mile) line and tanker traffic can be operated safely.

“Construction and operation of the Northern Gateway pipeline system and marine terminal will be a model of world-class safety and environmental standards,” Daniel said in a news release.

Enbridge says that fears of a disaster are unfounded, because Kitimat, a small industrial and forestry community, has been visited safely by more than 1,500 ships carrying petrochemical products over the past 25 years..

Modern tankers are built to withstand accidents such as the grounding of the Exxon Valdez, which helped prompt restrictions on offshore energy development on Canada’s West Coast, the company and pipeline supporters say.

Legal observers have said the BP Plc (BP.L) spill in the Gulf of Mexico could strengthen any aboriginal claims and that native groups’ concerns about the environmental impact of a spill must be addressed before the line is built.

Sterritt said compensation for territorial rights lost if the pipeline is built may not be possible because the cultures of some native Indian communities would be wiped out in the event of a major tanker accident and oil spill.

The Northern Gateway Alliance, a coalition of businesses and residents who support the project, welcomed Enbridge’s announcement and said the line would bring needed economic development to the region.

See full article

May 20 2010 » Media Releases

385km Stand Up Paddleboard Expedition Completed Successfully

Squamish  resident  Norm  Hann  has  completed  what  many  thought  was  impossible.    His  385km  Stand  Up  Paddleboard  expedition  through  Canada’s  Great  Bear  Rainforest  started  in  the  Haisla  Village  of  Kitimat,  B.C  on  May  8th,  and  ended  yesterday  in  the  Heiltsuk  village  of  Bella  Bella,  where  he  was  greeted  by  a  large  gathering  of  local  residents,  including  school  children,  hereditary  chiefs,  elders  and  other  community  leaders.      With  stops  in  Hartley  Bay,  Klemtu  and  as  far  west  as  the  Moore  Islands,  the  expedition  helped  bring  awareness  to  the  environmental  threat  the  proposed  Enbridge  oil  pipeline  and  tanker  traffic  will  have  on  the  Great  Bear  Rainforest,  its  people  and  wildlife.  Hann  also  visited  a  number  of  vital  food  harvesting  sites  for  First  Nations,  which  are  at  risk  from  potential  oil  spills.  The  expedition  served  to  galvanize  support  amongst  coastal  residents  in  opposition  to  the  proposed  oil tanker  route.  
“It  was  an  incredible  journey.  The  weather  allowed  us  to  visit  wild  and  remote  places  rich  in  wildlife  and  traditional  foods.  This  expedition  confirmed  how  special  and  rare  this  coastal  environment  really  is.  First  Nations  from  Kitimat  to  Bella  Bella  expressed  how  valuable  their  natural  resources  are  to  their  livelihood  and  sense  of  place.  They  were  in  full  100%  support  of  not  having  oil tankers  on  our  coast.   Our  team  was  honoured  to  be  welcomed  into  their  communities  and  we  were  fortunate  to  have  their  guidance  throughout our trip.” 
Hann  runs  Mountain  Surf  Adventures  in  Squamish  and  has  been  a  professional  outdoor  guide  in  the  Great  Bear  Rainforest  for  ten  years  and  is  very  connected  to  the  land  and  its  people.  As  a  fishing,  kayaking,  wildlife  and  bear  viewing  guide  he  has  introduced  people  from  all  over  the  world  to  the  Great  Bear Rainforest. 

To  schedule  an  interview  with  Norm  Hann,  please  call Shannon  at  604‐818‐7426  or  email  at  standup4greatbear@gmail.com. 

To  read  a  detailed  account  of  the  StandUp4GreatBear  Expedition  please  visit   http://www.mountainsurfadventures.blogspot.com  

May 07 2010 » News Clippings » The Georgia Strait

B.C. needs permanent solution for threatened Sacred Headwaters

Photo: Brian Huntington

~Karen Tam Wu

In a mystical place called the Sacred Headwaters, three of B.C.’s wildest rivers—the Nass, Skeena, and Stikine—are born. These three magnificent rivers are a only one- or two-day walk from each other—a rare phenomenon in nature. The Sacred Headwaters is a culturally significant area for First Nations. It is here where Royal Dutch Shell proposes to extract coal-bed methane.

Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of the Sacred Headwaters. The region isn’t on the Alberta-B.C. road map folded up in my glove compartment. It’s another five to seven hours north off the map—depending on who’s driving. The Skeena is the second longest river in B.C. The Grand Canyon of the Stikine is a run attempted by only the world’s most skilled and daring kayakers, who must navigate turbulent hydraulics, like the Hole That Ate Chicago. The Nass, Skeena, and Stikine are among the most productive salmon-bearing rivers in our province. The Sacred Headwaters is the jackpot for wildlife fanatics like me. Most of Canada’s iconic animals—moose, caribou, wolves, mountain goats, and grizzly bears—roam undisturbed. This place is the farthest I can imagine being from a decent soy latte.

Due to threats from Shell’s proposed plans to develop CBM, the Sacred Headwaters topped the Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia’s 2010 most endangered rivers list.

Coal-bed methane is a natural gas, primarily used for household heating. To extract methane found in coal seams 100 to 1,000 metres underground, Shell would need to pump groundwater out. A mix of water, sand, and an industry-trade-secret recipe of chemicals, like benzene, MBTE, and other hydrocarbons, is often injected into the ground to fracture coal seams to free the methane. Each well could produce between 10,000 and 20,000 gallons of wastewater high in salts and chemicals like arsenic and ammonia. Where the injected chemicals would flow underground is unpredictable. Between 1,500 and 10,000 wells would be drilled for production. A pad roughly the size of a baseball field would be constructed for each well, and three-metre-wide roads would be built to connect each well.

Salmon migrate 610 kilometres up the Skeena to spawn in the Sacred Headwaters. Coal-bed methane would desecrate this ecological marvel and transform it into an industrial checkerboard. Pollution- and sediment-laden water would poison fish, clog their gills, and suffocate their eggs.

Shell began its exploration phase by quietly putting in three test wells in 2004 and planned to drill 14 more by 2008. When residents from the Nass, Skeena, and Stikine watersheds caught wind of Shell’s plans, First Nations, ranchers, and environmentalists united. Destruction of the rivers that bring the fish that define their cultures and traditions is unthinkable. Local residents blockaded, rallied in the streets, and held public summits. In 2008, the communities passed resolutions opposing the development of coal-bed methane in the Sacred Headwaters.

In December 2008, the B.C. government heeded the opposition and placed a temporary ban on Shell’s drilling. The two- to four-year moratorium would allow time for First Nations and local communities to gather “sufficient information” about CBM development and to obtain water quality data “sufficient” to determine “potential” impacts of CBM.

Last week, Minister of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources Blair Lekstrom confirmed on Global TV news that 2012 would be the expiration of the moratorium. The government’s imposing of the initial ban in 2008 is laudable, but two more years will not make CBM development more palatable to local communities. In two more years, it will still be sacrilegious to subject these intertwined ecosystems of pristine rivers, thriving salmon stocks, and bountiful wildlife to coal-bed methane development in the Sacred Headwaters.

On a recent trip up north crossing the frozen Stikine, the emerald Nass, and the mighty Skeena, I was beside myself with excitement when we crossed paths with caribou. I was reminded that these wild spaces are our sanctuaries, and are part of our national identity and culture. It’s time we treated them with the reverence they deserve.

I urge you, Minister Lekstrom, to find a permanent solution for the Sacred Headwaters.

Karen Tam Wu is an energy campaigner for ForestEthics in Vancouver. ForestEthics is a nonprofit with staff in Canada and the United States that recognizes that individual people can be mobilized to create positive environmental change—and so can corporations. Armed with this philosophy, ForestEthics has secured the protection of more than 65 million acres of endangered forests. ___

May 03 2010 » » Emagazine.com

Behind the Greens - Ali Howard, River Activist

By Erich Volkstorf

In August 2009, a young chef named Ali Howard, concerned about the dangers facing the Skeena River in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, swam the river’s entire 380-mile length. The headwaters of the Skeena lie within a few miles of the headwaters of two other great rivers, the Stikine and the Nass. This area, known as the Sacred Headwaters, is in danger from industrial development.

Shortly after she completed her swim, Howard was awarded clothing giant Patagonia’s first ever Activist Award. She currently speaks in the U.S. and Canada about the dangers facing the Skeena River watershed.

1. E Magazine: What are the issues facing the Sacred Headwaters?
Ali Howard: One of the main threats is Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to drill for coal bed methane right at the source of those three rivers. Putting a project like that right at the headwaters doesn’t make any sense because it could compromise the integrity of all three river systems. Another project is Enbridge Inc.’s pipeline to carry oil from tar sands in Alberta out to the coast at Kitimat. That would compromise not just the watershed but super tankers on the coast would affect the marine ecosystem.

2. E: Why should people living outside British Columbia be concerned?
A.H.: The Skeena watershed represents one of the few remaining ecologically intact systems in the world. It’s one of the largest undammed watersheds in the world. That alone is notable. It’s a clean water system. Those factors I think make it something that everybody can be concerned about. We have a chance right now to build a model for watershed stewardship and management that could be a worldwide model.

3. E: What inspired you to swim?
A.H.: I had read an article about a Slovenian man named Martin Strel who swam the Amazon River from source to sea. I mentioned it to my friend Shannon at the the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. I said that she should get a hold of him to see if he would do something with her about the Skeena because he swims for clean water systems. And Shannon looked at me and said, “Well, you live here and you swim, so you do it”.

4. E: Were you an experienced swimmer? A.H.: I played water polo at an elite level. But I haven’t played in 10 years.

5. E: Has that swim changed your perception of the Skeena River?
A.H.: I had a great amount of respect for the river going into the project. It was never about conquering the river. During the swim I really just felt like a vessel being used to carry people’s thoughts and ideas. It became a very personal relationship for me with the river. I really felt like I was being embraced by her and carried along safely.

April 29 2010 » Media Releases » SWCC Special Bulletin

BC’s Minister Announces Sacred Headwaters Moratorium to 2012

Hazelton, BC April 29, 2010 – A permanent ban on coalbed methane drilling is required to protect wild salmon habitat in B.C.’s Sacred Headwaters, say Northwest B.C. groups. The groups were reacting to government speculation that the current two-year drilling moratorium will remain in place beyond 2012.

The B.C. government demonstrated leadership by putting the moratorium in place in 2008, but extending the moratorium does not resolve the issue. It’s time to take the final step toward permanent safeguards for the Sacred Headwaters,” said Pat Moss with Friends of Wild Salmon.

In 2008, the BC government imposed a moratorium on Shell’s coalbed methane exploration for a minimum of two years – and not exceeding four years – to allow time for First Nations and other communities to determine the impact of development on water. On a Global TV program on Monday, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Blair Lekstrom stated that, the moratorium had to continue “ until there is consultation and agreement with local communities…it looks as though 2012 would be the expiration of the agreement.”

“I think government is trying to do the right thing,” said Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition executive director Shannon McPhail. “we have seen the disturbance coalbed methane causes on the land – even under the best case scenarios – and it’s simply unacceptable. Rather than conducting further studies and consultation, which will only reaffirm our opposition, let’s use the extension period to create a long-term solution for the Sacred Headwaters.”

Both Friends of Wild Salmon and the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition are calling on the B.C. government to permanently safeguard the Sacred Headwaters instead.

“A permanent ban on drilling would end the conflict, protect B.C.’s most endangered waterway and provide long-term certainty. Coalbed methane would be a huge source of greenhouse gases; foregoing its development would be consistent with the government’s green energy agenda. It would be a win-win for government, residents and our wild salmon,” said McPhail.

Located in northern B.C. east of Iskut, the Sacred Headwaters is the shared birthplace of three of the province’s most important salmon rivers: the Skeena, Nass and Stikine. It is often called the “Serengetti of the North” for its abundant wildlife populations. Earlier this month, the BC Outdoor Recreation Council listed the Sacred Headwaters as B.C.’s most endangered waterway.

April 26 2010 » Multimedia » Global TV-BC Newscast

Moratorium in Sacred Headwaters EXTENDED

link to online broadcast

April 22 2010 » News Clippings » Canadian Press

Aboriginals warn PM not to weaken environmental laws

VICTORIA — Proposed changes to federal environmental law are an effort to cut aboriginal people out of talks around sensitive projects — including one announced just this week — and conflict will be the result, native leaders say.

The Aamjiwnaag First Nation of Sarnia, Ont., and about 20 other First Nations have written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanding he withdraw the amendments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Ron Plain, an Aamjiwnaag member, said Thursday the proposed amendments — part of the Conservatives’ Jobs and Economic Growth Act — could result in some sensitive projects proceeding without environmental assessments and proper consultations with aboriginals.

“It’s looking for ways to not consult when it pertains to environmental assessments on major projects,” Plain said Thursday in an interview.

“Without a federal environmental assessment, we won’t be notified of anything of these federal projects. They will just go ahead.”

Plain’s letter to Harper says the proposed Environmental Assessment Act amendments give the federal minister complete discretion on setting the focus for assessments.

The letter reminds Harper that governments must engage in a meaningful consultation process with aboriginals that includes discussing potential impacts on their rights and interests.

“It is baffling why you would now seek to avoid conducting a fulsome planning process for projects enabled by your government,” said the letter.

“Such a regulatory arrangement can only lead to additional conflict between project proponents and aboriginal peoples across Canada.”

Annie Roy, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency in Ottawa, said the amendments focus on three areas:

— Strengthening the role of the federal assessment agency to conduct studies on major projects.

— Giving the environment minister more authority to focus assessments on key areas of projects.

— Making permanent 2009 temporary regulations that exempt routine public infrastructure projects from environmental assessment.

Plain said the courts have consistently sided with aboriginals when it comes to backing their rights to be consulted on projects that may impact their lives.

He said natives are prepared to fight Ottawa to maintain their rights when it comes to environmental projects.

“The government holds private industry’s hand to the fire,” he said. “Well, their hand needs to be held to that same fire.”

He said the Sarnia area, and especially the Aamjiwnaag First Nation, is known for its extensive chemical pollution due to the area’s many petrol-chemical refineries.

“My community was called the most polluted spot in North America by the National Geographic Society,” he said.

Earlier this week, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell announced his province will proceed with the steps necessary to build a third massive hydroelectric dam in northeastern B.C.

Aboriginal groups in the region have said they have not been consulted on the so-called Site C project, which must yet go through an environmental assessment.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, suggested Harper’s proposed amendments are aimed squarely at watering down the environmental process for projects like Site C.

“If mega projects such as … Site C are approved, it will be at the great expense of the constitutionally protected rights of indigenous peoples and the precious environmental legacy that many British Columbians hope to share with future generations,” Phillip said.

The proposed Site C dam, located near Fort St. John, will create an 83-kilometre-long reservoir and will flood almost 5,400 hectares of land.

The dam will generate enough electricity to power 460,000 homes for a century, and is slated for completion in 2020.

Last February, the B.C. government called for amendments to the federal government’s Canadian Environmental Assessment Act “to create a unified federal-provincial review process that does away with redundancy and unnecessary costs.”

Campbell said last winter there are currently more than $3 billion in provincially-approved projects “stranded in the mire of federal process and delay.”

April 22 2010 » News Clippings » Houston Today

Skeena Swim Feature Documentary on Tour

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Skeena swim feature documentary on tour
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Houston Today

* MP not impressed with throne speech * Environmental review process questioned * Former premier fighting HST * Snowpacks low * Northwest MPs give Enbridge a firm ‘NO’

BC North

* Awakening the Skeena premiers at home * Movie honours Skeena spirit * Skeena boys ready for zones * Management Puzzle 5 SKEENA ANGLER * Documentary tackles some local issues * Various topics under discussion MP on economic tour

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Published: April 21, 2010 5:00 AM

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Andrew Eddy, Ali Howard and an amazing group of individuals that completed the 650 kilometre adventure down the Skeena River last summer were all on hand for the first screening of the new documentary Awakening the Skeena last Monday at the Roi Theater.

“We’re here in Smithers for the first screening of Awakening the Skeena, which is the film about Ali Howard’s swim of the Skeena River this past summer, so it’s our chance to bring it home and show a lot of people the film, people who helped us out and were part of the big adventure,” said Eddy, a Toronto based film maker.

Gas giant Shell is planing on drilling for Coal Bed Methane at the Sacred Headwaters of the Skeena River, a major spawning ground for Pacific Salmon. So last summer Ali Howard and a team of concerned conservationists decided to follow Howard as she swam the entire length of the Skeena River in an attempt to bring the issue to the masses and push for a permeant moratorium on the drilling in the Sacred Headwaters.

“I hope people will get the message of hope. I hope they appreciate the amazing commitment that an individual made, that Ali made.

“That they draw from that belief that they can make a difference them selves in whatever they do. But also to realize that we all don’t have to do big things, if we all did little things they would move ahead.

“And I also hope they appreciate the theme that some times out of sight is out of mind and you need to tell your story to a bigger audience can appreciate that there’s something pretty amazing up here that needs protecting,” Eddy said.

Currently the film is on tour throught the northwest and over the next eleven months will be show around Canada and will premier on cable television later this year.

For more information contact the SWCC at http://www.skeenawatershed.com

See full article

April 21 2010 » News Clippings » Interior News

Awakening the Skeena Premiers at Home

Wetsu'weten Chief, Roy Morris opens the premier with a traditional song & drumming

~Dan Mesec, Smithers Interior News

“I hope people will get the message of hope. I hope they appreciate the amazing commitment that an individual made, that Ali made. That they draw from that belief that they can make a difference them selves in whatever they do. But also to realize that we all don’t have to do big things, if we all did little things they would move ahead. And I also hope they appreciate the theme that some times out of sight is out of mind and you need to tell your story to a bigger audience can appreciate that there’s something pretty amazing up here that needs protecting,” Eddy said.

Currently the film is on tour throught the northwest and over the next eleven months will be shown around Canada and will premier on cable television later this year.
link to full article

March 29 2010 » News Clippings » Royal Bank of Canada

Majority of Canadians consider water to be Canada’s most important natural resource

The majority of Canadians (53 per cent) rank freshwater as the country’s most important natural resource; ahead of forests (20 per cent), agriculture/farmland (14 per cent), oil (eight per cent) and fisheries (two per cent), according to the 2009 Canadian Water Attitudes Study released today.

More than eight in 10 think Canada will have a freshwater shortage problem if we do not pay attention to conservation. But despite this appreciation of the value of freshwater, Canadians continue to waste it at alarming rates, using five times more water per day than they think they do.

This level of consumption must change, says leading water expert Bob Sandford, following today’s release of the 2009 Canadian Water Attitudes Study, a national opinion survey on Canadians’ awareness, perceptions and habits related to freshwater. The survey, in its second year, was commissioned by Unilever and RBC, and is endorsed by the Canadian Partnership Initiative of the United Nations Water for Life Decade. Full survey results are available for NGOs and other interested parties – {encode=“corporateresponsibilityreport@rbc.com” title=“contact us”}.

“We have a disturbing paradox in Canada when it comes to our freshwater,” says Bob Sandford, chair, Canadian Partnership Initiative of the UN Water for Life Decade. “On the one hand, Canadians appear to value water as a crucial natural resource and understand that conservation of this precious resource is critical. Yet unfortunately at the same time, they don’t seem to know how much water they use each day or where it comes from.”

The Canadian Water Attitudes Study indicates that Canadians believe they use an average of 66 litres of water per day, for drinking, showering, bathing, toilet flushing, laundry and dishwashing. In fact, they actually use five times more – with an actual consumption of about 329 litres per day. Canadians not only underestimate the amount of water they use, but their water habits actually worsened in 2009. For example, the length of showers taken by Canadians increased from 2008 to 2009. Canadians rank second only to the United States in terms of highest per capita water use in the developed world. In comparison, Europeans consume less than half of the water Canadians do.i

There are both serious financial and environmental implications to wasting water.

“While Canadians understand the value of water, they don’t think about its cost or the larger impact on the environment. Irresponsible and inefficient water use directly contributes to climate change. For example, running a tap for five minutes uses as much energy as leaving a 60-watt lightbulb burning for 14 hours,” ii says Sandford. “If water is our most important natural resource, as I believe it is, we need to start using it more responsibly and efficiently, for our country and for the planet.”

“Irresponsible use of water has environmental implications for today, but even more so, for tomorrow,” says John Coyne, vice president, legal and corporate affairs for Unilever Canada. “This study highlights the need for increased awareness about how Canadians use water. The inefficient use of water is a critical dialogue in which governments, NGO’s, business and individuals must engage. For our part, Unilever is committed to leading by example as we reduce our water footprint from operations and supply chain through to the consumer use of our products.”

“Freshwater is essential for human health and all life on earth, so it’s really ‘the’ cause for the ages,” said Shari Austin, vice president, corporate citizenship, RBC. “It’s important for people to understand the value and vulnerability of our water resources, which is why we undertook this survey. That’s also one of the reasons we created the RBC Blue Water Project, our grant program of $50 million over ten years to help protect our watersheds and ensure access to clean drinking water.”

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE POLL:
Additional Key Themes/Regional Trends

Pollutants and mass exports perceived as biggest threats to Canada’s freshwater supply

Canadians believe the following to be the biggest threats to Canada’s freshwater supply: run-off pollutants from land to water (19 per cent); mass export of water to the US (17 per cent); illegal dumping of toxins (12 per cent); mismanagement of water by municipal, provincial and federal governments (12 per cent); global warming and climate change (eight per cent)
Only six per cent of Canadians believe wasteful use of water by consumers to be a threat to Canada’s freshwater supply

Canadians’ concern for water equals concern for stability of financial markets

Eighty-five per cent of Canadians say they are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about the stability of the financial markets; while 84 per cent of Canadians say the same about the long-term supply/quality of Canada’s freshwater
More Quebecers are concerned about the long-term supply and quality of Canada’s freshwater (80 per cent) than the stability of the financial markets (72 per cent)
Eighty-nine per cent of Canadians believe there is a growing freshwater crisis on the planet, and 66 per cent think that Canada is at risk of freshwater supply shortages

Canadians losing confidence in our water supply and safety

Confidence that Canada has enough freshwater for the long term has declined by 11 points, from 81 per cent in 2008 to 70 per cent in 2009
Canadians’ confidence in their region’s available water has declined, from 84 per cent in 2008 to 74 per cent in 2009
Quebecers (58 per cent) have the least amount of confidence that Canada has enough freshwater to meet its long-term needs
Quebecers (68 per cent) and Albertans (67 per cent) have the least amount of confidence that their region has enough freshwater to meet their needs

Attitudes toward water safety are changing

Canadians’ confidence in the safety of Canada’s water supply has declined, from 81 per cent in 2008 to 72 per cent in 2009
Quebecers (54 per cent) have the least confidence in the safety and quality of Canada’s water supply
While most Canadians (68 per cent) still drink their tap water, only 4 in 10 (41 per cent) drink it directly from the tap without first filtering or boiling
One-third of Canadians do not drink the tap water in their home

Attitudes toward conservation

Ninety-five per cent of Canadians believe it is important to conserve freshwater on an ongoing basis
Most people (86 per cent) believe they are making reasonable efforts to conserve freshwater
Only 30 per cent believe that corporations, businesses and industry are making reasonable efforts to conserve freshwater
Significantly more Canadians put effort into electricity conservation than water conservation (28 per cent versus 3 per cent)
Only 40 per cent of the population knows how much they pay for water each month, versus 73 per cent who know what they pay for electricity
Seventy-two per cent of homes in the Prairies say they have water metres; this compares to 39 per cent of Canadians in general
Quebecers (63 per cent) are most likely to know that a bath uses more water than a 10-minute shower
Albertans (90 per cent) are most likely to say that they are making reasonable efforts to conserve freshwater; Atlantic Canadians (83 per cent) are least likely to say this

About the Survey
The 2009 Canadian Water Attitudes Study included an online survey administered by Ipsos Reid from February 5 to 12, 2009. It included a sample of 2,165 adult Canadians from the general population across Canada. The results are considered accurate to within ± 2.2 per cent 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had the entire adult population in Canada been polled. The data were weighted by region, age and sex according to 2006 Census data.

About Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of the United Nations Water for Life Decade
The United Nations Water for Life Decade is a globally proclaimed decade for action on water quality and availability issues. While each country in the world will be focusing on its own water quality and availability issues within the larger context of the global fresh water situation, the Canadian initiative has been defined by a nation-wide public and private sector partnership aimed at identifying and responding to regional and national water issues. The United Nations Water for Life initiative in Canada exists to put Canadian water issues into a global context. The Canadian United Nations Water for Life partnership initiative is housed, and has its research home in the Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative at the University of Lethbridge.

For more information about the Canadian partnership initiative in support of the United Nations Water For Life Decade visit http://www.thinkwater.ca.

March 24 2010 » News Clippings » Vancouver Sun

Kettle River, Sacred Headwaters most endangered rivers in BC, recreation council says.

The "Sacred Headwaters," an area of northern B.C. near the south end of Spatsizi Pleateau Wilderness Park that is the source of the headwaters of the Skeena, Nass, and Stikine rivers. Coalbed methane development is proposed for the area. It is on the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC's annual top ten list of endangered rivers. Photo: Brian Huntington

One of B.C.’s smallest rivers and the source of three of its biggest are tied atop the Outdoor Recreation Council’s list of the province’s top-10 most endangered rivers released Wednesday.

The Kettle River, which flows through southern B.C. and into Washington state east of Osoyoos on Highway 3, topped the council’s annual list because of low water flows and high temperatures that threaten fish.

The report says the problems range from excessive water extraction to development, including Big White’s proposed extraction of 1.8 million litres due to expansion of the ski hill and new condo development and snow making.

The report calls for a watershed management plan that would put the brakes on “seemingly unbridled development now taking place in the upper watershed.”

Tied with the Kettle River is an area of northwestern B.C. known as the Sacred Headwaters, source of the salmon-bearing Stikine, Skeena, and Nass rivers.

Shell Canada is interested in coal bed methane gas extraction in the headwaters, located south of Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park.

The headwaters is home to some of the greatest abundance of wildlife in the province, including caribou, Stone sheep, grizzly bears and wolves.

A provincial moratorium on coal bed methane development in the headwaters is due to expire in December, but should be made permanent, the council states.

The council describes coal bed methane extraction as a “highly invasive process that would compromise the biological richness” of the area. The generation of vast amounts of waste water, high in salts and heavy metals, poses a risk to groundwater aquifers, it concludes.

Mark Angelo, the council’s rivers chair and an Order of Canada recipient, said in an interview that the long list of threats to rivers around the province include pollution, development, power production, and excessive extraction.

These threats cry out for change to B.C.’s Water Act to “ensure the needs of fish and river ecosystems are adequately considered before making decisions on water extraction for various industrial uses.”

The B.C. government is conducting a review of the Water Act, established in 1909.

The government says the four goals of modernizing the Water Act are: protection of stream health and aquatic environments; improvement of water governance arrangements; introduction of more flexibility and efficiency in water allocation; regulation of groundwater use in priority areas and for large withdrawals.

The council whose members number about 100,000, has for the past 18 years compiled a list of B.C.’s top-10 endangered rivers, based on responses from members, the general public and resource managers.

Angelo, who is also chair of the Rivers Institute at BCIT, said the list has had a “significant and positive impact” on raising awareness of threats to rivers among the public and government officials.

The Flathead River in southeast B.C. was named the province’s most endangered river in 2009 due to international concerns over proposed coal mining and coal bed methane extraction. Last month, the B.C. government announced a ban on mining, oil and gas, and coal development in the Flathead basin.

The upper Pitt River topped the list in 2008, after which the province killed a developer’s proposal to run a transmission line from a vast run-of-river power project in the remote watershed through Pinecone Burke Provincial Park.

Other rivers on the 2010 list, along with specific threats to them, are, in order:

2. Coldwater River – water extraction, development.

3. Fraser River – urbanization, industrial development, pollution.

4. Peace River – hydroelectric dam proposal.

5. Similkameen River – cross-border dam proposal.

6. Glacier/Howser creeks – independent power proposal.

7. Elk River (East Kootenays) – development, increasing selenium levels, wildlife migration issues.

8. Coquitlam River – excessive sedimentation, urbanization.

9. Salmon River (Langley) – excessive groundwater extraction, development.

10. Bute Inlet rivers – independent power proposal.

March 23 2010 » Media Releases

First Nations Unanimously Oppose Enbridge Pipeline

First Nations Say They Will Not Allow Pipelines and Oil Tankers Carrying Alberta’s Tar Sands Oil in British Columbia
“This is where Enbridge hits a wall”

VANCOUVER (March 23, 2010) –First Nations stood as a unified block today – on the 21st anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill – to announce their opposition to a proposed Tar Sands pipeline that would bring expanded amounts of Tar Sands oil from Alberta to British Columbia, where the oil would be shipped by oil tankers to overseas markets, notably China.

“We will protect ourselves and the interests of future generations with everything we have because one major oil spill on the coast of British Columbia would wipe us out,” said Gerald Amos, Director, Coastal First Nations, an alliance of nine First Nations. “This bountiful and globally significant coastline cannot bear an oil spill. This is where Enbridge hits a wall.”
Coastal First Nations from Vancouver Island to the BC/Alaska border are unanimous in their opposition and are joined by the vast majority of First Nations affected along the pipeline route from Kitimaat to Alberta. These First Nations – whose territories are all directly impacted by the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline – stood in unity today to voice their opposition. The Coastal First Nations issued a declaration from their First Nations governments:

…in upholding our ancestral laws, rights and responsibilities, we declare that oil tankers carrying crude oil from the Alberta Tar Sands will not be allowed to transit our lands and waters.

The Athabasca Chipewyan Cree First Nation located near Alberta’s Tar Sands also offered their support with Chief Allan Adam saying, “From experience I know that any industrial development and potential pollution within traditional territories of the First Nations not only jeopardizes the land, the people and wildlife today, but for generations to come… I do not support doing business with Enbridge now and in the future.”

To date no First Nation in Canada – and no municipality – has publicly supported Enbridge’s proposed pipeline, which would increase Tar Sands oil production by 30 per cent. Tar Sands oil produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil.

“Nothing threatens our way of life more than contaminated water and destruction of wildlife. Today, we invite First Nations around the world to join us in solidarity in our fight against this pipeline development and to a put a stop to oil tanker traffic,” said Terry Tegee, Vice President, Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.

Also today, an unprecedented grouping of 150 First Nations groups, businesses, environmental organizations, and prominent Canadians – including Dr. David Suzuki, Margaret Atwood and Neve Campbell – ran a full-page ad in today’s Globe and Mail with the headline ‘This was Exxon’s gift to Alaska. B.C. Can Expect the same from Enbridge.’

Contact:
Art Sterritt, Executive Director, Coastal First Nations: 604-868-9110 or 604-696-9889 Gerald Amos, Director, Coastal First Nations: 250-632-1521 or 604-696-9889 Terry Tegee. Vice President, Carrier Sekani Tribal Council: 250-640-3256

March 23 2010 » News Clippings » The Province

Enbridge Pipeline Project ‘Dead’

Coastal First Nations director Gerald Amos (right) listens to drummers as an unprecedented coalition of protest groups came together Tuesday in Vancouver to oppose Enbridge's tarsands pipeline. Photo: Bill Keay, PNG, The Province

An “unprecedented” alliance of more than 150 First Nations, environmentalists, unions, businesses and even Olympic athletes have united to oppose Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline across B.C.

First Nations leaders vowed on Tuesday to use “every possible means” to stop Enbridge from sending Alberta tarsands oil by pipeline to Kitimat and then by tanker down the B.C. coast.

“We’ll start with every legal means we can, and we have many, including our constitutionally-protected rights and title to these lands and waters,” Coastal First Nations director Art Sterritt said in Vancouver.

“There are many court decisions backing us, but failing all of that, our people have said they will blockade tankers in their little vessels. This is not an uphill battle, this is the wall. Enbridge has just hit the wall. As far as we’re concerned, this project is dead.”

Enbridge, a Calgary-based energy transportation company, wants to build two 1,170-kilometre pipelines from Edmonton to a new port site near Kitimat, in a $4.5-billion project to move tarsands oil to Asia.

A 36-inch “west” pipeline would carry 525,000 barrels of petroleum per day from Edmonton to Kitimat. An “east” pipeline would carry 193,000 barrels a day of condensate from Kitimat to Edmonton. Condensate is used to thin petroleum for pipeline transport.

Enbridge also plans to build a marine terminal near Kitimat, with two ship berths, storage tanks for petroleum and condensate and “first-response capabilities.” Enbridge spokeswoman Jennifer Varey said Tuesday that the company is preparing to file a regulatory application with the National Energy Board in coming weeks. “As such, it would not be appropriate to conduct in-depth media interviews this close to the filing,” Varey said.

Varey said Enbridge has set up five community advisory boards “made up of a cross-section of . . . First Nations, business leaders, local government and environmental organizations” to consult locals. Enbridge also must “undergo a comprehensive and rigorous regulatory-review process to ensure the project is in the interest of the Canadian public,” she said.

But Gerald Amos, director of the Coastal First Nations, an alliance of nine major aboriginal groups, vowed “we will protect ourselves and the interest of future generations because one major oil spill on the B.C. coast would wipe us out.”

Amos insisted that a major oil spill on land or water is inevitable. Said Amos: “We entered this room with one heartbeat on this issue, on what is the 21st anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.”

On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, dumping 41.8-million litres of crude oil and fouling 2,090 kilometres of coastline.

As well as massive fish kills, about 250,000 seabirds, nearly 3,000 sea otters, 250 bald eagles and 22 killer whales died following the spill.

Sterritt read out a list of Olympic athletes opposed to the project, including Canadian speedskater Kristina Groves, freestyle skier Kristi Richards, snowboarder Justin Lamoureux and Alpine team member Trevor White, as well as several Canadian Summer Olympic athletes.

February 01 2010 » » CTV - Olympics, via Globe and Mail

Inspiration Glows with a Shade of Green

Amy Verner
‘This is zero calories, not zero waste,” Laurie Gallant said, pointing to a bottle of Coke Zero on Saturday in Smithers, B.C., just minutes after watching the Olympic Torch Relay pass through the town’s main street.
Yesterday, the environmental consultant and entrepreneur was one of 16 eco-conscious locals selected to carry the torch in nearby Terrace on behalf of the World Wildlife Federation.
But for all the excitement and pride she feels, Ms. Gallant knows she’s partaking in an event that is leaving a rather large carbon footprint, from the convoy’s exhaust emissions to the souvenirs.
“A lot of giveaways are probably going to end up in our landfills,” said Ms. Gallant, whose company, Footprint BC, develops programs on recycling and sustainability with companies, schools and native communities.
She’s right; there are a lot of giveaways. RBC’s team hands out branded tambourines and balloon noisemakers, while Coke has been distributing aluminum bottles of soda, plastic commemorative bottles with LED lights, and flags.

The cynical viewpoint would be that the relay is little more than an exercise in coast-to-coast brand building. But with all signs pointing to Vancouver 2010 being the greenest Winter Olympics on record, many initiatives have been put in place to create a greener Torch Relay.
Those bottles, for instance, are made from recycled material. As part of the relay, RBC has created an “Eco-Home” powered by solar panels, and a solar water tank provides radiant heating to its truck. According to an RBC fact sheet, net carbon emissions associated with RBC vehicles, air, rail travel, hotel accommodations and other relay logistics have been neutralized through carbon offsets. The torchbearer kit included recycled plastic banners that turn into tote bags.
From a flight between Fort Nelson and Terrace yesterday, Torch Relay program director Jim Richards said the relay addresses environmental concerns without making them an overzealous focus.
“Did we want to build a relay as green as possible or did we want to inspire and engage an entire nation? When we weighed the priorities, we were going to give presence to the inspirational [element],” he said, noting that prospective torchbearers were encouraged to suggest ways to make their lives greener.

WWF-Canada sat on the judging panel, selecting individuals for their commitment to active living and environmental sustainability. The WWF’s presence in the relay is largely owing to its year-old relationship with Coke; in Canada, Coca-Cola donated $1-million to a four-year water stewardship partnership. The company also gave $200,000 to the organization’s polar bear campaign and $150,000 for Earth Hour.
“This is an issue that touches fabric of everyone’s life,” said Gerald Butts, president and CEO of WWF-Canada. Having carried the torch in Toronto, Mr. Butts said the Terrace team showcases a range of people committed to the Northern Coast’s wildlife and watershed concerns.

Among yesterday’s runners was Ali Howard, who swam all 610 kilometres of the Skeena River to raise awareness about conservation of the waterway, and Norma Kerby, an environmental educator at Northwest Community College in Terrace.
“It’s so important to bring conservation issues from the global to local level,” said Mike Ambach, who oversees the WWF’s office in Prince Rupert along with James Casey. Both men were also torchbearers yesterday.
For those who can’t reconcile why the WWF would accept support from a company like Coca-Cola, Mr. Butts offered his take: “You can rail against the fact that they exist or help them improve. We have clearly chosen the latter path.”
Still, the WWF is limited in how it can spread its message during the Olympics. “Sponsorship is well beyond our financial capacity and there are rules in how you use Olympics in marketing,” he said.
“Some would say that we’re missing a big marketing opportunity, but it’s not really about marketing. I think Coke’s installation will be the greenest installation; we’ve been a part of that but we don’t want to overclaim our role.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Gallant of Footprint BC believes that despite such positive steps as Coke’s recycled plastic uniforms, the relay’s sponsors missed a big opportunity to support local communities. “You know what would have been cool? If Coca-Cola donated $5,000 in every community to help with recycling programs.”
Yet she ultimately had no second thoughts about carrying the flame. “I’m looking at this as setting the foundation for a greener Olympics in the future,” she said. “I’m getting in on the ground floor.”

See full article

January 27 2010 » Media Releases » Dogwood Initiative

Broken Promise: BC’s Coalbed Methane Rules Inferior

Back in 2007 Gordon Campbell’s government promised BC would have the best standards for coalbed methane practices in North America. Almost three years later an investigation by Dogwood Initiative has found this promise was broken. The protection British Columbia offers landowners, communities, water and wildlife give less protection than other jurisdictions.

New reports from the Dogwood Initiative confirm provincial rules on coalbed methane exploring, drilling and production do not live up to the standards set in other places to safeguard against the intense industrial development that accompanies coalbed methane.

Coalbed methane is an unconventional form of natural gas. The number of proposals has skyrocketed since 2007 when the provincial government declared it to be a cornerstone of its Energy Plan. There has recently been significant controversy over projects in the Telkwa, Fernie, Princeton, Campbell River and the Sacred Headwaters areas.

Dogwood Initiative’s Best Practices for Coalbed Methane in BC report documents other jurisdictions more rigorous requirements for:

1. Protecting water quality;
2. Flaring gases;
3. Cumulative impacts;
4. Consultation and unbiased decision-making;
5. Royalties for public resources;
6. Reclamation of land damaged;
7. Lessening noise pollution;
8. Visual Impacts; and
9. Setback from houses and schools.

BC’s broken promise is especially troubling given the government continues to provide massive subsidies ($539 million was budgeted in 2010 for royalty reductions and road and pipeline credits to the oil and gas industry) of taxpayers’ money effectively subsidizing fossil fuel developments like coalbed methane.

“If the government wants to overcome the widespread community opposition to coalbed methane they’re going to have to strengthen their rules,” commented Dogwood Initiative Executive Director Will Horter. “So far they have not met any of the best practices in North America.”

The report, Citizens Guide for Coalbed Methane in BC, is designed to help people affected by proposed coalbed methane operations in their communities to understand the potential impacts and to help them participate more effectively in the approval processes to ensure their interests are protected.

January 06 2010 » Home Feature

Skeena Swim Film Officially ON TOUR!

Northern BC: Swim the Skeena

~Dave Quinn

A month of cold-water immersion, punishing rapids and unflagging community support

Although my Kootenay backyard, to which I am forever and irrevocably bonded, features some of the most diverse wildlife habitats in southern Canada, a staggering network of industrial roads and hydroelectric developments has irreparably dulled the sharp edge of wilderness here. An estimated 50 to 60,000 kilometres of forestry and mine roads spread like veins across the Kootenay high country, and both of our major rivers – the Columbia and Kootenay, have been dammed. The last salmon runs reached the upper Columbia River in the early 1940s, their way blocked forever by Washington’s Grand Coulee dam. Yet as a wilderness lover I am drawn to areas without these impacts – places where entire drainages, hundreds of kilometres long, are still unroaded, and where rivers still flow freely.

Northern British Columbia is one of those places.

A 2007 canoe trip on northern B.C.‘s Stikine River, one of three waterways that rise from the Spatsizi Plateau to make their way to the Pacific Ocean, hooked me on the area. The Stikine, along with the Nass and Skeena rivers, are true ecosystem arteries – conduits for the timeless flow of nutrients to the oceans and the return of critical minerals and proteins in the countless bodies of salmon who return to these rivers and their tributaries to complete their life cycles.

I thought a 10-day canoe trip on a wild northern river was pretty hard-core. That is, until I heard of Ali Howard;s truly epic 28-day, 610-km swim of the Stikine’s big-sister-river, the Skeena. Yes, that’s right, swim.

Howard immersed herself in the frigid Skeena to raise awareness of the threats of Shell’s proposed coal-bed methane drilling in the Sacred Headwaters and Enbridge’s proposed tar- sands oil pipeline (Westworld magazine features the Stikine and CBM threats to the Sacred Headwaters in its Winter 2009 issue “Landmarks: The Last Wild River”). Ali Howard summed up a month of cold-water immersion, punishing rapids, inspiring community support, and above all, the story of the Skeena, in Vancouver on Thursday December 3 at UBC Robson Square.

With the efforts of people like Ali, and support from people like you, hopefully the Skeena will never join the much-diminished Columbia River on the shameful list of watersheds to which salmon no longer return.

See full article

December 02 2009 » Media Releases

BC should keep Shell’s gas drills out of the Sacred Headwaters for good: Skeena Swimmer

Skeena Swimmer, Ali Howard, as she addresses a supportive crowd of 100's in Hazelton

Smithers, BC) – One year after the BC government put a
moratorium on Shell’s coalbed methane drilling project in northern BC’s Sacred
Headwaters, support for permanently protecting the area remains strong.

That’s what southern British Columbians are hearing this week from Ali Howard,
the 33-year-old who in August became the first person to swim the length of the
610-kilometre Skeena River. Howard is in Vancouver and Victoria presenting a
multimedia show of her trip.

“Our communities applauded the government’s move to put a drilling moratorium
in place last year,” said Howard. “Now, with our province in the global spotlight,
the BC government has the perfect opportunity to implement permanent safeguards
for this remarkable area.”

The Sacred Headwaters is the shared birthplace of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine
Rivers – three of British Columbia’s most important wild salmon rivers. Shell
wants to drill over 1,000 coalbed methane gas wells in the Headwaters’ sensitive
subalpine ecosystem, which residents fear will harm wildlife and salmon spawning
habitat.

“Northwest residents have clearly demonstrated that they will not allow a project
such as Shell’s to proceed under any circumstances,” said Shannon McPhail,
executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. “Permanent
safeguards for the Headwaters would be welcomed by a broad cross section of
our communities.”

This is a message Howard heard many times over the course of her historic swim.

“When we stopped in communities along the Skeena, protecting the Sacred
Headwaters was the first thing people wanted to talk about,” said Howard.
“People share a deep understanding that the health of the river’s birthplace is
critical to the health of everything downstream.”

Prior to last December’s moratorium announcement, Shell’s coalbed methane
project drew strong opposition from First Nations, municipalities, NGOs, guide
outfitters, and tourism operators. There were protests at Shell’s AGM in The
Hague, ads in the Financial Times of London, and street rallies in northern BC.

The Skeena Swim multimedia show will be presented in Vancouver on Thursday,
December 3 at UBC Robson Square beginning at 7:00pm.

Contact:
Ali Howard: 250-877-9188
Shannon McPhail: 250-842-8738
Learn more about the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition at
skeenawatershed.com

November 24 2009 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

One Epic Journey Down the Skeena

ALI HOWARD completed her monumental swim of the Skeena River months ago, but in some ways her journey is just beginning.

Howard is currently in the midst of a whirlwind six-week tour spreading the message of the Spirit of the Skeena Swim, finishing up three days of presentations in Terrace last week.

Howard, along with photographer and member of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition Brian Huntington, arrived in Terrace on Wednesday Nov. 18 and throughout three days visited schools such as Skeena Junior Secondary, Cassie Hall Elementary, Caledonia Secondary and Clarence Michiel.

On Thursday, Howard and Huntington paid a visit to the students at Clarence Michiel, showing a slideshow and video clips of her 610 km journey down the Skeena River from the Sacred Headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.

Howard brought along her trusty gear, including her bright red helmet, life jacket and her boogie-style board which protected her from the river’s bottom in shallow areas, for the students to test out.

Howard explains that this tour is important in order to continue the conversation about the Skeena watershed and having her physically swim the length of the river really helps put the whole scope of the watershed and the salmon who call it home into perspective for the youths.

Howard and Huntington explain that it helps every community along the watershed to see how connected they are by the river and by the salmon, as at each school when they asked the students if their family fishes, or if they have salmon in their freezer, almost every student raised a hand.

“It’s an easy way to demonstrate a simple idea…do you get salmon,” says Howard.

Throughout her journey, Howard says the voices of the communities along the watershed were heard: a unanimous desire for a healthy sustainable future for the river.

“[Everyone has] different interests but all agree that the salmon are invaluable, it’s what connects us,” she says.

Howard adds that the swim opened doors to the connection between conservation and communities, to come together to support wild salmon.

“The cultural ties [to the river] are very strong here…I’m just a vessel carrying a message,” says Howard.

Another piece of their work will be a province-wide art project involving small cut out paper salmon.

Around 10,000 were distributed to all the schools on the tour to be coloured and designed any which way and after they are all collected, they will be used to create a larger scale art project.

But for now, the coalition’s immediate goal is for the provincial government to permanently ban coalbed methane development in the birthplace of the Stikine, Skeena and Nass rivers where her swim began: the Sacred Headwaters.

So Howard and her crew will travel down south to Victoria and Vancouver, meeting with government and hosting workshops with organizations about community building.

November 20 2009 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Ali Howard Shares Historical Swim With Students

ALI HOWARD, centre, with students at Clarence Michiel Elementary School yesterday after her presentation on her Spirit of the Skeena Swim.

By Molly McNulty

ALI HOWARD is in the midst of a whirlwind six-week tour spreading the message of the Spirit of the Skeena Swim by finishing up three days of presentations in Terrace today.

Howard, along with photographer and member of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition Brian Huntington, arrived in Terrace on Wednesday Nov. 18 and throughout their three days in town visited Skeena Junior Secondary, Cassie Hall Elementary, Caledonia Secondary, Clarence Michiel Elementary, E.T. Kenney Primary, Kiti K’shan Primary, Parkside, Uplands Elementary, Thornill Primary, Thornhill Junior and Thornhill Elementary.

Yesterday afternoon Howard and Huntington payed a visit to the students at Clarence Michiel, showing a slideshow and video clips of her 610 km journey down the Skeena River from the Sacred Headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.

Howard brought along her trusty gear including her bright red helmet, life jacket and her boogie-style board which protected her from the river’s bottom in shallow areas.

Howard and Huntington explain that it helps every community along the watershed to see how connected they are by the river and by the salmon, as at each school when they ask the students if their family fishes, or if they have salmon in their freezer almost every student raises their hand.

“It’s an easy way to demonstrate a simple idea…do you get salmon,” says Howard.

Throughout her journey Howard says the voice of the communities along the watershed were heard: a unanimous desire for a healthy sustainable future for the river.

Next up Howard and her crew will travel down south to Victoria and Vancouver, meeting with government, hosting workshops with organizations about community building and talking with foundations about promoting and supporting the coalition’s work for the future.

October 28 2009 » Home Feature

Making your donation count while we’re on tour

Ali Howard and her “Enchanted Swim Team” will be touring the province for the next 6 weeks showing slides from their epic journey down the Skeena River. Their adventure started in the grizzly friendly meadows of the Sacred Headwaters and took them through 610km of winding river and whitewater to the Pacific Ocean near Port Edward, BC. Ali is starting her tour in the same place she started her swim – in Tahltan territory and will work her way down the region. Sorry grown-ups, this tour starts with our youth – Ali will be visiting every single school in the watershed from November 4-27th before making her way to Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle in December. If you don’t see your school on the tour schedule, please call or email us and we’ll try to make sure we bring Ali by for a visit.

School Tour Dates
Nov 4 – Klappan School (Iskut) & Dease Lake Secondary
Nov 5 – Tahltan School (Telegraph Creek)
Nov 6 – Gitsegukla Elementary & Kitwanga Elementary
Nov 13 – Houston Secondary, Silverthorne Elementary, Twain Sullivan Elementary
Nov 16 & 17th – Moricetown, Hazelton Secondary, New Hazelton Elementary, South Hazelton Elementary, John Field, Kispiox Elementary
Nov 18, 19 & 20th – Skeena Junior Secondary, Cassie Hall Elementary, Caledonia Secondary, Clarence Michiel Elementary, Et Kenney Primary, Kiti-K’shan Primary, Parkside, Uplands Elementary, Thornill Primary, Thornhill Junior, Thornhill Elementary
Nov 23 & 24 – Prince Rupert Secondary, Charles Hayes, Conrad Street Elementary, Lax Kxeen, Pineridge, Westview
Nov 26 & 27 – Smithers Secondary, Lake Kathlyn, Muheim, Telkwa Elementary, Walnut Park

DOWN SOUTH:
November 30 – Victoria Events Centre
December 1 – Meeting with Provincial Government
December 2&3 – Hanging out at MEC in Vancouver during the day
December 3 – Robson Square Theatre
December 4 – How to create an Inclusive Community Workshop – Vancouver
December 6 – Slideshow & Storytelling hosted by Lindsay Eberts – Seattle
December 7 – Creating the Conditions for Change workshop/presentation – Seattle
December 8 – Presentation/Skeena Workshop – Portland

During this tour, Ali and team will be meeting with government, hosting workshops with organizations about community building and talking with foundations about promoting and supporting our work for the future. It’s a jam packed schedule and Ali is excited to travel and talk with folks. Only she could just finish working for 2 months straight with no days off as a chef, then jump into a 3 week tour of schools in the north, then a 10 day tour of Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle and Portland before going back to work as a chef for 4 months!!!

We are so blessed to have her as a member of our community!

THANK-YOU ALI!!!

Call for more information:
(250)842-2494
info@skeenawatershed.com

October 09 2009 » » straight.com

Rachelle van Zanten’s music reflects a love of the natural world

~by Steve Newton
The roar of a chain saw is audible in the background when Rachelle van Zanten answers her cellphone, but it’s not horror-movie mayhem that’s causing the racket; the rootsy blues-rocker is working in the bush in Houston, B.C., pruning spruce trees for forest-fire mitigation. From the time she could walk, van Zanten was hiking, running, and riding horseback in the Francois Lake area of northern B.C., and now she spends all her nonmusical time fighting forest fires or working with tree-planting companies, staying as close to nature as possible.

“It’s a big part of who I am,” she declares, “and a big part of my music.”

Van Zanten’s abiding love of the natural world—and her deep desire to protect it—can be heard on her new album, Where Your Garden Grows. Take a song like “My Country”, which was inspired by the environmental efforts of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition.

“They have done incredible things to protect the Skeena watershed from being obliterated by Royal Dutch Shell, with their coal-bed methane-gas wells,” she says, “so I was very inspired to protect my lake and the rivers around it and join their fight to keep the water clean up here.”

Before recording Where Your Garden Grows van Zanten set off on a musical pilgrimage throughout the U.K. and Europe, hanging out with British rockers—including members of Robert Plant’s band and Mick Jagger’s brother Chris, whom she describes as “a great country artist”—and visiting Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Box Wiltshire, England. Gabriel’s sound engineer introduced the 33-year-old singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist to famed knob-twiddler Tchad Blake, whose credits include Paul Simon, Tom Waits, and Pearl Jam. After being won over by her material, Blake agreed to mix van Zanten’s latest disc at his Mongrel Studio near Bath, England.

The folksy stylings of van Zanten’s 2006 solo debut, Back to Francois, have been usurped on her latest CD by a more rocking approach, with her slide-guitar work featured prominently throughout, particularly on the primal opener, “Showerhead”, and the Zeppelinesque instrumental “Black Horse”. She’s a big fan of American slide specialists such as Derek Trucks and Ben Harper, but her main bottleneck influence is Pender Island’s Lester Quitzau.

“I’ve been playing slide for eight years or more,” she points out, “so it’s a big part of my writing. It’s my second voice, for sure.”

See full version

October 02 2009 » » Mother Nature Network

Ali Howard Makes Top 10 List of Most Intriguing Environmentalists

Forget Kermit’s famous lament, “It’s not easy being green.” It’s actually never been easier. What’s hard, though, is to stand out and make a big difference (like this naked biker — see our #3 choice). That takes more than recycling plastic bottles or signing petitions. It calls for extraordinary action. What follows are a few who’ve dared to do more — environmentalists who walk their eco-talk in bold, daring and creative ways. What remains is a lasting impression — and, hopefully, lasting change. (Text by Sidney Stevens) View this article online

1. Julia Butterfly Hill
Tree-sitter extraordinaire, Hill lived for two years in the canopy of an ancient Redwood tree she affectionately named Luna to prevent it from being logged. After climbing down 10 years ago, she wrote a book called The Legacy of Luna and has continued redefining eco-activism ever since. From inspirational speaking to founding the Engage Network to a possible biopic (starring Rachel Weisz), civil disobedience will never be the same.
Photo: GSMattingly/Flickr

2. The Big Green Bus
Take 15 Dartmouth students with an eco-message, put them on a bright green veggie-oil-powered bus (retrofitted with solar panels and bamboo floors), and you might just get your point across — namely that with a few simple actions each of us can fight climate change. Big Green Bus participants logged 12,000 miles this past summer, crisscrossing the country and stopping in 50 cities to spread their sustainability message.
Photo: Kawakahi K. Amina

3. Naked Bike Riders
Nothing like some skin to sell your message. Taking its cue from the advertising industry, World Naked Bike Ride began organizing its au naturel rides five years ago in cities around the world. Its message: that cars promote oil dependency and spew dangerous fumes that harm cyclists, pedestrians and the planet. Oh, and that bicycles and human bodies (of all sizes, shapes and painted colors) are beautiful.
Photo: CyclingCaptured

4. Greta Browne
This 65-year-old grandmother of three proves that unusual eco-action isn’t just for the young or (bare-it-all) outrageous. Browne, a retired Unitarian minister, blogger and gypsy at heart from Bethlehem, Pa., recently trekked 1,150 miles on foot from New Orleans to Rouses Point, N.Y., to raise awareness about climate change. For Browne, it was more than just a walk — it was “a prayer, a meditation and an action.”
Photo: Courtesy Greta Browne

5. Edina Tokodi
Looking for ways to push her green message to jaded city-dwellers, Hungarian-born Tokodi drew inspiration from urban street gangs. She turned to graffiti. Instead of spray paint and gang slang, though, she opted for moss and a message of eco-harmony. Tokodi’s animal and nature shapes — applied to buildings and barren walls throughout her Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond — invite people to touch and reconnect with nature.
Photo: Jozsef Valyi-Toth

6. The Lorax
Sure he’s unusual because he told truth to power. (Who can forget “I speak for the trees.”) But the Lorax also makes our list because of what he is — one of the most enduring oddball characters to emerge from the fertile mind of Dr. Seuss. This “shortish,” “brownish,” “mossy” eco-hero still speaks for the trees — and all victims of unbridled development. And now he’s becoming the star of his own 3-D movie.
Photo: Miss Rogue/Flickr

7. Mary Mattingly
Many artists envision future worlds, but few actually inhabit them. Not so Mattingly, a sculptor and photographer. Unsettled by predictions of rising sea levels and a post-apocalyptic future à la Waterworld, she dreamed up the Waterpod, a sustainable barge with gardens, greywater system, alternative power and chickens. Mattingly and crewmembers lived on board last summer, docking around New York to showcase their new eco-habitat.
Photo: Leyla T. Rosario

8. Johnny Appleseed
Folk hero John Chapman just might be the great granddaddy of low-carbon living. This 19th-century vegetarian, nature-loving preacher and businessman traversed the Midwest on foot in secondhand clothes, planting apple nurseries with free seeds from cider mills. His mission: to help settlers build self-sustaining communities in harmony with nature. He often bartered and channeled a portion of profits toward rescuing horses from slaughter.

9 Ali Howard
What better way to spotlight eco-threats to the salmon-rich Skeena River than by making a splash? Literally. Howard, a 33-year-old resort chef and water polo player, donned a wetsuit last summer, jumped in at the headwaters of British Columbia’s second longest river and didn’t stop swimming until she reached the Pacific Ocean. Battling rapids, frigid water and whirlpools, she and her support team completed their epic 379-mile eco-odyssey in 28 days.
Photo: Brian Huntington

10. John Francis
After witnessing the devastation of a 1971 San Francisco oil spill, Francis gave up motorized transportation and chose to stay silent. But it wasn’t the silence of apathy. It was a roaring silence that’s still being heard. His marathon wordless walk (recounted in his book Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence) helped him reconnect with nature and inspired his earth-stewardship group Planetwalk.

September 29 2009 » Skeena Swim

Skeena Swim Film Trailer - RELEASED

We will posting it to our website soon – in the meantime, we’re stoked to share the link for Awakening the Skeena film trailer.

It’s going to be AWESOME!!

September 21 2009 » Home Feature

A Letter from Ali

Dear SWCC Members,

Thank you for helping make the swim a great success. Whether you have been an SWCC member for years or have recently joined, you understand and appreciate what an incredible watershed the Skeena is. It was my great privilege to have the opportunity to learn more about the landscape, the river, and the proud communities of the Skeena during 26 memorable days. I was honoured to speak with many watershed residents; these conversations energized me and validated the core idea behind the trip. Swimming the Skeena was never about “Ali Howard ‘conquering’ a river”; rather, it was an effort to work with, and for, a magnificent but vulnerable waterway, its watershed, and its people.

While the individual accolades that have followed are much-appreciated honours, they fail to acknowledge the importance of supporters like yourself; without your commitment to the watershed this trip would have been impossible. Nor do they begin to credit the team that accompanied me on the journey. It is a very strange and humbling experience to have a group of people completely devoted to one’s safety and comfort. I am indebted to Aaron, Andrew, Brian, Shannon, Matt, Jim, Kimmy, and, especially, Chris for their selflessness and, most importantly, their friendship.

As the Skeena thrives, may we all thrive.
Ali Howard

September 16 2009 » Skeena Swim » Terrace Daily Standard

Skeena Swimmer Wins First Activist Award

Outdoor clothing giant Patagonia has awarded Ali Howard its Activist Award for her historic swim of the 610-kilometer Skeena River earlier this summer.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard presented Howard with the award which comes with $5,000 yesterday at the Skeena Salmon Habitat Conference in Smithers.

“I was so inspired by hearing about Ali’s swim, that at Patagonia we decided to start a Patagonia Activist Award. And I think of no one better in the last year to give this award to than Ali,” Chouinard told the crowd.

“Some of us have a lot of free time and can volunteer for good causes, some of use are good speakers and can get up and speak about the injustices of the world, and some people have strong arms and legs and great courage and can swim the Skeena,” Chouinard said.

Howard’s swim took her from the alpine meadows of the Sacred Headwaters where the Skeena is born, to the tidal estuary where the river meets the Pacific Ocean. She undertook the swim to raise awareness of the Skeena and threats to its health, including coalbed methane drilling and pipeline development.

In receiving the award, Howard noted Chouinard’s own contribution to environmental conservation:

“Under Yvon’s leadership, Patagonia continues to be a corporate leader in sustainability. I’m humbled and grateful at the response the swim continues to receive.”

Spirit of the Skeena Swim 2009 is a project of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition.

September 16 2009 » Media Releases

Skeena Swimmer Wins First-Ever Patagonia Activist Award

Outdoor clothing giant Patagonia has
awarded Ali Howard its Activist Award for her historic swim of the
610-kilometer Skeena River earlier this summer.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard presented Howard with the award – which
comes with $5,000 – yesterday at the Skeena Salmon Habitat Conference in
Smithers.

“I was so inspired by hearing about Ali’s swim, that at Patagonia we decided
to start a Patagonia Activist Award. And I think of no one better in the
last year to give this award to than Ali,” Chouinard told the crowd.

“Some of us have a lot of free time and can volunteer for good causes, some
of use are good speakers and can get up and speak about the injustices of
the world, and some people have strong arms and legs and great courage and
can swim the Skeena,” Chouinard said.

Howard’s swim took her from the alpine meadows of the Sacred Headwaters
where the Skeena is born, to the tidal estuary where the river meets the
Pacific Ocean. She undertook the swim to raise awareness of the Skeena and
threats to its health, including coalbed methane drilling and pipeline
development.

In receiving the award, Howard noted Chouinard’s own contribution to
environmental conservation:

“Under Yvon’s leadership, Patagonia continues to be a corporate leader in
sustainability. I’m humbled and grateful at the response the swim continues
to receive.”

Spirit of the Skeena Swim 2009 is a project of the Skeena Watershed
Conservation Coalition.

August 20 2009 » Home Feature » Prince Rupert Daily News

Historic swim makes a huge splash at the Cannery

Monday, August 17, 2009
by George T. Baker

Ali Howard’s swim was more than just about Howard.
It was about the Sacred Headwaters, the Skeena River, and the people who depend on them – and the
people Howard depended on.
“I don’t feel that this is a personal achievement,” reflected Howard. “I know it sounds contradictory, but the
whole time we prepared for the swim and during the swim, I felt like a vessel for a greater cause.”
Ali Howard is not religious, but as she pulled herself out of the water for the final time on her historic 610
km swim down the Skeena River she would be forgiven for thinking that there was some heavenly hierarchy
watching over her.
Actually, they were in the water with her the whole time, which is partially why Howard won’t take the full
credit for her swim.
For every stroke on the way there were eight enchanted believers paddling beside her and making sure she
kept it together.
Their names matter, too – Brian Huntington, Kim Ward Roberts, Aaron James, Matt Lewis, Andrew Eddy,
Shannon MacPhail, the absent Jim Allen, and the man responsible for Howard’s safety, Chris Gee.
“This is about protection,” said Gee concerning the swim’s message about the Skeena -though he could
have easily been talking about Howard. As he stripped his gear off for the final time, he remained on topic.
“This river is vital to the well being of all the people in the province.”
No person has ever swum the entire Skeena River. No one. There are whirlpools the size of living rooms,
rapids that bite like mad dogs and currents that can sweep people away in a blink of an eye. It is unlikely
that Howard would ever have made it without her team.
Looking back on it, Gee was amazed that they had even taken it up.
“I can’t think of a time in my life that I held that much responsibility,” said an emotional Gee. “Now that I
am here, it is all I can do to keep myself from crying.”
That Howard had completed the swim is history in the making. But there was a greater point to the
journey.
According to Gerald Amos of the Headwaters Initiative, an environmental organization that has fought
against drilling and for the protection of the river, the current voluntary moratorium on the coalbed methane
drilling in the Sacred Headwaters could be lifted as soon as next year.
It is hoped that Howard’s swim marks another shot across the bow towards oil giant Shell’s hope for a
coalbed methane production future for the Sacred Headwaters – so named because it is the headwaters for
three important rivers in the province, the Stikine, the Nass and, of course, the Skeena.
The swim has also become a rallying point for a large percentage of the Northwestern members of this
province who are against what they believe to be the continued degradation and over consumption of vital
salmon stocks in one of B.C.‘s largest salmon reservoirs.
Given that this year’ salmon season was dismal, with many Skeena salmon that were expected to return
never showing up, Team Howard believes this is another reason, amongst a variety of them, that Shell’s
plan is unsuitable for the region.
Howard has become the celebrity vessel in the vain of another British Columbian, Terry Fox. Much in the
manner that Fox galvanized Canadians by trotting down the highway almost 30 years ago to raise
awareness about cancer, Howard has done the same by swimming the Skeena.
What was amazing to most who witnessed Howard during her experience was how calm she was given
the circumstances. And how level and determined she remained while well-wishers wondered if it was
really possible for a human to swim that distance – when even her own team thought it was best to pull in
from the Skeena. The test was immense.
Had they seen Howard in some more private moments they may have felt vindicated. According to
McPhail, what well-wishers almost never saw were the times after a leg of the swim when Howard would
come to shore and collapse on the riverbed, waiting for her team to rescue her as she curled up into a fetal
position absolutely exhausted by a river that never relents.
What distant supporters never saw were the times when emotions ran low and a laugh was needed and it
would be McPhail – the very woman responsible for Howard jumping in the river in the first place – who
would provide a chuckle either in the canoe beside Howard or during camp at night.
They weren’t witness to the comedy when a black dog fell into the river. Howard – who had been trained to
do this if one her teammates fell in the river – instinctively tossed a throw bag at the bewildered mutt (yes
the dog survived).
They weren’t there for the evening of terror near the Shames stretch when most of the team hid in fear from
a howling wolf that never approached, but made its presence known until morning.
Throughout it all there was Team Howard, which was not limited to the offshore crew. There was also an
onshore team making sure that Howard’s swim was received well at the different stops on the journey – and
Saturday in Port Edward was no different.
Organizers such as Ingrid Granlin, spoke briefly to the Daily News – in between running from one spot of
the Cannery grounds with a flat of Diet Coke to another spot of the Cannery grounds to make sure parking
did not get out of hand – about how the communities have received the swim.
“We are realizing just how important the Skeena is to people in the Northwest,” said Granlin.
Granlin then ran away because two tourists in a behemoth Winnebago with a sedan hauled behind were
taking up too much parking space.
Salmon were jumping all over the passage as Howard approached North Pacific’s landing dock. Many
observers noted their behaviour and remarked that this was what it was all about. Amongst them were
Howard’s parents, Alex and Jim from Ottawa, there at the end just as they had been during the other large
moments of Howard’s life.
“As we have said often,” said father Jim before Howard made it to shore, “we’ve always been proud of all of
our kids. But now we are in awe of Ali.”
Asked what he made of it all, now that his daughter had made it to shore, Jim’s voice wavered and his
eyes moistened as he walked gingerly down the cannery’s boardwalk.
“I’m a bit weepy right now. I’m not a religious man by any means. But I have been on rivers all my life and
have been lucky, so to see her come out of the river was a relief. There is a spirit out there for sure. I’m a
believer today.”
Asked about her father’s comments, Howard could not have agreed more.
“This was an enchanted trip. There absolutely was a spirit with us,” said Howard. “The conditions could
not have been better and everything that was needed was provided for.”
After lunch, Howard and her team were treated to a collection of signing, speeches and gift presentations
from dignitaries and honoured guests… and several standing ovations.
And when it was time for Howard to speak, the swimmer who was visibly spent from her journey
approached the microphone. Before she spoke, she stared at her 10-member team as if she was unable to
summon words without their energy.
Something was happening, though no one in the crowd could say just what it was until a jumble of words
came out of Howard’s mouth. But her team knew full well.
“I’m just a normal person who did something neat,” understated Howard, perhaps yet unable to fully grasp
her monumental achievement.
It all seemed peculiar to her – not unwelcome, but strange. She had become a celebrity and symbol for a
cause she believed in. Kids with Ali Howard training cards asked her to sign their cards. A man asked her
to sign a T-shirt for him. An interview was almost impossible because so many people wanted to meet her
and greet her or just shake her hand. She had become something different and something more.
She had left a 33-year old water polo player and resort chef. Now she was Michael Phelps and David
Suzuki rolled into one. The swim had changed her life forever. There was no going back now.
“I hope to remain part of the discussion about the watershed’s future. I would be privileged and honoured to
be part of that.”
How could a discussion begin without her?

August 19 2009 » Skeena Swim » Prince George Citizen

Canoers share a greeting steeped in tradition

A small group of people from Prince Rupert had the privilege of accompanying swimmer Ali Howard on the last leg of her 610 km swim of the Skeena River Saturday morning.

Paddling a 42-foot fiberglass voyageur canoe, the all-ages crew met 33-year-old Howard and her support team at Cassiar Cannery in the water, floating slowly with the current, during the last hour of the swim.
With time to kill, so as not to arrive at North Pacific Cannery before schedule, the support team paddling in kayaks and canoes chatted with the Rupertites.
Team member Shannon McPhail, activist with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, invited everyone to introduce themselves.
“Hi I’m Ali and I guess I just swam the Skeena,” Howard said, breaking the ice.
She looked thoughtful as she floated in the water, close to kayaker Chris Gee of Hazelton who has been with her through the whole journey.
When Howard introduced herself, everyone else pounded their paddles against the boats in appreciation.
“Thank you elders for coming on this ride,” McPhail called out, addressing the four elders in the voyageur canoe.
“It’s an honour to paddle with you. We’ve been riding from Terrace in this Porche of a boat,” McPhail added, referring to the war canoe the team has had on loan from artist Roy Henry Vickers.
~by Monica Lamb-Yorski
Within a few moments of being asked by McPhail if the elders could sing a song or tell a story, elder Leonard Alexcee began singing on his own, the beat methodical, the tones low.
A big smile broke out on his face as people thanked him by banging their paddles against the boat again.
“I made up that song just now,” Alexcee answered, with one of his notorious grins. “It means Come On. Come On. Let’s Rock.”
Pausing, he looked up again and said, “I ask the creator to keep the river clear and bring back the salmon every year. Ali, I officially welcome you here.”
McPhail invited people in the large canoe to introduce themselves and share thoughts as to why they were along for the paddle.
For two in the group, it was their first time in a canoe, including elder Betty Comeau.
“This is amazing,” Comeau commented.
Mona Alexcee said her ancestors made a living on the river.
“We can’t hear their voices now, but I hope we’re doing them justice with Ali bringing attention to the river. Our people got their winter food along this river. My father told me you could almost walk on the backs of the salmon here at one time. It’s an honour for me to be here in person to escort you in and look to the future. Thank you very much, Ali.”
McPhail acknowledged feeling like the ancestors have supported the trip through all the gifts and help the team has received along the way.
“If anything had gone differently it could have gone very wrong,” she said. “Things we didn’t foresee desperately needing, fell into place.”
As the Rupert canoe left the group to paddle down to North Pacific Cannery, leaving Howard to swim her last leg of the journey, Howard’s brother Chris, who also lives in Telkwa, said the swim has made his sister realize she’s happy when she’s swimming.
“I think she’s a little sad now that the swim is ending,” he said. “She’s emotionally attached to the river now and people are attached to her. I think it’s great.”

August 18 2009 » Skeena Swim » Terrace Standard

Skeena River is a Gift That Needs to be Protected

~by Robert Hart
Ali Howard has just swum the Skeena River, from its headwaters to its mouth, ending her epic journey at the historic North Pacific Cannery while making some history herself. Ali has undertaken this feat of endurance to remind us of the gift that the Skeena River is to us: one of the longest free running, unpolluted rivers in the world and one of the largest sources of wild salmon on the planet.

Her swim reminds us of what a resource the Skeena is to us and that it is worth saving in its present state: a clean, working river that binds us and sustains us as a community.

Enbridge is planning to build a pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to Kitimat, a pipeline over 1,100 kilometres long, carrying dirty oil across 1,000 streams and rivers. The Tar Sands are creating a toxic wasteland that could reach the size of 4 Vancouver Islands and are our fastest growing source of global warming pollution. So building another pipeline to transport this increasing production not only threatens the whole planet but creates a direct threat to us.

Enbridge has had more than 65 oil spills annually. That number can only go up with over 1,000 kilometres of new pipeline. In the next 20 years, the number of spills could easily be over 1,000 and some of them would inevitably be along the Skeena. There is no way to contain an oil spill on a fast moving river. Can you imagine a Skeena without salmon?

But the danger to us does not stop there. There would be over 300 supertankers a year taking the oil from the pipeline terminal at Kitimat to buyers in China. During the lifetime of the pipeline, that amounts to 1,000s of supertankers from this project alone. But once this pipeline is approved, there would inevitably be more.

Other companies are already planning to build them and the amount of coastal tanker traffic would then increase dramatically. The tankers would have to navigate some of the most treacherous inland waterways in the world. There are places on the route where they would have to be assisted by up to four sea going tugboats in order to make the necessary turn in the tight, rock strewn waterways between Hartley Bay and the Pacific. They would then encounter a coast that has some of the worst weather anywhere, high winds and high seas. It is a more difficult route than the one the Exxon Valdez was following when it struck a rock and poured thousands of barrels of oil onto the Alaskan coast.

That coast remains polluted to this day. As if we needed reminding, the route passes the site where the Queen of the North went down. A major spill is not probable. It is inevitable.

For what? The pipeline’s construction will bring few jobs to the North. Its maintenance will provide fewer still. The salmon in the Skeena create a local economy worth $110 million a year. A healthy coast has supported communities for thousands of years. Who would pay for their destruction?

Not Enbridge. The Skeena and the North Coast are clean, healthy and working to provide us with a sustainable economy. No corporate interest has the right to destroy this, or even endanger it in any significant way, in order to make a profit for their shareholders.

As Ali swam through our territory, she was greeted at each river community. Hundreds of people welcomed her and cheered her on. Ali’s swim challenged us to be mindful of the importance of the Skeena in our lives and the need for us to protect it from mindless development. We are challenged to make our own swim into the waters of community action. Even if we have to swim upstream.

Robert Hart is a past Chair of the Sierra Club, BC Chapter and remains an advocate for sustainable development

August 17 2009 » Skeena Swim » BC Local News

Howard completes historic swim

Published: August 16, 2009 7:00 AM

0 Comments

Ali Howard was all smiles yesterday as she received a well deserved hand from the crowd as she finished her 610 kilometre, awareness-raising swim of the Skeena River.

It had taken her 28 days to swim from the Sacred Headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. Howard and her safety team tackled the swim to raise awareness of the Skeena River and highlight threats to its health, like coalbed methane drilling and pipeline development.

Howard spent four to eight hour per day on the river, at all times wearing floatation device, drysuit and helmet.

Howard and her team stopped at communities along the way, at one point joined by Skeena NDP MP Nathan Cullen. Many residents on the swim route came out to support Howard on her journey.

It was no different in Prince Rupert; hundreds of onlookers and well-wishers made their way out to the North Pacific Cannery near Port Edward, and Tsimshian dancers welcomed Howard with the steady beat of their drumming.

There was also a feast and dance at the Nisga’a Hall featuring Rachel Van Zanten and Los Gringos Salvajes.

August 17 2009 » Skeena Swim » CFTK Television

Ali Howard Completes Her Epic Swim

Mon, 2009-08-17 08:03.
Local News
It began nearly four weeks ago in the Sacred Headwaters — and ended Saturday at the North Pacific Cannery at Port Edward.

Ali Howard’s 610-kilometer “Spirit of the Skeena” swim finally concluded as she rode the tide up to the dock area near the cannery, with over 100 supporters cheering her on.

Howard’s goal all along was to try to focus attention on the Skeena River, and to help unite the people living along its banks in a common cause to keep it healthy and vibrant.

She also wanted to show people what one person can accomplish.
“I think anybody can make a difference by finding something they really believe in and are passionate about, and devoting time to that, an appreciation for that, and then sharing that with others,” said Howard.

After her welcome at the cannery, Howard and her entourage drove into Prince Rupert, for an evening celebration at the Nisga’a Hall.

John Crawford — Terrace; reported by Gilda Diaz (Kitsumkalum) and Sahar Nassimdoost (Port Edward)

August 16 2009 » Skeena Swim » Vancouver Sun

Ali Howard completes first-ever Skeena River swim

Vancouver Sun, August 16, 2009

PRINCE RUPERT – Ali Howard has completed the first-ever swim of the 610-kilometre Skeena River, British Columbia’s second longest river.

She ended her 28-day effort today in Port Edward where a crowd of hundreds cheered wildly as she approached the dock at the North Pacific Cannery.

“This has been an extraordinary journey that I feel blessed to have been part of,” said Howard.

“The landscape of the Skeena is powerful beyond words, and I hope everyone who has been inspired by this adventure will find a way to protect their watershed for the future,” said Howard.

Howard spent four to eight hours per day on the river and was protected from hazards and the river’s cold water by a PFD, drysuit and helmet.

“The lower river was particularly challenging,” said Howard. “We knew dealing with the tides and the winds off the ocean was going to be tough, and the past few days have proven that the mighty reputation of the lower Skeena is deserved.”

Along the swim route, entire communities came out to meet Howard and share in her journey. From Kispiox and Hazelton to Gitseguecla and Kitsumkalum, families lined the shores, took to the river in boats, and held feasts in her honour.

“I come away from this trip feeling truly inspired by the potential of our communities of committed people living in place and working together to take care of their home. If there’s a place in the world where we can make it work, this is it,” said Howard.

Howard’s success will be celebrated tonight in Prince Rupert with a feast and dance at the Nisga’a Hall featuring Rachel Van Zanten and Los Gringos Salvajes.
© Copyright © The Vancouver Sun

August 15 2009 » Skeena Swim » Media Release

She made it! Ali Howard finishes first-ever Skeena River swim

NEWS RELEASE

AUGUST 15, 2009 (PRINCE RUPERT) Ali Howard has completed the first-ever swim of the 610-kilometre Skeena River, British Columbia’s second longest river. She ended her 28-day effort today in Port Edward where a crowd of hundreds cheered wildly as she approached the dock at the North Pacific Cannery.

“This has been an extraordinary journey that I feel blessed to have been part of,” said Howard.

“The landscape of the Skeena is powerful beyond words, and I hope everyone who has been inspired by this adventure will find a way to protect their watershed for the future,” said Howard.

Howard spent four to eight hour per day on the river and was protected from hazards and the river’s cold water by a PFD, drysuit and helmet.

“I come away from this trip feeling truly inspired by the potential of our communities – of committed people living in place and working together to take care of their home. If there’s a place in the world where we can make it work, this is it,” said Howard.

Howard’s success will be celebrated tonight in Prince Rupert with a feast and dance at the Nisga’a Hall featuring Rachel Van Zanten and Los Gringos Salvajes.

Contact:
Ingrid Granlin: (250) 877-3163

August 15 2009 » Skeena Swim » Terrace Daily Online

Ali Howard Completes Swim with Salmon

Merv Ritchie

UPDATE: Video at the North Pacific Cannery of Ali Howard and the Swim team of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalitions’ return can be watched HERE

For those that recall the very beginning days of the Greenpeace movement, this monumental effort by Ali Howard to swim the entire length of the Skeena River had some eerie similarities. As Ms. Howard was making her final trek alongside the Port Edward shoreline salmon were seen jumping along side her. It was the salmon, the health of the waters, specifically the Skeena River and the spawning beds that Howard was swimming to raise awareness of the threats to its security.

There may be some form of extra sensory perception that we need to comprehend. As the Greenpeace zodiacs attempted to get in the way of the whaling boats they discovered that the whales themselves would swim around behind them anyways. The same kind of thing happened today as the salmon all came to swim with Ali Howard.

Approximately 300 people arrived to witness Howard as she swam ashore at the old North Pacific Cannery, which is now a museum. A ceremonial canoe arrived first coming from the Cassier Cannery site bringing Tsimshian dancers to greet Howard when she arrived. Crowds lined the walkways and ramp looking over Inverness Pass at the mouth of the Skeena River.

As her arms and legs hit the water propelling her to the waiting spectators salmon were seen jumping in front, behind and alongside. The speed she moved was surprisingly quick. The drums and the songs were ringing through the air as the crowds were cheering, screaming and clapping. Howard pulled herself up onto the dock and was greeted by hugs and cheers followed by a drumming procession into a main hall in the cannery building where the celebrations were held.

August 15 2009 » Skeena Swim » Vancouver Sun

Protester swims B.C.’s second-longest river

By John Colebourn, Vancouver Province

Ali Howard is the first person to swim British Columbia’s second-longest river.

Howard finished her arduous 28-day 610-kilometre journey down the Skeena River Saturday at 12:30 p.m. reaching her final checkpoint at the Pacific Cannery docks in Port Edward, on the northwest coast of B.C.

She was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers and was later treated to a community banquet to celebrate the epic trip.

“This has been an extraordinary journey that I feel blessed to have been part of,” said Howard, who arrived on shore to a cheering crowd.

Howard’s swim took her from the alpine meadows of the Sacred Headwaters where the Skeena starts, to the tidal estuary where the river meets the Pacific Ocean.

She swam the Skeena to raise awareness of the fragile river system that she said is being threatened by coal bed methane drilling and pipeline development.

“The landscape of the Skeena is powerful beyond words, and I hope everyone who has been inspired by this adventure will find a way to protect their watershed for the future,” said the Ottawa native.

The 33-year-old water-polo player and resort chef began the swim on July 21.

She had no previous river-swimming experience, so she trained for two months on two of the Skeena’s tributaries, the Bulkley and the Suskwa.

During her swim on the Skeena, Howard spent four to eight hours a day on the river and was protected from hazards and the river’s cold water by a life jacket, drysuit and helmet.

She had a daunting task trying to navigate through the Skeena and said the last section was the toughest.

During the swim, entire communities came out to greet Howard and share in her journey.

“I come away from this trip feeling truly inspired by the potential of our communities — of committed people living in places and working together to take care of their home. If there’s a place in the world where we can make it work, this is it,” said Howard.

Throughout the swim she said she was motivated by drivers honking and waving while they passed by on the highway.

Howard navigated the river’s narrow canyons with the help of professionals including a first-aid attendant, videographer and chef.

The crew followed her with equipment on whitewater rafts, which they traded for sturdy canoes once they got closer to the ocean.

The expedition cost about $30,000, with money raised from donations and sponsors.
© Copyright © Canwest News Service

August 14 2009 » Skeena Swim » CFTK News

Ali Howard’s Epic Swim To End Saturday in Port Ed

John Crawford — Terrace, reported by Gilda Diaz

A 28-day, 610 kilometer swim comes to an end tomorrow for Ali Howard.

The 33-year-old Bulkley Valley woman is scheduled to splash ashore at the North Pacific Cannery Museum in Port Edward tomorrow afternoon at around 1pm.

A member of her support team, Shannon McPhail, explains how the idea of the “Spirit of the Skeena” swim came about.

“She suggested having a person swim the Skeena, and she was inspired by guy named Martin Strell who swims rivers all over the world in the name of conservation,” says McPhail. She adds “I said, `well we don’t want somebody foreign swimming our rivers, you swim Ali, you do it!’ And it was a big joke but she looked at me and said, ‘yeah, okay, I’ll swim the Skeena!’ And that is literally how it all started.”

Howard’s goal was to make people aware of how important the Skeena is to the communities of the northwest, and to warn of the dangers posed by industrial development. She says she’s been overwhelmed by the response.

August 14 2009 » Skeena Swim » Nanaimo Daily News

Prince Rupert. Swimmer’s Skeena River swim nearing end

Ali Howard is only 26 kilometres from the end of her mega-swim.

By Saturday afternoon, she will emerge from the Skeena River as the first person to swim B.C.‘s second longest river in its entirety.

She will reach her final checkpoint at the Pacific Cannery docks in Port Edward near Prince Rupert, where a community banquet will be set up to celebrate her 28-day trip.

The Ottawa native said she gets a boost of adrenalin from drivers who honk, whistle and wave at her as they pass by on the highway.

The water polo player and resort chef, 33, began the 610 kilometre swim on July 21.

August 14 2009 » Skeena Swim » Vancouver Province

610-km swim almost finished

By Carmen Chai, Times Colonist

Ali Howard is only 26 kilometres away from land.

By Saturday afternoon, she will emerge from the Skeena River as the first person to swim B.C.‘s second-longest river in its entirety.

Howard will reach her final checkpoint at the Pacific Cannery docks in Port Edward near Prince Rupert, where a community banquet will be set up to celebrate her 28-day trip.

“We’ve had a hectic past few days. Long, long swim days and lots of cold water,” Howard said via satellite phone to her audioblog on Wednesday night.

“Energy’s lagging, but I’m happy for everybody’s support.”

She said she gets a boost of adrenalin from drivers who honk, whistle and wave at her as they pass by on the highway.

The 33-year-old water-polo player and resort chef began the 610-km swim on July 21.

She had no previous river-swimming experience, but she trained for two months on two of the Skeena’s tributaries, the Bulkley and the Suskwa.

Howard has swum against Class 4 whitewater rapids and navigated the river’s narrow canyons with the help of professionals including a first-aid attendant, videographer and chef.

The crew followed her with equipment on whitewater rafts, which they traded for sturdy canoes once they got closer to the ocean.

Each night, Howard and the team prop up tents and camp along the river after a full day’s progress.

The expedition is costing about $30,000, money raised from donations and sponsors.

Howard said she undertook the historic swim to raise awareness about the threats to the Skeena watershed.

At issue is Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to drill for methane near the head-waters, home to wildlife and a salmon-spawning habitat.

August 14 2009 » Skeena Swim » Prince Rupert Daily News

Swimmer’s Skeena River swim nearing end

Ali Howard is only 26 kilometres from the end of her mega-swim.

By Saturday afternoon, she will emerge from the Skeena River as the first person to swim B.C.‘s second longest river in its entirety.

She will reach her final checkpoint at the Pacific Cannery docks in Port Edward near Prince Rupert, where a community banquet will be set up to celebrate her 28-day trip.

The Ottawa native said she gets a boost of adrenalin from drivers who honk, whistle and wave at her as they pass by on the highway.

The water polo player and resort chef, 33, began the 610 kilometre swim on July 21.
© Copyright © Canwest News Service

August 13 2009 » Skeena Swim » Times Colonist

Ottawa native swimming entire length of Skeena River

PRINCE RUPERT — Ali Howard is only 26 kilometres from the end of her mega-swim.

By Saturday afternoon, she will emerge from the Skeena River as the first person to swim B.C.‘s second longest river in its entirety.

She will reach her final checkpoint at the Pacific Cannery docks in Port Edward near Prince Rupert, where a community banquet will be set up to celebrate her 28-day trip.

“We’ve had a hectic past few days. Long, long swim days and lots of cold water,” Howard said via satellite phone to her audioblog on Wednesday night. “Energy’s lagging, but I’m happy for everybody’s support.”

The Ottawa native said she gets a boost of adrenalin from drivers who honk, whistle and wave at her as they pass by on the highway.

The water polo player and resort chef, 33, began the 610 kilometre swim on July 21.

During the 28-day venture, Howard swam against Class Four whitewater rapids and navigated the river’s narrow canyons with the help of staff and professionals including a first-aid attendant, videographer and chef.

The crew is following her with equipment on whitewater rafts or canoes.

The expedition is costing about $30,000 with money raised from donations and sponsors.

Howard undertook the swim to raise awareness about the threats to the Skeena watershed.

August 13 2009 » Skeena Swim » Explore Magazine - Outdoor Blog

Swimming the Skeena

In the June issue of explore, we ran a story on Alison Howard, a B.C. woman who was planning on swimming the entire 610-kilometre length of the Skeena River, to raise awareness of threats to the watershed.

The 33-year-old resident of Smithers started her swim on July 21, and since then has stroked her way through all sorts of challenging conditions. (You can read about her swim on the Spirit of the Skeena Swim website.)

Alison is expected to finish her swim this Saturday, at noon in Port Edward. You can show up to celebrate with her then, and there’s also a party planned for 7:30 p.m. in Prince Rupert.

Congratulations to Alison!

August 13 2009 » Skeena Swim » The Northern View

Skeena River swim ends Saturday at North Pacific Cannery

After 28 days, Ail Howard’s swim down the Skeena will wrap up on Saturday at North Pacific Cannery.

By Shaun Thomas – The Northern View

Published: August 11, 2009 11:00 PM

0 Comments

After 28-days spent swimming the Skeena River from its origin at the Sacred Headwaters, 33-year old Ali Howard will conclude her journey with a special ceremony at North Pacific Cannery in Port Edward this Saturday.

The public is being invited to welcome Howard at North Pacific Cannery when she arrives at one p.m., with organizers asking people to be at the cannery between 12 and 12:30. Her arrival on the North Coast and the end of her journey will be marked by speeches and food for those in attendance and, due to the lack of parking at the facility, a shuttle will take people to North Pacific from the parking area along Skeena Road at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

Throughout her swim Howard says she has been “overwhelmed, to say the least” by the response from the many who have attended community events along the route.

“When we conceived the swim, the idea was to get the community out to celebrate with us, and people are. It’s almost surprising how many people have come out to share their stories of the river and their goals and expectations for the Skeena,” said Howard from her stop in Kispiox on August 6.

“It’s a humbling experience to come in and be welcomed by people with such hospitality and such open arms…The swim is going so well to date. I think something much greater than the sum of its part is occurring. It’s been an exceptional journey with a fantastic response.”

And while looking forward to stepping onto the dock at the Cannery to end her swim, aimed at raising awareness of the importance of the Sacred Headwaters and the Skeena watershed to those in the Northwest, Howard said she also doesn’t want the journey to be

over.

“It’s a fantastic journey and something I am so happy to be on. It’s something that I think will carry on even after the swim is done.”

On August 4 Howard was joined in the water by Skeena – Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen, who joined Howard in her swim from Kispiox Village to Hazelton.

August 11 2009 » Skeena Swim » CFTK Television

“Spirit of the Skeena” Swim Now in the Home Stretch

Local News

The “Spirit of the Skeena” swim is scheduled to end this Saturday at Port Edward, but the fight to preserve the watershed goes on.

That’s what members of Ali Howard’s team are saying, as the Bulkley Valley woman is now past Terrace, in her goal to swim the entire length of the river.

Team member Shannon McPhail says one of the reasons for this event is to draw attention to the importance of the Skeena River to northwest communities.

“And the next step after this swim is over is just remain vocal and up front about what you would like to see in your watershed,” said McPhail. She added “We all live here: first nations, non first nations, tradespeople, businessowners, miners — everybody! We all live here, and call this our home”

Howard arrived in Terrace Sunday, to a rousing welcome at Kitisumkalum. She was called a hero by many of those present last night, but she doesn’t see herself that way.

“I don’t consider myself a hero at all,” said Howard. “I make my living in the watershed, and I grew up in Ottawa, I’m not originally from here, but the way that I’ve been embraced by the community that I live and work in really made me want to give back.”

Howard says the every day people speaking out for what they believe in are the real heroes.

John Crawford — Terrace, Reported by Gilda Diaz

August 10 2009 » Skeena Swim » Terrace Daily

Ali Unites the People of the NW

There is no describing the emotional impact on almost everyone who witnessed this event. The shouts from the shores and the bridges were one thing to see and hear as she passed through Terrace but as she arrived at the Kalum River the monumental energy and determination of this woman, her absolute commitment was not just awe inspiring, it was an example of bravery, honour and inspiration that had tears flowing from even the toughest and hardened individual.

First Nations Chiefs and Matriarchs were emotionally moved as were the crowds surrounding this incredulous moment.

Watch the video HERE and witness her as she fights the current to cross the Kalum River when she arrived at the Kitsumkalum Reserve. It was a moment of beauty.

The president of the Nisga’a Nation, Nelson Leeson, acknowledged her efforts and concurred with the Haisla representative Gerald Amos, Ali Howard has brought all the peoples of the Northwest together for a common purpose, to protect the life of the unpolluted Skeena waters. Terrace Mayor Dave Pernarowski also spoke about the inspirational impact she has made.

Watch the Ceremonies HERE.

Ali Howard passed under the old Skeena Bridge at around 3:00pm Sunday accompanied by four large river rafts, a number of kayaks and a large ceremonial canoe. Ali continued to swim every inch of the length of the Skeena River and will continue until it reaches the Pacific Ocean, 610 kilometers from where she started, where the water was only ankle deep and you could almost step across it.

On Saturday evening the entourage was entertained by the Kitselas after they swam to shore at the Kitselas Canyon. Beginning the swim again on Sunday they were greeted to great cheers all along the shore line and the bridges. After passing around Terrace, as the Skeena does, the crew all took a break on a gravel bank across the Skeena River from Brauns Island to warm up next to a fire.

People were lined up along Skeena Street and along the banks of the river on Frank Street. As Ali Howard approached the Kitsumkalum Reserve the current of the Kalum forced all the rafts off to the edges, none could continue against the heavy fast flow. Howard however continued to swim the entire length of the channel, refusing to give up an inch of it to the message she was sharing.

When she finally reached the launch at Fisherman’s wharf on the east side of the Kalum River, Ali worked her way up the shore line and then in a flash and a burst of energy that can only be likened to something super human, she plunged into the raging current with arms and legs driving her half way where the force of the current was interrupted by the highway 16 bridge pillar and log jam. She paused for just a few moments and then drove ahead again to screams and cheers and drumming such that the air and the moment was electric with astonishment.

Both of the Native leaders from the outlying lands who were at the Kitsumkalum territory on Sunday wish to encourage all the leaders, from all walks of life, from all nations, to join together in Prince Rupert when this team arrives on the 15th of August. They express how important the river is to everyone and how this one woman has created a spark that has ignited a fire.

The Skeena Swim final event, where all are encourage to attend in; droves, flocks, hordes, etc. etc. is at both Port Edward and Prince Rupert. They expect to arrive and celebrate at the North Pacific Cannery in Port Edward at Noon on Saturday. The celebrations will then move to the Nisga’a Hall in Prince Rupert beginning at 7:30 pm. This will be an evening family event featuring a live concert by Los Gringos Salvajes of Smithers and northern BC’s one and only female rock star Rachelle Van Zanten. They will be providing lots of food and nourishment for those gathered.

One marvelous woman indeed. Join her as she arrives in Prince Rupert on August 15, 2009 to conclude this 610 kilometer swimming journey. Follow at http://www.skeenawatershed.com

August 09 2009 » Skeena Swim » Terrace Standard

The Skeena River brings in Ali Howard

TODAY ALI Howard arrived in Terrace at the Kitsumkalum boat launch as part of The Spirit of the Skeena Swim; 610 km from the sacred headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.

Howard has been in the river since July 21 and will wrap up her 28 day journey on Aug. 15 at De Horsey Island, North Pacific Cannery.

Howard and her team were greeted by a friendly crowd at the boat launch, with a special welcoming from the Kitsumkalum Tsimshian First Nations.

August 07 2009 » Skeena Swim » CFTK News

Ali Howard Swims Into Terrace This Weekend

Local News

Ali Howard’s “Spirit of the Skeena Swim” brings her to Terrace this weekend. The Bulkley Valley woman’s 610-kilometer journey has already taken her from the “Sacred Headwaters” in the Klappan area through the Hazeltons, as she tries to draw awareness to the Skeena’s value and its vulnerability. She’s been accompanied by a support team, including scout kayaker Kim Ward-Robberts, who says public support for Ali has been incredible.
“I thnk it’s beyond anyone’s expectations — it’s been great, wonderful,” says Ward-Robberts. She adds “People are coming out of the woodwork and just coming to fill the banks of the Skeena and I think that’s exactly what she would have hoped for and it’s been overwhelming response.”

Tomorrow (Saturday), Howard is expected to arrive at Kitselas Canyon. On Sunday at 11, she’ll swim from there toward Terrace, passing under the old and new bridges at around 3 or 3:30, arriving at the Kitsumkalum boat launch for a community celebration at 5. Her ultimate destination is the mouth of the river near Prince Rupert next Saturday.

August 05 2009 » Skeena Swim » Terrace Standard

She’s Swimming the Skeena

Molly McNulty

ALI HOWARD is proving that the human spirit is an unstoppable force as she takes on the challenge of swimming the Skeena River; 610 km from the sacred headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.

Yesterday, Howard entered her second week on the Skeena River, proving to be a force of strength and determination while travelling down the second longest river in the province, and one of the world’s longest undammed rivers.

Howard is making history as the first person to swim the Skeena and this is also the first time a group will travel the length of the river in a single expedition. But Howard states that this isn’t about making the record books, it’s about raising awareness for the Skeena watershed.

“I hope people and residents of the Skeena start to think about the watershed in a new way, and really become a part of the discussion about its future,” said Howard, before embarking on this life changing journey. “If we start talking about it now, 10 to 15 years down the line when development starts to happen…we will have a louder voice, it will serve us well in the future. The watershed is [our] home and the health of it will affect [our] future.”

The plan formed when Howard heard about Martin Strel, a man who swims the world’s longest rivers – including the Amazon – to raise awareness. Howard is friends with Shannon McPhail, the director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, and passed on the idea that they should get someone to swim the Skeena, unaware that that person would be her.

Howard stresses that she’s not the world’s best swimmer or a champion athlete, she’s just an average person who wanted to raise awareness to preserve the Skeena.

Howard, who’s originally from Ottawa, makes her living along the watershed working at a lodge in Kispiox and says that she couldn’t ask for a better place to live.

She wanted to give something back to it, adding that some people take the area and river for granted when others come from all over the world to enjoy it.

Some key areas she hopes to shed some light on by completing the swim is the fact that the Skeena is one of North America’s greatest rivers, which all five species of wild salmon along with steelhead call home, and the threat of industrial development along the river.

Current threats to the functioning ecosystem are Shell’s proposed plan to drill for coalbed methane in the sacred headwaters, which is where the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers originate. In 2008, after strong opposition from the public, the provincial government agreed upon a two year moratorium on Shell’s plan for drilling.

The second development being proposed is Enbridge’s twin pipeline that will transport crude oil 1,100 km from the Alberta tar sands to the port of Kitimat, where tankers will then transport the oil internationally. This proposed pipeline’s route would cut through the Skeena watershed.

Howard’s idea to bring awareness to the watershed is already paying off, as a film crew from out east has jumped on board to document the entirety of the journey.

“It’s definitely surreal, it’s a total foreign experience for me to be this magnet for the media, and just people stopping me in the street, but it’s amazing. The response has been so positive,” said Howard, who stresses that although she’s the face behind the journey, it’s a huge group effort.

“It’s a group effort…a big group working on this one and I’m just one spoke in the wheel for sure,” added Howard.

Many people helped Howard along the way with her training and a team of about 10 others are travelling with her down the river, including safety and scout kayakers, a raft guide and logistics coordinator to name a few.

Howard is scheduled to cruise into the Terrace area at the Kitsumkalum boat launch Sunday Aug. 9, and is hoping to complete the journey with a celebration at De Horsey Island, North Pacific Cannery on August 15.

Note from SWCC. North Pacific Cannery is located in Port Edward, BC at 1889 Skeena Rd.

August 05 2009 » Skeena Swim » The Globe and Mail

Swimmer feels the spirit of the Skeena

Mark Hume

Vancouver — From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail Last updated on Wednesday, Aug. 05, 2009 04:01AM EDT

As the member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley in northern British Columbia and natural resources critic for the New Democratic Party, Nathan Cullen is used to jumping into big issues.

But he never got into a topic quite as deeply as he did this week when he pulled on a neoprene wet suit, a helmet, a life jacket and, with water rescue specialists hovering nearby in kayaks, joined environmental activist Ali Howard in the middle of the brawling Skeena River.

“We had a nice chat as we swam,” said Mr. Cullen yesterday, safely back on dry land. “But even with the neoprene suit and the life jacket I kept getting my head pushed under by the waves.”

That wasn’t the worst of it. Trying to swim around one point he got body slammed into rocks.

“It is enormously powerful,” he said of the river.

When he emerged it was with a sense of awe for Ms. Howard, 33, a Smithers-based chef and former player with the Ottawa Titans water polo team, who is swimming from the headwaters to the ocean.

“The idea of this woman swimming the whole river is incredible – it’s daunting,” said Mr. Cullen.

Her epic journey is bringing attention to the environmental threats facing the river, which runs 600 kilometres from the Spatsizi Plateau, where coal-bed methane drilling is proposed, to the Pacific, near Prince Rupert, where overfishing is a concern.

It’s a big, fast moving river with standing waves the size of haystacks, whirlpools and log jams.

A member of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, Ms. Howard was about half-way through her 28-day swim on Monday when Mr. Cullen and Doug Donaldson, the NDP MLA for the riding, joined her in the water near Hazelton. Greeting them on the river bank were about 400 people and another 50 – including her mom and dad, Alex and Jim Howard, who’d come from their home in Ottawa – provided an escort in native ceremonial canoes.

Speaking by satellite phone yesterday, Ms. Howard said it was an emotional reception after weeks of swimming with her nine-member support crew through the Skeena wilderness where they saw almost no one else.

Despite tackling some wild water, she said she has never been afraid and hasn’t had any close calls.

“Every day my feelings grow stronger for the river. The trip feels enchanted,” she said. “Something is happening here that’s more powerful than our collective parts, that’s getting us down the river.”

Ms. Howard, who trained by swimming back and forth across some of the smaller rivers in the area until she dropped from exhaustion, said the upper Skeena was full of “fast, big, crazy water.”

Now the river is broader, but more powerful.

“It looks a lot gentler, but there are a lot of boils and whirlpools,” she said.

After spending so much time in the water, her body can sense the river hydraulics and she’s figured out how to use giant whirlpools to slingshot her downstream.

“If you time it right, you can kick out before you start going upstream again,” she said.

Ms. Howard said she’s also developed a deep sense of wonder for salmon.

Safety, she said, remains a key concern and she has a kayak within reach at all times, while a second kayak scouts ahead.

Todd Stockner, logistics planner for the expedition, said the only time Ms. Howard got out of the river to walk was when they came to two Class 5 rapids, where the water was so violent even the inflatable support raft couldn’t go through.

“She’s swum virtually every inch of the river. She has been fearless. And her swimming skills have impressed everyone,” said Mr. Stockner. “She is pushing the crew downriver. She’s swimming so fast they have to paddle to keep up.”

And she’s having fun.

“You see her out there sometimes in big water, and she has this huge smile on her face,” he said.

Ms. Howard, who wears a dry suit over two layers of insulated clothing, gets in the river every day by 10 a.m. and swims until 4 p.m.

She expects to reach Terrace on Sunday and to finish in Prince Rupert on Aug. 15.

July 30 2009 » Skeena Swim » METRO VANCOUVER

Skeena swimmer braves white water

The woman swimming British Columbia’s second-longest river to raise awareness of potentially harmful development projects is through the major white water portion of the trip.

Ali Howard has swum more than 200 kilometres and completed about a third of her journey. Since July 21, she has spent nine hours a day in the water supported by a team of nine crew in two kayaks and two rafts.

As the Skeena’s tributaries continue to empty into it, the river becomes wider, deeper and less rocky but hazards such as whirlpools and strong currents appear.

Howard, who works as a chef but is a former water polo player, is expected to arrive in Hazelton on Aug. 3 for a community celebration.

July 28 2009 » Skeena Swim » Vancouver Sun

Gallery: Ali Howard swims the Skeena River

Click here to view photos from the start of the Skeena swim posted on the Vancouver Sun website.

July 26 2009 » Skeena Swim » Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa Citizen Quote of the Week

Ottawa Citizen ran a quote from Ali in the “Quote of the Week” section on page A2.

View PDF of the Ottawa Citizen.ottawacitizen_jul26.pdf

July 25 2009 » Skeena Swim » Ottawa Citizen

Ali noted in the Ottawa Citizen Index

The Citizen listed the numbers associated with Ali’s swim in “The Citizen Index” section of the Saturday edition. Ali’s photo and details are halfway down on the right-hand side of the attached PDF.

View PDF of the Ottawa Citizen.

July 23 2009 » Skeena Swim » Vancouver Metro

Skeena Swim: 2 days down, 26 to go

Download PDF of the Vancouver Metro.

July 22 2009 » Skeena Swim » By Stuart Hunter, The Province

Woman begins Skeena River swim to raise awareness

It was tough to find water deep enough to dive into — but that didn’t stop Ali Howard from landing a perfect cannonball Tuesday to start her epic 28-day swim down the Skeena River.

The 33-year-old from Hazelton hopes to be the first person to swim the river’s entire length, in an attempt to raise awareness about potential threats to the watershed of B.C.’s second-longest river.

“Ali finally found a pool that was deep enough for a cannonball,” Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition executive director Shannon McPhail told The Province.

“It was only about four feet deep but she had beautiful form.”

Wearing a helmet, knee and shin guards and a drysuit to protect her from the rocky shallows of the Skeena’s Sacred Headwaters, Howard, a resort chef and accomplished water polo player, is due to arrive in Prince Rupert on August 15 following her 610-kilometre Spirit of the Skeena Swim 2009.

Howard will face a route full of whirlpools, log-jams, whitewater rapids up to Class Four in size, and two waterfalls that she’ll have to portage around.

She said she’s been training for a couple of months in the the Suskwa and Bulkley rivers, tributaries of the Skeena, which is home to the province’s second largest salmon fishery. “My swim is inspired by the salmon,” Howard said in a news release.

“They’re a powerful metaphor of connectedness and an important part of our way of life. “Everything that happens in our watershed affects the salmon.”

Two of the key concerns at the Sacred Headwaters, a key salmon spawning habitat which also supplies the Nass and Stikine rivers, are proposed coalbed methane drilling and a pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to Kitimat, said the SWCC.

“We have an opportunity here to do things differently — to have vibrant communities and a healthy watershed,” Howard said.

“I’m hoping my swim will help permanently safeguard the watershed from developments that threaten its ecosystem.”

Howard will be accompanied by an eight-person support team. She said safety is a key factor. You can follow her swim at http://www.skeenawatershed.com/swim.

July 22 2009 » Skeena Swim » Calgary Herald

Woman begins Skeena River swim to raise awareness

It was tough to find water deep enough to dive into – but that didn’t stop Ali Howard from landing a perfect cannonball Tuesday to start her epic 28-day swim down the Skeena River.

The 33-year-old from Hazelton hopes to be the first person to swim the river’s entire length, in an attempt to raise awareness about potential threats to the watershed of B.C.‘s second-longest river.

“Ali finally found a pool that was deep enough for a cannonball,” Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition executive director Shannon McPhail told The Province.

“It was only about four feet deep but she had beautiful form.”

Howard will face a route full of whirlpools, log-jams, whitewater rapids up to Class Four in size, and two waterfalls that she’ll have to portage around.

“They’re a powerful metaphor of connectedness and an important part of our way of life. “Everything that happens in our watershed affects the salmon.”

“We have an opportunity here to do things differently – to have vibrant communities and a healthy watershed,” Howard said.

“I’m hoping my swim will help permanently safeguard the watershed from developments that threaten its ecosystem.”

Howard will be accompanied by an eight-person support team. She said safety is a key factor. You can follow her swim at http://www.skeenawatershed.com/swim.

July 21 2009 » Skeena Swim » Canwest News Service

Swimming a river to save it

OTTAWA — An Ottawa native sets out today on a 28-day swim down one of Canada’s most untamed rivers — but not just for fun, as Julie Beun-Chown writes.

When Ali Howard wades into the frigid headwaters of the Skeena River in northwestern British Columbia today, the 33-year-old professional chef from Ottawa will literally be up a 610 kilometre-long creek without a paddle.

Not that she’ll need one — she’s planning to swim.

Accompanied by a nine-person crew, Howard hopes to achieve what’s never been done before: completing the treacherous swim in 28 days.

The expedition, which begins just south of the remote Spatsizi Plateau, will end in the Pacific Ocean, near Prince Rupert.

Dubbed the “Spirit of the Skeena Swim,” Howard says she’s taken on the epic journey to draw attention to the future of the untouched and undammed Skeena, home to “one of the largest intact predator-prey ecosystems left in B.C.” and a $110-million wild salmon industry, according to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

The area may see the beginnings of industrial development next year if Royal Dutch Shell goes ahead with a 1,000-well coal bed methane drilling operation at the headwaters, a move protesters say will impact the Skeena and two other rivers.

In her bid to keep the Skeena pristine, Howard is determined to get down the river in one piece.

“It’s miles from anywhere,” Howard says of the region, 1,600 kilometres from Vancouver in B.C.‘s wild interior, and populated by caribou, bears and moose.

“There’s no infrastructure, no roads. It’s one of the longest rivers in North America, and the watershed itself is larger than the area of Switzerland.”

Howard began training for the swim last November after reading about Slovenian conservationist and ultra-marathon swimmer Martin Strel, who swam the entire Amazon River in 2007 for clean water awareness.

Since then, Howard has maintained a hectic schedule of swimming, weight training, soccer and squash.

She would even strap weights to her ankles and wrists while pulling 16-hour shifts in the kitchen at The Cliffs at Kispiox River resort in B.C., where she is executive chef.

According to organizers, the river — described as “fast and furious at its outset” by the website greatcanadianrivers.com — has two sets of treacherous ‘class five’ rapids and a waterfall, which Howard will have to portage.

Raised in Ottawa and one of four children, Howard was inspired by her father Jim’s zeal for whitewater canoeing in the Madawaska-Petawawa region.

Her passion for B.C.‘s northwest didn’t start until her brother and sister began a reforestation company near Smithers, B.C.

“It’s a big slog to be in the water every day for hours on end,” Howard says.

“I’m afraid of my shoulders breaking down and getting tendinitis.

“But my discomfort and the hazards I face pale in comparison to what could happen to the river and watershed if we don’t draw attention to it.”

For more on the trek, visit skeenawatershed.com/swim
© Copyright © The Ottawa Citizen

July 21 2009 » Skeena Swim » CFTK News

Skeena Swim Underway

Local News

A young woman from Telkwa has set forth on an incredible journey that will take almost a month to complete and make her the first person to swim the entire length of the Skeena River.

Just before noon today Ali Howard cannonballed into the Skeena River, at the headwaters, near the Spatsizi Plateau wilderness park. Although the 33-year-olds journey will be history making, it really is to raise awareness about the threats facing the river; and the regions watersheds; from industrial developments. Howard Explains; “Anything harmful that happens at the source is going to affect the entire river, so why … i think it’s just an illogical plan on the part of Royal Dutch Shell, and that’s not the only industrial project threatening the, uh, the integrity of the Skeena watershed.”

Aside from bringing about environmental awareness, Howard says it’s also to celebrate the magnificence of the river; “Our other goal with the project is to invite people out to celebrate the river and their watershed and get them thinking about it in a different way. And thinking about becoming stewards of the area that they live in, of their watershed, so that they become part of the discussion about the future of the watershed because they are the most important resources in the resources rich area.”

The Skeena is the second longest river in the province and is home to wild salmon, which play an integral role in the northwest. To highlight their importance, Howard’s journey is mimicking their path

“if we loose the salmon here, we’ve lost a way of life, a symbol. They unite us so by following, I’m following the migrational path of the salmon half way, they come back and swim up it, I can’t even conceive of that, but I think the idea of somebody putting themselves into a vulnerable position the way the fish do, getting in there and swimming, I’ll be following salmon fry on their journey out the ocean. I think that has the ability to capture the publics imagination.”

Howard is not alone in her journey; she’s accompanied by two kayakers and two rafts. The entire expedition won’t be traveling non-stop; it will be making a few visits to shore along that 28-day journey. “As part of the celebration and inviting people out to be part of this experience we’re inviting them to come to celebrations that we’ll have in communities along the river

The schedule of community visits, along with updates on the journey will be on the Skeena watershed conservation collations website -www.skeenawatershed.com/swim

July 21 2009 » Skeena Swim » Calgary Herald

Swim to highlight unspoiled treasure

Julie Beun-Chown, For Canwest News Service

When Ali Howard wades into the frigid headwaters of the Skeena River in northwestern B. C. today, the 33-year-old professional chef will literally be up a 610-kilometrelong creek without a paddle.

Not that she’ll need one—she’s planning to swim.

Accompanied by a nine-person crew, including two kayakers, a whitewater raft and a specially trained team of supporters, Howard hopes to achieve what’s never been done before: complete the treacherous 610-km swim in 28 days. The expedition, which begins just south of the largely inaccessible and remote Spatsizi Plateau, will end in the Pacific Ocean, near Prince Rupert.

Dubbed the Spirit of the Skeena Swim, Howard says she’s taken on the epic journey to draw attention to the future of the untouched and undammed Skeena, home to “one of the largest intact predator-prey ecosystems left in B. C.” and a $110-million local wild salmon industry, according to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

The area may see the beginnings of industrial development next year if energy multinational Royal Dutch Shell goes ahead with a 1,000-well coal bed methane drilling operation at the headwaters, a move protesters say will impact ecology on the Skeena and two other rivers.

Shell Canada spokesman Larry Lalonde says nothing has been disturbed so far in early investigations, and the company “has taken a break from exploration activities where we have tenure to explore for natural gas and coal” at the provincial government’s request.

And to keep it that way, the Ottawa woman is determined to get down the river in one piece.

“It’s miles from anywhere,” Howard says of the region. “It’s one of the longest rivers in North America, and the watershed itself is larger than the area of Switzerland.”

Such determination doesn’t surprise Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition executive director Shannon McPhail, who says Howard began training for the swim last November after reading about Slovenian conservationist Martin Strel, who swam the entire Amazon River in 2007 for clean water awareness.

Since then, Howard has maintained a hectic schedule of swimming, weight training, soccer and squash. Not satisfied with that, she would even strap weights to her ankles and wrists while pulling 16-hour shifts in the kitchen at The Cliffs at Kispiox River resort, where she is executive chef.

“I’ve seen her put some bread in the oven, get something started on the stove and do 50 pushups or sit ups when waiting for things to cook,” laughs McPhail.

The journey will be broken into a series of daily swims between 15-and 40-km long, some of which will include navigating difficult Class 4 white water.

“I’m afraid of my shoulders breaking down and getting tendinitis,” Howard says. “But my discomfort and the hazards I face pale in comparison to what could happen to the river and watershed if we don’t draw attention to it.”

————-

Online – For more information about spirit of the skeena swim, visit http://www.skeenawatershed.com/swim

View PDF of this Calgary Herald article.

July 16 2009 » News ClippingsSkeena Swim » Metro Vancouver

Fears of industrial effects ‘outweigh’ chef’s personal concerns

Ali’s swim received front page coverage in the Vancouver Metro!

Read the full article (PDF file)

July 16 2009 » Skeena Swim » Vancouver Sun

Water polo player hopes to become first person to swim entire Skeena River

If all goes well — and there is plenty that might not — 33-year-old Ali Howard will soon become the first person to swim the entire 610 kilometres of the Skeena River in northwest B.C.

“My parents may think I’m a little bit nuts, but they’re excited and supportive of the endeavour,” she allowed in an interview Wednesday. “We’ll take every precaution to ensure I’m safe.”

Howard’s swim begins Tuesday in the Skeena’s headwaters near Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Park and is expected to finish at the river mouth in Prince Rupert 28 days later.

Howard is originally from Ottawa, where she played competitive water polo for the Ottawa Titans, placing second in the national championships. She currently lives in Telkwa near Smithers, and for the past three years has worked as head chef at the luxury lodge The Cliffs at Kispiox River.

The concept started last fall after Howard read a magazine article about Martin Strel, a Slovenian who swam South America’s Amazon River in 2007. She suggested Strel be enlisted to swim the salmon-rich Skeena, B.C.’s second longest river and still without a dam on its main stem or tributaries.

Howard recalls that her friend Shannon McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, had a better idea. “She said, ‘You swim, you do it.’”

For the past 1.5 months, Howard has been rigorously practising on two tributaries of the Skeena, the Bulkley and Suskwa rivers.

Punching through eddy lines. Tumbling down stretches of white water. Learning not to panic when she gets sucked into a whirlpool. “If you’re patient, you’re okay. You’ll get flushed out.”

Howard’s eight-person support team includes a first-aid attendant and photographer/videographer on two kayaks and two rafts. The expedition is costing about $30,000, money raised from donations and sponsors.

She hopes to navigate the entire river in her dry suit, personal floatation device, and helmet, with the exception of portages around two steep drops close to the headwaters.

She plans to use a river board — a sort of oversized boogie board — to help get through a shallow boulder garden at the start of the trip. A helicopter will help with slinging the rafts near the start and to supply food.

The goal is to raise environmental awareness of the Skeena watershed, ranging from a coalbed-methane development proposal in the headwaters to the threat of salmon farms closer to Prince Rupert.

Howard urges residents to come out and show their support as she passes through communities along the river and to share their experiences and produce a shared vision for its future.

In an earlier epic adventure on B.C.’s longest river, Fin Donnelly swam 1,325 kilometres down the Fraser in 1995. He is now a Coquitlam councillor and executive director of the non-profit Rivershed Society of B.C.

Donnelly said he has advised Howard that the first few days will determine her success: her ability to endure the cold water and to meet the psychological challenge. “You obviously have to be in good physical condition, but it is really the stresses on your mental condition that determine whether you can do it or not.”

For further information on Howard’s swim see http://www.skeenawatershed.com/swim.

lpynn@vancouversun.com

May 05 2009 » Media Releases

Election Survey: Candidates solid against Fish Farms and CBM but tankers, IPPs still divide

(Smithers, BC) Northwest BC candidates from all parties oppose coalbed methane and
fish farms but remain divided on Independent Power Projects and oil tanker traffic.

Thatʼs the finding of a recent survey conducted by Skeena Watershed Conservation
Coalition and Friends of Wild Salmon in the lead-up to the May 12 provincial election.

“The political landscape is pretty well defined: there is virtually zero support for either fish
farms or coalbed methane,” said Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition executive
director Shannon McPhail. “However, some major differences between the candidates
remain, and we encourage voters to pay close attention to how they are responding to
other important environmental issues.”

The two organizations surveyed 10 candidates from four political parties in the ridings of
Stikine, North Coast and Skeena.

“The BC Liberal candidates have the thankless job of defending some very unpopular
projects that the government has supported,” said Pat Moss of Friends of Wild Salmon.
“For example, the BC Liberal candidates were the only ones not to oppose the Enbridge
plan for oil tankers on our coast, which we find deeply troubling given the known risks of
oil spills.”

The survey also asked candidates to put forward what they feel is the greatest green
economic opportunity in the Northwest. Responses ranged from bio-energy to food
security and wind power.

“We need representatives here in the Northwest who understand our communitiesʼ
values when it comes to clean water, wild salmon, and intact watersheds,” said McPhail.
“We encourage people to vote for the candidates they feel share their concerns when it
comes to these critical issues.”

Backgrounder attached

For more information, contact:
Shannon McPhail: (250) 842-2494
Pat Moss: (250)847-9693

Backgrounder

The following are the questions and responses from the Skeena Watershed
Conservation candidate survey.

Responses were received from the following candidates:

Stikine Riding:
Scott Groves, BC Liberal Party
Doug Donaldson, BC New Democratic Party
Roger Benham, BC Green Party

Skeena Riding:
Donny van Dyk, BC Liberal Party
Robin Austin, BC New Democratic Party
Anita Norman, BC Green Party
Mike Brousseau, BC Conservative Party

North Coast Riding:
Herb Pond, BC Liberal Party
Gary Coons, BC New Democratic Party
Lisa Girbav, BC Green Party

Question 1: Do you support or oppose the moratorium on fish farms in northern waters and would you support a permanent ban?

Groves: I support the current moratorium. It is has been ruled a federal jurisdiction, and thus a permanent ban would be the responsibility of the Federal representative.

Donaldson: Open net fish farms in our northern waters imperil our wild salmon runs in the Skeena and Bulkley systems. This is not an acceptable risk. I fully support the recommendations by the all-party Sustainable Aquaculture Committee that spent a considerable amount of time visiting northern communities interviewing local experts and also reviewing research on this topic worldwide. They recommended no open-net fish farms be established in our northern waters. The BC Liberals have refused to endorse the report even though Gordon Campbell was the one who established the committee. As your MLA I will push for the Sustainable Aquaculture Committeeʼs report to be adopted in full so we will never have open-net fish farms established in the mouth of the Skeena River as planned by the Liberals.

Benham: I support the moratorium.

Van Dyk: I support the current suspension of fish farms in northern waters. I would not support a permanent ban at this time because I do not feel we should close the door on potential new technologies that would not only increase fish stocks but also help to protect them.

Austin: Support.

Norman: I support the moratorium on fish farms. BC’s wild fish are at risk and runs are in decline. We need to do everything we can to help, not hinder wild fish stocks. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the First Nations. We owe it to future generations. We owe it to wildlife and ecosystems.

Pond: I support the moratorium on open pen fish farms in northern waters. Would leave open the opportunity for industry, communities and environmental groups to work together to develop techniques such as closed systems that satisfy concerns for wild salmon and the environment. If this can be accomplished First Nations and other coastal communities could benefit from badly needed jobs.

Coons: I support the moratorium and a permanent ban and have been fighting for this for 6 years

Girbav: I am firmly against fish farms and would like to see a permanent ban on them in British Columbia. It is ecologically unsustainable to farm carnivorous fish. Fish farms are full of sea lice as well as full of chemicals. However I do support other forms of mariculture such as kelp farming and shellfish farming (such as clams, mussels, etc.)

Brousseau: Yes, I do not support it, they taste terrible, get them out of the rivers.

Question 2: Do you support or oppose Enbridge’s plan to bring oil supertankers into northern BC’s inside coastal waters?

Groves: I support the public consultation and environmental review process. Also we need to pursue improved shipping safety whether this project goes ahead or not.

Donaldson: We have to judge development proposals first and foremost as to the risks and benefits they bring to people living here. With the Enbridge plan we assume all the risks for very little benefits. Using Enbridgeʼs own numbers there will be possibly 40 full-time jobs in Kitimat when the pipeline is completed. Contrast this with the certainty that there will be oil spills not only from the pipeline but from the crude oil supertanker traffic on our inland, northern coastal waters. Look at the horrendous results of the Exxon Valdez disaster. These spills could well be the final nail in the coffin for our wild salmon in the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers. The Wetʼsuwetʼen do not support the Enbridge pipeline on their traditional territories. I stand with their position on the project. The Liberals are pushing for oil tanker traffic. The NDP fully endorses the existing moratorium on crude oil supertanker traffic in our coastal waters and that is what Iʼll be fighting for on your behalf in Victoria.

Benham: I oppose Enbridge’s plan.

Van Dyk: I support economic development so long as it doesnʼt harm our environment. The Enbridge proposal has not made clear all of the details surrounding the pipelines and therefore I cannot comment much further on the project. That being said, a full BC and Canadian environmental assessment will need to take place and the project will have to meet some of the most stringent regulations anywhere in the world.

Austin: Oppose.

Norman: I oppose the Enbridge pipeline. It poses too great a risk to the sensitive and pristine ecosystem that it would be travelling through. The number of jobs it intends to create is definitely not worth the risk that it poses. It is time we shift our focus from oil and gas to sources of renewable energy that don’t contribute to climate change and ruin our ecosystems.

Pond: I believe the Enbridge pipeline project will live or die on whether or not the proponent is able to satisfy the concerns and aspirations of First Nations along pipelineʼs route, including a route to bring tankers into Kitimat. The review processes that are underway should be comprehensive and well
resourced. I will be respectful and not prejudge the outcome of dialogue between Communities and the proponent. First Nations and other communities have recently reached agreements for the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Prince George to Kitimat. I respect the decisions of the First Nations involved in that process.

Coons: I oppose bringing in crude oil tankers into the North coast as do the majority of my constituents.

Girbav: I oppose the pipeline project from Alberta to Kitimat. Like anything made by humans, eventually it will fail. We are destined to see leaks in the pipeline. If the pipeline was built, we would also see increased tanker traffic in the North Coast region, which may lead to a coastal oil spill. Increased tanker traffic will also disrupt precious whale habitat near Hartley Bay, which can lead to ship strikes, sound pollution and toxic contamination.

Brousseau: Big business is pushing real hard to make sure this goes through. More than likely it will. But what is the Gov’t setting down to protect the streams and the oceans to make sure that we do not damage our future and our environment. It is very important the safeguards are built in before any
supertankers or pipelines go into effect. It is our future at stake!

Question 3: What do you consider to be the most promising green economy opportunity in your riding?

Groves: I think the potential Suskwa power project is a very promising opportunity for utilizing pine beetle wood and creating jobs in the Hazeltons.

Donaldson: The one green economy opportunity in our constituency that I have worked on extensively in the past 8 years is local food production. Supporting local food systems and sustainable agriculture means increased local employment, less leakage of local dollars and significant carbon savings
especially in transportation. A recent study of the Smithers Farmerʼs Market showed huge savings in food miles and carbon emissions when a person buys local produce. A great example is garlic. Buying it from a producer at the farmerʼs market versus the imported brand from a supermarket means 250 times less carbon consumed and emitted in growing and transportation. The NDP supports increased resources for local food production, a buy local program, food security programming, and more resources for farmerʼs markets. I will also actively work to increase farmgate sales of local beef – something the BC Liberals made illegal. Improving farmgate sales enables more local people to make a living while reducing our carbon footprint associated with having to ship in beef from far away locations.

Benham: Most promising green opportunity: Growing food, increasing transit, selective logging and secondary manufacturing such as furniture, wind power.

Van Dyk: I consider independent power production to be a very promising green economy. These opportunities include wind energy, bioenergy, run of river, and solar energy – just to name a few.

Austin: Reforestation, Biofuel

Norman: With proper, stringent environmental assessments in place, I think the Skeena riding has a lot of potential to create renewable energy through its vast resources including geothermal, wind, solar and ocean. That way we can really shift our focus from oil and gas towards clean energy.

Pond: Green Economy is a broad concept meaning different things to different people. Prince Rupert is pinning its economic future on port developments. These developments will require the generation of additional electricity. Power generation fueled by wind or tide offer construction jobs in the short- term and the carbon free electricity that will support long-term port jobs. In addition, container terminals in Prince Rupert are virtually truck free compared to other west coast ports in Canada and the US. Being new, the facilities in Prince Rupert use the most fuel efficient equipment. Cargo switching to our northern ports from southern ports will have an overall positive environmental impact over the status quo.

Coons: I believe it’s taking advantage of wind but it must be based under the public good and not for private interests

Girbav: I feel that green infrastructure will be an asset to the North Coast riding. I would like to see the province get off oil and gas. If we invest in a renewable energy source such as windmills, solar energy or geothermal energy, we will see our region become sustainable. We could create jobs for citizens of the community as well as stimulate the economy when buying the materials necessary to build from local suppliers. Green infrastructure is good for the environment, good for the people and good for the economy.

Brousseau: Bio-energy

Question 4: Do you support or oppose coalbed methane drilling in the Sacred Headwaters?

Groves: I support the current moratorium, and I do not think it should be removed without agreement of the community and it being proven that it will have no adverse affect on the salmon. Like the NDP, I do not think any coal bed project should go ahead without full public consultation and environmental
assessment.

Donaldson: Coalbed methane is not an appropriate development in the Sacred Headwaters. It is a technology that has never been established in salmon-bearing watersheds. Why should we let them experiment on such a grand scale in our own backyard in such an ecologically sensitive area? The
Liberals granted Shell tenure to an area of 800,000 square acres for coalbed methane exploration and development in the Sacred Headwaters and the companies plans could mean 10,000 well heads in addition to the connecting pipelines and road infrastructure. The impact on fish, wildlife and the intact ecosystems will be irreversible. There are other, longer-lasting and less intrusive benefits that the Sacred Headwaters can provide. I attended a community meeting on this issue in Iskut in June and I support the efforts of the Tahltan who donʼt support this development. We must not allow coalbed methane development in the Sacred Headwaters or in the Telkwa watershed for that matter.

Benham: I oppose coalbed methane extraction.

Van Dyk: I support the current, temporary suspension of exploration activity in the Northwest to allow for further consultation with First Nations and other communities. I believe that development of coalbed methane in the future should only take place so long as our environment is protected.

Austin: Oppose

Norman: I oppose coalbed methane drilling in the Sacred Headwaters.

Pond: I support the current in moratorium of coalbed methane drilling in the “Sacred Headwaters. Again, I believe First Nations and communities must be effectively engaged in processes involving major projects. Their concerns and aspirations must be accommodated.

Coons: I support the Tahltan & the many concerned citizens in their opposition to coalbed methane drilling in the Sacred Headwaters

Girbav: I strongly oppose coal bed methane drilling in the sacred headwaters. There are no benefits to the environment. A lot of people strongly oppose coal bed methane drilling and I feel that there is no need to go against what the people want for their region. There needs to be local control over what happens in a region, rather than centralized decisions coming from Vancouver or Victoria.

Brousseau: In the North there is no need. I do not support this in the North.

Question 5: Do you support or oppose the current government’s approach to Independent Power Projects (IPPs)?

Groves: I support the current approach. I think the recently completely project in Atlin is a great example of these projects. It is wholly owned by the Tlingit providing them with a dependable revenue source, and it takes the community off of diesel generation, preventing the burning of over 3,000 litres
of Diesel a day.

Donaldson: I agree with former Social Credit cabinet minister Rafe Mair who describes the BC Liberalʼs approach to IPPs as a wholesale sell-off of a public resource that will result in environmental devastation and higher power prices. Some run-of-the-river projects are fine and could be beneficial. But the large-scale BC Liberal approach is poorly planned and poorly thought out. Tellingly, California has said that the power produced by the large scale IPPs planned for Bute Inlet do not meet their green energy standards because of the impact they have on the environment. I support community controlled IPPs where we have public oversight of a public resource – our rivers.

Benham: I oppose the current approach to Independent Power Projects

Van Dyk: I fully support the BC Liberal governmentʼs approach with respect to IPPs. The private sector can supplement our public Hydro supply through innovative, small-scale, clean power projects. By issuing competitive calls for power, BC Hydro is able to transfer risk to the private sector and
ensure that the most cost-effective, environmentally sound projects move forward, helping to keep electricity rates low.

Austin: Oppose

Norman: It is apparent that the current government’s priority in their approach to IPPs is not working towards the benefit British Columbians, regional communities, or BC Hydro. British Columbians will experience rate hikes, regional communities have no say in what happens to their rivers, and BC
Hydro has been cut off from developing any new power generation making them more and more reliant on Independent Power Producers. On top of this, there will likely be devastating effects on the wild fisheries as well as riparian ecosystems. I don’t think this is what British Columbian’s want. Until a more democratic system is in place (i.e. Bill 30 is repealed) and more stringent environmental assessments are required for all IPPs, not just ones that are greater than 50 MW, I do not support the current government’s approach to IPPs.

Pond: Like many of the mainstream environmental organizations I support the current governmentʼs approach to Independent Power. I am encouraged that so many First Nations and communities are involved. Having been the Mayor of Prince Rupert for six years I realize that processes are not always perfect and can almost always be improved. I look forward to rural municipalities and First Nations communities creating local jobs and receiving revenues from electric generation that up until recently all went south to feed BC Hydro.

Coons: I oppose the gvt’s approach to IPP’s and strongly support a moratorium of new ones until we have a supply and demand analysis done on our energy needs and proof that these projects can be done without impact to our wild salmon

Girbav: I oppose the current government’s approach to Independent Power Projects because the current run of the river power generation dams are too large and are having to big of an impact on our environment. I do support IPPs however they need to be environmentally friendly in every way possible. The current run of the river power projects are impacting grizzly bears, mountain goats and seabirds to name a few, from increased mountain activity (blasting, increased vehicle traffic and power lines). In California they don’t call it “green” energy, so why do we call it “green” here?

Brousseau: Good thing if regulated by a government that cares for our natural resources

Question 6: If elected, what will you do to help ensure a viable future for Skeena wild salmon?

Groves: I would pursue all possible avenues to project the Skeena salmon and make sure that all projects that take into account what impacts they might have on the salmon.

Donaldson: I believe we need a comprehensive approach that includes real analysis and public consultation around development issues so that the people living here, and dependent upon wild salmon for a wide variety of reasons, have the most say over the future of the resource. This comprehensive approach needs to include not only matters under provincial jurisdiction, such as habitat protection, but also under federal jurisdiction such as selective commercial fisheries. I intend as your MLA to work closely with my federal counterpart, Nathan Cullen, to provide a solid, unified front, that will protect our wild salmon by providing positive solutions while opposing unsatisfactory development plans like coal bed methane, fish farms and oil tankers.

Benham: Close all at sea fish farms, require them to be contained on land. Seriously study allowable fish catches and allocation. Err to safe rather than sorry.

Van Dyk: As someone who was born and raised in Terrace, I believe one of our natural treasures is our wild salmon. I will be a strong advocate both in the Legislature and around the caucus table to ensure our Skeena wild salmon are protected.

Austin: Would work hard to ensure that any industrial activity that would endanger our Wild Salmon not be permitted in the watershed where our Wild Salmon exists.

Norman: I will ensure that the northern waters are kept clean and in good shape for all species, including wild salmon, that depend on the them. I will invest in restoration where streams have been negatively impacted. I will ensure that any development that is to take place on or near any stream undergoes stringent environmental assessment and until this is in place, I will work towards keeping the moratorium on fish farms and instilling a moratorium on IPPs.

Pond: On the North Coast healthy salmon stocks are vital for our economic and spiritual well-being. If elected I will continue to work with local fishing organization for reasonable access to salmon. There will be no reasonable access, if the stocks are not healthy. There is not any one thing. We must try to
do better with everything we do concerning salmon and salmon habitat. There must be a balance, but the balance must favour the salmon.

Coons: If elected we would implement the recommendations of the aquaculture committee including the transition to closed containment in the next 5 years and we would strengthen the salmon protection act and re-establish programs that support the return salmon and steelhead throughout BC.

Girbav: I would fight to strengthen the environmental assessment process to include watershed-based assessments and to ensure it takes into consideration cumulative impacts from all activities and proposed projects. I would also fight to ban oil tanker traffic from BC’s coastal waters.

Brousseau: Promote hatcheries that work with public counsel.

February 25 2009 » Home FeatureSkeena Swim

One Woman, One River

Smithers resident Ali Howard is going to extreme lengths to educate people about the importance of Northwest BC’s Skeena River. This summer the 33 year-old woman plans to swim the River’s entire 610-km length, from the Sacred Headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.

“The Skeena is one of North America’s most magnificent rivers,” said Howard. “I’m hoping my swim will help strengthen connections among Skeena residents and build a common vision for the watershed’s future.”

A project of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, Howard’s swim will trace the annual migration of Skeena wild salmon.

“My swim is inspired by the salmon,” said Howard. “They’re a powerful metaphor of connectedness and a very real part of our region’s way of life. Everything that happens in our watershed affects the salmon.”

“We need to work together as residents of the Skeena to ensure future generations can enjoy the same quality of life we do,” added Howard.

The swim will take approximately three weeks for Howard to complete. Along the way, she will encounter numerous hazards, including rapids, waterfalls, log jams, and whirlpools. In addition to a drysuit to protect her against the frigid water, a professional safety team trained by Rescue 3 International will accompany her.

“It’s really a team effort,” said Howard. “I fully trust my team members and don’t plan to take any unnecessary risks. I am training hard and hope to complete the swim successfully, I will certainly try my best.”
Howard plans to hit the water July 21. The Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition will be organizing a number of events to coincide with her arrival in communities along the route. “I know she can do it!” Says executive director Shannon McPhail, “She might be shy and quiet but she is tenacious!”

Ali Howard is a professional chef working at The Cliffs at Kispiox River – Bearclaw Lodge in the remote reaches of the Kispiox Valley. Ali works with the Allen family who are long time residents of the Skeena Watershed and active members of SWCC, after a short conversation about what she could do to help maintain the health and integrity of the Skeena Watershed – Ali decided to explore the idea of swimming the Skeena. Working with SWCC, she had many conversations about the risks involved and the mammoth physical demand she will place on her body. Ali has had conversations with Fin Donnelly, the man who has completed several marathon swims including the entire Fraser River, the Georgia Strait, and Quesnel Lake, to learn the things that worked for him. Ali will have a team dedicated to her safety and health during the swim.

Hazelton kayaker and Swiftwater Rescue Technician, Chris Gee, will be Howard’s closest companion on the trip. He will paddle alongside her for the entire duration, a luxury Fin Donnelly didn’t have his first swim of the Fraser. Gee also has an intense training regime to get ready for his 610km paddle.

If you would like to help Ali raise funds for her swim and for conservation efforts in the Skeena Watershed, visit our Donation Page or join the pledge challenge (see more info below) and you are welcome to send your good wishes and questions to ali@skeenawatershed.com.

Watch our YouTube trailer with Ali or join Ali’s Facebook Group.

PLEDGE CHALLENGE – Who can collect the MOST pledges for Ali’s swim?! We will send you a pledge sheet and you can gather donations to help make this trip possible! Don’t worry, there’s more than one category for the challenge. Youth, business and individual pledge gatherers each have an opportunity to win a large framed photo of the Skeena AND 2 spots in one of the boats for one day during the swim! There’s lots of other prizes as well so send us an email info@skeenawatershed.com and join the Pledge Challenge!

Check out the Spirit of the Skeena Blog to get all the details.

February 17 2009 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Drilling Decision Should Be Local

-Nicole Glover

ROYAL DUTCH Shell currently holds tenure to 412,000 hectares of land for coalbed methane (CBM) development in the Skeena, Nass and Stikine watersheds.

This will potentially allow them to drill thousands of gas wells in the headwaters without as much as an environmental assessment.

A two-year moratorium announced by the provincial government late last year halted exploration activity so talks amongst Tahltan members may proceed. The area is within their traditional territory.

The waters bear five species of salmon along with a rich diversity of wildlife. The Skeena River salmon industry contributes an estimated $110 million to the regional economy per year. CBM fields, once established, result in very few jobs. In fact they may have negative impacts on local jobs such as guiding, angling and tourism.

CBM development has never taken place in salmon habitat before, nor has it been developed in alpine or subalpine climates. In fact Shell has never even developed CBM.

Little is known about the hydrology and environment of the tenure area or how CBM will impact salmon streams. However, reports by West Coast Environmental Law, and Pembina Institute, show CBM exploration and development may affect fish habitat and groundwater.

CBM extraction uses a dense network of wells, each with a footprint of approximately 150 hectares. Large amounts of land will need to be cleared to get drilling and industrial equipment in, and pipelines and roads will need to be constructed.

For every hectare of cleared area approximately 5,000 hectares of wildlife habitat are affected. Clearing of land causes less rain water to be absorbed and more to run off into streams, carrying with it sediments that are harmful to salmon habitat. Other effects on the environment include noise pollution and loss in air quality due to flaring,.

To extract CBM, groundwater must be released from coal seams. Removal of groundwater may deplete water reservoirs, known as aquifers, and alter the local water table and hydrology. Groundwater plays a critical role in stream quality. It helps to regulate temperature, keeping streams cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter and creating an ideal habitat for salmon species. Groundwater can also be a crucial factor in water recharge for streams, especially in the summer when snowpack melt has declined.

Once this water has been brought up, it must be transported for treatment, or re-injected below potential groundwater zones. The effects of re-injection may cause contamination of aquifers, streams and soils, from chemicals used in fracturing coal seams. Fracturing involves high pressure injection of water containing sand and chemicals into the well where it props open fractures, allowing gas to flow.

Current law treats CBM wells like conventional gas wells which have a less dense network and higher productivity rates. Licenses for wells are granted well by well and do not take in the cumulative effects of all the wells over the project lifespan.

There’s limited access to the area and Shell uses an abandoned rail line which it have been upgrading. Fortune Minerals holds the Special Use Permit for the rail line which is in poor condition and as a result affecting the salmon habitat of the Klappan River. A report prepared for the Klabona Keeper Society by Suskwa Research reports increased sedimentation into the Klappan River from poor rail line design, river encroachment and culvert installations. Neither Fortune Minerals, nor Shell has taken responsibility for maintenance of the rail line, even though this is a regulatory offence.

Area governments, First Nations groups, local business owners, MP Nathan Cullen, and MLA Robin Austin, agree that CBM development is too risky to proceed. Communities should have the final say. We must live with the consequences, not Shell.

Nicole Glover is from Terrace and is now going to school in Victoria.

See Full Article Online

February 05 2009 » News Clippings » The Strait

Pipeline would bring tankers into BC inlets

By Andrew Findlay

Where the waters of Caamano Sound squeeze into Whale Channel, four humpback whales circle in slow, languorous patterns. The whales dive, and the water above returns to calm save for a few wind ripples. Suddenly a single whale reemerges in a burst of bubbling water, mouth agape, its great baleen plates exposed and scooping up a massive mouthful of krill and small fish.

The sight of these massive mammals which can weigh more than 40 tonnes deftly corralling schools of tiny fish is truly astounding. Scientists call this spectacle “bubble net feeding”, and it’s not by accident that humpback, finback, and minke whales, along with Dall’s and harbour porpoises, orcas, and Pacific white-sided dolphins, congregate here: there is abundant food and a relatively hospitable environment for wildlife.

Caamano Sound is a universe away from the office towers of Edmonton, but these disparate locations are now inextricably linked by plans for the so-called Northern Gateway pipeline, which will connect Alberta with Kitimat on B.C.‘s central coast. And you can’t talk about pipelines without discussing oil tankers plying some of the province’s most ecologically rich and diverse waters as they make their way from open ocean into Caamano Sound, around Gil Island, where B.C. Ferries’ Queen of the North foundered in 2006, and northeast up Douglas Channel to the port at Kitimat.

Marven Robinson is a wildlife guide and a band councillor with the Gitga’at First Nation in Hartley Bay, a small village at the mouth of Douglas Channel. He knows his way around the reaches, sounds, and narrows of this part of the coast like a taxi driver knows the city, and oil tankers cutting through the heart of Gitga’at territory don’t exactly square well with his vision of the future.

“With what happened to the Queen of the North, that was just a small spill and there’s still fuel leaking up from that,” Robinson says. “We’re being really careful about what we say publicly right now because we haven’t even met with the proponents yet.”

If the volatile economics of oil and environmental approvals fall into place, Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. hopes to construct 1,200-kilometre twin pipelines linking the oil fields of northern Alberta with the deep-water port at Kitimat. A westbound pipeline, about a metre in diameter, would carry 525,000 barrels of oil daily, and a 50-centimetre-wide eastbound line would daily transmit 193,000 barrels of condensate, a petroleum byproduct used to thin crude oil for transport and piping.

By selling 10 units at $10 million each, and giving buyers preferential treatment in booking capacity on the future pipeline, Enbridge has already raised $100 million from heavyweight Asian refiners and Canadian producers to help bring the project to regulatory approval.

The subplot to this story is that major oil-sands players like Suncor, Husky, Shell, and Petro-Canada desperately want the pipeline to access Asian markets as a cushion against threats from the nascent Barack Obama administration to wean the U.S. off its reliance on dirty oil-sands fuel.

Enbridge expects this $4-billion-plus project to create some 4,000 construction jobs as it crosses the traditional territories of at least 40 different First Nations bands in B.C. and Alberta. The company is promising state-of-the-art shipping protocols, with double-hulled vessels, radar-monitoring stations, pilot supertugs, and first-response emergency stations located in Kitimat and communities like Hartley Bay. Throughout the fall, Steve Greenaway, vice president of Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelinesa general partner of Enbridge Inc.led a series of open houses in communities along the pipeline route. Barring any major roadblocks, Greenaway says, Enbridge plans to file for regulatory approval by mid-2009, kicking off an estimated two-year environmental review to be carried out jointly by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the National Energy Board. At the earliest, construction could begin in 2011 or 2012. However, over the past two years there has been furious debate about the validity of an ambiguous federal government statement dating back to the early 1970s that refers to a moratorium on oil-tanker traffic along the B.C. coast. As far as Greenaway is concerned, though, the moratorium is not an issue.

“If there was a moratorium that was in any way enforceable, I’d suspect that the David Suzuki Foundation or the people at Dogwood [Initiative] would have pursued this in court,” Greenaway says. “As a British Columbian, I understand people’s concerns, but we feel that our safety systems will be as good as anything in the world.”

When it comes to provincial and federal government support, Greenaway has good reason to be optimistic about Northern Gateway’s prospects. The pipeline fits neatly within the B.C. Liberals’ energy game plan, which could have not only pipelines linking the coast to Alberta but also drilling rigs in Hecate Strait east of the Queen Charlotte Islands, an activity that has been off-limits for more than 30 years because of federal and provincial moratoriums on offshore oil and gas exploration and development. That’s why in the B.C. Energy Plan, the government promises to work “to lift the federal moratorium on offshore exploration and development and reiterate the intention to simultaneously lift the provincial moratorium”.

In a strange twist, former provincial NDP leader and cabinet minister Dan Miller has emerged as one of the most vocal cheerleaders for offshore oil exploration. Although high investment costs, uncertainty about proven reserves, and environmental issues will likely keep offshore oil and gas exploration on the shelf for some time, pipelines to the north coast are a very real possibility. Near the bottom of a 2008 throne speech dripping with sustainability rhetoric, Premier Gordon Campbell made references to an “energy corridor” that will be a boon to the northern economy. Kitimat LNG Inc., which has received both federal and provincial approval for its liquid-natural-gas port facility, received a major boost recently when Mitsubishi Corporation signed an agreement to purchase 1.5 million tonnes per year of terminal capacity and to acquire a minority interest in the project. The deal is expected to be finalized by the end of March this year. There have also been a slew of pipeline proposals, including those by Pacific Trail Pipelines, Pembina Pipeline, and Kinder Morgan Inc.

Enbridge, though, appears closest to breaking ground. In an enthusiastic August 2005 letter to Enbridge, Richard Neufeld, then minister of energy, mines, and petroleum resources, endorsed the pipeline and discounted the moratorium. Neufeld wrote that it “is not directed at, and has no application to oil tankers sailing to or from British Columbia ports”, referring instead to a so-called tanker exclusionary zone that targets only ships from Alaska transiting B.C. waters while bound for the U.S. (Neufeld, who is leaving provincial politics this spring to take a seat in the Senate, refused to respond to requests from the Georgia Straight for an interview.)

The federal government mouths a similar line, but a former minister of natural resources, Gary Lunn, preferred to duck hard questions about the tanker moratorium. After the last federal election, Lunn was removed from the ministry and replaced by Toronto MP Lisa Raitt, a lawyer and former CEO of the Toronto Port Authority. Environmentalists can take little comfort in her nomination. At an October 6 Oakville, Ontario, chamber of commerce meeting, Raitt was on record cheering about the possibilities of increased tourism and shipping opportunities in the North, thanks to the melting polar ice cap. She is also known for her combative relationship in the past with a citizens’ group called Community Air, against which she launched a lawsuit in 2006 for its criticism of the port authority. Like her predecessor, Lunn, neither Raitt nor her communications staff returned calls from the Straight.

Although governments prefer to dance around the prickly moratorium question, conservation groups, many First Nations, and other critics say the reasons for a moratorium still stand: simply that tanker traffic and oil spills pose a serious threat to the B.C. coast. Since 2006, ocean tankers have been quietly sailing into Kitimat’s port laden with as many as 350,000 barrels each of condensate, bound by railcar for EnCana Corporation’s operations in Alberta. Northern Gateway’s Greenaway sees this as proof positive that tankers can travel safely into Douglas Channel. But Eric Swanson, corporate campaigner for the Dogwood Initiative, a B.C. land-reform organization, says such shipping traffic is in blatant defiance of what the public wantsa rock-solid moratorium on tanker traffic in B.C.‘s inside waters. Swanson is not surprised that politicians would prefer to sidestep the tanker-traffic issue rather than address it head-onit’s a potential political time bomb. According to a poll conducted by the public-opinion research firm Synovate, a majority of British Columbians polled across the political spectrum desire an outright ban on oil-tanker traffic along the coast.

“The problem is that the moratorium was issued as a policy statement but it was never written down. What is clear is that there is a huge appetite for a crystal-clear ban on oil tankers. Seventy-two percent of B.C. residents support it, and that’s what we’re looking for,” Swanson says.

Ian McAllister, executive director of the nonprofit Pacific Wild, believes the distinction between the so-called tanker exclusionary zone and a tanker moratorium is moot.

“If the issue is protecting the coastline of British Columbia, then what’s the difference between tankers coming from Alaska and tankers going into Kitimat? It’s ridiculous.”

And when Alaska and oil tankers are mentioned in the same sentence, the Exxon Valdez immediately comes to mind. This 1989 disaster dumped 49.5 million litres of crude oil into Prince William Sound, killing an estimated 250,000 seabirds, 22 orcas, and untold numbers of fish and other marine organisms. By most conservative measures, Caamano Sound poses a much greater navigational challenge than the Alaskan sound that has been relegated to its place in history as the site of one of the worst oil-spill disasters on record. At the time, U.S. coast guard admiral Paul Yost said the 16-kilometre-wide accident site in Prince William Sound “was not a treacherous area” and “Children could drive a tanker through it.”

“If supertankers move around this coast, it’s not a matter of if but when a major disaster on the scale of Exxon Valdez would happen,” says Kevin Smith, whose company, Maple Leaf Adventures, takes tourists on wildlife-viewing trips in the central coast’s Great Bear Rainforest and frequently sails the proposed tanker route. “Big oil has millions of dollars to lobby government. Sadly, our burgeoning conservation economy on the coast doesn’t have that ability.”

Rob Williams, a marine researcher from the University of British Columbia, agrees that the prospect of an oil spill in an area as biologically diverse as Caamano Sound is unpalatable.

“Oil tankers pose a lot of threats to marine mammals, including noise, oil spills, and ship strikes. We don’t exactly know why this area is so rich, but there are some long, narrow channels that serve as bottlenecks for food, making it easier for whales to feed,” Williams says. The researcher has been using acoustic monitors to gauge the level of underwater shipping noise, known to have an impact on the ability of toothed mammals, such as orcas and dolphins, to use echolocation for finding food. “Caamano Sound may be one of the last chances we have on this coastline to protect an acoustically quiet sanctuary for whales.”

While environmentalists and scientists ponder a B.C. coastline with regular oil-tanker traffic, Enbridge faces an equally tough sales job as it tries to win support for its fossil-fuel superhighway across north-central B.C. Enbridge can count on support from the mayors of Prince George, Prince Rupert, and Kitimat, who have been boosting the project and its promise of jobs and tax dollars in their cities. Conversely, Nathan Cullen, NDP MP for SkeenaBulkley Valley, has serious reservations about a pipeline linking northern Alberta’s dirty oil sands with the B.C. coast, and he remains highly skeptical about Northern Gateway’s economic benefit. There will be short-term jobs in pipeline construction, Cullen admits. He says, though, that over the long haul, B.C. communities in the Interior and along the coast will shoulder the burden of environmental risk from spillswhether it be in fish-bearing streams or the marine environmentand they will not share in the profits that will accrue to the head offices of Enbridge in Calgary and firms like Syncrude and Shell.

“We approach projects on a risk-benefit basis, and I don’t think the case has been made that the risks are worth the benefit,” Cullen says on the phone from Ottawa. “The Conservatives’ approach is ‘See no evil, hear no evil, and open up the oil corridor.’ This project is connected to the hyperdevelopment of the tar sands, and in the end we’re talking about 40 or 50 jobs that would be created by the pipeline. That’s your average Canadian Tire.”

Glenda Ferris is one citizen counting herself among those who have more to lose than gain. The proposed pipeline route passes within five kilometres of her rural property on Buck Flats Road west of Houston. She credits Enbridge representatives for making the effort to travel to the end of Buck Flats Road to meet with residents in November, but she says the meeting left her with more questions than answers. In her opinion, the open houses being held by Enbridge are more about fancy graphics and public relations than about incorporating citizen concerns into the ultimate design and routing of the pipeline.

“There are all kinds of questions about the potential of spills that they couldn’t or wouldn’t answer,” Ferris says. “It looks like someone just took out a map and drew a line between point A and point B. You have thousands of kilometres out there, and they put it right down the middle of our valley. We don’t want a pipeline here and don’t want tankers on the coast, but there’s a feeling that it’s almost a done deal. We’re frustrated.”

Buck Flats Road is just one back-yard brushfire that Enbridge may have to contend with. The proposed pipeline route crosses the territories of dozens of First Nations, each with specific concerns and wants, and smart companies know that it’s no longer acceptable to simply pay lip service to Native concerns. So does government. A landmark 2004 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, in the case of Haida Nation v. British Columbia and Weyerhaeuser, explicitly states that the Crown must consult with and accommodate First Nations even when questions of aboriginal rights and title have not been resolved. This means, at best, that the proposal could get bogged down in protracted band-by-band negotiations and, at worst, that it could end up in the Canadian court system. The Haisla First Nation, under the leadership of Chief Steve Wilson, is tentatively in support of Northern Gateway and stands to benefit greatly from the development of port facilities in Kitimat. Enbridge has already signed a number of protocol agreements with individual First Nations along the pipeline routeincluding the Yekooche First Nation and the Nee-Tahi-Buhn band near Burns Lakethat come with attached funds, ostensibly to enable First Nations to hire their own consultants, and arrive at an informed decision about the pipeline. Chief Ray Morris says Enbridge has offered the Nee-Tahi-Buhn $110,000 in capacity-building funds as well as a chance to purchase equity in the project.

Tanker noise can disrupt marine mammals’ food-gathering. Ian McAllister photo.

“Our band is very familiar with pipelines. There have been so many proposals,” Morris says on the phone, adding that his band will support the project only if it translates into future revenue for members.

The mood isn’t nearly as accommodating elsewhere. The Council of Haida Nations is on record as saying it will never support tanker traffic in its waters. In an October 14, 2008, letter to Enbridge, Fraser Lake’s Nadleh Whut’en band expressed “significant concerns over the proposed pipelines and their environmental and socio-economic impacts” and ordered Enbridge employees and consultants to stay out of the band’s territory until a formal agreement is in place. This sentiment was echoed at the offices of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council in Prince George. Tribal Chief David Luggi represents eight bands in the region and views protocol agreements as an effort by Enbridge to purchase First Nations support for Northern Gateway. The proposed pipeline will cross the Stuart River, a major salmon system in Carrier Sekani territory, and member First Nations are rejecting the federal and provincial environmental review processes. In their place, Luggi says, the Carrier Sekani want a novel First Nations review that would be funded by government and use independent science and traditional knowledge to assess the impacts of the project on the environment, cultural heritage, and aboriginal rights and title. It would also allow adequate time and funds to fully engage and educate aboriginal communities and would delay a decision until “accommodations of infringements of aboriginal rights and title has taken place”.

“The B.C.federal review process is focused on ensuring proper process rather than the substance of the project,” Luggi says. “The First Nations review-process framework would be applied to all new development proposals and not be restricted to the Enbridge proposal. We won’t participate in reviews if the funds are tied to any existing programs.”

The Carrier Sekani proposal was formally endorsed by other bands at a First Nations summit held in Vancouver last November. According to Luggi, the current process is tantamount to the project proponent trying to purchase First Nations support one band at a time.

Northern Gateway’s Greenaway denies that Enbridge is attempting to buy off Natives through protocol agreements. If the Carrier Sekani people disagree with the environmental-review process, he says, that’s a matter between them and government. He says he believes Enbridge is being as proactive as it can be in engaging community groups and First Nations well in advance of the official review process.

“The protocol agreements come with funding to allow First Nations to build capacity,” Greenaway says. “We are also offering opportunities for joint ventures and to become equity partners. These are still early days, and there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Despite gloomy economic circumstances that have caused capital to flee the oil sands, with projects that would have represented more than one million barrels of oil per day either postponed or cancelled since last December, Greenaway assures that Enbridge’s backers are thinking about the long term and remain committed to the project.

In Caamano Sound, the humpbacks and orcas are still feeding. Hartley Bay councillor Marven Robinson fears that oil tankers several football fields long plying the same waters as the myriad species that still thrive in traditional Gitga’at territory could become British Columbia’s oil-spill shame in the future. He’s also concerned that this energy-corridor juggernaut of pipelines and oil tankers is already a done deal in the minds of many politicians and oil-patch executives.

“Everybody around here is feeling that even if we say something against it, it’s going to go ahead anyways,” Robinson says.

View full article here

January 07 2009 » Media Releases

Energy Minister’s defection to the Senate leaves tough questions for Campbell

“Who is Pumping the Gas?” asks NDP’s Horgan

VICTORIA – Gordon Campbell has tough questions to answer as he scrambles to replace energy minister Richard Neufeld, who defected to take a senate seat with the federal Conservatives, New Democrat energy critic John Horgan said today.

“Gordon Campbell told British Columbians last June that this was the cabinet team he was taking into the election, but he’s already broken that commitment. Who is he going to get to fill the hole left on his front bench?” said Horgan, the MLA for Malahat – Juan de Fuca.

After pledging last spring to stay on, Neufeld changed his mind and started looking for another job last fall. Horgan noted that it could be a challenge to fill Neufeld’s shoes.

“While Richard Neufeld is packing his bags to take up his plum patronage job in Ottawa, Gordon Campbell is left to find someone willing to be the front person for a bunch of projects British Columbians just aren’t comfortable with,” said Horgan.

“Gordon Campbell likes to claim he’s green, but he’s pushing ahead with unwanted coalbed methane projects and is trying to open up our sensitive coasts to oil and gas development. It’s hypocrisy of the worst kind, and that’s a tough line for an energy minister to walk, given how out of touch it is with the priorities of British Columbians.”

Horgan said that British Columbians deserve to know whether the new minister is willing to stand up for the public interest, and so also put forward questions for the new minister to answer before taking up the reigns:

1. “Will the new minister stand up for local communities who want the moratorium on coastal drilling for offshore oil and gas kept in place, which Gordon Campbell has been pushing to remove?”

2. “Will the new minister put the concerns of families ahead of the B.C. Liberals’ big corporate backers and put a stop to controversial plans to drill for coalbed methane without community support?”

3. “Will the new minister agree to review the combined impacts of the hundreds of private power projects proposed for our rivers?”

4. “Will the new minister agree to come clean about how Gordon Campbell’s privatization agenda is driving up electricity costs for B.C. families?”

5. “Will the new minister provide details about his government’s plans for pipelines in the northeast, and open a dialogue with residents and First Nations about what those plans will mean for them?”

Campbell is expected to appoint a new minister this month, but no firm date has yet been announced. Neufeld has been the energy minister since 2001.

January 06 2009 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Tahltan needs its own say in coalbed methane drilling

THE TAHLTAN need their own method of providing information about coalbed methane natural gas before they can decide if drilling should take place in the Klappan area, says one of their elected leaders.

Tahltan Central Council chair Annita McPhee said there’s inadequate information coming from Shell, which has been stymied in its plans to drill in the area save for three holes completed back in 2004, or from environmental groups, which have conducted a fierce campaign to force Shell out of the area.

“This information has to come from an independent and neutral third party,” said McPhee who suggested the council, which is the overall governing body of the Tahltan, should take that role.

And she’s also suggesting that a two-year halt to any drilling agreed to by Shell earlier this month in order to give the Tahltan enough time to develop a consensus about coal bed methane might not be long enough.

“We need time to make an informed decision,” said McPhee. “We’re not saying we approve or oppose [Shell’s drilling plans] but we applaud their decision because it gives us the time to make a decision that respects and recognizes Tahltan title.”

“This process could actually take more than two years. These are important decisions.”

McPhee said the first step is for the Tahltan to design a way of providing enough information so that all Tahltan feel informed enough and then decide how to make a decision as to whether Shell should proceed or not.

“What we need is to provide full and informed consent,” said McPhee. “The information that’s been provided by Shell and the NGOs (non governmental organizations) hasn’t been sufficient.”

“What we need to take is a very cautious approach to development,” she added.

Shell has exclusive rights from the provincial government to drill for coalbed methane natural gas in the Klappan area northeast of here.

Coalbed natural gas is so-named because it is found next to coal seams and often kept in place by water. Having coalbed methane flow to the surface means pumping out the water and that has raised fears by environmental groups and others that the water could be poisonous and a hazard to surface water if released above ground.

The Klappan contains the headwaters of the Skeena, Stikine and Nass rivers, heightening that fear of harm to fish and other habitat. The area has also been called the Sacred Headwaters.

Shell has, however, said it will not release underground water above ground, a commitment made before it became a provincial regulation.

The exploration drill program planned for this year and now shelved for two years called for underground water, if found, to be trucked to Fort St. John for treatment at a facility there.

McPhee said Shell’s plans for the Klappan, and plans by any other companies who want to make money on Tahltan traditional territory, should more correctly be looked at once a master environmental, economic and social development plan is crafted.

“We need eco-system mapping, we need to understand the cumulative impact of development. We do recognize the need for development but it all has to fit,” she said.

“We need to protect our land and our heritage and to make sure that what development there is sustainable,” McPhee added.

She said a properly set up method of distributing information and a method of then making a decision will do away with what she described as internal conflict within the Tahltan about development.

“This has to be a very clear process and a unified approach,” McPhee said.

Not all Tahltan were in favour of forcing Shell out of the Klappan. A Tahltan-owned company, the Tahltan Nation Development Company, supplied labour and equipment to Shell when it was working in the area.

McPhee was also withholding comment on how the Tahltan should decide if coalbed methane drilling should take place or not.

NovaGold, when it was ramping up to start construction on its now-shelved Galore Creek copper and gold mine, signed an economic deal with the Tahltan which was then put to a vote.

McPhee didn’t dismiss the idea of a referendum on the Shell situation outright, but did say the runup to the Galore Creek vote took place very quickly.

“I did not think there was enough time to process all of the information,” said McPhee. “On this, I am guided by the elders. They need time to do that, to process the information. And I respect that.”

December 23 2008 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Cullen Delays Coalbed Methane Meetings

SKEENA – BULKLEY VALLEY MP Nathan Cullen has delayed his plans, for now, to hold public meetings to discuss Shell’s plans to drill for coalbed methane in the Klappan.

The idea for community meetings was crafted before the company agreed to a two-year moratorium on drilling earlier this month. Despite the moratorium, Cullen said he is still working on a meeting schedule.

“We don’t want to simply put it on the back burner. We want to keep the conversation going,” he said.

Cullen added that the meeting plan is also being discussed with Shell.

“We’ve talked to the company and they want to stretch it out,” he said.

The MP originally had wanted the meetings in January and February, in advance of Shell’s plans to drill in the Klappan in the spring.

He will now use the time he had blocked out to hold meetings on the economy instead.

Cullen is so far opposed to the company’s plans.

“They have not made the argument it can be done safely,” he said.

Coalbed methane natural gas is so-named because it is resident to coal. It can be kept close to coal seams by water and since that water can be poisonous, it’s lead to worries about what might happen if it were to ever be released on the surface. In the Klappan, Shell said it will truck any groundwater it may find during exploratory drilling to a Fort St. John facility for treatment.

December 18 2008 » News Clippings » The Chronicle - Montreal

BC Group Calls for Suspension of all Coalbed Methane Drilling in Province

VANCOUVER, B.C. – A coalition of B.C. citizens’ groups is calling for the suspension of all coalbed methane drilling in the province until better policies are put in place.

Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane is launching a provincewide campaign aiming at restoring public confidence in the process used to approve and regulate energy projects.

Earlier this month, the province approved a BP Canada coalbed project at Mist Mountain near Fernie in the East Kootenay region, while on the same announcing a two-year moratorium on a similar plan by Shell Canada in the Klappan area in northwestern B.C.

Coalition spokesman Ted Ralfe said the group isn’t against mining and gas drilling altogether, but wants to make sure a safe plan is in place before the environment is potentially affected.

“What we are saying is that in order to do it properly, there has to be a balance between development and wildlife,” Ralfe said.

“If you destroy the attractiveness of this area, then what’s that worth?”

The coalition’s action plan calls for communities to have a clearer say in where and how coalbed methane projects proceed.

The projects would undergo mandatory environmental assessments that study cumulative impacts.
“The landscape is potentially going to be covered with projects and if you simply assess each one on an individual basis, you’re not getting a complete picture of what could happen to the entire landscape,” Ralfe said.

“That’s why we want cumulative impacts across the region of all the prospective projects that region is facing.”

Ralfe said the action plan also calls for the province’s own energy regulations to be fully implemented and enforced, and for funds to be dedicated to independent research of coalbed methane technologies.

Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition executive director Shannon McPhail said industry should be interested in the plan because it will allow good projects to proceed safely and smoothly.

“Our goal is to better the investment climate by making sure we have sound regulations and less problems with communities dealing with this,” McPhail said.

“Everywhere that coalbed methane has been presented, it’s been met with serious opposition. We’re trying to put things in place so that doesn’t happen.”

The action plan has been in the works since the BP Canada plan was approved and Ralfe said he’s cautiously optimistic it will get the attention of government.

Energy minister Richard Neufeld wasn’t immediately available for comment.

BP’s Mist Mountain project could last for decades and was awarded over the objections of Fernie city council, which passed a resolution earlier this year condemning the project.

The council said BP Canada has not engaged the community in a transparent manner and that there are considerable unknowns to the project, including short-term and long-term impacts.

Several politicians across the border in the U.S. spoke out against the Mist Mountain project, including Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who has expressed concern the project could affect water quality and wildlife south of the border.

The two-year moratorium on Shell Canada’s drilling in the Klappan area was placed after the project faced growing dissent from local First Nations and locals.

December 17 2008 » News Clippings » Oilweek Magazine

B.C. group calls for suspension of all coalbed methane drilling in province

VANCOUVER _ A coalition of B.C. citizens´ groups is calling for the suspension of all coalbed methane drilling in the province until better policies are put in place.

Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane is launching a provincewide campaign that it says will restore public confidence in the provincial energy project regulations and approval process.

Earlier this month, the province awarded BP Canada tenure for its contentious Mist Mountain project, near Fernie in the East Kootenay region, on the same day it announced a two-year moratorium on Shell Canada´s coalbed methane drilling in the Klappan area in northwestern B.C.

The coalition says local communities should have a clear say in deciding where and how coalbed methane projects proceed and the projects should undergo mandatory environmental assessments.

Spokesperson Ted Ralfe says industry should also be interested in their five-point action plan because it would allow good projects to proceed safely and smoothly.

Energy minister Richard Neufeld wasn´t immediately available for comment.

December 17 2008 » Media Releases » Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane

BC Communities Unite Around Coalbed Methane Action Plan

December 17, 2008 (Vancouver) – A coalition of citizens’ groups has launched a
province-wide campaign around a five-point action plan they say could end the
current stalemate on coalbed methane development.

“Across B.C., coalbed methane projects are being delayed or stopped by local
conflict because residents lack confidence in the province’s approval process and
regulations,” said Ted Ralfe, spokesperson for CCCBM-East Kootenay. “The
action plan we’re proposing is a way to restore public confidence and create a
more certain investment climate for companies.”

The coalition, Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane, released its five-point
plan on a new website, http://www.concernedaboutcbm.org. The plan, “Building a safe
future for CBM,” calls for the following –

1. Suspend CBM drilling across B.C. until four key policy improvements are in
place:
2. Local communities have a clear say in deciding where and how CBM projects
proceed
3. CBM projects undergo mandatory environmental assessments that address
cumulative impacts
4. “World-class” CBM regulations promised in B.C.’s Energy Plan are fully
implemented and enforced
5. Sufficient funds are dedicated to independent baseline research and to
proving the safety of “world-class” technologies.

“We acknowledge that once sound regulations are in place, CBM drilling can
occur safely in some places,” said Shannon McPhail, Executive Director of
Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. “However, the approval process must
start with the question of social license, and projects should proceed only if there
is broad public support.”

Today’s campaign launch follows a mixed-bag announcement from the B.C.
government earlier this month, which put the brakes on CBM drilling in the
Sacred Headwaters while greenlighting another controversial CBM project in the
Elk Valley.

“This kind of contradictory decision-making highlights the need for a consistent
approach to approving and regulating CBM projects across the province,” said
Sol Allison, Director of Save Our Similkameen. “Government has already made
some progress towards better standards for CBM. We’re calling for a province-
wide pause on new drilling to allow the full action plan to be implemented.”

B.C. residents and organizations are invited to sign on to the action plan at
http://www.concernedaboutcbm.org and show their support for a consistent,
responsible approach to CBM across the province.

“We think industry will also be interested in this action plan, because it would
increase investor confidence and allow good projects to proceed safely and
smoothly,” adds Ted Ralfe. “Today’s band-aid approach serves neither CBM
companies nor communities in the long run.”

Coalbed methane projects have been or are currently proposed in B.C.’s Elk
Valley (British Petroleum), Similkameen Valley (Petrobank), Sacred Headwaters
(Royal Dutch Shell), Hudson’s Hope area (Hudson’s Hope Gas, Royal Dutch
Shell), Vancouver Island, and Telkwa.

Contact:

Ted Ralfe – Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane-East Kootenay
(250) 423 6844

Shannon McPhail – Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
(250) 842 2494

Sol Allison – Save Our Similkameen
(250) 293 1047

December 15 2008 » News Clippings » Belleville Intelligencer - Ontario

Students Take Environmental Stand

Mitchell Dafoe, left, and Melanie Barriage write letters opposing any drilling for methane gas and oil in a remote area in Northern British Columbia. Intelligencer photo by Henry Bury

By: Henry Bury

A remote corner of northern British Columbia would likely be the furthest thing from the minds of local Grade 4 students at this time of the year.

Not so for Prince Charles School students like Melanie Barriage and Mitchell Dafoe.

The Grade 4 class wrote letters to B.C. Premier Gord Campbell asking him to scrap plans by Royal Dutch Shell to drill for methane gas and oil in the Sacred Headwaters, a vast alpine basin that has been occupied for centuries by the Tahltan First Nations.

“I want the premier to stop any drilling because native people might die in this special shield,” said nine-year-old Melanie. “Animals might also die and that will be bad news.”

The student said she’d hate to see the natural habitat destroyed by a maze of wells, pipelines and roads.

“I’d hate to see that happen,” she said.

Mitchell, also nine, said he hopes the premier heeds their message.

“That stuff could seep into people’s houses and put their lives in danger around the drilling sites,” he said. “It’s also not fair to the animals because they have their habitat there.”

Grade 4 teacher Erin Fox said students learned about the drilling controversy through their study of Canada and they wanted to do something about it.

“The kids are not happy that drilling may happen. They are worried about the impact on the environment and its affect on people and animals,” she said.

Connie Gallupe, a half-time teacher who spearheaded the letter writing campaign, said she has since learned the B.C. government granted a two-year moratorium Dec. 5 on any coalbed methane drilling on the Sacred Headwaters area as a result of public pressure.

“But we are going ahead with our letters to keep up the pressure on the government to support the Talthan’s cultural rights,” she said.

Students from every grade also wrote messages of hope on greeting cards Friday afternoon.

Prince Charles participated in the activity as a way of celebrating Human Rights Day (Dec. 10).

“We are hoping to raise awareness about the importance of human rights in creating a peaceful world and we recognize how important it is to develop a social conscience in people,” Gallupe said.

hbury@intelligencer.ca

December 11 2008 » News Clippings » National Aboriginal News

Foot in the Door No More, For Now

It looked like Shell Canada Limited had got a foot in the door to explore
the Sacred Headwaters of the Stikine, Skeena, and Nass river systems. Shell
signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2004 with the Chair of the
Tahltan Central Council, the Chief of the Tahltan Band, and the Chief of the
Iskut First Nation. After the MOU was signed the Government of British
Columbia granted Shell tenure in 2004 for specific rights to coalbed methane
in the Klappan.

Although the BC Oil and Gas Commission granted permission to drill up to
five wells in 2004, Shell drilled only three in the midst of the MOU being
rejected by the community and new elected councils. The Tahltan immediately
resorted to road-blocks and the oil company was unable to access the area in
the ensuing months and years.

As 2008 progressed and Shell’s exploration plans were being discussed the
opposition mounted. At community halls from Hazelton north, “Residents from
all walks of life stated that drilling thousands of wells at the source of
our wild salmon rivers is not an option. The government’s announcement shows
that our voices are starting to be heard,” said Shannon McPhail, Executive
Director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition.
The magnificent Skeena protected for another two years by B.C. government
moratorium

The magnificent Skeena protected for another two years by B.C. government
moratorium – Credit: Malcolm McColl

“A moratorium is the right decision because it allows all Northwest
residents to come together around a vision for protecting the Sacred
Headwaters, ” said Pat Moss with Friends of Wild Salmon, a coalition of
First Nations, fishermen, and conservationists.

“Shell has demonstrated real leadership with the moratorium. The key
question is around social license – that is, whether the Sacred Headwaters
is an appropriate place for oil and gas development,” said Jaisel Vadgama
with the Pembina Institute.

The decision to impose a moratorium from Victoria, B.C. was based on the
need for more discussion with First Nations and the community, explained
Richard Neufeld, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister in the B.C.
government. “Government is facilitating this by specifying no activity for
two years,” said the minister.

Shell has said, “Our Klappan project is located within the traditional
territory of the Tahltan First Nation. The communities nearest to Shell’s
tenured land are Iskut, Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake. We have consulted
extensively with the leadership of the Tahltan First Nation as well as the
community regarding all our activities, and will continue to do so in future
planning in the Klappan.”

From the initial three exploration wells Shell determined that “more work is
needed to determine whether gas can be produced in an environmentally
responsible and commercially viable manner.” With the limited drilling
program Shell detected natural gas in coal seams. “More work is required to
determine if a commercially viable CBM project exists. Our current estimates
indicate several years of further work is required in the area.”

In 2005 Shell postponed field activity based on some Tahltan calling for a
moratorium on resource development and some who participated in a blockade
of the access road in the area. The First Nation and others all expressed
concerns about the resource development threatening to unfold within
traditional territory. Shell said, “Through our ongoing public consultation
efforts, we are aware that while many members of the community support
responsible resource development and welcome the economic benefits that come
with it, some members of the community do not share this opinion.”

Even so, Shell planned to resume exploration program in 2007/2008 to
continue the early stages of exploration. The 2007/2008 exploration program
was supposed to consist of re-entering two of the three wells drilled in
2004 and potentially drilling 14 new wells for which they had licences from
the BC Oil and Gas Commission.

Shell noted that from the beginning the project team took care to plan
exploration activities in a responsible manner by consulting with the
elected Tahltan leadership, Elders, the Tahltan community, and other people
who live in the area. Shell’s project team had reviewed the proposed
2007/2008 exploration program with members of the Tahltan leadership and the
Tahltan Heritage Resource Environmental Assessment Team.

The consultations sought to get their input on environmental, archaelogical,
cultural and traditional use considerations. Site-specific environmental
assessments were conducted for each of the proposed drilling sites in the
area by Rescan Tahltan Environmental Consultants. Where concerns were
expressed Shell had taken them in to consideration in the design of its
proposed 2007/2008 exploration program.

Following their commitment to supply jobs, two environmental monitors were
hired through Rescan Tahltan Environmental Consultants to work with a senior
Rescan Tahltan Environmental Monitor. They were to observe the work in the
Klappan during exploration in 2008, and Shell said “We are committed to
exploring for and producing natural gas from coal in a socially and
environmentally responsible way.”

The company had said it would continue conducting additional environmental
studies, baseline assessments and reclamation efforts in the Klappan area.
This activity would assist in integrating regional environmental and social
considerations.

December 10 2008 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Shell Shelves Coalbed Methane Plans

SHELL CANADA says it has agreed to a two-year moratorium on any more exploration activity for coalbed methane gas in the Klappan area so it can better explain what it wants to do.

Company spokesman Larry Lalonde said last week there has been a lot of misinformation about Shell’s plans for the Klappan and about coalbed methane exploration in general.

The two-year break, beginning Jan. 1, 2009, builds on a six-month hiatus the company announced in August.

That announcement followed a series of meetings and protests across the Northwest opposing Shell’s plans.

Anti-drilling sentiment even became a defining factor behind Skeena-Bulkley NDP MP Nathan Cullen’s re-election win in October.

Lalonde said the company will now have time to speak more with the Tahltan whose traditional territory takes in the Klappan and with other Northwestern residents.

“The idea is to take this break. It’s a tough place to get the information out. We need to take more time,” he said.

“What I can say is that there has been a great deal of misinformation that’s been circulated about what coalbed methane is and what kind of benefits it could bring,” Lalonde said.

Coalbed methane is a natural gas found trapped next to coal seams. It can be trapped by water, meaning that water needs to be released in order for coalbed methane gas to flow.

The prospect of groundwater coming up to the surface that could be poisonous has been seized upon by individuals and groups as a target when it comes to opposing Shell’s plans.

The Klappan has become known in some circles as the Sacred Headwaters, because it is the headwaters of the Skeena, Stikine and Nass rivers.

Shell had said it would not release groundwater on the surface, a statement it made even before a provincial policy banned the practice.

Critics also opposed coalbed methane drilling because the pools are relatively shallow, meaning more wells are needed to bring up gas then conventional natural gas which is found in deeper pools.

Shell first obtained a lease from the provincial government to explore the Tahltan for coalbed methane natural gas in 2004.

It drilled three wells in 2004, the only three it ever managed to drill before opposition began to build among segments of the Tahltan and among other groups and individuals in the Northwest.

Shell obtained licences to drill up to 14 wells earlier this year and spent several million dollars repairing a road so it could move heavy equipment into the area.

Altogether Shell has spent more than $7 million on Klappan-associated work. It was the only company to bid on drilling licences for the Klappan in 2004.

Shell’s licence was to run out in 2012 but it has now been extended to 2014 because of the two-year time out and it won’t be required to make any lease payments during the period.

Lalonde said it was too early to outline Shell’s meeting and communications plans for the next two years.

He also noted that the exploration program had barely gotten off the ground and that the company was in no way in a position to determine if there was a commercially viable pool of coalbed methane gas in the Klappan.

Tahltan Central Council president Annita McPhail welcomed the news, saying the exploration plans were “advancing without full and complete information or an established and agreed upon framework for decision-making that respects and recognizes Tahltan title and rights.”

“This suspension will provide our nation the time it needs to be well informed on all issues relating to [coalbed methane],” she added.

Provincial energy minister Richard Neufeld said Shell’s decision was reached in talks between it and the Tahltan.

He said halting industrial or other activity in B.C. in order for all affected parties to reach an agreement about what should happen isn’t uncommon.

And in some respects, two years is not a lot of time for a company like Shell which looks at developments in terms of decades, Neufeld added.

“I think Shell thinks they may have a pretty good resource there,” he said.

Meanwhile, environmental groups appear to regard the moratorium as the end of Shell’s coalbed methane plans for the Klappan.

“Our outreach and education work will continue until we are sure that coalbed methane drilling will never occur in the Sacred Headwaters,” said Julia Hill with the Terrace organization Northwest Watch.

December 10 2008 » Media Releases

Environmental Groups Praise “Landmark Step” Towards Responsible Coalbed Methane Development

December 9, 2008 (Vancouver) – The B.C. government has taken a landmark step in resolving concerns around coalbed methane (CBM) development, according to environmental groups.

Their comments follow the B.C. government’s announcement on Friday of a two-year moratorium on CBM drilling in the Sacred Headwaters in the province’s Northwest.

“Conflict around CBM is proving costly to government and industry. It’s undermining investor confidence and has stopped almost every attempt to produce CBM in B.C.,” says Merran Smith, Climate Director at ForestEthics. “Creating space to resolve conflict and determine where and how to proceed is the only pragmatic solution.”

Due to harmful impacts on land, water and wildlife, only some CBM reserves can be developed safely. Until now, British Columbia has generally granted CBM tenures without assessing whether communities are willing to accept these impacts.

“Kudos to the government for recognizing that Northwest residents have a right to decide whether CBM development happens in their watersheds,” says Eric Swanson, Corporate Campaigner at the Dogwood Initiative. “Now, we need to make sure that all B.C. communities facing CBM development can exercise the same right. Coalbed methane is a provincial issue, not just a local one.”

As a next step, environmental groups are calling on the government to extend a CBM drilling moratorium province-wide in order to create space for rigorous risk assessments and community decision-making. This would include the Elk Valley, where British Petroleum was granted a new CBM tenure, also on Friday.

“Announcing BP’s tenure at the same time as the Sacred Headwaters moratorium was a regrettable move: one step forward, one step back,” says Casey Brennan, Southern Rockies and Flathead Program Manager at Wildsight. “Residents in the Elk Valley are very concerned that CBM could cause heavy environmental damage. Without the time and process to resolve their concerns, we could find ourselves back in conflict.”

The B.C. government’s announcement also made reference to new wastewater regulations that would apply to CBM development. Coalbed methane production often removes large quantities of groundwater, which can contain high concentrations of salts and heavy metals.

“We fully support the province’s commitment to improving wastewater rules, especially with a time-out on contentious development,” says Jaisel Vadgama, Senior Policy Analyst at the Pembina Institute. “We need both better regulations and opportunities for communities to decide whether oil and gas activities are appropriate in their area.”

“Two out of three of Friday’s announcements showed leadership,” adds Greg Gowe, Staff Lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. “If we move forward on a robust legal framework to address key concerns, the stalemate on CBM could be brought to an end.”

Contact:
Merran Smith – ForestEthics: (604) 816-5636
Eric Swanson – Dogwood Initiative: (250) 858-9990
Casey Brennan – Wildsight: (250) 423-0402
Jaisel Vadgama – The Pembina Institute: (604) 992-0686
Greg Gowe – West Coast Environmental Law: (604) 601 2508

December 10 2008 » Media Releases » Office of the Wetsewet'en

Wet’suwet’en Chiefs Respond to Coalbed Methane Announcements

Wet’suwet’en, December 9, 2008 – The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have commended the Tahltan for their efforts to protect the headwaters of the Skeena River, following the BC government’s announcement Friday of a moratorium on coalbed methane (CBM) drilling in the Sacred Headwaters.

The Wet’suwet’en Chiefs also called on Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Richard Neufeld to reconsider a CBM tenure in the Elk Valley. The tenure was granted to BP as part of Friday’s announcement. The Chiefs strongly urged residents in the Fernie area and members of the Ktunaxa First Nation to seriously consider the impacts to the water, land and wildlife that sustain their communities.

In September, the First Nations Summit and Union of BC Municipalities passed complimentary resolutions calling for a 10-year moratorium on CBM development in British Columbia.

The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, who tabled the First Nations Summit resolution, do not have confidence in the province’s current regulatory regime for CBM. There are no known technologies whereby coalbed methane can be extracted without significant impacts to the land and water.

“Until companies and government develop safe processes, the Wet’suwet’en cannot accept coalbed methane development,” said Wet’suwet’en Natural Resources Manager David DeWit.

A CBM project in the Wet’suwet’en’s ancestral territory, near Telkwa, was proposed in 2006 but was quietly withdrawn after opposition from the Hereditary Chiefs and the surrounding communities.

“Minister Neufeld has an opportunity to work with First Nations, companies and British Columbians towards a regulatory regime that is agreeable for the betterment of all,” said DeWit.

A rigorous regulatory regime would include a process for establishing if and where coalbed methane development is appropriate and would not infringe on Indigenous Rights and Title.

Contact:
David deWit, Natural Resources Manager: (250) 847-3630

December 09 2008 » News Clippings » Amnesty International

Amnesty International welcomes suspension of coal-bed methane exploration in Tahltan territory

Amnesty International welcomes the Province of British Columbia’s decision to temporarily suspend a controversial coal-bed methane exploration project in Tahltan traditional territory in northwestern BC.

Amnesty International has previously expressed concern about the province’s failure to protect the human rights of the Tahltan people during recent licensing of oil, gas and mining projects within Tahltan traditional territory.

In 2004, Shell Canada was granted tenure by the BC Ministry of Mines, Energy and Petroleum to explore for coal-bed methane in Tahltan territory, which lies 500 kilometres north of Smithers, BC. The Sacred Headwaters, as it is known to the Tahltan People, is the birthplace of three major salmon-bearing rivers, the Skeena, Nass and Stikine.

Tahltan and downstream communities strongly opposed coal-bed methane development in the Sacred Headwaters due to the area’s ecological sensitivity and cultural significance to the Tahltan and other First Nations peoples.

In addition, several major mining projects are poised to move ahead in the area.

The Province’s announcement to suspend Shell Canada’s coal-bed methane exploration for two years is a necessary step toward ensuring Tahltan people have the time they need to develop their own land use plan and address potential impacts of major development projects on their communities.

Amnesty International is calling on the province to ensure the rights of the Tahltan people to consultation, accommodation and consent are upheld in respect to all development projects being considered in the region. Amnesty International also calls on the province to ensure the Tahltan people have adequate time and resources to develop a land use plan that will allow the communities to balance their economic, social, environmental and cultural priorities for future generations.

*******************************************

For further information, please contact:
Beth Berton-Hunter, Media Relations
416-363-9933, ext. 32

December 08 2008 » News Clippings » Globe and Mail

Anger erupts over conflicting coal bed decisions

A proposal to wrest unconventional gas – also known as coalbed methane – from an area near Fernie, B.C., in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains has
moved another step closer to reality, with the province granting BP Canada
tenure for its Mist Mountain project.

But opponents of the project are furious, especially since the province on
the same day – Friday – announced a two-year moratorium on coal bed activity
in the Klappan, where native bands and conservation groups had dug in
against Shell Canada’s plan to explore for the resource.

“Why have they ignored concerned citizens in the Elk Valley and granted BP
tenure, yet at the same time they have imposed a two-year moratorium on
[coalbed methane] development in northwestern B.C.?” said Casey Brennan, a
program manager for Fernie-based conservation group Wildsight.

The BP tenure was granted after a comprehensive referral process that
included local natives, communities and government agencies, B.C. Energy
Minister Richard Neufeld said yesterday.
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The Globe and Mail

BP’s Mist Mountain project could last 50 years and feature as many as 150
well pads consisting of 10 wells per site. The company has spent the past
few years doing preliminary work in the 500-square-kilometre project area in
southeastern British Columbia. Fernie City Council opposes the project, but
the nearby town of Elkford backs it.

The province is keen to develop B.C.‘s extensive coalbed-methane reserves,
but some residents of potential production areas are less enthusiastic.

Shell Canada has had coal bed interests in northwestern B.C. since 2004, but
has had its exploration program mostly on hold since 2005, saying it
respected local communities’ demands for more consultation.

Friday’s announcement by the province means Shell’s exploration is shelved
for at least another two years.

Conservation groups are worried about potential impacts on salmon. The area
Shell wants to explore contains the headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and
Stikine Rivers.

The Tahltan natives – comprising on-reserve and off-reserve residents living
in Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake and Iskut – need time to come up with a
sustainable resource plan, said Anita McPhee, chair of the Tahltan Central
Council.

“At this point in time we can’t see this type of development advancing
without having full and complete information,” she said.

“There needs to be a proper framework for decision making. And there also
needs to an informed decision-making process. And that wasn’t taking place.”

The coalbed-methane decisions were made as natural gas prices are falling
and other projects are winding down or being delayed.

Toronto-based Barrick Gold’s Eskay Creek mine, a profitable gold and silver
operation that employed many Tahltan workers and contractors, wound up
production early this year.

Galore Creek, a massive copper-gold project jointly owned by Vancouver
companies Teck Cominco and NovaGold Resources, was put on hold last year
after costs ballooned.

Other potential projects are on hold pending a commodity comeback or new
infrastructure, including a proposed electricity transmission line for the
region.

That slowdown poses employment challenges, but doesn’t lessen the Tahltan’s
determination to take a cautious approach to development, Ms. McPhee said.

“There are definitely some economic development challenges because of the
financial crisis,” she said. “In Tahltan territory and everywhere, I
suspect.”

December 06 2008 » News Clippings » Globe and Mail

Coal-bed gas projects: one allowed, one stalled

Vancouver — The provincial government has temporarily closed the door to coal-bed gas in northwestern British Columbia, but has opened it to the same resource in the southeastern part of the province.

The government awarded tenure yesterday to BP Canada for the Mist Mountain project, which is proposed for a 500-square-kilometre area near Fernie.

At the same time, Energy Minister Richard Neufeld ruled out coal-bed activity in the Klappan Valley for two years.

Conservation groups in Canada and the United States are waging high-profile campaigns to protect the Flathead River, which flows from B.C. into Montana.

December 06 2008 » News Clippings » Business News

East Kooteny coalbed methane project gets green light

Environmentalists are upset over the B.C. government’s approval of a contentious coalbed methane project in the East Kootenay.

BP Canada has been awarded tenure for its Mist Mountain project near Fernie, Energy Minister Richard Neufeld announced Friday.

Neufeld said BP will be bound by some of the toughest regulations for unconventional gas development in North America.

But the exploration work will pose a threat to the natural habitat in the region, said Casey Brennan of Wildsight, an environmental group that advocates the protection of biodiversity and encourages sustainable communities.

“We are concerned about the impact to everything from grizzly bears to trout and all sorts of species in between,” Brennan said.

Fernie city council passed a resolution earlier this year condemning the project, saying BP Canada did not build a sufficient dialogue with the community or fully consider the short-term and long-term environmental impacts.

Allan Chabot, council’s chief administrative officer, said Friday the community is also concerned about the project’s economic and social effects.

“The city was looking for baseline inventory data, socioeconomic impact analysis and environmental prior to the grant of tenure,” Chabot said.

Klappan project halted

Meanwhile, another controversial coalbed methane project in northwestern B.C. has been put on hold.

Shell Canada will halt its exploration activity in the Klappan and carry out more discussions with First Nations and the community, Neufeld said.

Shell was awarded tenure for the Klappan Coalbed Methane Exploration Program in 2004.

See full article here

“Government is facilitating this by specifying no activity for two years,” Neufeld said.

“I commend both Shell Canada for showing leadership in making this decision and the Tahltan [First Nation], who have expressed their concerns and their interest in having more information.”

With files from the Canadian Press

December 06 2008 » News Clippings » Vancouver Sun

Shell Faces Coal-bed Methane Moratorium in Northern BC

Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun

A two-year moratorium has been declared on development of coal-bed methane
resources in the Klappan coal field in northern British Columbia, the
provincial government announced on Friday.

Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said in a news release that Shell Canada
“will take a break” in exploration of Mount Klappan.

The company will instead engage local communities, the Tahltan Central
Council and individual members of the first nation who have voiced
reservations about the project.

“Government is facilitating this by specifying no activity for two years,”
the release quoted Neufeld as saying. “I commend both Shell Canada for
showing leadership in making this decision and the Tahltan who have
expressed their concerns and their interest in having more information.”

Shell had indicated earlier this year that it was suspending its attempts
to conduct exploration drilling of the Klappan – although a two-year series
road blockades by some Tahltan members had rendered Shell’s decision moot.

In September, the aboriginals were joined in opposition to coal-bed methane
development by the Union of B.C. Municipalities, which passed a resolution
calling on the government to stop Shell from exploring the area.

Klappan is the headwater region for three major salmon streams in the
north, the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers, and coal-bed methane opponents
are gravely concerned that exploration and development of presumed rich gas
deposits could unleash contaminated water into all the streams, degrading
water quality for salmon and for human consumption.

Development of coal-bed methane fields typically involves dewatering of
underground gas deposits before the gas begins to flow, and the water is
usually removed by directing it into nearby streams.

“The Tahltan nation supports responsible and sustainable development;
however, we feel that coal-bed methane (CBM) development is advancing
without full and complete information or an established and agreed-upon
framework for decision-making that respects and recognizes Tahltan title
and rights,” Tahltan Central Council Chair Annita McPhee said in a news
release.

“This suspension will provide our nation the time it needs to be well
informed on all issues relating to CBM.”

Iskut band Chief Marie Quock, in the same news release, welcomed the
announcement.

“This project has challenged our people because, while we need employment
and to achieve our economic goals, we also need to protect our land and
heritage and ensure that development in our traditional territory is
sustainable for generations to come.”

Environmental groups in northwest B.C applauded the moratorium.

“Residents from all walks of life have stated that drilling thousands of
wells at the source of our wild salmon rivers is not an option. Today’s
announcement shows that our voices are starting to be heard,” Shannon
McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition,
said in a release.

“A moratorium is the right decision because it allows all Northwest
residents to come together around a vision for protecting the sacred
headwaters, “ said Pat Moss of Friends of Wild Salmon, a coalition of first
nations, fishermen and conservationists.

ssimpson@vancouversun.com

See article in Vancouver Sun

December 05 2008 » Media Releases

Residents, NGO’s Applaud Shell Methane Moratorium in Sacred Headwaters

December 5, 2008 (Smithers, BC) – Concerned citizens and NGOs are applauding
the announcement today of a two-year moratorium on coalbed methane drilling
in northern BC’s Sacred Headwaters.

Shell has been trying since 2004 to develop a controversial coalbed methane
gas field in the area, which is the shared birthplace of the Skeena, Nass
and Stikine Rivers.

“Residents from all walks of life have stated that drilling thousands of
wells at the source of our wild salmon rivers is not an option. Today’s
announcement shows that our voices are starting to be heard,” said Shannon
McPhail, Executive Director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition.

“Shell has demonstrated real leadership with today’s decision. The key
question is around social license – that is, whether the Sacred Headwaters
is an appropriate place for oil and gas development,” said Jaisel Vadgama
with the Pembina Institute.

“We now have the time necessary to craft a workable approach to protect the
integrity of the Sacred Headwaters – a solution that respects First Nations
and downstream interests,” said Merran Smith with ForestEthics.

“Our outreach and education work will continue until we are sure that
coalbed methane drilling will never occur in the Sacred Headwaters,” said
Julia Hill with the Terrace organization Northwest Watch.

Contact:
Shannon McPhail – Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition: (250) 842-2494
Pat Moss – Friends of Wild Salmon: (250) 847-9693
Jaisel Vadgama – Pembina Institute: (604) 992-0686
Merran Smith – ForestEthics: (604) 816-5636
Julia Hill – Northwest Watch: (250) 638-0998

December 05 2008 » Media Releases » Tahltan Central Council

Tahltan Nation Applauds Government Decision to Suspend CBM Development in the Sacred Headwaters

December 5, 2008 – Dease Lake, BC: The Tahltan Central Council (TCC), the organization responsible for
protecting Tahltan Title and Rights, applauds today’s provincial government announcement to amend Shell
Canada’s petroleum and natural gas tenure license. The amendment will stop Shell from exploring and
developing coalbed methane (CBM), a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds, in the Klappan region.
The Klappan is a region in northwestern British Columbia, located approximately 500 kilometres north of
Smithers and approximately 300 kilometres southeast of Dease Lake. The region is home to the headwaters of
three major salmon bearing rivers – the Stikine, Skeena and the Nass. The TCC was approached by the
government prior to this amendment.
“The Tahltan Nation supports responsible and sustainable development; however, we feel that CBM
development is advancing without full and complete information or an established and agreed upon framework
for decision-making that respects and recognizes Tahltan Title and Rights,” says Annita McPhee, Chair of the
TCC. “This suspension will provide our Nation the time it needs to be well informed on all issues relating to
CBM. We must be fully informed of the potential challenges that come with its development to ensure they
align with Tahltan laws and values.” The TCC calls on the provincial government to invest in capacity building
in the northwest.
Marie Quock is the Chief of the Iskut band and represents the community closest to the proposed
development. “Today’s announcement is welcome in our community,” says Chief Quock. “This project has
challenged our people because, while we need employment and to achieve our economic goals, we also need
to protect our land and heritage and ensure that development in our traditional territory is sustainable for
generations to come.” Today’s announcement comes after years of advocacy by the Tahltan Nation and others
to the government and will enable the Tahltan Nation to fully explore resource management issues including
land use planning, environmental baseline studies, social and cultural impact studies and eco-systems
mapping prior to development.
The Tahltan Nation includes on and off-reserve Tahltans living in Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake and Iskut.
There are over 3,000 Tahltan members living across the country and who’s traditional territory encompasses
11% of British Columbia. Over 50% of all mineral exploration in the province takes place in the Tahltan
Nation’s traditional territory.
For more information on this announcement please contact:
Annita McPhee, Chair Tahltan Central Council
Cell – 778-229-1264
annitamcphee@gmail.com
Tahltan Central Council (http://www.tahltan.org)
Box 69
Tatl’ah (Dease Lake, BC)
V0C 1L0
Phone 250-771-3274
Fax 250-771-3020

December 05 2008 » Media Releases » Ministry of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources

Leadership Shown in Unconventional Gas Development

VICTORIA – Shell Canada will take a break in exploration activity in the Klappan and have more discussions with First Nations and the community, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Richard Neufeld announced today.

“Government is facilitating this by specifying no activity for two years,” said Neufeld. “I commend both Shell Canada for showing leadership in making this decision and the Tahltan who have expressed their concerns and their interest in having more information.”

As the Province moves forward and takes another step towards realizing the benefits of the BC Energy Plan, it is awarding tenure to BP Canada for their Mist Mountain Project in the East Kootenay.

The awarding of this tenure follows a comprehensive referral process that included local First Nations, communities and government agencies requesting they provide comments on the tenure and process. Three of the four local governments either supported approval of the tenure, or were neutral, provided best practices in the BC Energy Plan are adopted and followed for the Mist Mountain Project.

“British Columbia has put in place some of the toughest regulations for unconventional gas development in North America, and BP Canada will be bound by those,” said Neufeld. “BP has been engaging communities and other stakeholders in the region to share information and their environmental processes and seek input on their proposed project.”

In recognition of the Flathead Valley’s environmentally sensitive status, the provincial government has not included any land area within the Flathead River Basin.

“The BC Energy Plan states that government would not allow companies to surface discharge produced water from any CBG projects,” said Neufeld. “We’re keeping that commitment.”

Media
contact:
Jake Jacobs
Public Affairs Officer
Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources
250 952-0628

For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at http://www.gov.bc.ca.

December 05 2008 » News Clippings » The Northern View

Shell Shelves Klappan work for 2 Years

The provincial government has ordered Shell Canada to abandon any coalbed methane exploration plans it has for the Klappan area for two years.

Energy minister Richard Neufeld said it wants the company to conduct more discussions with the Tahltan who include the Klappan in their traditional territory and with the wider northwest community.

“Government is facilitating this by specifying no activity for two years,” said Neufeld.

“I commend both Shell Canada for showing leadership in making this decision and the Tahltan who have expressed their concerns and their interest in having more information.”

As it is, Shell had already announced a one-year exploration moratorium in the summer.

That followed a series of meetings and protests across the north concerning Shell’s plans.

It had been coming under increasing criticism by groups worried that underground water brought to the surface in the search for coalbed methane could be poisonous and affect fish habitat if released.

That’s because the Klappan contains the headwaters to the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers, prompting the area to be called the Sacred Headwaters.

Shell had already committed to not releasing underground water on the surface.

See article on Northern View website

December 05 2008 » News Clippings » CFTK

Shell is Out for Now

It may be a temporary victory but a victory nonetheless for those against Shell’s coalbed methane exploration project in what has been dubbed the ‘The Sacred Headwaters. Today the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Richard Neufeld announced a two year moratorium on coalbed methane. exploration in the Klappan.

Shannon McPhail who represents the Skeena Watershed Coalition says although the announcement is good news she is hoping to move towards a permanent moratorium.

Shell Canada will have to stop all drilling in the area during this period and further community consultation and research will occur before a decision is made on whether or not Shell will be allowed to proceed with the project.

See article on CFTK’s website

December 05 2008 » News Clippings » The Canadian Press

BC Goverenment Awards Tenure to BP Canada for Coalbed Methane Project

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The provincial government has given the green light to a contentious coalbed methane project in southeastern B.C.

Energy minister Richard Neufeld says BP Canada has been awarded tenure for its Mist Mountain project, near Fernie in the East Kootenay region.

“BP has been in the Kootenays for five years now, gathering information, doing environmental work and it’s come to a point where we actually need to look at that and say, ‘should we move forward with giving them tenure?”’ Neufeld said.

“That doesn’t give them the right to do anything but continue doing their work.”

The project exploration will go ahead over the objections of Fernie city council, which passed a resolution earlier this year condemning the project.

The council said BP Canada has not engaged the community in a transparent manner and that there are considerable unknowns to the project, including short-term and long-term environmental impacts.

Fernie chief administrative officer Allan Chabot said the community is also concerned about the project’s economic and social effects.

“The city was looking for baseline inventory data, socioeconomic impact analysis and environmental prior to the grant of tenure,” Chabot said.

Neufeld downplayed that criticism.

“Fernie is not the only area in the Kootenays. There are a number of communities that they didn’t say yes, but they didn’t say no. Fernie is the only one that said no. That’s not uncommon to have that happen,” Neufeld said.

Neufeld said BP will be bound by some of the toughest regulations for unconventional gas development in North America.

He said the government will not allow companies to surface discharge produced water from coalbed methane projects.

“All produced water has to be reinjected deep below the surface. That’s a regulation that is no place else in Canada,” Neufeld said.

The province previously approved coalbed methane exploration in the Klappan area in northwestern B.C.

Shell Canada abandoned that project in the face of growing dissent from local First Nations and locals.

On Friday, Neufeld announced that Shell Canada and the Tahltan First Nation have reached a two-year moratorium on coalbed methane drilling in the Klappan area.

Annita McPhee, chairwoman of the Tahltan Central Council, said the moratorium gives the Tahltan Nation an opportunity to explore issues relating to coalbed methane projects.

“We must be fully informed of the potential challenges that come with its development to ensure they align with Tahltan laws and values,” McPhee said in a news release.

Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition executive director Shannon McPhail said she was relieved that the project in northeast B.C.‘s Sacred Headwaters, near the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers, has been halted.

McPhail said the project’s risks just were not worth the gains.

“The only history to look at is the history of the coalbed methane industry itself and it’s got a devastating track record,” McPhail said.

“Coalbed methane has never been developed in a wild salmon bearing environment. So I don’t believe that the birthplace of three of the most important wild salmon rivers left in North America should be considered a lab testing site and that our wild salmon should be the guinea pigs.”

McPhail called the government inconsistent for announcing the moratorium at the same time as awarding another controversial project.

“I think it’s hypocritical of the government to give a moratorium in the Sacred Headwaters and not have it extend to the entire province,” she said.

“They’re saying one thing and what they’re doing in practice is a completely different thing.”

November 14 2008 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Candidates Trash Coalbed Methane Drilling

By Kat Lee

INCUMBENT MAYOR Jack Talstra says he’ll push for a 10-year moratorium on
drilling for coalbed methane in the Klappan region northeast of here.

He made the commitment at a North West Watch-hosted municipal all candidates
forum at the Kiva Cafe lastw night.

Around 100 people gathered to hear what three mayor candidates and 10
council candidates had to say about coalbed methane, economic development
and environmental sustainability. Council candidate Lorrie Gowen gave her
opening speech and left to attend a previously scheduled school trustee
all-candidates debate.

Ideas like the 100 mile diet, where food is gathered within a radius of 100
miles, was thrown out to the audience by some candidates, and more than one
candidate urged for more locally grown food. The idea of a recycling
facility in town was also brought up.

But one council candidate Bruce Martindale, while supporting the idea of
recycling, said he was concerned with its use in the political forum; people
need to think about reducing and reusing as well as recycling, he said.

Council incumbent Brad Pollard added that recycling is expensive and
trucking the materials increases the carbon footprint. He favoured ways to
reduce what is produced in the first place.

On the issue of coalbed methane, most candidates said flat out that they
would not be in favour of Shell drilling in the Klappan. Mayoral candidate
Murray Hamer said he would sign a petition banning drilling while Talstra
suggested a 10-year moratorium.

The third candidate, Dave Pernarowski, said a louder voice needs to be
heard, and that council sat silent when a resolution was brought to the city
earlier this year.

That was when the Friends of Wild Salmon brought a resolution to council
asking for the city’s support in suspending exploration in the Klappan, but
council wanted more information on the issue so it amended the resolution to
request the province to engage in consultations with all stakeholders. The
revised resolution passed unanimously.

A few new ideas came out when the candidates were asked about how economic
development could work to be environmentally sustainable.

Pollard suggested making airport lands have green infrastructure and tax
breaks on local food produces, while council candidate Carol Leclerc spoke
of promoting eco-tourism.

Council candidate James Cordeiro suggested giving businesses preferential
treatment for green plans with candidate Bruce Bidgood agreeing that tax
incentives could be given to promote certain businesses. Incumbent
councillor Marylin Davies said Terrace needed to be on a level playing
field, with power and access through roads and infrastructure.

Pernarowski said maybe the city should look at developing wind turbine power
and making a priority list of attainable developments, while Talstra had
four ideas for combining economic development with sustainability; the new
sportsplex was a green initiative that will save energy costs, he said,
while a green Co-op property, green airport lands, and changing city fleets
to bio-fuel could also be done.

The floor was then open to questions from the public. The beautification of
the city and revitalization of downtown was asked to the candidates, and
both Pernarowski and Talstra were asked of their personal opinions on power
projects.

Pernarowski said while he is not overly familiar with the topic, he is
looking to green power projects like run-of-river. Talstra said he is
learning about it, and after listening to Rafe Mair speak here recently he
says he agrees with the North West Watch’s stance on the issue.

Greg Knox, director of North West Watch, said today that the debate last
night was important because while the city has had talks with the business
sector, it has not had talks with other sectors.

Knox says the forum represented a changing constituency in the community,
and was an opportunity to bring people together and gave people a chance to
voice their concerns.

“It was a real community building event,” he said, adding that people were
able to speak with the candidates afterwards.

The evening was moderated by NWCC president Stephanie Forsyth.

November 11 2008 » News Clippings » BusinessWeek Magazine

Buried Secrets: Is Natural Gas Drilling Endangering Water Supplies?

By Abrahm Lustgarten
In July, a hydrologist dropped a plastic sampling pipe 300 feet down a water well in rural Sublette County, Wyo., and pulled up a load of brown oily water with a foul smell. Tests showed it contained benzene, a chemical believed to cause aplastic anemia and leukemia, in a concentration 1,500 times the level safe for people.

The results sent shockwaves through the energy industry and state and federal regulatory agencies.

Sublette County is the home of one of the nation’s largest natural gas fields, and many of its 6,000 wells have undergone a process pioneered by Halliburton calledhydraulic fracturing, which shoots vast amounts of water, sand and chemicals several miles underground to break apart rock and release the gas. The process has been considered safe since a 2004 study(PDF) by the Environmental Protection Agency found that it posed no risk to drinking water. After that study, Congress even exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Today fracturing is used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States.

Over the last few years, however, a series of contamination incidents have raised questions about that EPA study and ignited a debate over whether the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing may threaten the nation’s increasingly precious drinking water supply.

An investigation by ProPublica, which visited Sublette County and six other contamination sites, found that water contamination in drilling areas around the country is far more prevalent than the EPA asserts. Our investigation also found that the 2004 EPA study was not as conclusive as it claimed to be. A close review shows that the body of the study contains damaging information that wasn’t mentioned in the conclusion. In fact, the study foreshadowed many of the problems now being reported across the country.

The contamination in Sublette County is significant because it is the first to be documented by a federal agency, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. But more than 1,000 other cases of contamination have been documented by courts and state and local governments in Colorado, New Mexico, Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In one case, a house exploded after hydraulic fracturing created underground passageways and methane seeped into the residential water supply. In other cases, the contamination occurred not from actual drilling below ground, but on the surface, where accidental spills and leaky tanks, trucks and waste pits allowed benzene and other chemicals to leach into streams, springs and water wells

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of each contamination, or measure its spread across the environment accurately, because the precise nature and concentrations of the chemicals used by industry are considered trade secrets. Not even the EPA knows exactly what’s in the drilling fluids. And that, EPA scientists say, makes it impossible to vouch for the safety of the drilling process or precisely track its effects.

“I am looking more and more at water quality issues…because of a growing concern,” said Joyel Dhieux, a drilling field inspector who handles environmental review at the EPA’s regional offices in Denver. “But if you don’t know what’s in it I don’t think it’s possible.”

Of the 300-odd compounds that private researchers and the Bureau of Land Management suspect are being used, 65 are listed as hazardous by the federal government. Many of the rest are unstudied and unregulated, leaving a gaping hole in the nation’s scientific understanding of how widespread drilling might affect water resources.

Industry representatives maintain that the drilling fluids are mostly made up of non-toxic, even edible substances, and that when chemicals are used, they are just a tiny fraction of the overall mix. They say that some information is already available, and that releasing specific details would only frighten and confuse the public, and would come at great expense to the industry’s competitive business.

“Halliburton’s proprietary fluids are the result of years of extensive research, development testing,” said Diana Gabriel, a company spokeswoman, in an e-mail response. “We have gone to great lengths to ensure that we are able to protect the fruits of the company’s research…. We could lose our competitive advantage.”

“It is like Coke protecting its syrup formula for many of these service companies,” said Scott Rotruck, vice president of corporate development at Chesapeake Energy, the nation’s largest gas driller, which has been asked by New York State regulators to disclose the chemicals it uses.

Thanks in large part to hydraulic fracturing, natural gas drilling has vastly expanded across the United States. In 2007, there were 449,000 gas wells in 32 states, thirty percent more than in 2000. By 2012 the nation could be drilling 32,000 new wells a year, including some in the watershed that providesdrinking water to New York City and Philadelphia, some five percent of the nation’s population.

The rush to drill comes in part because newly identified gas reserves offer the nation an opportunity to wean itself from oil.

Natural gas, as T. Boone Pickens said recently, is “cleaner, cheaper… abundant, and ours.” Burning gas, used primarily to heat homes and make electricity, emits 23 percent less carbon dioxide than burning oil. Gas is the country’s second-largest domestic energy resource, after coal.

The debate over water arises at a critical time. In his last days in office President George W. Bush has pushed through lease sales and permits for new drilling on thousands of acres of federal land. President-elect Barak Obama has identified the leasing rush as one of his first pressing matters and is alreadyexamining whether to try to reverseBush’s expansion of drilling in Utah.

State regulators and environmentalists have also begun pressing the gas industry to disclose the chemicals they use and urging Congress to revisit the environmental exemptions hydraulic fracturing currently enjoys.

But in the meantime, the drilling continues.

In September, the Bureau of Land Management approved plans for 4,400 new wells in Sublette County, despite the unresolved water issues. Tests there showed contamination in 88 of the 220 wells examined, and the plume stretched over 28 miles. When researchers returned to take more samples, they couldn’t even open the water wells; monitors showed they contained so much flammable gas that they were likely to explode.

‘Big Wyoming’

News that water in Sublette County was contaminated was especially shocking because the area is so rural that until a few years ago cattle were still run down Main Street in Pinedale, the nearest town to the gas field. The county is roughly the size of the state of Connecticut but has fewer people than many New York City blocks. With so little industry, there was little besides drilling that people could blame for the contamination.

“When you just look at the data…the aerial extent of the benzene contamination, you just say…This is huge,” says Oberley, who is charged with water study in the area. “You’ve got benzene in a usable aquifer and nobody is able to verbalize well, using factual information, how the benzene got there.”

Other signs of contamination were also worrying residents. Independent tests in several private drinking wells adjacent to the anticline drilling showed fluoride — which is listed in Halliburton’s hydraulic fracturing patent applications and can cause bone damage at high levels — at almost three times the EPA’s maximum limit.

“We need the gas now more than ever,” says Fred Sanchez, whose water well is among those with high levels of fluoride. But gazing off his deck at the prized trout waters of the New Fork River, he wonders whether drilling has gone too far. “You just can’t helter skelter go drilling just because you have the right to do it. It’s not morally right to do it. There should be some checks and balances.”

Further east, in the town of Clark, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality found benzene in a residential well after an underground well casing cracked. In Pavilion, another small town, a series of drinking water wells began running with dark, smelly water, a problem a state official speculated might be linked to drilling nearby.

“There is no direct evidence that the gas drilling has impacted it,” says Mark Thiesse, a groundwater supervisor for the Wyoming DEQ. “But it sure makes you wonder. It just seems pretty circumstantial that it’s happening.”

On federal land, which is where most of the Sublette County wells are located, the BLM governs leasing and permitting for gas development, with secondary oversight from the state and only advisory input from the EPA. When the contaminated water results were first reported, both the BLM and the state downplayed their significance.

The EPA’s regional office in Denver sharply disagreed. But because it has only an advisory role in the federal review process, and hydraulic fracturing is exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act, there was little the EPA could do. It rebuked the BLM in a strongly worded letter and gave the development plans in Sublette County a rare “unsatisfactory” rating. It also recommended that the project be stopped until further scientific study could be done.

The BLM, backed by a powerful business lobby, ignored that recommendation. Why do a study if you can’t prove something is wrong, industry argued.

Drilling operators said the benzene came from leaky equipment on the trucks that haul water and waste to and from the drill sites — and in one or two cases, EPA scientists say that was likely. One theory put forth by the BLM blamed the benzene contamination on malicious environmentalists “hostile to gas production,” an accusation the agency later said it had no evidence of.

Thiesse, the DEQ supervisor, recounted a meeting where the debate dwindled down to semantics: “I called it contamination, and somebody said is it really contamination? What if it’s naturally occurring?”

The industry insisted, as it has for years, that hydraulic fracturing itself had never contaminated a well, pointing to an anecdotal survey done a decade ago by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a coalition of state regulatory bodies and, again, to the2004 study by the EPA.

“You have intervening rock in between the area that you are fracturing and the areas that provide water supplies. The notion that fractures are going to migrate up to those shallow formations — there is just no evidence of that happening,” says Ken Wonstolen, an attorney representing the Colorado Oil and Gas Association who has worked with the petroleum industry for two decades. “I think fracturing has been given a clean bill of health.”

A flurry of mail from industry representatives to the BLM said the sort of study the EPA wanted would needlessly slow production. “BLM’s restrictions on drilling in the Intermountain west have seriously reduced the supply of natural gas reaching consumers,” wrote the American Gas Association.

Washington leaned down on Pinedale too. The message, according to Chuck Otto, field manager for the BLM: Make this happen by November. The 4,400 new wells were approved in September without any deadline for cleaning up the contamination or further research. State regulators told ProPublica that hydraulic fracturing was not even considered as a possible cause.

“The BLM looks at it more as a business-driven process,” Otto said. “It’s not like I have Vice President Cheney calling me up and saying you need to get this done. But there definitely is that unspoken pressure…mostly from the companies, to develop their resources as they’d like to see fit…to get things done and get them done pretty fast.”

A Compromised Study

The 2004 EPA study(PDF) is routinely used to dismiss complaints that hydraulic fracturing fluids might be responsible for the water problems in places like Pinedale. The study concluded that hydraulic fracturing posed “no threat” to underground drinking water because fracturing fluids aren’t necessarily hazardous, can’t travel far underground, and that there is “no unequivocal evidence” of a health risk.

But documents obtained by ProPublica show that the EPA negotiated directly with the gas industry before finalizing those conclusions, and then ignored evidence that fracking might cause exactly the kinds of water problems now being recorded in drilling states.

Buried deep within the 424-page report are statements explaining that fluids migrated unpredictably — through different rock layers, and to greater distances than previously thought — in as many as half the cases studied in the United States. The EPA identified some of the chemicals as biocides and lubricants that “can cause kidney, liver, heart, blood, and brain damage through prolonged or repeated exposure.” It found that as much as a third of injected fluids, benzene in particular, remains in the ground after drilling and is “likely to be transported by groundwater.”

The EPA began preparing its report on hydraulic fracturing in 2000, after an Alabama court forced the agency to investigate fracturing-related water contamination there under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Political pressures were also mounting for the agency to clarify its position on fracturing. The 2001 Energy Policy, drafted in part by the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, a former Halliburton CEO, noted that “the gas flow rate may be increased as much as 20-fold by hydraulic fracturing.” While the EPA was still working on its report, legislation was being crafted to exempt hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Before that happened, however, the EPA sought an agreement with the three largest hydraulic fracturing companies, including Halliburton, to stop using diesel fuel in fracturing fluids. Diesel fuel contains benzene, and such a move would help justify the report’s conclusion that no further studies were needed.

“Our draft is pending release,” a senior EPA official wrote to Halliburton’s counsel in an August 2003 e-mail. “It would certainly strengthen our preliminary position not to continue studying the issue…if the service companies were able to remove diesel all together, or even move in that direction.”

In a subsequent meeting, an EPA official’s handwritten notes show that a Halliburton attorney asked federal officials, “Are we willing to entertain regulatory relief in other areas; eg: fewer inspections?”

“Willing…,” was the reply from Tracy Mehan, then the EPA’s assistant administrator for water.

A Halliburton spokesperson declined to comment on this exchange.

The diesel agreement(PDF) was signed. But according to the EPA, it isn’t legally enforceable and the agency hasn’t checked to see if diesel is still being used. Furthermore, the agreement applies only to fluids used in a specific kind of gas drilling, not all drilling across the United States.

Mehan did not return calls for comment about his negotiations. Roy Simon, associate chief of the Drinking Water Protection Division’s Prevention Branch at EPA headquarters in Washington says the “EPA still stands by the findings outlined in the (2004) report.”

But one of the report’s three main authors, Jeffrey Jollie, an EPA hydrogeologist, now cautions that the research has been misconstrued by industry. The study focused solely on the effect hydraulic fracturing has on drinking water in coal bed methane deposits, typically shallow formations where gas is embedded in coal. It didn’t consider the impact of above-ground drilling or of drilling in geologic formations deep underground, where many of the large new gas reserves are being developed today.

“It was never intended to be a broad, sweeping study,” Jollie says. “I don’t think we ever characterized it that way.”

Nevertheless, a few months after the report’s release, the sweeping 2005 Energy Policy Act was passed. Almost no attention was paid to the three paragraphs that stripped the federal government of most of its authority to monitor and regulate hydraulic fracturing’s impact on the environment. By default, that responsibility would now fall to the states.

“That pretty much closed the door,” said Greg Oberley, an EPA groundwater specialist working in the western drilling states. “So we absolutely do not look at fracking…under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It’s not done.”

Waste Hazards

On April 30, 2001 a small drilling company now owned by the Canadian gas company Encana fractured a well at the top of Dry Hollow, a burgeoning field in western Colorado that has seen one of the fastest rates of energy development in the nation.

The well sat at the end of a dirt drive among pinion pines and juniper at the crest of a small mesa overlooking the Colorado River. It was also less than 1,000 feet from the log farmhouse where Larry and Laura Amos lived.

As usual that day, water trucks lined up like toy soldiers on the three acre dirt pad cleared for drilling just across the Amos’ property line. They pumped 82,000 gallons of fluids at 3,600 pounds of pressure thousands of feet into the drill hole.

Suddenly the Amos’ drinking water well exploded like a Yellowstone geyser, firing its lid into the air and spewing mud and gray fizzing water high into the sky. State inspectors tested the Amos well for methane and found lots of it. They did not find benzene or gasoline derivatives and they did not test fracking fluids, state records show, because they didn’t know what to test for.

The Amoses were told that methane occurs naturally and is harmless. Inspectors warned them to keep the windows open and vent the basement, but they were never advised to protect themselves or their infant daughter from the water. It wasn’t until three years later, when Laura Amos was diagnosed with a rare adrenal tumor, that she started challenging the state about the mysterious chemicals that might have been in her well.

Much of what is known about the makeup of drilling fluids comes from the personal investigations of Theo Colborn, an independent Colorado-based scientist who specializes in low-dose effects of chemicals on human health and hastestified before Congress(PDF) on drilling issues. Although she opposes drilling, her research is referenced by scientists at the EPA, at the United States Geological Survey and at state-level regulatory agencies and is widely believed to be the most comprehensive information available.

Spurred by reports of water contamination in Colorado, Colborn painstakingly gathered the names of chemicals from shipping manifests that trucks must carry when they haul hazardous materials for oil and gas servicing companies. Whenever an accident occurred — a well spill in Colorado, or an explosion at a drilling site in Wyoming – she took water and soil samples and tested them for contaminants, adding the results to her list.

Industry officials say they use such tiny amounts of chemicals in the drilling – of the million or so gallons of liquid pumped into a well, only a fraction of one percent are chemicals – that they are diluted beyond harmful levels. But on some fracturing sites that tiny percentage translates to more than 10,000 gallons of chemicals, and Colborn believes even very low doses of some of the compounds can damage kidney and immune systems and affect reproductive development.

In Garfield County, there were signs this was already happening. Animals that had produced offspring like clockwork each spring stopped delivering healthy calves, according to Liz Chandler, a veterinarian in Rifle, Co. A bull went sterile, and a herd of beef cows stopped going into heat, as did pigs. In the most striking case, sheep bred on an organic dairy farm had a rash of inexplicable still births — all in close proximity to drilling waste pits, where wastewater that includes fracturing fluids is misted into the air for evaporation.

Among Colborn’s list of nearly 300 chemicals — some known to be cancer-causing — is a clear, odorless surfactant called 2-BE, used in foaming agents to lubricate the flow of fracking fluids down in the well. Colborntold Congress in 2007that it can cause adrenal tumors.

Laura Amos, who suffered from such a tumor, pressed Encana on whether the compound had been used to fracture the well near her house. For months the company denied 2-BE had been used. But Amos persisted, arguing her case on TV and radio. In January 2005, her lawyers obtained documents from Encana showing that 2-BE had, in fact, been used in at least one adjacent well.

“Our daughter was only six months old when fracturing blew up our water well,” Amos wrote in a letter to the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, an anti-drilling group. “I bathed her in that water every day. I also continued breast-feeding her for 18 more months…If there was a chemical in my body causing my tumor, she was exposed to it as well.”

In 2006, Amos stopped talking to the media after she accepted a reported multi-million settlement from Encana. The company was fined $266,000 for “failure to protect water-bearing formations and…to contain a release of (gas production) waste.” Yet investigators also concluded, without further explanation, that hydraulic fracturing was not to blame.

Asked about the Amos case and the rash of complaints in the area, an Encana spokesman said the company disagreed with the state’s judgment on the Amos case and emphasized that there was no proof that fracturing had caused the explosion. Environmentalists had created a climate of fear in the community, he added.

“The concerns residents have expressed — and some of them are legitimate and heartfelt concerns — a lot of them are out of misinformation,” said Doug Hock. “Just because chemicals are used at a site does not create risk. We have a proven process that helps us ensure that there are no pathways.”

‘The Tipping Point’

In the past 12 months a flurry of documented incidents has made such reports harder to dismiss.

“We’ve kind of reached the tipping point,” says Dhieux, the EPA inspector in Denver. “The impacts are there.”

In December 2007, a house in Bainbridge, Ohio exploded in a fiery ball. Investigators discovered that the neighborhood’s tap water contained so much methane that the house ignited. A studyreleased this month concluded that pressure caused by hydraulic fracturing pushed the gas, which is found naturally thousands of feet below, through a system of cracks into the groundwater aquifer.

In February a frozen 200-foot waterfall was discovered on the side of a massive cliff near Parachute, Colo. According to the state, 1.6 million gallons of fracturing fluids had leaked from a waste pit and been transported by groundwater, where it seeped out of the cliff. In a separate incident nearby in June, benzene was discovered in a place called Rock Spring. Three weeks later a rancher was hospitalized after he drank well water out of his own tap. Tests showed benzene in his water, and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission cited four gas operators, not knowing which one was responsible for the spill. Colorado state records show more than 1,500 spills since 2003, in which time the rate of drilling increased 50 percent. In 2008 alone, records show more than 206 spills, 48 relating to water contamination.

As more contamination cases are documented, state governments and Washington are being pressured to toughen oversight. One aim is to institutionalize the precautionary measures some companies are already experimenting with.

When ProPublica visited an Encana drilling operation in Pinedale, for example, the company was placing its drill rigs on raised platforms to protect the underlying landscape and using rubber pools to catch spilled fluids before they could seep into the soil. Drilling companies in New Mexico have begun storing waste in enclosed steel tanks rather than open pits.

Such efforts can add 10 percent to drilling costs, but they also dramatically lessen the environmental risks, an Encana employee said.

State regulators and Washington lawmakers though are increasingly impatient with voluntary measures and are seeking to toughen their oversight. In September, U.S. Congresswoman Diana DeGette and Congressman John Salazar, from Colorado, and Congressman Maurice Hinchey, from New York, introduced a bill that would undo the exemptions in the 2005 Energy Policy Act. Wyoming, widely known for supporting energy development, has begun updating its regulations at a local level, as have parts of Texas.

New Mexico has placed a one-year moratorium on drilling around Santa Fe, after a survey found hundreds of cases of water contamination from unlined pits where fracking fluids and other drilling wastes are stored. “Every rule that we have improved…industry has taken us to court on,” said Joanna Prukop, New Mexico’s cabinet secretary for Energy Minerals and Natural Resources. “It’s industry that is fighting us on every front as we try to improve our government enforcement, protection, and compliance…We wear Kevlar these days.”

The most stringent reforms are being pursued in Colorado. Last year it began a top-to-bottom re-write of its regulations, including a proposal to require companies to disclose the exact makeup of their fracking fluids — the toughest such rule in the nation.

In mid-August, the Colorado debate intensified when news broke that Cathy Behr, an emergency room nurse in Durango, Colo., had almost died after treating a wildcatter who had been splashed in a fracking fluid spill at a BP natural gas rig. Behr stripped the man and stuffed his clothes into plastic bags while the hospital sounded alarms and locked down the ER. The worker was released. But a few days later Behr lay in critical condition facing multiple organ failure.

Her doctors searched for details that could save their patient. The substance was a drill stimulation fluid called ZetaFlow, but the only information the rig workers provided was a vague Material Safety Data Sheet, a form required by OSHA. Doctors wanted to know precisely what chemicals make up ZetaFlow and in what concentration. But the MSDS listed that information as proprietary. Behr’s doctor learned, weeks later, after Behr had begun to recuperate, what ZetaFlow was made of, but he was sworn to secrecy by the chemical’s manufacturer and couldn’t even share the information with his patient.

News of Behr’s case spread to New York and Pennsylvania, amplifying the cry for disclosure of drilling fluids. The energy industry braced for a fight.

“A disclosure to members of the public of detailed information…would result in an unconstitutional taking of [Halliburton’s] property,” the company told Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. “A number of studies have concluded there are no confirmed incidents of contamination of drinking water aquifers due to stimulation operations…EPA reached precisely this conclusion after undertaking an extensive study.”

Then Halliburton fired a major salvo: If lawmakers forced the company to disclose its recipes, the letter stated, it “will have little choice but to pull its proprietary products out of Colorado.” The company’s attorneys warned that if the three big fracking companies left, they would take some $29 billion in future gas-related tax and royalty revenue with them over the next decade.

In August, the industry struck a compromise by agreeing to reveal the chemicals in fracturing fluids to health officials and regulators — but the agreement applies only to chemicals stored in 50 gallon drums or larger. As a practical matter, drilling workers in Colorado and Wyoming said in interviews that the fluids are often kept in smaller quantities. That means at least some of the ingredients won’t be disclosed.

“They’ll never get it,” says Bruce Baizel, a Colorado attorney with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, about the states’ quest for information. “Not unless they are willing to go through a lawsuit. When push comes to shove, Halliburton is there with its attorneys.”

Asked for comment, Halliburton would only say that its business depended on protecting such information. Schlumberger and BJ Services, the two other largest fracturing companies, did not return calls for comment.

Lee Fuller, vice-president for government relations at The Independent Petroleum Association of America, said the oil and gas industry’s reluctance to release information about drilling chemicals is to be expected. “These operations are ones where companies have spent millions of dollars,” he says. “They are not going to want to give up that competitive advantage. So I would fully expect that they will try to protect that right as long as they possibly can.”

Allison Battey, Kristin Jones and Jonathan Sidhu contributed to this report.

See original article here

November 06 2008 » Media Releases

No support for CBM from Terrace City Council Candidates

Results from a survey asking candidates for Terrace Mayor and Council if they supported protecting the Sacred Headwaters from coalbed methane development show that almost all candidates oppose the development and none will actively support it. The survey was conducted by Northwest Watch, a grassroots citizen’s group based in Terrace. See a few quotes from candidate responses below.

Mayoral Candidates

Jack Talstra – “I believe a moratorium should be placed on coalbed methane drilling for a defined period of time.”
Dave Pernarowski – “I fully support protecting the Sacred Headwaters from coal bed methane drilling.”
Murray Hamer- “Until there is a guarenteed way to drill without disruption to ground water this should be left alone. I would support the First Nations in their endeavor to halt Royal Dutch Shell from this type of resource extraction.”

Council Candidates

James Cordeiro – “I do not support coalbed methane drilling in our Sacred Headwaters (or any where else).”
Lance Detailer – “First I would like to inform you that I would vote against it, that is drilling in or anywhere near the sacred head waters.”
Brian Downie – “I do support responsible resource development, based upon the protection of the salmon resource for aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities in this Region.”
Brad Pollard – “I support protecting the “Sacred Headwaters” area, and any other area in the province, from any development that is not economically, socially, or environmentally sustainable. Development of a resource without a known and socially-accepted level of risk is unconscionable.”
Marilyn Davies – “In order to support a plan to the exclusion of all others, I must be firmly convinced. I will continue to work for scientific information upon which to base a decision.”
Bruce Martindale – “I do believe that we should protect the Sacred Headwaters from coalbed methane drilling. I would like to say that I am not opposed to sustainable development that is considerate of the environment.”
Bruce Bidgood – “Just say no: to coalbed methane extraction. This is not anti-industry/business rhetoric or a callous disregard for the potential benefits that the resultant mining jobs might have for our community.”
Lynne Christiansen – “I do support protecting the sacred head waters . At this point I can not see how methane drilling can be done safely and not effect our rivers.”
Carol LeClerc – “To be honest, I have not seen enough scientific information about the coal bed methane drilling process to give an answer based on fact rather than emotion. I believe water is precious and becoming more precious as the years go by.”
Lorrie Gowen – NO RESPONSE

October 21 2008 » News Clippings » Terrace Standard

Drill master Anti-coalbed methane campaign helps MP

ONE OF the largest marches in recent times took place in Terrace in late July as those opposed to Shell Canada’s coalbed methane drilling plans walked over the Sande Overpass to the Elks Hall, the location of a Shell information open house. KAT LEE PHOTO

MANY POLITICAL observers will point to defining moments during an election as a reason why one candidate or party won or, conversely, lost at the polls.

Nathan Cullen’s victory Oct. 14 wasn’t the result of a defining moment. Rather, it was a defining cause – coalbed methane.

At first, opposition to Shell Canada’a plans to drill for coalbed methane in the Klappan had been fairly isolated – limited to some members of the Tahltan nation and a few environmental groups who had drawn an environmental line in the sand.

For those Tahltan opposing Shell, it was also a matter of control over activity on their traditional territory. There was simply a lack of a broad-based Tahltan community consensus on what kind of development, if any, should happen in that area.

Unlike more remote and inaccessible places in Tahltan traditional territory, the Klappan is used regularly by the Tahltan as a camping and hunting area.

It also contains the headwaters of the Stikine, Nass and Skeena rivers, leading to the Klappan being dubbed the “Sacred Headwaters,” a far more emotive phrase to use in campaigns.

That issue of water became important as coalbed methane can be “trapped” with water pockets and those pockets could contain potentially harmful salinity and sodium levels.

The prospect of that water being pumped to the surface and somehow mixing with water eventually bound for the Stikine, Nass and Skeena rivers brought out fears about something important to the vast majority of northwesterners – salmon.

Add all of that up and there were the makings of a broad-based coalition that breached social, political and economic lines.

There were two rallies in Smithers and an all-day meeting attended by 400 people in Hazelton.

And, in Terrace, a July rally and march organized by newly-formed North West Watch from George Little Park across the Sande Overpass to a Shell open house Elks Hall drew more than 300 people. Cullen spoke at the rally.

“We took that, and made it ours,” said Cullen in an interview on election night.

“We knew what it was. It really symbolized the development issues here in the northwest,” said Cullen. “It brought in First Nations interests, the environment and fish.”

The overall issue even made it to the floor of the annual gathering of B.C.’s local governments in Penticton in September. Municipal councils from around the northwest were asked to pass resolutions to oppose drilling in the Klappan. But the City of Prince Rupert went further. It sponsored a like-worded resolution that was passed at the Union of B.C. Municipalities gathering.

By then, however, it may have been a moot point because Shell, in August, announced a one-year moratorium on its drilling program.

Cullen’s main opponent in the election, Houston mayor and Conservative candidate Sharon Smith, did not address the coalbed methane issue directly in her advertising or literature.

She did, in a TV ad, say she supported sustainable development but did not put a local face or example to that term.

At the all candidates meeting in Terrace Oct. 1, and two nights later in Smithers, Smith was a bit more forthcoming on her coalbed methane stance.

“Definitely, I feel myself, personally, that this is an issue of grave concern,” she said in Terrace. “And I would be opposed to any further exploration around the coalbed methane.”

Cullen then said a consensus among the candidates had been reached.

Perhaps so. But it was really his issue and it was one that helped provide his victory.

As an anecdote, Cullen used the consensus word again during his acceptance speech in Terrace, this time in relating a conversation he had with an older Dutch gentlemen election morning in Smithers.

“You stop that coalbed methane,” Cullen recounted the man saying. “You don’t let the bastards in.”

October 16 2008 » News Clippings » The Province

Three Six-Packs and a Hat Trick for Veteran MP’s

~Jack Keating
It was a six-pack victory for Dick Harris and Jim Abbott of the Conservatives in northern and southeastern B.C. Dick Harris won his sixth consecutive election in the Prince George region last night. Jim Abbott romped to his six straight triumph in Kootenay-Columbia. Harris captured more than 50 per cent of the votes to win the riding of Cariboo-Prince George over New Democrat Bev Collins, while Abbott easily defeated the NDP’s Leon Pendleton.

Meanwhile, New Democrat Nathan Cullen celebrated his third consecutive victory in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.‘s largest riding, which includes Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Smithers, Terrace and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Sharon Smith of the Conservatives came a distant second.

Abbott, whose riding takes in Cranbrook, Creston, Fernie, Golden, Revelstoke and Sparwood, predicted that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will govern as though he has a majority government. “But clearly we have governed with a minority and a far weaker minority [since January 2006] as though we had a majority, and so I would anticipate that that’s likely what the prime minister will continue to do,” said Abbott from his campaign headquarters in Cranbrook.

In Skeena-Bulkley Valley, Cullen led the charge against Royal Dutch Shell’s controversial proposal to undertake coalbed methane drilling in the Sacred Headwaters of the riding’s three major rivers. “I’m just proud that the northwest can have representation that talks about the environment and the economy in the same breath,” said Cullen from his NDP campaign headquarters in Terrace. “It is unthinkable that Shell could be allowed to experiment with this sort of risky drilling at the source of three of our greatest wild salmon rivers [the Skeena, Nass and Stikine],” said Cullen.

“It’s one of the most insane projects I’ve ever seen, and the northwest has yet made another statement about how they feel about our water.”

jkeating@theprovince.com

October 07 2008 » News Clippings

Candidates give coalbed methane a thumbs down

All candidates looking to represent the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding during the next term in Ottawa stated publicly that they are opposed to coalbed methane exploration in the Klappan area.

The agreement came after a question was put to Conservative candidate Sharon Smith asking if she believes there should be a moratorium on coalbed methane exploration in the Klappan area, also known as the Sacred Headwaters.

“Definitely, I feel myself, personally, that this is an issue of grave concern,” Smith said. “And I would be opposed to any further exploration around the coalbed methane.”

The only way that anything should move forward is through scientific exploration and actual information, she said, otherwise there should be no proceeding with coalbed methane.

“My understanding is that the techniques that they are using currently are not necessarily proven and safe,” she said.

Christian Heritage party candidate Rod Taylor agreed with Smith.

“I do oppose coalbed methane development in our area at this time,” he said. “The technology is unproven.”

Taylor said the issue was especially important in the Northwest with regards to the sacred headwaters of the Stikine, Nass and Skeena rivers.

“Many of us depend on our freshwater and salmon spawning streams,” he said.

He cited the use of First Nations territory without proper treaty negotiations between the government and the Tahltan as another reason against the exploration and said it was high time the government steps up and meets with First Nations about it.

NDP member and incumbent MP Nathan Cullen’s rebuttal drew a large round of clapping and cheering from the audience.

“Without dissent now, the candidates sitting before you have now all come forward opposed to the coalbed methane project in the sacred headwaters,” he said, adding it was a historical moment.

“This is a good moment we have just achieved.”

He noted Smith’s opposition and said he would remember it. Cullen later chastised the federal and provincial government for risking the area for the benefit of multinational companies and governmental coffers.

“This is what we would call irresponsible leadership,” he said.

Green party candidate Hondo Arendt said it was nice to see unity amongst parties on the issue, and reiterated that the exploration is in no way green.

“When it comes to energy producing industries….we’d probably put coalbed methane dead bottom of things we would support,” he said.

October 03 2008 » Media Releases

Shell Coalbed Methane: Time to Press Eject

All six federal candidates oppose drilling in the Sacred Headwaters

The call for Royal Dutch Shell to pull up stakes and go home is louder now than ever, say representatives with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition.

The group was responding to news that now all six federal candidates in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding, led by incumbent New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen, oppose Shell’s project.

“Shell and the BC government cannot deny the many diverse voices calling for Shell to pull out,” said McPhail. “It is coming from all sectors of the community, and from every political stripe – and it’s getting louder every day.”

Last week, the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) and BC First Nations Summit both passed resolutions against Shell’s project. The UBCM called on the BC government to suspend Shell’s drilling in the Sacred Headwaters, while the First Nations Summit called for a 10-year moratorium on all coalbed methane drilling in BC.

“These resolutions show that we in the Skeena are not alone in our struggle with the coalbed methane industry,” said McPhail. “There has been serious community opposition nearly everywhere in BC coalbed methane drilling has been proposed. People are going to stick together on this.”

Last month, under pressure from northwest communities and First Nations, Shell announced they were “pausing” their drilling plans in the Sacred Headwaters until the end of 2008.

“Shell may have pressed pause, but the people of this region want them to press eject. Their project is simply not wanted in our watersheds.”

“If Shell chooses to push its drilling plans against the wishes of BC’s communities and First Nations, it will show a fundamental disrespect for local residents and indigenous people,” McPhail added.

For interviews, please contact
Shannon McPhail: (250) 842-2494, or cell (250) 842-8738

October 01 2008 » News Clippings » The Tyee

Shell stays in Klappan, ignores calls by UBCM and First Nations

~Amanda Follet

Shell Canada plans to continue working in remote Klappan Valley, in disregard of two public calls for the Dutch-owned oil company to cease its pursuit of coalbed methane in northwestern B.C.

“Although we are pausing our drilling plans, we are continuing some exploration activity,” in the form of environmental studies involving wildlife, fish and surface water sampling, Shell Canada spokesperson Larry Lalonde said Tuesday.

Shell’s persistence flies in the face of two influential resolutions passed last week.

On Friday, the First Nations Summit called for a 10-year moratorium on coalbed methane drilling in the province.

“The coalbed methane industry is infringing on aboriginal title and rights all over British Columbia,” Wet’suwet’en executive director Debbie Pierre said in a news release. “Our wildlife and wild salmon are threatened and we are calling on Gordon Campbell to halt all drilling until we have a better approvals system in place.”

And on Thursday, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities asked the province to suspend Shell’s work in the Klappan until “the majority of residents in the region are satisfied that such development does not jeopardize their values and existing economic activities.”

Opponents to coalbed methane development argue that the gas, which is found buried between coal seams deep within the earth, carries too many environmental risks and too few regulatory obligations. Previous attempts at coalbed methane exploration elsewhere in the province have come to naught, mainly due to public opposition.

In 2007, the Wet’suwet’en First Nation successfully quashed plans to drill for coalbed methane near Telkwa, B.C.

Shell was granted tenure to explore for coalbed methane in the Klappan in 2004, and driled three test walls that year. In 2006, local residents set up a blockade on the access road into the area, resulting in the arrest of Tahltan elders.

After spending millions to upgrade an abandoned provincial rail bed that serves as the only road into the Klappan, Shell Canada announced in August it would voluntarily suspend drilling in the area while it consults with First Nations.

“Essentially, that’s to allow for us to have dialogue with the newly elected members of the Tahltan First Nation,” Lalonde said this week. “We’re also doing it to continue our dialogue with other First Nations, municipalities, environmental groups and other people who are interested from the region.”

The Klappan region is claimed as traditional territory by the Tahltan First Nation, and has been dubbed the Sacred Headwaters because it is the source of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers.

Shell Canada Ltd, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, is also developing gas projects in northeastern B.C.

October 01 2008 » News Clippings » Nurses Union Update

Troubled Waters

Terrace RN Carla Briggs is part of a Coalition fighting to stop Shell Oil from drilling for coalbed methane gas in the Sacred Headwaters

Carla Briggs moved to Terrace two years ago to care for patients at Mills Memorial Hospital and to take advantage of the area’s spectacular wilderness and unlimited outdoor activities. “I love it up here in the North West,” she says. “It’s so easy to get out of town to go camping, hiking, kayaking or ﬁ shing.” But Briggs says the region’s pristine beauty is under threat from Shell Oil. The multinational oil company wants to drill thousands of coalbed methane gas wells in a remote 400,000-hectare area north of Terrace, known as the Sacred Headwaters. Rather than remaining silent about Shell’s contro- versial plan, Briggs and other alarmed Terrace residents recently launched North West Watch to help ﬁ ght Shell’s plans and to raise awareness about other local environmental issues. “We have a lot of young peo- ple with fresh ideas who want to get involved and have their say,” says the Terrace RN and BCNU steward who would like to see more young members become union activists. “There are a lot of similarities between advocating for nurses and patients and speaking out for the environment,” explains Briggs. “Just as it is important for the government to listen to the concerns of frontline nurses, it’s also important for them to listen to our concerns about the environment.” Briggs says that in 2004 the BC Liberals granted Shell exclusive rights to explore for coalbed methane gas in the Sacred Headwaters, the source of three of BC’s most important salmon rivers: the Nass, Stikine and Skeena.

The pristine wilderness area has been the Tahltan First Nation’s home for millennia. It’s also a sanctu- ary for grizzly bears, wolves, caribou, stone sheep and spawning wild salmon. Shell drilled three wells in 2004 and, despite growing opposition, plans to drill 14 more test wells later this year. Opponents believe that if Shell gets its way, it will eventually be thousands of wells connected by thousands of kilometres of roads and pipelines
crisscrossing the Sacred Headwaters and polluting its rivers. Coalbed methane gas is found deep in the earth, trapped in ancient coal seams. It is extremely difﬁ cult to extract and comes with vast quantities of dirty wastewater that contain a toxic chemical stew. Ranchers in the western US have seen the wastewater poison their crops, cattle and drinking water. Some Alberta farmers say they can light their tapwater on ﬁ re because of
the methane gas that seeps into their wells. Shell claims its exploration won’t damage the Sacred Headwaters or the rivers the salmon rely on. But Shell’s opponents – a broad-based coalition of First Nations, loggers, ﬁshers, environmentalists, hunters, business people and local politicians – don’t believe the company. “People come to this area from all over the world because of the ﬁshing and the scenery,” says Briggs. “And every year the Skeena River’s wild salmon and steelhead contribute over $110 million to the region’s economy. Why jeopardize our future? “Like a lot of Shell’s opponents,” adds Briggs, “I’m ﬁghting because I want future generations to have the same opportunities to enjoy the wilderness as I do now.”

To learn more about North West Watch, and the fight to save the Sacred Headwaters, contact Carla Briggs at tre_qt69@hotmail.com.

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