Press release and photo: Montreal Against Pipelines

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Montreal contre les pipelines

Oct 14, 2014

PRESS RELEASE:

MONTREAL, October 14, 2014 – As TransCanada gears up to apply to National Energy Board (NEB), Climate Justice Montreal releases a communique rooted in a climate justice perspective in opposition to tar sands and the TransCanada Energy East pipeline. With a photo symbolizing the direct action that is already taking place along pipeline routes across North America, Montrealers say that oil companies should expect more popular resistance.

 

TransCanada is expected to submit an application in the very near future to the National Energy Board (NEB) seeking approval for the Energy East pipeline project. This project would convert an existing natural gas pipeline, parts of which are 40+ years old, to a tar sands oil transportation pipeline, and additionally construct new pipeline between Québec and New Brunswick with a port in Cacouna, QC, and a refinery in Saint John, NB. The Energy East pipeline would carry 1.1 million barrels a day of crude tar sands – the dirtiest – oil, which would be the largest tar sands pipeline in the world.

With the release of this communique, Climate Justice Montreal (CJM) seeks to highlight not only the infrastructural concerns with this pipeline, but the catastrophic effects of continued tar sands and pipeline expansion on marginalized communities, in particular indigenous people. “We will never be able to stop tar sands expansion until we look at the root causes of the issue – the racism that allows indigenous communities to become ‘sacrifice zones,’ and that displaces communities of color with each global disaster,” said Rushdia Mehreen, a member of CJM.

Climate Justice Montreal demands that fossil fuels be left in the ground, and that Energy East not be constructed. “The coming year provides us with plenty of opportunities to stand together, mobilize towards stopping the Energy East pipeline, and generally work to build a better world for all”, said Robin Reid-Fraser, another CJM member.

Climate Justice Montreal is a grassroots group pursuing environmental and climate justice in solidarity with directly affected frontline and indigenous communities. Climate Justice Montreal aims to highlight the voices of those least heard and most impacted, and emphasizes an anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist perspectives.