By Matt Fetinko

Unist’ot’en demands stop-work order for Coastal GasLink

Jan 28, 2019 | 12:12 PM

HOUSTON, B.C. — The Coastal GasLink pipeline saga continues as a stop-work order is being demanded by the Unist’ot’en House Group.

Citing two major violations of the court-ordered injunction, the First Nation camp is looking to halt work being done at Camp 9A. An Unist’ot’en representative, who asked to remain nameless, explained communication from Coastal GasLink to the trapline tenure holders, specifically Chief Knedebeas, said the clearing of Camp 9A would not start until 2020.

“The condition of their permit was that they’re required to give six months notice to Chief Knedebeas before they began work on that site and [Coastal GasLink] told him they would do that in 2020. He continued to trap his line and then they came and bulldozed his traps so that’s a direct violation of that condition of the permit,” the representative said. “The second violation is with the BC Oil and Gas permit which requires a site-specific archaeological survey done of the Camp 9A site. They haven’t finished that assessment.”

In a written statement to CKPG, coastal GasLink stated, “…all the work being done by Coastal GasLink (CGL) is approved and permitted and in full compliance with the Environmental Assessment Certificate (EAC); that as of Nov. 19, 2018, CGL has met all the required pre-construction conditions.”

“I’m not aware of any outstanding archaeological work that needed to be done or anything regarding this six-month notification,” said Coastal GasLink Spokesperson Terry Cunha. “It’s my understanding all of the proper notifications have been given.”

Budget reaction

AME weighs in on federal budget

2h ago

BC Wildfires

Massive wildfire event coming to Prince George

4h ago

Cougars

Rockets beat Cougars to force Game 5 on Friday

4h ago

Last week, it was reported Coastal GasLink crews found animal traps in the trees and new signs stating they were there. The company said it provided notice to trappers that work was being done in the area to ensure awareness and prevent any disturbance to traditional activities. Construction was temporarily shut down at the site of the future LNG pipeline, according to Coastal GasLink. The Unist’ot’en representative claimed they were back working the next day.

An Unist’ot’en Facebook post claimed RCMP have threatened Wet’suwet’en trappers with arrest for attempting to access their traplines. The full post can be found here.