On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, rallies against the expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline took place on Lopez, Orcas, Shaw and San Juan Islands.

San Juan

Liza Michaelson and Mara Lawrence organized the event for San Juan Island through Friends of the San Juans.

“If we don’t stand up for the safety of our waters, who’s going to?” asked Michaelson, who is also involved in the 285-member organization San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping.

About 150 people attended the San Juan Island rally at San Juan County park. An estimated 400 people attended in total on Lopez, Orcas, Shaw Islands in the San Juans; Guemes and Fidalgo Islands near the mainland; and even Gabriola Island in British Columbia. Friends of the San Juans had representatives on all of them, said Executive Director Stephanie Buffum.

The Canadian government approved permits to expand the pipeline right after Christmas, said Buffum, but the fight is not over.

“As long as there is a legal battle to be had, that’s hopeful,” said Buffum. “It’s another day the project is delayed; another day we don’t have diluted bitumen floating in our waters.”

Bitumen is thick oil mined in Alberta, which is diluted so it can flow through pipes to Vancouver. Ships carrying the tar-like oil past the San Juan Islands will increase, said Buffum, as well as the possibility of spilling the bitumen. If it spills, part of it will float to the surface, and part will sink.

In a 2014 Senate hearing, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran said there is technology to recover surface oil spills, but not this sinkable tar sand oil.

Some have compared this protest to those against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

Friends is organizing a rally in Olympia to support a bill to prevent oil spills off the coast of Washington. Michaelson said supporters, like her, will bring cardboard cutouts for each of the Salish Sea’s orcas.

“Our orcas are already an endangered species and our economy depends on keeping the island beautiful,” said Michaelson.

To join the Olympia protest, contact Friends of the San Juans at 378-2319.

Orcas

More than 50 people gathered at Waterfront Park in Eastsound to stand with the Salish Sea.

San Juan County Council Member Rick Hughes, Friends of the San Juans Director Stephanie Buffum and Board member Michael Riordan and Jay Julius, a representative of the Lummi Nation spoke to the group of people who had clustered into a semicircle around the speakers.

“Most of our objections have been ignored,” said Riordan. “Whatever support we can give them, we should.”

Hughes spoke no how expansion can only cause San Juan County harm in the long run. However, he noted that the council can’t tell another country how to operate.

“The more we can do together, the more we can change,” said Hughes.

An active participant in the actions against the now defunct Gateway Pacific Terminal which had been proposed to export coal from Cherry Point, Julius asked, “what is the tipping point?”

“What have we allowed to take place to get where we are today?” questioned Julius. “Are we ok with that? What we do today will affect future generations.”

Buffum reminded everyone that everything we do is to help future generations.

“Today we’re standing for our waters, we’re standing on this rock,” said Buffum. “We are watching. We want a better future.”

Lopez

Approximately 130 Lopez residents showed up at Odlin Park dock to protect the Salish Sea against the risks posed by the proposed expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline. Land protesters were joined by activists who showed up in sailboats, row boats and kayaks.

“We are here today as a demonstration of our concerns for the earth, our homes, our waters, the Salish Sea,” said Friends of the San Juans President San Olson. “We are extremely vulnerable to shipping traffic accidents. We are very worried about the traffic and the danger that it poses to our lives and all marine creatures that live here. “

The Jan 16 “Salish Sea Stands” gathering on Lopez was organized by the Friends of the San Juans. Similar gatherings happened simultaneously on Orcas, San Juan, Shaw, Guemes and other smaller islands in the Salish Sea. Protesters from different ferry-served islands came together on the ferry that made stops at different islands.

“Our environment is our economic. Our economy is our environment. We are here to protect that against oil shipments that are being proposed to com,” said San Juan County Councilman Jamie Stephens. “Our San Juan County is a giant roundabout for all the vessel traffic that goes through to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We have all the risks and none of the benefits.”

Approved by the Canadian Federal Government, the proposed pipeline project would result in an increase of crude oil tanker vessel traffic from 120 to 816 tankers per year through the waters surrounding San Juan islands. The pipeline would deliver diluted bitumen (sticky tar sands oil mixed with volatile organic diluents) from Alberta, Canada to Burnaby, near Vancouver, B.C. Some of the oil will also be delivered via an existing spur pipeline to BP refinery in Cherry Point, near Bellingham, Washington, where the oil will be loaded onto tankers for export.

“We are not just one effort or one small group of people against the pipeline. We are a localized response to the proposed oil shipment that will hurt our land,” said Kai Sanburn, Lopez coordinator of Salish Sea Stands. “Standing with us are all other movements around the country and around the globe who are trying to stop fossil fuel disruptions of our planet.”

Lopez Islander Chom Greacen contributed to this article as well as the Weekly Editor Mandi Johnson.