Northern BC First Nations back pipeline terminal in Rupert

Hot on the heels of Kitimat rejecting the Northern Gateway pipeline…First Nations groups announce that the terminal should be in Prince Rupert and that they have a high majority of northern first nations who support backing a pipeline bid that is routed and developed with First Nations in the driver seat.

The pipeline development is also backed by the Aquilini Group (who owns the Vancouver Canucks and Prince Rupert’s Highliner Inn, amongst other properties).

We now have a reason why the Canucks visited Prince Rupert last year.

theglobeandmail.com/news/bri … e17998955/

[quote=“bthedog”]Hot on the heels of Kitimat rejecting the Northern Gateway pipeline…First Nations groups announce that the terminal should be in Prince Rupert and that they have a high majority of northern first nations who support backing a pipeline bid that is routed and developed with First Nations in the driver seat.

The pipeline development is also backed by the Aquilini Group (who owns the Vancouver Canucks and Prince Rupert’s Highliner Inn, amongst other properties)…

theglobeandmail.com/news/bri … e17998955/[/quote]

Do those groups have names? Other than two, apparently not. The announcement was made by Calvin Helin, an aboriginal businessman with ties to the Aquilini Group through a company called Eagle Spirit.

It’s a bit hard to take seriously statements about first nations supporting anything when their identities are kept secret, apparently due to non-disclosure agreements. That’s a problem with Enbridge’s claims of first nation support as well, which are also hidden behind non-disclosure agreements.

For those who have not read the G&M article, the following quote from Art Sterritt of the Coastal First Nations may be of interest:

“Mr. Sterritt said Eagle Spirit’s lack of support can be measured by the fact only two small bands sent chiefs to the Vancouver news conference. In addition to the Nee Tahi Buhn, the Stellat’en First Nation, which has about 500 members, also attended. “[Mr. Helin] managed to scrape up a couple to go with him to a press conference and that’s about it [for his support],” said Mr. Sterritt.”

Mr Sterritt also questions whether Aquilini has the finances for a project of that magnitude.

I see that an official announcement has been made about building a refinery here in Rupert.

Do the First Nations not care what will be happening to theirs and our land ? Have they not learned by now after so many 100 years that the suits can not be trusted . There goes your land please do not blame everyone else for this asshole move blame your elected .

They’re whores. Yes thats right I said it, the first nations supporting this are whores. We all are though so dont feel too bad. throw enough money at any of us and we will abide.

Then none of our so called elected have the right stuff to speak out about this dirty bullshit , I want to see council thrown out and our MLA does not belong where she is either . How many first nations people are in support of the people who said its a go , who pockets the money this time the certain leaders and their families or do all the people ? It is just disturbing in too many ways .

You guys sure do jump to a lot conclusions, without facts to back them up. It’s like theatre of the absurd.

Read this article and follow up some of the links: < northcoastreview.blogspot.ca/201 … ation.html >.

A refinery in Rupert is not ‘a go’. The only announcement is that a group calling itself Pacific Future Energy associated with Grupo Salinas from Mexico has done some ‘pre-feasibility’ work and say they will now look at the ‘feasibility’ of refining tar from Alberta on the coast.

There is no evidence that any first nations support their idea, or that anyone has even talked to them.

The proponents (perhaps ‘promoters’ would be more accurate) have hired Shawn Atleo’s former deputy chief of staff as a front man, but that is not evidence of first nations support. Shawn Atleo is now former chief of the Assembly of First Nations, so his views, if he has any, have no relevance.

The proponents have also hired Christy Clark’s ex-husband, but that does not mean that the BC government supports the idea either. She has distanced herself from the issue. Black Press has an interesting story on this < thenorthernview.com/news/262594021.html >. The leader of the NDP - I’m sorry I forget his name - supports the Premier’s handling of the issue.

Of course the paper’s owner, David Black, has his own refinery proposal for Kitimat, but there is no evidence that any first nations support that either. He’s looking to the federal government to back one-third of the cost; it doesn’t look like Stephen Harper supports him either.

And then there is the Eagle Spirit (Calvin Helin and the Aquilini Group of Canucks fame) proposal to build a refinery. As discussed a while back in this thread, Art Sterritt of the Coastal First Nations says that a grand total of two small interior bands support the Eagle Spirit proposal. Mr Sterritt was quite dismissive.

In summary, there is no evidence that any first nations on the coast support any of the oil refinery ideas.

So let’s say we call off this nice little trip into la-la land and return to the world of hard facts. Hey did you the one about how the City has been fined $50,000 for a spill at Watson Island? Unfortunately that happens to be true < northcoastreview.blogspot.ca/201 … 50000.html >.

This comedy of errors just keeps growing with the $50,000 fine, multiple law suits and now you can probably call it public knowledge as people are posting on the Stockhouse bullboards that Jimmy Pattison offered the city a better (bigger) deal than WatCo which probably couldn’t have been put together in the time after the exclusivity agreement ended.

So my guess is this was done before the end of 2013 and that explains Glen Clark being seen around Prince Rupert the last couple of years, always nice to say hi to the ex premier when you’re having morning coffee.

The bills are adding up, fines, monthly expenses, lost tax revenue, lost tax revenue on jobs that should have been created and what is the city doing? The site is degrading every month, there is going to be more toxic spills, higher clean up costs, time for the city to take WatCo’s offer and get this over with. Another thing we don’t know is who are their partner(s)? The parent company Colonial Coal does not have $5.5 million in cash and another $10-20 million for remediation, they must have partnered up with someone fairly big to make this deal, someone who has completed ports in the past?

I guess the next time I’m having my morning coffee and I say hello to the local tourists from Asia I should ask if they have port construction experience. hint hint

Yeah we all know what is gong on, every moment the city leaves this, the worse their case will be which is already dead.

Actually Glen Clark comes up every year with Jimmy Pattison to visit the Canfisco and Overwaitea which Glen Clark as president oversees. nothing to do with the pulp mill site

Although true I don’t believe those were his only reasons for visiting town, truth will come out and it will show by the weak hand the city has to play.

Whether Glen Clark was involved in Watson Island discussions in addition to his usual duties is really neither here nor there.

What is far more interesting is what you say, consistent with a Stockhouse bullboard comment, about “Jimmy Pattison offered the city a better (bigger) deal than WatCo which probably couldn’t have been put together in the time after the exclusivity agreement ended.” If that is true and there were discussions before February that would seem to support WatCo’s contention that the City breached the exclusivity agreement and acted in bad faith.

Reading over the court filings it looks like WatCo and the City were close to a final deal, but the City suddenly wanted out of the exclusivity part of the arrangement so that they could talk to other parties.

A lot of what the City says in their filing is not about the negotiation having reached a dead end or fallen apart, but more along the lines that they did not consider themselves to be required to complete the sale. The City seemed to think that they could accept a couple of million dollars, make a public announcement to the effect that property would be sold to WatCo, and then walk away on short notice.

Quite a bit has been written about WatCo’s parent Colonial Coal as a publicly traded company. They are avowedly an exploration company and a take over target with some valuable coking coal properties. There are reports of “M&A activities” involving substantial mining companies. An export facility has been part of the package that Colonial Coal was planning to offer prospective purchasers. I doubt that port development experience would be critical. This would seem to be a project for a mining company that has deep enough pockets.

Hopefully the council did not roll the dice and lose by ending negotiations with WatCo but without having a better deal pretty much in the bag, with serious discussions still under way.

And why would Pattison - assuming that he actually expressed an interest - want Watson Island? It’s hard to envision Watson Island as anything other than an export facility of some kind.

The Mayor and council seem unlikely to clarify the situation. They would no doubt claim ‘third party confidentiality’ because release of such information would damage economic interests etc etc in some obscure way that probably none of them could adequately explain.

actually I think he is confused because Pattison was looking at Ridley Terminals when they were put up for sale the first time

Lots of things I am confused about but this is not one of them!

Just too many people with loose lips in this town to keep everything behind closed doors even though city hall specializes in that.

Time will tell part of the story, in the end we all just want to get things going before the economies in Asia go in the tank for a few years and there is no need to invest in massive projects that could keep people working in Rupert for years.

Growing tired of stupidity!