Bill being advanced in Canadian Parliament by NDP to outlaw tankers on the north coast of BC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 24, 2010
OTTAWA MUST ACT NOW TO PREVENT AN ANOTHER VALDEZ

21 years since Valdez spill Harper is moving to have Tankers off BC

OTTAWA – On March 24, 1989 at 12:04am the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef causing one of the most devastating environmental disasters in North American history. Now, 21 years later, the Conservative government is pushing to start having oil tankers off the sensitive coast of British Columbia. That is why today on the anniversary on the accident, Fin Donnelly, New Democrat Fisheries and Oceans Critic and MP for New Westminster-Coquitlamand Port Moody, commemorated this tragic event by announcing theintroduction of a bill seeking to outlaw all oil tankers in the DixonEntrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound. “My bill would make the moratorium on oil tanker traffic in this region legally binding,” said Donnelly. “The moratorium on oil tanker traffic hasbeen in place for over 35 years – it was necessary to protect our coastlinethen – it’s still necessary now”. Yesterday, First Nations groups and community activists from all overBritish Columbia came together to denounce the proposed Enbridge Pipelinewhich would bring 225 oil tankers a year through the Hecate Strait and theQueen Charlotte Sound to move oil to markets in Asia and the US. “People from across northern British Columbia are becoming united againstthis pipeline and the oil tanker traffic it will create,” said NathanCullen, New Democrat Natural Resources Critic and MP for the northern BCriding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley. “The decisions are being made in Ottawa,but the First Nations and the local grassroots are saying that their futureisn’t in the temporary jobs this would create. They are looking for realinvestments in new green energy.” New Democrat Environmental Critic Linda Duncan (Edmonton-Strathcona) saysone need only consider the record of the federal government in preventingand responding to spills to understand the opposition to this project. “I experienced firsthand the devastation of the bunker C spill at Lake Wabamun and the failure by federal departments to respond including toaddress impacts to First Nation lands.,” said Duncan. “The concerns raised about risks posed by this project are well founded.”

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact:Shelley Browne, Office of Nathan Cullen, 250-877-4142;cullen1@parl.gc.ca