|
| |
| 23. Oktober 2013 |
| Khutzeymateen Grizzlybären-Schutzgebiete werden durch Gaspipelinepläne bedroht. Pipeline würde zwei Schutzgebiete durchschneiden |
| |
| Im Rahmen des Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project (ein Tochterunternehmen von TransCanada Pipelines Ltd.) soll eine Erdgaspipeline – die Pacific NorthWest Natural Gas Pipeline – quer durch das Kwinimass Conservancy (Ksi X’anmas Conservancy) und das Khutzeymateen Inlet West Conservancy gebaut werden, dicht vorbei am Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary, einem sogenannten Klasse-A-Park. Beide Conservancies sind ökologisch äußerst sensible Gebiete und Lebensräume für Grizzlybären. Sie sind wichtige Erweiterungen des eigentlichen Khutzeymateen-Schutzgebietes, welches 1994 eingerichtet wurde und nur 44.300 Hektar umfasst. Jetzt will die TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. im Auftrag der Petronas Energy Inc. aus Malaysia die größte Erdgaspipeline Kanadas quer durch diese Conservancies – von der Provinzregierung offiziell als „Schutzgebiete“ bezeichnet – bauen. In einer Presseerklärung der Valhalla Wilderness Society (VWS) heißt es: „Survey work has already started for a major 200-foot-wide right-of-way that will include a major industrial road and compressor station needed for the 4-foot diameter pipeline.“ Wayne McCrory, Bärbiologe von der VWS erklärte: „The survey is apparently being carried out with no park use permit, but with endorsement from the Premier’s office. However, a permit will be required for the next stage of creating drilling pads, and may soon be issued by the government, yet the public has been kept totally in the dark, only learning of the surveys from commercial bear viewing operators in the Khutzeymateen Inlet. Any permits issued in the protected conservancies will be in violation of the Park and Act.“ |
| |
 |
Junge Grizzlybären beim Spielen – ziemlich genau an der Stelle, an der die
geplante Pipeline das Khutzeymateen Inlet erreichen soll (Mouse Creek) |
© Klaus Pommerenke |
|
| |
| Noch steht die exakte Pipelineroute nicht fest, doch bereits die Erkundungsarbeiten und der Helikopterverkehr bedrohen die Bären. TransCanada versichert zwar, Umweltschutzbelange mit zu berücksichtigen, doch dürfte dies nicht mehr als ein Lippenbekenntnis sein. Was zählt, sind rein wirtschaftliche Erwägungen. Bei TransCanada heißt es: „TransCanada has been selected by Petronas to design, build, own and operate the proposed Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project an approximately 700-kilometre pipeline to deliver natural gas from the Fort St. John area of British Columbia to the recently announced proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG export facility at Port Edward, near Prince Rupert, B.C. The initial pipeline capacity is estimated to be 2.0 billion cubic feet of gas per day with the ability to expand to 3.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day. Although the final route has yet to be determined the project will consist of approximately 750 km’s of large diameter pipe.“ |
| Die LNG-Fabrik (LNG: liquefied natural gas) auf Lelu Island bei Port Edward wird riesige Ausmaße haben und von der Pacific NorthWest LNG betrieben werden. Die Gaspipeline soll 2015 gebaut werden, die LNG-Fabrik soll Ende 2018 in Betrieb gehen. Bei so viel Zeitdruck mit dem 5,1 Milliarden CAD-Projekt scheren sich TransCanada und die angeheuerten Subunternehmer nicht um gültige Park-Gesetze (Section 8 und 9) oder bemühen sich nicht um vorherige Konsultation des Umweltministeriums von BC oder gar von Umweltschutzorganisationen und First Nations, obwohl genau das auf den Firmenwebsites versprochen wird. |
| „Possible B.C. pipeline route crosses grizzly bear sanctuary“ lautete die Schlagzeile eines Artikels von Bruce Constantineau am 7. September 2013 in der Vancouver Sun. „The company proposing to build a natural gas pipeline through a grizzly bear sanctuary near Prince Rupert has already been warned twice about ‚none-permitted access‘ to the environmentally sensitive area, and BC Parks is investigating a third possible transgression. A subcontractor of pipeline builder TransCanada Corp. received verbal warning from BC Parks after the first incident in the Khutzeymateen Inlet Conservancy on June 16 and a written warning after the second on June 28, according to the provincial environmental ministry. A third incident under investigation occurred in the past week.“ Der Bärbiologe Barrie Gilbert ist entsetzt über die Pläne von TransCanada: „They’re really looking at putting a pipeline into some of the most pristine protected areas on the B.C. coast, and people should be pretty damned upset … There’s so much push to get that gas to the coast that they’re doing all this preliminary stuff without getting the proper permission.“ |
| |
 |
| Karte der geplanten Pipelineroute im Khutzeymateen-Gebiet |
© McCrory Wildlife Services,
Baden Cross, GIS Analyst |
|
| |
| Bei BC Parks heißt es über das Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary: „The ultimate purpose of this area is to protect the north coast grizzly bear by preserving a part of the ecosystem in which they live. Because of this area’s high sensitivity and strict conservation orientation, visitor use is not encouraged.“ Der gleiche strikte Schutzgedanke gilt auch für das Kwinimass Conservancy (Ksi X’anmas Conservancy), das Khutzeymateen Inlet Conservancy (13.309 Hektar) und das Khutzeymateen Inlet West Conservancy. Das ganze Inlet „protects important grizzly bear habitat“, liest man bei BC Parks, einem Teil des Umweltministeriums von BC und just hier soll die Erdgaspipeline gebaut werden. Den schwächsten „Schutz“-Status hat ein Teil des Khutzeymateen Inlet West Conservancy: Es ist ein sogenanntes Schedule F-Gebiet. Hier ist ausdrücklich der Straßenbau erlaubt, um in benachbarten Gebieten Holz einschlagen zu können („Schedule F allows for the issuance of park use permits for the construction, use or maintenance of a road to access natural resources lying beyond the conservancy“). |
| Im Dezember 2011 wurde der Management Plan für den Khutzeymateen Park, das Khutzeymateen Inlet Conservancy und das Khutzeymateen Inlet West Conservancy verabschiedet. Unter Punkt 3.2. Overall Management Goals and Objectives, heißt es: „The protection of Grizzly Bears and their habitat and the protection of cultural values are the most significant features of these protected areas. Conservation, especially Grizzly Bears and their habitat, shall be the highest priority in the management of the protected areas.“ Sollte die Erdgaspipeline wie geplant durch die Conservancies gebaut werden, so ist dieser Management Plan das Papier nicht wert, auf welchem er gedruckt wurde. Wie so oft würde der Schutz der Umwelt der Gier nach Geld und Steuereinnahmen aus neuen Öl- und Gasprojekten geopfert werden. Gleichzeitig ist dieses Gaspipeline-Projekt auch eine Art Lackmus-Test dafür, ob die sogenannten Conservancies, die im Rahmen des Great Bear Rainforest-Abkommens ausgewiesen wurden, tatsächlich den Schutzgebieten zugerechnet werden können. Die damals an den Verhandlungen beteiligten Umweltschutzgruppen Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club BC und ForestEthics tun dies bis heute, trotz aller Bedrohungen der Conservancies durch Bergbau- und Pipelineprojekte. |
| |
 |
| Blick ins Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary |
© Klaus Pommerenke |
|
| |
| Nachfolgend finden Sie als weiterführende Information über das Gaspipeline-Projekt die Presseerklärung der VWS mit der Einschätzung von Wayne McCrory, des Bärbiologen, auf dessen jahrzehntelange unermüdliche Arbeit letztendlich die Schaffung des Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary zurückzuführen ist. Ihm gebührt für sein damaliges und jetziges Engagement zum Schutz der Grizzlybären in BC an dieser Stelle ein besonderer Dank. |
| |
| HEARTLAND OF THE KHUTZEYMATEEN GRIZZLY BEAR SANCTUARY THREATENED BY PROPOSED PRINCE RUPERT GAS LNG ROUTE |
| New protected areas created as part of the BC government’s 2006 Great Bear Rainforest decision are secretly being surveyed as part of the route of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline that would be the largest ever in Canada. The Kwinimass Conservancy and the Khutzeymateen Inlet Conservancy are currently being invaded by helicopters as crews survey the route for a 4-foot diameter pipeline that would require a 200-foot right-of-way. The Conservancies were created to enlarge the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary, protecting areas vital to the ecological integrity of the sanctuary. The sanctuary is a Class A Park, and is one of the most famous grizzly bear viewing areas in Canada. |
| „The pipeline corridor will shatter the ecological integrity of the whole area, and is a threat to every grizzly bear for miles around“, says Wayne McCrory, a professional bear biologist and one of the central figures in gaining protection for the Khutzeymateen. „The survey is apparently being carried out with no park use permit, but with endorsement from the Premier’s office. However, a permit will be required for the next stage of creating drilling pads, and may soon be issued by the government; yet the public has been kept totally in the dark, only learning of the surveys from commercial bear viewing operators in the Khutzeymateen Inlet.“ |
| „This is a shocking and unconscionable betrayal of the bears, the Park Act, and the Great Bear Rainforest decision of 2006“, says McCrory. „How can they even allow survey crews in the protected areas for a pipeline that would require a 200 foot wide right-of-way and a major industrial road, as well as a compressor station and a large industrial staging area? They would have to put the pipeline for 1.7 km under the Khutzeymateen Fiord and through marine foreshore habitat vital to grizzly bears and world-class bear viewing. The whole purpose of the new conservancies was to protect the grizzly bears and adjacent marine habitats. Instead the government is allowing huge gas corporations to take a hammer to the protected areas.“ |
| Hidden deep in a remote fiord on the BC north coast, the Khutzeymateen grizzly bear sanctuary received legislative protection by BC in 1994 after an exhaustive 9-year battle with the timber industry. The grizzly bear population is unique in that it has also been protected from trophy hunting since 1982 by a large no-hunting reserve. As a result of a provincial land use plan in 2006 and First Nations initiatives, three more large protected areas (conservancies) were added around the sanctuary, making it one of the most protected grizzly bear heartlands in western Canada. Thousands of people have come from afar to safely view and photograph the famous protected Khutzeymateen grizzlies. The BBC filmed a major documentary there. |
| The fact that the provincial government is allowing such pipeline surveys should come as a shock to the thousands of Canadians who thought the Khutzeymateen-Kwinimass Grizzly Bear Sanctuary Complex would remain a pristine legacy for all generations of bears and people forever. |
| „No protected area is sacred or safe anymore from our government’s wide open policies on rampant LNG development and the race of gas companies to get to the BC coast.“ states McCrory. „We can expect major road construction in the conservancies, including along the grizzly-salmon Kwinimass River. This will have significant, adverse environmental impacts on grizzly bears, the wilderness, bear viewing operations, and First Nations cultural/heritage values in these special areas. Not only that but establishing a new utility corridor through these protected areas sets a bad precedent for all our parks, and opens the door for additional pipelines or transmission lines to be built along the new corridor. No pipelines should be allowed through these conservancies. This is a severe violation of Section 10 of the Park Act where park use permits cannot be issued for commercial logging, mining and most hydro-electric developments (except Run of the River near First Nations communities). Section 5 (3.1) of the Park Act states that a park use permit cannot be issued for other purposes where such would inhibit or restrict the protected goals stated in the Park Act. Allowing pipeline surveys in the conservancies means that the provincial government is no longer honouring the Park Act. Apparently the pipeline company does not even have permits yet, nor should they be granted any. This is crazy. They should just stay out of these protected areas.“ |
| |
 zurück |
|
|
