One of the biggest culprits in the continued expansion of oil sands is the proposed gateway pipeline, slated to go into construction within the next few years. These twin pipelines cover 1,170 kilometres from Alberta's tar sands to the coast of BC. The pipeline is being built by Enbridge Inc. who reported 67 spills in 2006 and 65 in 2007. That's actually a reduction of 2 spills in a year! I wonder if, at that rate of improvement, Alberta and BC communities will be willing to roll the dice on having this project running through their backyards. When the Enbridge people present their package to alleviate concerns on reserves they seem very excited about having the opportunity to cross 870 waterways and a little obstacle called the Rocky Mountains. The waterways would not be altered in any way, they promised: besides drilling test holes to check depths and having huge machines and the camps of men it takes to drill under rivers and put in pipelines. The mountains are another story. When asked how they would get around the mountains they very plainly stated, "No need to go around, our engineers think it would be a lot easier to just drill through them." Obviously the pipeline guys hadn't had too much contact with the BC First Nations who have counted on the protection of the mountains from elements and enemies for generations, and consider them as much a part of their tribes as their own families.

"A measure of our success will be our ability to provide meaningful economic opportunities to First Nations and Métis communities, including an option to invest in the project." This is from the Gateway website and is one of the most stressed points in their aboriginal community consultations. We can buy into this project. For many of the elders this is the equivalent of paying to watch our way of life burnt to ashes, then sell the ashes, then smile and count the money. 10% of the project is being set aside for native communities to buy in and this is a great way for them to demonstrate to native organizations and others that they indeed have the support of native communities. But there are other partners involved in this project and Gateway employees, in information sessions, were very pleased to mention this as well. This will be the first time that oil companies will be directly financially involved to this degree in a project like this. This is just another illustration that this project will not only increase oil sands development through the increase of oil flow from the area, it will also directly increase big oil companies profits and growth. Let's help the big oil companies to grow so that they can increase their development and exert more influence on government policy and action towards the oil sands projects.

The fact is this: "The Tar Sands "Gigaproject" is the largest industrial project in human history and likely also the most destructive. The tar sands mining procedure releases at least three times the CO2 emissions as regular oil production and is slated to become the single largest industrial contributor in North America to Climate Change.

The tar sands are already the cause of the second fastest rate of deforestation on the planet behind the Amazon Rainforest Basin. Currently approved projects will see 3 million barrels of tar sands mock crude produced daily by 2018; for each barrel of oil, up to as high as five barrels of water are used."

Now imagine driving through that forest again in a few years. You are coming to that place again where the scenery suddenly turned black and you are preparing yourself to see what has become of it. But now things have changed, replanting has begun, reclamation is underway, structures are being dismantled and equipment is being hauled away. The water is clearing and the plants are growing once again. If this future seems unlikely, and it probably does to many directly affected by the oil sands, then it speaks to the amount of work to be done by those who would like to one day see these monumental mistakes of mankind undone. Until then, keep fighting.

For more information on the social justice movement opposing oil sand development please visit www.oilsandstruth.org

Dustin Twin Jr. is a Cree native from Swan River, Alberta. He works in environmental studies and has always been a traditional thinker when it comes to the environment. In addition to work related studies Dustin writes comics, poetry and news articles. He has had poems published in The Yellow Medicine Review, Autumn Leaves journal, and the Angelic Dynamo poetry journal.