British Columbia, Canada – Two activists from Greenpeace Canada have occupied an essential piece of equipment to be used in the construction of Kinder Morgan’s new tar sands oil pipeline. The peaceful protest aims to resist Kinder Morgan’s plans to drill a path through Indigenous lands on Burnaby Mountain, a site of pipeline protest location in Canada.

“We’re here in solidarity with Indigenous Water Protectors and Land Defenders who do not consent to the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline in their territory. We’re here because this pipeline poses too great a threat to the land, air, and water. We can’t let it go through — so we’re exposing the destructive drill Kinder Morgan would prefer to keep hidden away,” said Mary Lovell, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States who calls the Pacific Northwest home.

Climbing duo, Mary Lovell and Laura Yates, climbed the Tunnel Boring Machine just before dawn. From atop what they’ve dubbed the ‘monster drill’, they lowered a banner reading “Protect Water, Stop Pipelines” and waved a giant flag reading “Here’s the Drill: Stop KM.”

Greenpeace Canada tracked the ‘monster drill’ from Germany on a cross-continental journey to a holding facility in the Vancouver suburb of Delta, where the ongoing protest is taking place.[1] The drill is essential for the completion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.[2]

The climbers intend to remain in place for as long as possible. They hope to expose the ‘monster drill’, and highlight the people-powered movement to stop new oil pipelines that threaten human rights, water and wildlife, and contribute to climate change.

Greenpeace Canada is calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to abandon his consideration of a pipeline bail out following an ultimatum from Kinder Morgan, which — in the latest example of its bullying tactics — has threatened to cancel the project if the federal government doesn’t quash the British Columbia government’s opposition to the project by 31 May.

Kinder Morgan isn’t the only oil pipeline company to use bullying tactics. ETP, the company that built the Dakota Access pipeline, is suing Greenpeace entities in a baseless $900m SLAPP suit, falsely accusing the groups of being a “criminal enterprise” that orchestrated the Standing Rock protests.

“From the fight against Kinder Morgan to those against Energy Transfer Partners, TransCanada and Enbridge, Greenpeace stands with a united movement to stop oil companies’ new pipelines from risking water pollution, fuelling climate change and violating Indigenous rights,” added Lovell.

ENDS

Notes:

[1] Tunnel boring, if the pipeline project continues, would begin from Kinder Morgan’s Westridge Marine Terminal.

[2] More than 200 people have already been arrested resisting Kinder Morgan’s pipeline in solidarity with Coast Salish communities and a poll released on Friday shows that more than half a million people in B.C. may also be willing to undertake civil disobedience.

Photos and videos:

https://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJXFRUVS

Contacts:

Jesse Firempong, Communications Officer, Greenpeace Canada: +1 778-996-6549, [email protected]

Leola Abraham, Global Communications lead, Greenpeace USA: +1 202-413-8930, [email protected]

Greenpeace International Press Desk: +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), [email protected]