Pipeline agreement between BC and Alberta good news - Coastal First Nations executive director

Coastal First Nations executive director Art Sterritt said the new pipeline framework agreement between Premiers Christy Clark and Alison Redford, announced Nov. 4, is good news forcing the Alberta government to recognize First Nations consultation rights. “For once the Alberta government has recognized that BC First Nations have Aboriginal rights and title, and what they don’t understand very clearly is that First Nations in BC are going to have to approve this project, Northern Gateway, if it was ever to go ahead,” Sterritt told CFTK TV. Sterritt said the greatest concern for the Coastal First Nations is a spill and not having the ability of cleaning it up or containig it. He said the agreement will show Premier Redford the dangers of shipping oil by sea. One of the terms of the agreement is the creation of world-leading marine spill prevention and recovery systems. “So Alberta making those commitments to looking at those I think is going to make them step back and realize that this is not an easy thing to do,” Sterritt said. The agreement does not address the fact that no technology exists to clean up diluted bitumen. “Industry has not invested any dollars to either prevent oil spills or clean them up. A recent BC government oil spill study supports our view. It found that only three to four per cent of a relative small oil spill off the north coast would be recovered in the first five days,” Sterritt said.