NEWS RELEASE about IndigenousFoodEnvironmentDirect Action posted on January 25, 2015 by edoherty

Demonstrators disrupt Kinder Morgan's dinner at Fishworks restaurant

Demonstrators disrupt Kinder Morgan's dinner at Fishworks restaurant

[Update - video available at http://vimeo.com/117742013]

January 24, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NORTH VANCOUVER, COAST SALISH TERRITORIES—A group of demonstrators interrupted Kinder Morgan employees during their dinner at local seafood restaurant Fishworks to show them the real impacts the Trans Mountain expansion project will have on the province.

"Every branch of Kinder Morgan needs to take responsibility for the company's involvement in oil and gas expansion. The momentum built on Burnaby Mountain isn't slowing down, and we want to make it clear that Kinder Morgan is involved not just in pipeline construction, but in other facets of fossil fuel transportation as well," said Tamo Campos.

The company plans to twin its existing Trans Mountain pipeline and triple its capacity, aiming to send 890,000 barrels of diluted bitumen to the coast every day. Drilling to determine whether the new pipeline would be built through Burnaby Mountain was met with strong resistance from both First Nations and settlers all over the Lower Mainland.

Demonstrators stood silently inside the restaurant holding photos of the damage Kinder Morgan has done to communities along its pipelines, as well as those affected by tar sands development. Images included deformed fish from the indigenous community of Fort Chipewyan in Alberta where contamination from oil extraction has poisoned much of the food chain.

Kinder Morgan employees were also shown photos of the typhoon-ravaged Philippines where climate change, largely the result of the fossil fuel industry, caused the death and displacement of thousands of people last year.

“We want to connect the dots between pipelines in BC, the tar sands and the climate crisis that’s disproportionately affecting the people of the global south,” Campos said. “We want Kinder Morgan to face the reality that building this pipeline not only impacts the land and the people here, but also threatens the lives and livelihoods of people around the world.”