Kitimat and the Coastal Tarsands Project

Coastal Tarsands Project: KITIMAT – Traditional Estuary or SuperTanker Port

by Richard Boyce

Filmed on the traditional territory of the Haisla First Nation, with permission from the Band Council, this is a first hand look at the lands and waters around Kitimat, BC., epicenter of the Enbridge Corporation’s plans to build a SuperTanker port connected by twin pipelines carved 1,170 km through both the Rocky Mountains and the formidable Coast Mountains in order to export Alberta Tarsands Bitumen to China.

Saturday April 12, 2014 residents of Kitimat rejected Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline Project in a local referendum. Find out why!

Each of these ‘mini-docs’ will be self-contained, unique, and focus on a particular aspect of the journey that the filmmaker takes while exploring the central coast of British Columbia. These individual ‘mini-docs’ will lend themselves easily to sharing between friends, family, and acquaintances. All of these ‘mini-docs’ will be edited together into a final hour-long documentary for film festivals and television broadcast.

The primary goal for this independent media project is:

To be effective in educating the public about the coast where the Enbridge Corporation plans to bring hundreds of supertankers.

THE NEED FOR THIS MEDIA PRODUCTION

The Enbridge Corporation is spending $350 million on media campaigns, including promotional animation TV ads. Federal and Provincial governments are also spending millions of taxpayer dollars on advertising to promote the benefits of the both the Alberta Tarsands and the Enbridge Corporation’s Northern Gateway Pipeline.

‘Coastal Tarsands’ will examine the truth behind tankers navigating Canada’s west coast with a series of strategies that reflect today’s independent media. This unique project will use public support to provide a voice for the environment that will be most impacted by supertankers proposed by the Enbridge Corporation. You can help to make this project successful by spreading the word about this website and staying tuned to view more videos as they are posted.

FOCUS OF PRODUCTION

First and foremost this project will document the very real coastal landscapes that exist where supertankers will navigate if the Enbridge Corporation gets its way. Each ‘mini-doc’ will focus on a different aspect of this very complex subject, with an emphasis upon bringing out the truth facing the coast of British Columbia. This unique media approach will allow for filming to take place over the course of a year highlighting coastal geography, ocean currents, surge tides, localized weather, diverse ecosystems, wildlife at risk, communities affected, and other specifics unique to this coastal wilderness. Most of these natural challenges to supertankers have never been revealed, therefore ‘Coastal Tarsands’ will provide the public with opportunities to see just how important information has been omitted by industry, government, and the mainstream media. Each ‘mini-doc’ will present a diverse perspective that will highlight the vast degree of fluctuation in natural conditions facing Tarsands Supertankers in these water. The oil industry is proposing to ship 500,000 barrels a day through the rugged mountains and central coast of BC. That equals 182 million barrels or 29 billion liters every year from Alberta’s Tarsands bound for China through British Columbia and the westcoast of Canada.

HOW YOU CAN HELP THIS MEDIA PROJECT SUCCEED!

This independent media project aims to spark conversations, spread first hand information, and inspire Canadians to action. Polls confirm that 80% of BC residents and 50% of Canadians are opposed to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline. We all have the power to vote.

However the rest of the country will most likely decide the fate of Canada’s West Coast regarding a future oil spill. That is the reality of the voting numbers in this country. Those that have the least first hand experience, the least information, and the least to loose have the majority of the vote in Canada, and they don’t live on the west coast. The information gathered through this project is easily passed on to others, so if you know someone living anywhere in Canada please invite them to engage in this project and visit this website. Ask them to view the videos, check out the facts, and learn more than just what the Enbridge Corporation, and the governments of Canada, British Columbia, and Alberta are promoting with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of advertising. Coastal Tarsands is a grass roots initiative and success will depend on your participation. Please help spread this important information and help save the coast from oil spills.
SPREAD THE WORD NOT THE OIL

STEPS YOU CAN TAKE:
Raise public awareness by spreading and sharing information
Forward this link to your friends, family, colleagues
Encourage your nieghbours to spread the word but also people living outside of British Columbia since they form the majority of Canadians and therefore can sway the Federal vote
Post a link on your own website
Like Us or Join our Group on FACEBOOK
Take the pledge and join COASTAL TARSANDS CAUSE
Encouraging people to donate towards this media project
Write your MP, MLA, Premier, Prime MInister
VOTE with the coast in mind

‘Coastal Tarsands’ needs your support

For details please click menu heading

‘Get Involved’

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

- Margaret Mead

POWERFUL MANDATE

Today 80% of BC residents and 50% of Canadians are opposed to the Enbridge Corporation’s Northern Gateway Pipeline Project. Now its time to make the rest of Canada understand just how destructive these Supertankers will be to the Pacific coast of Canada.



2012 RALLY AGAINST TANKERS BRITISH COLUMBIA LEGISLATIVE
BUILDING Photo by Pete Rockwell