The public inquiry into the timat pipeline proposal com- Pleted its preliminary hearings in Vancouver this week under a cloud of uncertainty. Heralded as a “Berger style” Commission, the Kitimat inquiry under the chairmanship of UBC W professor Andrew Thompson holds out little promise of fmulating the careful and thoughtful process that brought Tom Berger to his conclusions in the Mackenzie Valley pipeline Inquiry. To begin with, Thompson himself S been an outspoken proponent for an oil port on B.C.’s coast. ‘And with the oil companies bringing all of their pressure to ar for a quick decision, Thomp- Son’s inquiry will last less than six Months, his report is due by the end of the year. _, the schedule for the inquiry is Itself contentious. Opposition 8roups want the commencement of € formal hearings postponed from the July 11 date set by ‘hompson. That date will leave citizen’s groups just two months to Counter oil company arguments Many years in the making. In addition, the months of July, August and September will leave Out of the hearings one of the 8roups most vitally affected — B.C.’s 8,000 fishermen who will be at sea earning a living. The uphill task of wresting an acceptable conclusion from the hompson inquiry is clear. But it is equally clear that the over- Whelming tide of public opinion in British Columbia is opposed to the Pipeline which threatens to destroy the economy, ecology and fabric of northern life, © Major opposition group to the Pipeline is the Kitimat ~ Coalition Again$t*Oil Tankers which unites more thafi’20 labor, environmental and community organizations. The Coalition has asked for $456,000 from the federal government to help finance its submission. The United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, while a member of the Kitimat Coalition, has asked for $26,000 to finance its independent submission. The union plans to hire a researcher and a marine biologist. The B.C. Wildlife Federation, who have hired former Liberal leader David Anderson to repre- sent them, will figure prominently in the hearings as will northern groups such as the Prince Rupert- based Coalition Against Super Tankers (COAST), the Terrace based Association Against Super Tankers (TAASK) and SOS, an environmental group which stands for Save Our Shores. SPEC and Greenpeace will be there as well. Native spokesmen have already made it clear where they stand. ‘‘If this development goes ahead those responsible will be the greatest rogues in history,” Lloyd Starr, spokesman for the Haisla Band at Kitimat, told Thompson bluntly at thepreliminary session in Kitimat. The B.C. Federation of Labor’s environmental protection com- mittee brought its position to en- vironment minister Jim Nielson last week and told him ‘‘to do everything in your power’’ to stop the project. And Nigel Morgan added the Communist Party to the opposition this week indicating that the CP will “fight this menace with every means at our disposal.” Thompson’s inquiry is indeed only one battleground. The issue may very well be. decided -outside SSQUEEN CHARLOTTE VANCOUVER ISLAND, The th Oil tanker “Argo Merchant” that went down off the east coast of 0 ‘S. was only 28,000 tons. Tankers going into Kitimat will be over 2,000 tons. This map shows the area affected by an oil spill the size 0 2 the Argo Merchant going into Kitimat harbor. = KITI a ing 4 | of the commission by the demonstrative actions of the labor movement and those who have everything to lose if the pipeline is - approved. On Tuesday of this week the Prince Rupert Labor Council took the unprecedented action of requesting the B.C. Federation of Labor to declare all pipeline and oil port construction materials ‘‘hot.”’ The Council asked as well that the Federation call on its affiliates to withhold their labor from either the pipeline or the oil port if it gets to the construction stage. If such action is taken it will be the first time in Canada that labor has withheld its labor to protect the environment. If construction of the port and pipeline is blocked on land by labor, the supertankers them- selves will be facing the blockade promised by the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union. At their annual convention the UFAWU pledged to block the supertanker’s passage into Juan de Fuca Straight and to Kitimat. The Greenpeace Foundation last week made their pledge to join the UFAWU in the blockage and sent their 67-foot motor vessel the Greenpeace Meander on a two- week cruise along the B.C. coast to rally support for the blockade. Beyond the blockades on both sea and land, there will remain a final obstacle confronting the pipeline. A pipeline crossing the B.C. Interior on its way to Ed- monton would fall like a knife across hunting, fishing and trapping grounds of native bands, who are even now preparing their land claims. The drama of that possibility is brought into focus by the words of native activist Donna Tyndall who told the UFAWU convention in January that the pipeline would be ‘‘built over the dead bodies of many Indian people.” Such is the passion of the already giant and still growing movement to stop the Kitimat pipeline. Federal minister Romeo LeBlanc and provincial minister Jim Nielson were aware of the JOIN THE ~~ ee en Om, PROTESTS . ees fae 7 SS RES ee opposition when they appointed Thompson to his task. So too is Thompson aware of it, even before the hearing begins. As it turns out, though, the Kitimat pipeline proposal and the inquiry is predicated on the strategy that Kitimat and the north coast is the weak link on the Pacific Coast. Hardly a drop, if any at all, of the oil that would be destined for Kitimat and the pipeline for Ed- monton is for use in Canada. The $500 million project will see a giant oil port built at Kitimat and a 753- mile pipeline that will plug into the main pipeline flowing south from Edmonton and into the American midwest. It is the American thirst for oil and the continentalist and im- perialist policy which the govern- ments of Canada and B.C. have accepted, that is at the source of the strategy to provide a quick and accessible source of energy to U.S. markets at Canada’s expense. The myth has been carefully developed that the Kitimat port and pipeline is needed to carry Alaska oil south to the U.S. For, obviously, to carry Alaska oil to its sister states it must pass through Canadian territory, either by pipeline or by tanker through Canadian waters. What has not been said is that only a minority of ‘the oil funneled through the pipeline will be Alaskan. The bulk of it will be Indonesian and Middle East oil which is better suited for the American midwest refineries because of its low sulphur content. Why send Indonesian oil to Chicago via Kitimat? The simple answer is provided by a report of the U.S. federal energy authority: the environment conscious public of California and Washington ‘States would not allow a major oil port on their coast. The northerners, Indians and assorted savages on B.C.’s coast, so the continentalist mind works, are easier prey than the noisy . American public. And when the oil spills come, as they inevitably will, it will be a Canadian problem. The second myth is that the —_ a eee Kitimat pipeline consortium is Canadian. While three of the six companies are Canadian registered companies, each of them is a subsidiary of U.S. cor- porations, the main ones being Exxon and Continental Oil. The tankers will be up to 300,000 tons in size and will navigate the treacherous passages into Kitimat harbor. The president of Trans Mountain Pipeline, a company which withdrew from the con- sortium admitted that it is not a matter of “whether” a s pill will occur, but “when” it would hap- pen. An oil spill would, of course, destroy the fishery, birds and other wildlife, and..would leave . per- manent environmental damage. The port and pipeline will provide no energy for Canada. It will leave behind about 120 per- manent jobs. It may also leave behind the largest natural disaster this province has ever seen. Nevertheless, the Kitimat oil consortium will be smug in their presentation to Andrew Thompson. After all they have the USS., Canadian and B.C. governments with them. There is even reason to believe that the whole exercise may be a futile one, because the deal] has already been made. There are other problems as well, not least the attitude of some in the labor movement who can see only their immediate self interest. The widely publicized comments of Clifton Parker of the Operating Engineers prompted the Fisher- man, the UFAWU newspaper, to editorially respond: “‘The fact that unemployment is rife in the con- struction trades is no justification for proceeding with ill-conceived projects inimical to the people’s interests, the consequences of which will be suffered by future generations.’’ In spite of all its shortcomings, the inquiry will provide a forum for people to be heard from Prince Rupert to Vancouver. If they speak loudly enough it may be possible to prevent disaster from spreading over B.C.’s coast. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 13, 1977—Page 7