Upstream News Roundup
Job shortages for the oilsands, caribou dying to get onto Facebook, fracking hearings in Yukon, and small town USA opposition to the 'tar sands.'
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Upstream News, Downstream Views:
‘As Long As The Rivers Flow’ Conference Features World Class Heavy Hitters for Environment and Justice
With a stacked line-up of big name guest speakers, organizers are hoping the conference will open "a conversation with Canadians about the current state of treaty relationships, and how we can move forward together, understanding our respective obligations.”
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Final First Nation Officially Withdraws from Joint Oil Sands Monitoring Program
And then there were none. The Fort McMurray First Nation put the last nail in the coffin of Aboriginal involvement in the federal-provincial Joint Oil Sands Monitoring (JOSM) program last week, becoming the fifth and final Aboriginal representative to leave the table.
Downstream Impacts of Site C Will be Measured: Scientists
Though it will be too late for those in the Peace-Athabasca to have their concerns heard with respect to the Site C dam by the time the modelling is done, the research will at least be able to send a stronger signal the next time a review panel is burdened with the task of evaluating just how far downstream the impacts of flow regulation will reach.
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Consumption Advisories Need to Consult, or Sound Tone-Deaf
These gull and tern eggs reflect a cultural tradition. A way of life that has been practiced for thousands of years. A way for parents and grandparents to teach kids about the world around them. A tradition that is being undermined by upstream development. A tradition that is getting harder and harder to practice.
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News From Abroad: An oil pipeline rupture in Los Angeles has drenched a gentlemen's club's walls and roof and formed a pond of black gold that was 'knee deep.' Responders say it will take around 24 hours to clean up the ground, but the club will take longer after having been soaked in flammable lubricant.
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The Peace Athabasca Delta Got 99 Problems, but Site C Ain’t One
In today's gob smacking news, the Site C Environmental Assessment Joint Review Panel has determined that there will be "no measurable effect" to the Peace Athabasca Delta or the communities that call it home. How did they reach this conclusion???
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A U.N. special rapporteur (a fancy word for reporter) today blasted Canada for, among other things failure to consult around pipeline development, "which is contributing to an atmosphere of contentiousness and mistrust that is conducive neither to beneficial economic development nor social peace." He continues, "resource extraction should not occur on lands subject to aboriginal claims without adequate consultations with, and the free, prior and informed consent of, the indigenous peoples concerned." Game over? Naw.
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Line in the Sand puts Human Face on the Northern Gateway Opposition
Be aware, reader; the way other Canadians are being treated on these environmental and First Nations sovereignty issues are likely coming down the pipe to a backyard year you. Knowing this is the first step to making a difference.
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