Shell Campaign Escalates
Will Horter
Royal Dutch Shell is in for a run
for its money in BC’s Sacred Headwaters. The struggle to “Get the (S)hell out of the Sacred Headwaters” should inspire people
everywhere who care about justice, equity and sustainability.
Tahltan elders like Jenny Quock,
Mabel Dennis and Lillian Moyer remind us of how to be courageous, while corporate
media - and their advertisers - try to brainwash us with their message of
consumerism and corporate supremacy.
It sometimes seems overwhelming; but
amazing stories of local people standing up and putting their lives on the line
in the name of a different vision exist and are multiplying.
Though these everyday heroes are largely
absent from mainstream TV. they exist; and they are much more numerous then we
are led to believe.
The situation in the Sacred
Headwaters of northern BC serves as an example.
Tahltan elders (and a few committed
youth) have forced the 2nd largest corporation in the world,Royal
Dutch Shell, into a standoff. Local efforts, with a bit of help, have forced Shell
to repeatedly back down.
The campaign is growing in strength
daily as new allies pledge their support, but it is grounded in the hearts of
an extraordinary group of older women, mostly grandmothers, who live in Tahltan
territory 400 kilometres north of Terrace.
These women elders have pledged
that they will fight to protect their Sacred Headwaters against all comers. And
I believe they will win.
Despite the obvious disparities in
power and money, Shell’s defeats are piling up.
Shell’s first defeat occurred back
in 2005 when the Tahltan elders evicted Shell from the Sacred Headwaters,
shutting down Shell’s plans to drill between 1,500 and 10,000 coalbed methane
wells in the birthplace of three sacred salmon rivers—the Nass, Stikine and
Skeena.
Two years later Shell continues to
try to circumvent local opposition. In the last few weeks Shell indicated that it
would ignore the wishes of the Tahltan leadership1 and try to move heavy road-fixing
equipment into the Sacred Headwaters; this would be the first step towards
renewing their drilling program.
Elected Tahltan representatives responded by telling Shell that, because of the
sentiments of their communities, they ‘have no mandate’ to agree to Shell’s
plans. Tahltan elders blockaded Shell’s initial attempts to move equipment in
and Shell went off to court to get an injunction to arrest them.
While Shell has been rattling
sabers at the Tahltan elders, a new alliance of NGOs has been organizing around
them. Fourteen groups sent a letter to the CEO and Chairman of Royal Dutch
Shell informing them that they “strongly oppose drilling for coalbed methane in the
Sacred Headwaters and advise Shell to refrain from any activity in this area.”
Shell’s plans were scuttled again
when the lawyer representing the protesters appeared in court and almost got
Shell’s application for an injunction dismissed outright. The presiding judge
adjourned the matter ordering Shell to provide 3 days notice before any
subsequent hearing. In response to the
protesters request, the judge also ordered any subsequent hearings to be in
Terrace or
In response to Shell’s efforts to
drill and arrest grandmothers, Dogwood Initiative and several other NGOs ran an
ad criticizing Shell in 
Back in BC Shell also faces
increasing obstacles related to their permits to use and reconstruct the road
access to their Sacred Headwaters drilling site.
Severe weather has caused numerous
landslides along the access road that would be used by Shell. In order to fix
the road Shell needs to conduct activities that could impact fish in adjacent
waterways. Thus, Shell requires approvals from the federal department of
Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). DFO had indicated that Shell’s ‘in-stream’ work had
to be completed by August 31st (later extended to September 15th).
The blockade of Tahltan elders forced Shell to miss these deadlines, and they
are now scrambling to convince DFO to extend their window further or to approve
an alternative plan.
Shell is trying to move quickly,
because the weather could turn any day now.
Given the formidable nature of the
Tahltan elders, and the growing list of regional, national, and international
NGOs that have chosen to back them up, Shells’ aggressiveness is somewhat surprising.
Granted, the company’s human rights record and disdain for local opposition
(e.g.
Regardless, it is clear that Shell is
underestimating the tenacity and resourcefulness of their opposition.
That should change soon…
Dogwood Initiative will keep you informed as events develop.
1 Note: Shell's coalbed methane project has received opposition from the hereditary elders from Iskut and Telegraph Creek, and from the Iskut Band Council. The Tahltan Central Council has yet to determine its position but acknowledges that Shell does not currently have a mandate to proceed with the project.
