Northern Gateway decision triggers storm of outrage

Grand chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said protests will begin against the pipeline immediately.

“We will defend our land,” he told the CBC. “We will not stand idly by and be steam-rolled by the Harper government. We will do whatever is necessary.”

Art Sterrit, of the Coastal First Nations, said that regardless of this decision, the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline will be never be built.

“First Nations and others in British Columbia won’t allow it, and they have the legal power to prevent it,” he said in a statement. “This pipeline is doomed because it is highly risky and provides no reward to the people being asked to bear that risk.”

Erin Flanagan, analyst at the Pembina Institute, said the environmental think-tank is very concerned about Cabinet’s decision to approve a project that will allow oilsands development to grow faster at a time when industry and regulators are failing to manage the impacts and risks of current production.

She said in a statement the Pembina Institute’s analysis shows the carbon pollution generated by filling the Northern Gateway pipeline would be equivalent to adding over three million cars to Canada’s roads.