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Ottawa, BC, Wet’suwet’en chiefs reach tentative agreement over land rights
BRITISH COLUMBIA
THE Canadian and British Columbia govern- ments have reached a tentative agreement with hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation to acknowledge land title rights established over 20 years ago in a decision by the country’s Supreme Court. The proposal has been wel- comed as a step forward in a dispute relating to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which has spilled over into protests and blockades across Canada in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en chiefs. How- ever, the parties still disagree on how the pipeline project should move forward.
Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Min- ister Carolyn Bennett and British Columbia Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser announced the tentative agreement on March 1. They did not provide details on the pro- posed arrangement, saying it would have to be reviewed by the Wet’suwet’en people first. How- ever, Bennett said the proposed arrangement would honour the protocols of the Wet’suwet’en people and clans.
A lawyer representing the Wet’suwet’en and neighbouring Gitxsan First Nation, Peter Grant, was cited by CBC News as saying that while the
proposal was not a treaty, it was nonetheless a “very powerful” draft arrangement in his view.
The Coastal GasLink project has the support of elected Wet’suwet’en chiefs, but is opposed by the First Nation’s hereditary chiefs, who maintain that operator TC Energy should not be allowed to build the pipeline without their consent.
Chief Woos, one of the Wet’suwet’en hered- itary chiefs, said the proposal represented an important milestone to recognise the rights of the hereditary leaders over their traditional ter- ritory. He added, however, that the hereditary chiefs remained opposed to the pipeline.
“As Wet’suwet’en, we are the land and the land is ours,” he said. “We’re not going to look at any alternative ways.”
Fraser, however, said the project had already been permitted and the land title arrangement would not be applied retroactively.
“The project that’s in place, it has been per- mitted and it’s underway,” he said. This was echoed by Coastal GasLink itself, which said in a statement that it already had permits in place and intended to resume construction activities this week.™
Minnesota issues draft Line 3 permits
MINNESOTA
THE Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) issued three draft permits last week that are required by Canada’s Enbridge to build the Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project. The permits bring the project closer to being built after numerous delays.
The draft permits come after the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved a revised environmental study for the Line 3 replacement, as well as reissuing a certificate of need and route permit for the project. The PUC had initially approved the pipeline in 2018 but had to issue a reapproval after the Minnesota Court of Appeals ordered the state to revise the project’s environmental impact statement.
The MPCA has now opened up a public com- ment period on its draft permits – a water qual- ity certification, a wastewater permit and an air quality permit. The US Army Corps of Engineers will also need to issue a federal water quality per- mit for the project. In addition, Enbridge needs to secure local permits and several approvals from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
While the issuing of final permits is not
guaranteed, the draft permits suggest that the MPCA is confident that Enbridge can comply with water and air quality standards.
“What it really means is that we have reviewed their application iteratively over many, many months, and have determined, based on the con- ditions that we have put in these draft certifica- tions and permits, that the activity, as limited by the certification or the permits, will protect water quality standards or air quality,” said the MPCA’s assistant commissioner of water and agriculture policy, Katrina Kessler.
The MPCA has a deadline of August 15 to release a final water quality certification for the pipeline, which would cross 212 streams and rivers across northern Minnesota. The agency has not specified whether it could issue the cer- tification earlier than August 15, and this could depend on the volume and quality of public comments received.
The Line 3 replacement would allow Enbridge to nearly double the amount of oil the pipeline carries to 760,000 barrels per day (bpd). Parts of the pipeline, from Canada’s oil sands to the US, are already completed and in service.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 09 05•March•2020