A group of 61 British Columbia First Nations has united against a proposed pipeline to deliver oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the West Coast port of Kitimat.

The First Nations say they do not want the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway Pipeline project proposed by Enbridge on their territories.

The group says the twin pipelines running 1,170 kilometres from an oilsands hub near Edmonton pose the risk of an oil spill either along the pipeline itself or from tanker traffic along B.C.’s coast.

“Civil disobedience is not out of the question,” said Larry Nooski, from the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation near Fraser Lake.

Chief Dolly Abraham of the Taka Lake First Nations delivered a signed declaration to the Enbridge office in downtown Vancouver, after security at the building refused to allow the group to go up to the company offices.

Enbridge has been under fire in recent months for two high-profile pipeline leaks in the U.S. Midwest.

In July, a pipeline in southern Michigan spilled millions of litres of crude into the Kalamazoo river, and less than two months later, another line leaked in the Chicago area.

One of the proposed Northern Gateway lines would ship oilsands crude to the Pacific coast for export to energy-hungry Asian markets, while the other would bring in imported condensates, which are used to dilute heavy oilsands crude so it can flow more freely in pipelines.

First Nations and environmentalists have been vehemently fighting Enbridge’s proposal.

The group, calling itself the Save the Fraser Gathering of Nations, took out a full-page ad in Thursday’s Globe and Mail to declare that they will not allow Enbridge to transport tar sands oil across their lands and watersheds.

“An oil spill in our lands and rivers would destroy our fish, poison our water and devastate our people, our livelihoods and our futures,” the ad said.

“We will protect our rivers from Enbridge oil,” it declared.

The company quickly responded to the ad by saying “every project will have its opponents as well as its supporters,” in a statement distributed to media.

Northern Gateway said the public regulatory review process that will take place over the next two years will allow everyone to have their concerns addressed.

“Participating in — rather than protesting — the process is the best way for people to ensure their voices are heard,” the statement said, adding the company wants to ensure maximum participation of aboriginal communities and meaningful economic impact.

Northern Gateway said oil pipelines are not new to B.C. and can be operated safely.

The statement said there are 30 formal protocol agreements signed with aboriginal groups along the proposed corridor, and that the company will work with groups that have concerns as the project moves forward in the regulatory process.

Alberta’s oil sands are the second-largest crude oil reserve in the world.
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