A prominent environmental activist has cancelled plans to travel to Alberta this Canada Day weekend to get a first-hand look at the oilsands.
Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. originally planned on traveling to Fort McMurray and Fort Chipewyan to meet with local community groups and discuss the health and environment implications of plans to expand the oilsands, including the Keystone XL pipeline, an industry Kennedy has opposed so vocally.
A conference call scheduled for Thursday afternoon with Kennedy was cancelled, however on that call a representative said his trip would go on as planned. The representative said while the activist was worried that his trip would take attention away from the emergency recovery work being done in southern Alberta after flood waters ravaged several communities last week, Kennedy intended to keep his commitment to the First Nations communities he was scheduled to meet with.
Meanwhile, local groups called on Kennedy to postpone his trip.
“We just became aware of the trip this morning,” said Tim Shipton with Alberta Enterprise Group. “Immediately, our reaction was why? Why now for a trip like this? And, in the context of all that is happening, bad timing.”
“I think that if Mr. Kennedy had any common sense and good taste, he would postpone the trip. To come to Alberta in the backdrop of families still digging out from the devastation of the flooding in southern Alberta, still digging out from the devastation of the flooding in northern Alberta. Now is not the time to deliver a political message or to do political grandstanding with Alberta as the backdrop,” said Shipton.
Later Thursday, representatives from the AEG confirmed to Global News that after contacting Kennedy, they had convinced him to cancel the oilsands tour.
“Our organization has personally contacted him and advised him in the strongest terms to postpone his trip. Albertans are always very good hosts, we’ve proven that time and time again, but now is not the time to do it,” said Shipton.
The NRDC confirmed that the tour will be postponed in a press release issued Thursday evening.
“At a time when the people of Alberta are coping with the devastating impacts of unprecedented floods, it’s important that the urgent work of assistance and recovery move ahead without distraction,” said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, NRDC International Director. “For that reason, Mr. Kennedy has decided to postpone his visit to the province until later this year. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Alberta in this difficult time and we look forward to meeting with them soon.”
Kennedy is a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an American environmental group, as well as the founder and president of Waterkeeper Alliance, an international advocacy group that works to protect global water systems from pollution.
In Feb. 2013, Kennedy – along with dozens of other protesters, including his son Conor – was arrested in front of the White House during a protest of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Canada’s pipelines have been heavily debated as of late, as reports of spills are a routine occurrence and ambitious plans for expansion push through the approval process.
On Wednesday, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver announced new rules for pipeline companies, hoping to quell public fears about pipeline safety.
Under the new rules, major pipeline companies must prove to federal regulators they can cover $1 billion worth of damages – either in the form of insurance, assets, third-party guarantees and lines of credit.
Oliver said the new rules will ensure taxpayers are not left on the hook for cleanup costs. As of July 3, the feds will increase penalties for companies that break the rules to a maximum of $100,000 a day “for continuing infractions, as long as they haven’t corrected them,” said Oliver.
During a speech Tuesday where he outlined a national plan to combat climate change, President Barack Obama said TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline project should only be approved by U.S. authorities if it doesn’t “significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”
“The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining if this project is allowed to go forward,” said Obama.
The Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport crude oil from Alberta to Texas Gulf Coast refineries, has become a flashpoint for environmentalists who have branded it a symbol of “dirty oil.”
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With files from Global News’ Emily Mertz and The Canadian Press
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