https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/zh-hant/%E6%96
跨山輸油管道將艾省的焦油砂石油從埃德蒙頓的大型油庫運往卑詩省的本拿比。
今年五月起，石油開始從艾伯塔省的埃德蒙頓（Edmonton）、經全長1000公裏的地下管道、流到卑詩省的本拿比。
被埋在地下的跨山輸油管道（Trans Mountain pipeline），地麵上除了白色和黃色告示外，幾乎不會看到。管道沿途經過大小社區、穿越數十個原住民領地，每天輸送近90萬桶石油到海邊油輪。
跨山輸油管道擴建項目在2013年由當時的經營公司提出，並得到國家能源委員會批準。但在卑詩省政府、本拿比市和環保組織反對下，項目幾乎胎死腹中。至2018年，聯邦政府出麵幹預，買下整條輸油管道，計劃擴建後轉手出售。
跨山輸油管道擴建項目地圖。
照片：TRANS MOUNTAIN CORPORATION
此後成本一路飆升，從2017年估計的74億元，增至2024年的340多億。外界支持和反對聲音不絕。
無論如何，輸油管道已經開通。在管道附近生活的人，也要麵對新的現實。
艾伯塔省 蓋恩福德（Gainford）
蓋恩福德位於埃德蒙頓以西90公裏，是一條僅有118人居住的小村莊。
這裏設有跨山公司的泵站，負責保持輸油管的壓力和流向。
沃茨（Dawn Watts）在離泵站不遠處梳洗馬匹和喂雞。她經營生態旅遊企業，會舉辦工作坊和行山活動，以可持續方式讓人靠近土地和自然。
沃茨（Dawn Watt）關注環境，以可持續方式經營農場，但她並不拒絕管道。
照片：RADIO-CANADA / JOSHUA MCLEAN
雖然如此，沃茨並不反對輸油管。
我們都要吃飯，都要付賬單，大多數人都要開車
，她說明白很多東西仍然依賴石油和天然氣。
沃茨還希望輸油管會比鐵路運輸更安全。十年前，載油火車卡在她家對麵脫軌，大火令她的房子的護墻板都被融掉。
2013年，13 輛火車卡在艾省蓋恩福德脫軌起火。
照片：LA PRESSE CANADIENNE / JASON FRANSON
雖然認為輸油管更安全，但她也顧慮一旦發生泄漏或破裂，後果將不堪設想。
她認為，輸油管是其他綠色能源變得更實用前的一塊踏腳石。
艾伯塔省 埃德森（Edson）
五金公司店主帕特森（Don Patterson）說，石油業在埃德森根深蒂固。雖然他沒有直接參與輸油管擴建，但當管道工人在當地施工時，他的五金店銷售額增長了三成，其他商家也有受惠。
帕特森（Don Patterson，左）估計，跨山公司擴建工地的工人大量湧入，令他的銷售額增加了約 30%。
照片：RADIO-CANADA / JOSHUA MCLEAN
現在，工程接近尾聲，生意額不再，但他對埃德森的經濟前景依然樂觀。無論是采礦業，還是發電站，總有項目會來，使這兒變得更好。
卑詩省 低語鬆鎮（Whispering Pines）
埃德森的人期待著下一個大項目，但在卑詩省內陸地區，輸油管卻可能就是未來。
甘露市（Kamloops）以北約40公裏的低語鬆鎮及克林頓（Clinton）原住民部落的土地，自1954年起就有輸油管穿過。
勒布代斯（Michael LeBourdais）是西部原住民管道集團主席，集團由多個有意投資跨山公司的原住民組成。
照片：RADIO-CANADA / JOSHUA MCLEAN
西部原住民管道集團（Western Indigenous Pipeline Group）的勒布代斯（Mike LeBourdais） 認為，他們應該有權分一杯羹。
自建管道以來，我們每天都活在風險中，但卻從未受益。
他們聯同其他輸油管公司及原住民社區，要求投資到跨山公司。他覺得，這是一種和解。
要求投資輸油管道的原住民集團，並非隻他們一家。
卑詩省 甘露市（Kamloops）
同樣，也有原住民堅決反對輸油管擴建。
2020 年，迪克（Miranda Dick）就在工程工地外剪掉頭發示威。這位悉古潘（Secwépemc）族族長和六孩之母，因藐視法庭罪被判監28天，但她絕不言悔。
悉古潘（Secwépemc）族長迪克（Miranda Dick）定期舉行儀式保護水源，並讓族人了解管道在土地上會存在風險。
照片：RADIO-CANADA / JOSHUA MCLEAN
她擔心輸油管斷裂會影響原住民領土的水道。她說政府並沒有進行足夠谘詢保護她們的生活，這是以短期利益換取可能對我們造成的長期傷害。
蘇瑪斯第一民族（Sumas First Nation）
在卑詩省阿伯茲福德（Abbotsford）不遠處，蘇瑪斯原住民就親身體驗過輸油管斷裂。
跨山公司在蘇馬斯領地上營運一個油庫。
酋長西爾弗（Dalton Silver）說，過去20年已發生過四次泄漏。他擔心擴建後會帶來更多問題。
蘇瑪斯酋長西爾弗（Dalton Silver，右）說，"我有老一輩原住民的觀點，我們對土地的義務就是照顧它們。"
照片：LA PRESSE CANADIENNE / JONATHAN HAYWARD
西爾弗說，他個人反對這樣做，但理解輸油管道對沿線原住民的經濟吸引力。有很多社區資金短缺。他們正在找機會創造收入。機會來了，我不怪他們。
蘇瑪斯原住民最終也與跨山公司簽署了利益協議。
我有老一輩原住民的觀點，我們對土地的義務就是照顧它們。
卑詩省 本拿比（Burnaby）
在本拿比外，跨山公司一個巨大油庫場內有一間叫看守所
的小木屋，由泰斯雷爾-沃土思（Tsleil-Waututh）原住民興建。
以往的看守所用於在沿海地區警戒入侵船隻。如今，這所看守所卻用作監視油庫場。
看守這所房子的長老萊登（Jim Leyden）說，"隻要有須要，我們就會在這裏抗爭。＂
長老萊登（Jim Leyden）在看守所時刻關注跨山公司在附近油庫和布拉德灣（Burrard Inlet）水域的運營情況。
照片：RADIO-CANADA / JOSHUA MCLEAN
對部分本拿比人來說，威脅太真實、後果太嚴重。
舒什塔裏安（Tara Shushtarian）住在油庫場隔壁，離看守所不遠。現在油貯存越來越多，她擔心一旦發生意外，她和丈夫無法及時撤離。
隨著擴建項目完成，舒什塔裏安（Tara Shushtarian）正考慮搬離油庫旁的房子。
照片：RADIO-CANADA / JOSHUA MCLEAN
也許再過幾年就得搬了，這裏實在太不安全，
她說。
為釋除舒什塔裏安等人的擔憂，跨山公司在其網站上公布了油庫場的應急和疏散計劃。公司又指出自1953年開始運營輸油管道以來，從未發生過儲油罐起火事件。
輸油管道的終點是位於布拉德灣（Burrard Inlet）的 韋斯特裏奇海洋碼頭（Westridge Marine Terminal），石油在這裏裝上油輪。擴建後，油輪從每月約5艘增加到多達34艘。
布拉德灣（Burrard Inlet）的 韋斯特裏奇海洋碼頭（Westridge Marine Terminal）。
照片：REUTERS / CHRIS HELGREN
雨海岸保護基金會（Raincoast Conservation Foundation）的科學家羅斯（Peter Ross）擔心會出現大規模泄漏。
2007 年，一臺挖掘機在為雨水下水道挖溝時令石油管道破裂，原油噴灑到附近的房屋上，迫使250人疏散。原油流入附近的伯拉德灣，引發大規模清理工程。
科學家羅斯（Peter Ross）擔心會出現大規模泄漏，會對海洋生物造成長期影響。
照片：RADIO-CANADA / CAROLINE CLOUTIER
羅斯說，油類一旦進入水中，清理起來既困難又危險，而且會對海洋生物造成長期影響。
溫哥華
麥肯齊（Mike McKenzie）過去十年，為了輸油管道擴建而埋頭苦幹。
他是悉古潘族（Secwépemc）的知識守護者，但他並非完全反對該項目，而是為了讓族人在過程中得到尊重
而奮鬥。
麥肯齊（Mike McKenzie）站在當年多次進行抗議的地點溫哥華美術館外。
照片：RADIO-CANADA
他已準備好放下並繼續人生，說今後若再抗議，肯定會改變做法。過去十年，對他和家人朋友來說實在過得不容易。他認為不論站在那方，都可以從跨山事件中吸取教訓。
CBC, Josh McLean, adaptation en chinois par Donna Chan.
Living with Trans Mountain
https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/living-with-trans-mountain
decade of work, oil is flowing through the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. People who live along the pipeline are looking to the future.
By Josh McLean May 1, 2024
Buried underground, it is nearly invisible. The only real giveaways are the white and yellow signs dotting the landscape along the Yellowhead Highway west of Edmonton. Markers that someone could follow all the way to the Pacific Ocean, if they were determined enough.
The Trans Mountain pipeline runs about 1,000 kilometres from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C. Along the way, it passes through communities big and small and crosses the territories of dozens of First Nations.
When the valves open and the oil starts flowing Wednesday, the newly twinned Trans Mountain pipeline will carry nearly 900,000 barrels of bitumen from producers in Alberta to tanker ships on the coast each and every day.
Originally proposed by then-owner Kinder Morgan in 2013 and approved by the National Energy Board three years later, the expansion was nearly killed by legal challenges from the B.C. government, the City of Burnaby and environmental groups. By 2018, Kinder Morgan was ready to pull the plug on the project. That’s when the federal government intervened and bought the entire pipeline, with plans to build the expansion and then turn around and sell it.
Since then, the cost has skyrocketed, growing from the original estimate of $7.4 billion in 2017 to more than $34 billion in 2024. Trans Mountain blames the overruns on “extraordinary” factors like the pandemic, extreme weather and evolving compliance requirements.
Trans Mountain pipeline
Edmonton
Jasper
National
Park
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
Banff
National
Park
Calgary
Kamloops
Vancouver
CANADA
UNITED STATES
Source: Global Energy Monitor, ©Mapcreator | OSM.org (CBC)
As the project dragged on, so did the rallies and protests for and against it.
Rallying cries of “no means no” echoed across crowds of protesters in Burnaby carrying signs warning of climate change, risks to watersheds and insufficient Indigenous consultation. In Alberta, calls for economic development were backed by blaring truck horns and chants of “build the pipe.”
At a global energy conference in Houston in March, Trans Mountain’s chief financial officer, Mark Maki, said that the Trans Mountain expansion matters for Canada, and that the increased export capacity will mean better prices for oil producers, more jobs for Canadians and higher tax revenue.
“Employees with Trans Mountain, and I’m one of them, we’re happy,” said Maki. ”We’re getting to the end and that’s a reason to be proud. We’re doing something that, I think, is good for the country.”
While the shovels are being stowed away and work camps disbanded, a new reality persists for people who live and work with Trans Mountain beneath their feet, regardless of how they feel about the project.
About 90 kilometres west of Edmonton is the community of Gainford.
Edmonton
Vancouver
Chip Lake
Lake Isle
Gainford
Edson
Wabamun Lake
Bordered on the north by the picturesque Isle Lake and home to just 118 people, the hamlet is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of place.
It’s also host to a Trans Mountain pump station, which keeps up pressure in the pipeline and the oil flowing west.
Dawn Watts grooms her horses and feeds her chickens a stone’s throw from that pump station. She owns Medieval Manor Gardens, a fledgling eco-tourism business that aims to connect people back to the land and nature with workshops and hiking tours. And to do that as sustainably as possible.
Still, Watts said there is a need for projects like Trans Mountain.
“We all have to eat. We have bills to pay. Most of us drive cars.” she said. “A lot of things rely on oil and gas still.”
Watts also hopes the pipeline will be safer than the alternative: shipping oil by rail. Back in 2013, some tanker cars derailed across the highway from her property, creating an inferno so ferocious it melted the siding of the house where she now lives.
But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have concerns.
With a high water table and Isle Lake nearby, a leak or rupture could have devastating consequences. But she still thinks the pipeline is the safer bet.
“A pipeline break or something like that is unlikely to happen. You're probably more likely to get hit by a car crossing the road, so you’ve got to put it in perspective, right?”
At the end of the day, Watts sees Trans Mountain as a stepping stone towards a greener future as other energy sources become more practical. For her, it’s not a question of if clean energy becomes the norm, but when.
“There's other things, hydrogen and other alternatives coming. But this one pipeline is going to keep us going, I would imagine, for quite some time until these other alternatives can be put in place.”
Go a little further downstream on the pipeline and the question is: “What’s next?”
A steady stream of customers filters in and out of Patterson’s Parts Supply in Edson. They chat and share a laugh with owner Don Patterson amid rows of gleaming wrenches and tubes of mechanical grease.
The oil industry has deep roots in this part of Canada.
“It has been a big part of our lives and it has meant a lot to our families and … to the past and to the future,” said Patterson.
Even though Patterson wasn’t directly involved with Trans Mountain, he said the massive project was good news for his store. He saw an uptick of about 30 per cent in sales when pipeline crews were working in the Edson area. Other businesses saw a boost, too.
“Everybody was really connected to it. And it was a real boost for everybody's sales,” he said. “It was a positive effect, for the most part, on everybody in town. So it was really good to have.”
WATCH | An Edson business owner responds to pipeline critics:
Now that construction is wrapping up, that boom has faded. But Patterson remains optimistic about Edson’s economic future.
“There's a lot of projects that come,” he said.
“Whether it's mining, whether it's our power generation stations, there's always something that comes into our area or makes our area better.”
As people in Edson look forward to the next big project, head toward the interior of British Columbia and there’s a feeling that Trans Mountain could be the future.
About 40 kilometres north of Kamloops, the pipeline has crossed the territory of the Whispering Pines/Clinton Indian Band for decades.
Edmonton
Vancouver
Whispering Pines
Lac Du Bois
Protected Area
Paul Lake
Provincial
Park
Thompson
River
Kamloops
Mike LeBourdais thinks they should own a piece of it.
He’s part of the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group, an Indigenously owned company created by First Nations leaders who share that goal.
It has partnered with Calgary pipeline company Pembina to try to buy Trans Mountain. So far, about 40 other First Nations have signed on to the idea.
“We live with the risk, all day, every day since 1954 [when the original pipeline was built]. But we've never had the benefit,” he said. “Let us have the benefit for the next 70 years and see how that works for us.“
If the group’s proposal to buy the pipeline goes ahead, LeBourdais envisions First Nations using the revenue from owning the pipeline for everything from environmental protection to providing elder care.
“I think it is reconciliation,” he said. “It hasn't been done on this scale before.”
The Western Indigenous Pipeline Group is not the only Indigenous group looking to invest in the pipeline. Project Reconciliation, headquartered in Calgary, has its own proposal.
Chairman Robert Morin says it is aiming for 100 per cent Indigenous ownership.
“Every First Nation has managed poverty since the signing of treaties and the establishment of this country. That has to change,” said Morin.
WATCH | Indigenous pipeline ownership as way of reconciliation:
Other Indigenous people are opposed to the idea of Indigenous ownership.
They think the environmental risk outweighs any economic benefits the pipeline might bring.
WATCH | An Indigenous woman cuts her hair to protest Trans Mountain:
Miranda Dick fought hard against the construction of the Trans Mountain expansion. In 2020, she cut her hair outside a Trans Mountain construction site where the pipeline runs under the Thomson River, an outward display of grief and loss.
The Secwépemc matriarch and mother of six was arrested and charged with criminal contempt. Dick was found guilty and sentenced to 28 days in jail. But she has no regrets and plans to keep fighting.
Her big concern: The impact a break in the pipeline could have on waterways in her nation’s territory. She said not enough consultation was done to protect her people’s way of life.
“This is a short-term gain for long-term harm that could happen to our people,” she said.
Further down the line in Abbotsford, the Sumas First Nation has experienced Dick’s concerns first-hand.
Trans Mountain operates a tank farm on Sumas traditional territory.
Edmonton
Vancouver
Squamish
Westridge
Marine Terminal
Vancouver
Burnaby
Fraser River
Trans Mountain
Sumas Terminal
Abbotsford
Straight
of Georgia
Chief Dalton Silver said there have been four spills over the past two decades. He worries the expanded pipeline will cause even more problems.
“There is something coming here that poses a big threat to the natural environment of our people and really could affect the livability of our homelands,” he said. “Of course I am opposed.”
Still, Silver said he understands the economic draw the pipeline represents for the First Nations along its route.
“There are a lot of communities that are, you could say, hard up for funds,” he said. “They're looking for opportunities to try and generate some of their own revenue. The opportunity came up and I don't blame them.”
The Sumas First Nation waited longer than many other First Nations, but ultimately did sign a benefit agreement with Trans Mountain.
It’s something Silver said he was personally against, but the majority of community members wanted. His position has not changed now that other First Nations are showing interest in buying the pipeline.
“Those guys are my good buddies, my bros, and they know I have opposing views and they still approach me and wonder if I am interested,” he said.
“I have the old First Nation perspective that our obligation to our lands is to look after them.”
Further down the line in Burnaby, a small cedar building stands in the shadow of Trans Mountain’s massive tank farm.
Known as a watch house, it was constructed by members of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation.
Such structures were traditionally used to keep a lookout for invading boats on British Columbia’s coastal inlets.
Today it watches over construction work at the expanding oil facility.
“We will be here fighting this as long as we have to be here fighting it,” said Jim Leyden, the elder who cares for the watch house.
He’s not alone in that sentiment in Burnaby. Construction may be nearly finished on the Trans Mountain expansion, but many people in this coastal city are not ready to give up their opposition yet. For them, the threat of an incident is too real and the consequences too serious to back down.
Tara Shushtarian lives next door to the tank farm, not far from the watch house, in an area she calls the “incineration zone.” Now there are more tanks and they’re bigger, and Shushtarian worries that if something happens she won’t be able to evacuate with her husband in time.
“Maybe in a couple of years … we'll have to think of moving out, because it's just too unsafe. We'll be much older. We won’t be able to run if there's an incident,” she said.
To try to address concerns for people like Sushtarian, Trans Mountain has detailed emergency and evacuation plans for the tank farm publicly available on its website.
The company points to its safety record and says it has never had a storage tank fire since it started operating the original line in 1953.
The Trans Mountain pipeline ends at Westridge Marine Terminal in Burrard Inlet, where oil is loaded onto tankers. The expansion means more oil flowing to the terminal and more tankers in the inlet — up from around five to as many as 34 each month.
For marine scientists, that means more risk.
“Any spill would be catastrophic. A large spill would be absolutely cataclysmic,” said Peter Ross, senior scientist at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.
It’s happened once before. In 2007, an excavator digging a trench for a new storm sewer ruptured the original line, spraying crude oil over nearby homes and forcing 250 people to evacuate. The oil flowed down into nearby Burrard Inlet, prompting a massive cleanup effort.
WATCH | An ocean pollution expert explains what an oil spill does to marine life:
But Ross said once the oil is in the water, it is difficult and dangerous to clean up and can have long-term consequences for sea life
“The biggest concern is going to be around the effects on small developing fish and invertebrates, as they reproduce and as they try to grow in a soup that is very harmful to their health,” he said.
There are worries about climate change, too. Dr. Tim Takaro researched its impact on human health during his academic career at Simon Fraser University. These days, he can be found with other protesters in Burnaby outside a branch of RBC — a significant financier of fossil fuels in the world by some reports — urging customers to take their money elsewhere.
“This is about stopping the money pipeline,” said Takaro. “People do not understand the urgency of climate change and what is coming for us if we don’t turn off the spigot.”
Mike McKenzie remembers what it was like to protest the Trans Mountain expansion outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2022.
“Whenever I came here it was a big thing,” he said.
“It was like, whoa, there are a lot of people here. There is a lot of energy here.’”
For McKenzie, the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline is a pivotal moment in his life. The Secwépemc knowledge keeper was not wholly opposed to the project.
Instead, he was fighting to “have [his] people honoured in the process.”
Now, he reflects on the more than 10 years he spent focused on the project — nearly one-third of his life.
He’s ready to move on.
“I would definitely change my approach if I was protesting in the future,” he said.
“It was hard on me, it was hard on my family, it was hard on the people that I care about.”
McKenzie thinks there are lessons to be learned from Trans Mountain.
“I want people who are so on one side or the other to remember that we are people, that we are in this together,” he said.
“I would like to see that people that are in those spaces give a little to each side because we are in this together, whether we are on the same side or not.”
Editing | Janet Davison
A previous version of this story included a reference to a 2023 report identifying RBC as the No. 1 financier of fossil fuels in the world. After publication of that report, its authors updated their information regarding RBC with corrected data, and it was shown as No. 5.
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