A group of protesters from a U.S.-based environmental group have added their voices to the Trans Mountain Pipeline debate.
The organization, Mosquito Fleet, along with Protectors of the Salish Sea, Greenpeace USA, 350 Seattle, and more, gathered a flotilla to speak out against the pipeline.
The kayakers paddled out to Kinder Morgan’s terminal in Seattle in an attempt to “spread the resistance into Washington state.” More than 30 kayakers took to Elliot Bay to block the Kinder Morgan oil tanker.
“Together, we will stop this pipeline as one Salish Sea, because solidarity knows no borders,” reads the event page. “We need to act now! Kinder Morgan has until May 31 to decide the fate of this pipeline. First Nations-led resistance has already pushed them to the brink.”
The mass action group gathered on land as well as in the sea to protest the Canadian pipeline expansion. Mosquito Fleet says that the pipeline threatens to increase the toxic tar sands through Washington waters by 700%, while “trampling Indigenous rights and destabilizing our global climate.”
The Alberta government has spent $1.29 million on a nationwide advertising campaign for the pipeline, with about $700,000 of that dedicated to advertising in B.C., including billboards and television and radio advertising.
The campaign is set to continue until the pipeline is fully operational.
The two provincial leaders did meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in April to discuss the project. After the meeting, Trudeau said that it is ultimately a decision for the Federal Government, but it will require compromise.
He added that they are in financial discussions with Kinder Morgan to “remove uncertainty” from the project, and are pursuing legislative options as well.
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