After a long session of boat prep and packing, we're off tomorrow morning! Thanks again to everyone for all your support, wish us luck!


Check out a column by Faroe in the Strait! http://www.straight.com/article-340451/vancouver/faroe-des-roches-paddling-stop-tar-sands-pipeline-bc


-The Pipedreams Team, signing off.

Hey Pipedreams Fans,

Thank you so much to everyone who's helped us get prepped and ready to go! We've received so much support while putting our project together; we're really blown away by how much people have been behind our project. We'll be leaving from Vancouver heading up to Kitimat on Thursday morning, and then launching from Kitimat on September 1st.

We'll be attending the Review Panel Session and rally against the pipeline in Kitimat on August 31st. For those of you in Vancouver, be sure to check out the Vancouver rally planned for the same day at Enbridge's Vancouver headquarters:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=105457572845186&ref=ts

We've done a test run of our GPS Satellite messenger, be sure to follow our daily progress along the coast on our Track Us page and stay tuned for updates! And if you haven't done so already, please take a moment to send in a letter to key members of parliament with our Take Action link.

Thanks again to everyone who's donated to our project, to our sponsors, to our family and friends, and to anyone who's taken a moment to learn more about the risked posed by the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.

The Pipedreams Team


P.S. Congrats to our lucky 50/50 draw winner Juan-Carlos!

From the Facebook event:

Urge government to ban oil tankers from BC's fragile north coast. We need a ban now to protect our coastline from an Enbridge pipeline project that would bring more than 225 tankers in and out of BC's dangerous northern waters each year.

The rally will start at 12PM near Enbridge's Vancouver headquarters (SE corner of Burrard and Pender), and march to the Vancouver Art Gallery. We'll hear from campaigners and Members of Parliament working to protect our coast. It coincides with a hearing in Kitimat held by the Joint Review Panel appointed to review the Enbridge project, and is coordinated with a rally in Kitimat.

I spoke with Marie-France Therrien, a representative for the Joint Review Panel, who informed me that that have decided that direct email submissions will not be included under guidelines established by the National Energy Board. Under the CEAA, not only have direct email submissions been included in a review, but so have letters to key members of parliament concerning a project. The two submissions by email that had been posted have been removed.

Submissions on their website are currently limited to responding to a very precise set of questions. Even though Panel Sessions are already underway in some communities, general comments from the public are not being accepted online.

This is an excellent example of how doing reviews under the NEB is far less accessible and open to the public than under the direction of the CEAA. This is a blow to meaningful public participation in the assessment process.

I have sent in these concerns to the JRP using their online form. Please continue to use our online Take Action letter as it sends letters to key members of parliament, and if the JRP is concerned with establishing the NEB as an organization that respects the precedent that has been set with meaningful public participation it will hopefully reconsider and include email submissions in the process

Ryan V.

Today I received an email from Marie-France Therrien stating that email submissions are not being accepted by the review panel, and that comments need to be submitted through their website www.gatewaypanel.review-examen.gc.ca. I have called her about this issue and am waiting for a response, as email has already been established as a method to submit comments as seen with submission document #s 2236 and 2237 (http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/050/05/documents-eng.cfm?evaluation=21799&type=7). In the mean time, we encourage everyone to continue using our online letter submission as it sends letters to key members of parliament, and until this issue can be resolved with the Review Panel to follow the steps they recommend. Stay tuned!


Ryan V. 

Check out our guest blog on dogwoodinitiative.org! http://dogwoodinitiative.org/blog/pipedreamsproject

We've added our GPS tracking feature to be able to track our pro