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Northern Pipelines, Economies, Alaska Native and Canadian Aboriginal People Are Interdependent
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Our Comment:
Transportation systems like pipelines require rights of way. Rights of way and subsistence hunting and fishing and agricultural areas very often overlap proposed pipeline routes. All stakeholders care about the safety of pipeline operations. For sure, all stakeholders wish to maximize their own income streams. Without access to natural resources, natural resource companies cannot survive. Without the revenue provided by natural resource companies, rural, regional and even national economies would have difficulty sustaining their citizens' ways of life. We could think of this economic cycle of life as, "mutually assured sustainability". Some legal gladiators, like environmental groups, however, may have multiple goals of minimizing ecological effects of (or flat out stopping) development, fund raising, member recruitment and crisis management as a key to attracting new and greater levels of contributions. However, one should carefully note that the total disapproval of a project that environmental activists oppose may enrich their far-away NGO coffers while impoverishing citizen stakeholders in all directly affected rural, regional and national economies. This excellent Calgary Herald story by James Wood demonstrates the a laudable appreciation of both developers and traditional peoples to create sustainable models of cooperation and development. In Alaska, we are encouraged by Alaska Native Corporation relationships with Shell's Arctic OCS program–and other natural resource projects. But, as above, we note that environmental activists seeking destruction of the project could seriously diminish the entire future economy of Alaska, with negative impacts, as well, on the national treasury and national security interests in the Arctic. -dh |
Alaska Natives, Canadian Aboriginals and Northern economies depend on oil and gas development and the transportation systems moving the resources to market.Calgary Herald by James Wood. The head of the Assembly of First Nations told a Calgary business crowd Wednesday the energy industry must do a better job on safety and protecting the environment if it wants to earn the trust of Canada’s aboriginal people.
Perry Bellegarde, speaking at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce luncheon, said First Nations are watching the recent spill of bitumen from a state-of-the-art Nexen pipeline south of Fort McMurray.
“They have the best technology in place. What happened? That shouldn’t happen,” said Bellegarde, who comes from the Black Bear First Nation ….
First Nation opposition has been a major factor in stalling Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposed to connect Alberta’s oilsands to Kitimat, B.C., for shipment to Asia. Resistance by aboriginal groups could also hamper TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Energy East line to the Atlantic coast.
Bellegarde noted there is a vast difference of opinion among individual First Nations toward pipelines, with some interested in the economic potential of the projects and others fiercely opposed.
“If the industry can assure people there are systems in place — better systems — they will be more open to transportation, to the pipelines,” he said.
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Bellegarde said the oilpatch needs to engage with indigenous people, suggesting a system in which resource companies must demonstrate their commitment to aboriginal economic development and employment before development permits are issued.
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“We’re not opposed to development, but we want to make sure the footprint’s not like this,” he added, holding his arms wide.
Greg Stringham, vice-president with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, was in attendance for Bellegarde’s speech at the Hyatt Regency and said it was “inspiring.”
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Blaine Favel, another former FSIN chief who is now the executive chairman of Calgary-based One Earth Oil and Gas Inc., told the chamber crowd that “the old way of doing things can’t work anymore when it comes to energy issues.”
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Excerpts above; read full story here. -dh
With files from Deborah Yedlin, Calgary Herald and The Canadian Press.
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