Government announces ban on gas fracking in the Sacred Headwaters
The government of British Columbia announced today that Shell is withdrawing its plans to drill for gas in the Sacred Headwaters and that gas drilling is banned in the area. A four-year moratorium on gas exploration was due to expire this month, and the government has decided to permanently extend it.
First Nations, author Wade Davis, ForestEthics and many environmentalists have long campaigned against the plan to frack coal bed gas in the area, which is the headwaters of the Stikine, Nass and Skeena rivers.
In 2005 Tahltan First Nation’s elders were arrested while protesting against Shell exploration. Tremendous resistance from the Tahltan and other First Nations must have spurred Shell and the government to withdraw the plan.
PHOTO: Tahltan Iskut elder Mabel Dennis being arrested on 15 September 2005 by an RCMP officer. Nine Tahltan and Iskut elders were arrested for blockading the road to Klabona, the Sacred Headwaters, in protest over coalbed methane mining by Fortune Minerals and Shell Canada. Photo: Tahltan Bulletin
ForestEthics has a celebration activity online at: http://ow.ly/g1mjJ