We're Still under Attack from Greedocracy Pillage and Plunder
December 10, 2013
People in Mi'kmaq territory get a bit of a break for awhile now after SWN
Corp., on behalf of Irving Oil, pulled out last week. They face ongoing
police harassment, court cases and lawsuits. Four Mi'kmaq men remain in
custody since the RCMP attack on October 17. Now out of the media
spotlight, will the Mi'kmaq Original People get the support they need to
recover??
Meanwhile, all across Turtle Island, the struggle to protect Mother Earth
and our Future Generations is far from over.
It looks to us like Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources' recent
"cancellation" was a ruse, a bluff to secure cheap electricity for their
proposed multi $$$billion chromium project in the "Ring of Fire". Now,
while Ontarions will pay higher and higher electricity costs, Cliffs will
get a special deal. Ontario has to build all the infrastructure too -
roads, rail, dams and transmission lines - which means taxpayers foot the
bill. Yet these polytricksters want to assure us that we will benefit.
"Where is the precedent for that?" we must ask.
Most of Ontario is part of Anishnaabe territory, which was negotiated in
fraudulent treaties whereby the Crown never acted with honour or in good
faith. All the treaties must be renegotiated to ensure Indigenous
sovereignty and rights which have been continually breached, trampled and
ignored for far too long.
The oligarchs always act as if their projects are a done deal and an
absolute necessity. Keep in mind that the major use of such minerals as
chromite is for the military and perpetuation of a global empire.
It's a sellout sellout on every level.
The below article mentions Capreol, a town near the proposed chromite mine
site. Is it a coincidence that the "Indigenous" member on the NEB
National Energy Board is a man from near Capreol which is a proposed
location for the DGR Deep Geological Repository for nuclear waste?? What
kind of military stronghold is being built on Anishnaabe Aki??
It sure looks to us like the ultimate destruction of Anishnaabe heartland
is being planned.
Over in northern Alberta, the oil mongers - Royal Dutch Shell PLC,
Marathon Oil Corp. and Chevron Corp. - have come up with an utterly insane
idea to expand their multi $$$billion bitumen mining operations at
JackPine, about 70 km north of Fort McMurray in Cree territory. They want
to destroy 8500 hectares of wetlands and set aside a protected area of 730
hectares of grasslands to compensate for this destruction.
According to CBC, "Shell's assessment projects that 185,872 hectares of
wetlands in the area will be lost or altered as a result of the Jackpine
Mine expansion and other industrial activity... 21 kilometres of the
Muskeg River would be destroyed as a result of the mine extension." And
that's Shell's calculations! What about ours??
This is brutal. Keep in mind too, a significant percentage of oil is used
to fuel the huge number of wars of occupation taking place all over Planet
Earth. War itself is the biggest business keeping the capitalist
"economy" going!!
Canada's Federal Environment Minister Leona "PosterGirl" Aglukkaq said she
reviewed “mitigation measures” she considers appropriate when she made her
decision on Jackpine. “I determined that the designated project is likely
to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Ms. Aglukkaq
referred to the Tory cabinet [who get their marching orders from the PCO
Privy Council Office] which “decided that the significant adverse
environmental effects that the designated project is likely to cause, are
justified in the circumstances."
Can someone let the migratory birds know that instead of resting and
feeding in their usual marshes, they will have to touch down in an old cow
pasture some hundreds of km away. The caribou also need to be notified of
these changes to their ancient habitual routes. And the fish in the
water, will they understand what is happening when they suffocate to
death?
Let's not be fooled anymore by these sleazy performers and tricksters.
They have no intention of sharing the phenomenal wealth under our feet,
the wealth that mingles with the dust of Our Ancestors. They'll pay off a
few traitors and sellouts. They will never ever do anything that will
make us stronger than them such as leaving our ties to Mother Earth
intact.
Canadian born celebrity musician Neil Young has scheduled 4 concerts to
raise funds to help fight the oil sands expansion. He says it looks like
"Hiroshima". Other stars are likely to jump on board.
It's up to us to secure our territories and resources for future
generations. We know the most important things we have are land, water
and air. Keep strong and stay focused.
All Our Relations
Kittoh
FYI
Province confirms, but mum, on special rate for Ring
By: Darren MacDonald - Sudbury Northern Life
| Dec 09, 2013 - 12:14 PM
Energy minister says $60B chromite project exempt from new rate hike
Providing a special power rate for companies is key aspect of the Ring of
Fire project, Ontario's energy minister said last week. File photo.
Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli confirmed in a conference call with
reporters last week what many people had long assumed: the province has
offered Cliffs Natural Resources a special hydro rate for its Ring of Fire
project.
Chiarelli was promoting the province's long-term energy plan, entitled
Achieving Balance, which forecasts energy demand in Ontario for the next
20 years. Steep hikes are forecast for the first three years of the plan –
33 per cent – but he said the increases are much lower than they would
have been if the province hadn't cancelled proposed gas plants and plans
to build new nuclear plants.
He also touted the end of “dirty” coal plants, which he said cost the
province $4.4 billion in added health-care costs, as well as polluting the
environment.
But the rate increases announced as part of the plan mean Ontarians will
pay about $40 a month more for energy by 2016. When asked about the
implications for Cliffs, Chiarelli said a separate arrangement had already
been struck.
“In the Ring of Fire, it's generally known that in our discussions with
Cliffs, we were making, for that project, which is a seminal project, not
only for Northern Ontario, but for the Province of Ontario, that
accommodation is being made on the price side,” Chiarelli said Dec. 4.
“I can't tell you any more, because the negotiations (with Cliffs) are
ongoing ... But there is a significant accommodation for the Ring of Fire
on the table in those discussions.”
Hydro costs were a major factor when Cliffs was evaluating where it was
going to build a refinery to process chromite from the Ring of Fire, the
$60-billion ore discovery in remote northwestern Ontario.
The company selected a brownfield near Capreol as its preferred location
in May 2012, and it was assumed the company had received assurances on
hydro rates.
At the time, Bill Boor, Cliffs' senior vice-president of global
ferroalloys, said concerns over hydro costs had been dealt with, but
declined to be more specific.
“Our discussions with the Government of Ontario has given us the
confidence to invest in a furnace operation within the province,” Boor
told Northern Life shortly after the Capreol announcement.
Since then, however, the project has been plagued with difficulties.
Last month, Cliff suspended all work on the Ring of Fire, in frustration
over the lack of progress related to environmental assessments and a plan
to build infrastructure to haul the ore out of the Black Thor site to be
processed and sold.
Provincial, municipal and aboriginal leaders – including Premier Kathleen
Wynne and Greater Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk – met last week in
Timmins to discuss ways of getting the Ring of Fire back on track.
They also discussed infrastructure needs for the North, which will grow in
importance as the chromite find is developed.
“Northern deposits, such as the Ring of Fire, have the potential to create
enormous wealth for the entire province, and create new communities just
as Sudbury was founded more than 125 years ago,”
Matichuk said in a news release after the meeting.
“It’s essential that the province recognize this and prepare for this
development boom.”
In addition to Wynne, other ministers at the meeting included Northern
Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle, Economic Development,
Trade and Employment Minister Eric Hoskins, and Infrastructure and
Transportation Minister Glen Murray.
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/
Jackpine Mine will destroy wetlands and wildlife, First Nations say
Mine will create $17 billion in taxes, royalties and create 750 full time
jobs, Shell says
Angela Sterritt CBC News
Posted:Dec 09, 2013 5:00 AM ET
Last Updated:Dec 09, 2013 7:29 AM ET
Alice Rigney, Athabasca Chipewyan FN, picking berries on Burntwood Island,
Lake Athabasca. "They say oil is development and progress, but for me it’s
not, it’s destruction."
Jackpine mine will destroy wetlands: FN CBC's Angela Sterritt reports
from Yellowknife Watch: 2:09
The largest known reservoir of crude bitumen in the world is about to get
even bigger, but Alice Rigney is in no mood to celebrate.
Potentially damaging Jackpine oilsands mine expansion OK'd by Ottawa
Rigney was raised in Northern Alberta on the Athabasca River that now runs
directly through multiple oil sands projects.
"That river is our lifeline and has been for thousands of years. It has
always sustained us with fish, food, water and travel – everything,” said
Rigney.
Rigney grew up watching traditional hunting, fishing and trapping grounds
transform into what she now calls the tar sands. She is now part of an
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations (ACFN) Elders council, fighting those
developments.
Neil Young to back fight against oilsands with benefit concerts
Healing walk draws hundreds to protest oilsands
“If they destroy that, what will become of us? Are we going to become
refugees on our own land? Where am I going to go?”
Conservation area, compensation lake planned
Now Shell Canada has the green light from the federal government to expand
its 7,500 hectare Jackpine Mine to 13,000 hectares.
Oilsand healing walk, June 2013
Two children from Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations at the Oilsands
healing walk, 2013. (Ben Powless)
Shell said it could bring the Alberta and federal governments an estimated
$17 billion in royalties and taxes over its life and create an additional
750 full time jobs.
But Indigenous and environmental groups say the predicted damage to water,
land and animals outweighs any profits the addition to the oil sands will
yield.
Shell's assessment projects that 185,872 hectares of wetlands in the area
will be lost or altered as a result of the Jackpine Mine expansion and
other industrial activity.
In order to mitigate impacts, the company has purchased about 730 hectares
of former cattle pasture in northwestern Alberta to help compensate for
8,500 hectares of wetland that would be lost just from the expansion.
Shell has also drafted plans to move caribou and wood bison to a
conservation offset zone. They also plan to create a compensation lake
complete with fish and fauna in order to further mitigate impacts on
wetlands and wildlife.
Plans 'open the door' for more big mines
Jackpine Mine
Suncor is one of many facilities near First Nations in Alberta. (Ben Powless)
But Shell’s mitigation plans don’t comfort Athabasca Chipewyan First
Nation Elder Pat Marcel.
"This will open the door for Suncore, Teck and Total to come in and put
another big mine in the same area, Marcel said. They will not only
disturb, but they will wipe out the habitat for the wood bison, the Ronald
Lake Herd, and also the migratory path of the woodland caribou".
Marcel is also worried about how the expansion will impact Treaty and Dene
rights. The Athabasca deposit is located within the boundaries of Treaty 8
and overlaps multiple traditional Indigenous lands of the Dene, Cree and
Metis.
"ACFN has, for the longest time, fought industry and government to really
set lands aside for ACFN for the practice of treaty rights", he said. "I
have been pushing for 20 years now for consultation to happen. But, so
far, no way".
Shell asserts they have always had significant relationships with the
Indigenous people in the territories the company operates within.
Eriel Deranger
Eriel Deranger , ACFN communications representative, says Shell’s
consultation process is concerning. (Ben Powless)
"There’s been a lot of work done to look at the expansion, a lot of data
collected and analyzed – to analyze the mine expansion itself but also
more broadly the oil sands developments. That includes consultation with
neighbours, community members, First Nations and other Aboriginal
communities, to the degree that there is about 20,000 pages of
documentation in the public hearing process," said David Williams, a Shell
Canada spokesperson based in Calgary.
"The optics are that they are meaningfully consulting with Aboriginal
groups, but actually they send in low level technicians who can’t make
decisions or tell us how the decision are going to be made," said Eriel
Deranger, ACFN communications representative.
"We want to be treated as a government with real authority and rights."
The Fort McKay, Mikisew Cree, and Metis locals have also expressed
concerns with the impacts the Jackpine Mine could have on the Muskeg
River, and on traditional hunting, fishing and trapping grounds.
According to Shell's environmental assessment 21 kilometeres of the Muskeg
River would be destroyed as a result of the mine extension. For many
Indigenous trappers and hunters the river is also the only means of
transportation in the summer months.
"I still live on Athabasca River, Rigney said. “I still go out every
chance I get. I don’t drink the water, but I collect medicine, and we eat
animals of the land. Who is to say that the animals don’t know that the
water is polluted. They drink it, and does it continue up the food
chain?"
ACFN to take legal action
The fight to slow down or stop the massive oil sands development has been
years in the making.
On November 8th, Ottawa put the breaks on the project, granting the
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation a 35-day extension.
Pat Marcel, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Elder
Shell’s mitigation plans don’t comfort Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
Elder Pat Marcel. (Youtube)
Friday's decision to go forward with the project didn't wait until the
35-day extension period was up.
While the lure of fast money at the oil sands is strong, Alice Rigney said
she hopes young people start to think about the future and other choices.
“There is more to life than this, that’s what I tell them. You can be a
doctor, a lawyer, a teacher — you don’t need to go work in the oil patch.
But, in the end, it's your choice," said Rigney.
“My granny used to say everything has life, everything connects and I
believe in that. That is my church they are destroying, and it really
hurts me to see them ripping Mother Earth’s heart out and extracting what
they want. Yes, I am against it. They say oil is development and
progress. But, for me, it’s not. It’s destruction. "
The ACFN has vowed to take legal action against Ottawa’s decision to allow
Shell to expand the Jackpine Mine oil sands project.
http://warriorpublications.
http://www.theglobeandmail.
Ottawa approves Shell’s Jackpine oil sands expansion Add to ...
CARRIE TAIT
CALGARY — The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Dec. 06 2013, 6:27 PM EST
The federal Conservative government has approved plans to expand an oil
sands mining project, despite the environment minister saying the effort
is likely to cause significant “adverse environmental effects.”
The government on Friday gave its blessing to Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s
expansion plans at its Jackpine mine project, about 70 kilometres north of
Fort McMurray, Alta. The approval comes with a list of conditions tied to
wildlife, the environment and First Nations.
Video: Alberta and B.C. premiers patch up their pipeline differences
Neil Young The rocker’s Lincvolt project combines his love of cars and the
environment, powering a 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible with an
electric motor that is charged on board by cellulosic ethanol.
Oil sands
Video: Neil Young says Fort McMurray looks like 'Hiroshima'
The expansion will allow Shell to increase bitumen production by 100,000
barrels per day. The provincial and federal regulators approved the idea
in July, with conditions attached. The Jackpine mine expansion is part of
Shell’s Athabasca Oil Sands project, which currently produces 255,000
barrels a day – oil it shares with partners Chevron Corp. and Marathon Oil
Corp.
Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said she reviewed “mitigation
measures” she considers appropriate when she made her decision on
Jackpine. “I determined that the designated project is likely to cause
significance [sic] adverse environmental effects,” she said in her
decision statement. Ms. Aglukkaq referred to the Tory cabinet which
“decided that the significant adverse environmental effects that the
designated project is likely to cause, are justified in the
circumstances,” her statement said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a fierce proponent of Canada’s energy
industry, arguing it is key to the country’s economic prosperity. His
lobbying extends beyond Canada’s borders as he pushes hard for the Obama
administration to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project.
Because cabinet said the environmental concerns tied to the Jackpine mine
proposal are justified, Shell’s expansion aspirations can proceed “in
accordance with the conditions” issued by Ms. Aglukkaq.
Shell must, for example, implement an “aquatic ecosystem monitoring plan,”
take certain steps to protect fish and their habitat, and “avoid migratory
bird mortality.” Shell must also “notify Aboriginal groups of the process
for accessing project lands not under construction, operation, or
restoration, including the Muskeg River.” Further, the company must
provide annual updates to First Nations groups on issues including aquatic
health and water quality. Shell also needs an “odour management plan,”
which is listed under a section about protecting “Aboriginal Health – off
road emissions and odours.”
Should Shell fail to meet these conditions and the others Ms. Aglukkaq
outlined, it could face penalties of up to $400,000 per day in the case of
a conviction for a continuing offence, the government noted.
A joint review panel, appointed by the federal environment minister, ruled
in favour of the project in July, despite its own environmental concerns.
“The panel finds that the project would likely have significant adverse
environmental effects on wetlands, traditional plant potential areas,
wetland-reliant species at risk, migratory birds that are wetland-reliant
or species at risk, and biodiversity,” the panel wrote. “There is also a
lack of proposed mitigation measures that have been proven to be
effective.”
Ms. Aglukkaq reviewed the JRP report before issuing her decision. Her
office said media spokespeople were unavailable for comment Friday
afternoon.
The JRP’s summer decision immediately disappointed environmental groups.
Shell and joint ventures partners have not made their financial decision
on whether to proceed with the project.
==========
Notes and Sources
http://www.northernlife.ca/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/
http://esrd.alberta.ca/lands-
http://environment.alberta.ca/
http://www.theglobeandmail.
http://www.theglobeandmail.
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/
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