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Activists in Fiji ‘flood’ beach to protest Citibank
Pacific Island Represent activists in Fiji ‘flood’ beach to protest Citibank’s funding of deadly tar sands pipelines in Canada
SUVA, July 7, 2018 - More than 50
Pacific Island Represent activists have staged a spectacular
demonstration in the Fijian capital that saw black tee
shirt-clad protesters swarm across shores and into the ocean
to replicate an oil spill.
Citi is among 12 global
banks identified by Greenpeace which continue to have ties
to toxic tar sands projects and pipeline companies like
Energy Transfer Partners, the company that built the highly
controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.
“As the
Indigenous People of the Pacific we stand in solidarity with
our brothers and sisters across the sea who are bravely
resisting the unwanted advances of the tar sands oil
industry,” Pacific Island Represent activist Litia
Baleilevuka said.
“There is no safe way to transport
this toxic oil that needs to stay in the ground to give the
world a fighting chance of survival. This project will
disrupt the lives of First Nations people, pollute their
water and lead to the destruction of the environment and
marine life and we are not even talking about an oil
spill.”
The Trans Mountain Expansion project is a
1,150 km pipeline that will transport tar sands from Alberta
to the coast of British Columbia. The pipeline would
increase the amount of crude oil carried from the current
300,000 barrels per day, to 890,000 barrels per day and
dramatically increase tanker traffic along the west coast of
North America.
The pipeline would require 400 tankers
a year to travel through the Salish Sea. A spill of this
heavy, highly toxic tar sands oil in those waters would
permanently damage coastal communities and wildlife, placing
the remaining 75 endangered southern resident orcas in the
Puget Sound at risk of extinction.
The project would
also enable a huge expansion of tar sands extraction, with
the Trans Mountain Expansion alone unlocking the climate
impacts of 2.7 million cars every year.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
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