The highly endangered Spirit Bear is already at risk of extinction. The proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline threatens the bear’s delicate ecosystem along the coast of British Columbia. Join the Natural Resource Defense Council and more than 70 First Nations in urging British Columbia Prime Minister Christy Clark to stand behind her environmental concerns. Help the Spirit Bear today!

Act Now! 

• Ask British Columbia Premier Christy Clark to oppose the Northern Gateway Pipeline.
• Share this link with your social networks.

Why It Matters

NRDC member Kevin Bacon asks you to help the Spirit Bear:

Spirit Bears are a subspecies of the American Black Bear. They were given this name by Native American tribes due to their ghostly white appearance. Despite the protective traditions of the First Nations, habitat destruction has caused their numbers to rapidly decline. National Geographic estimates that there are fewer than 400 Spirit Bears left in the coastal forest that stretches from the Alaskan panhandle to the northern edge of Vancouver Island. The proposed pipeline could render them extinct.

Enbridge owns and operates Canada’s largest natural gas distribution pipeline. This international energy company has proposed to build a tar sands pipeline across one of the most ancient regions of British Columbia, the famous Spirit-Bear Coast.  This Northern Gateway Pipeline will not only destroy an important North American heritage site, but it will put many animal species at risk, including humpback whales, sea lions, and the already rare Spirit Bear.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is building a continent-wide movement to support 70 First Nations groups in opposing the pipeline. They believe the Northern Gateway puts the Spirit Bear Coast just one oil spill away from unrecoverable disaster. This pipeline would carry 500,000 barrels a day of the world’s dirtiest oil from the Alberta tar sands directly through the vulnerable Spirit Bear Coast. From there this oil will be loaded onto tankers that will travel through waters rich with wildlife and will eventually reach a channel similar to the one that sunk the Exxon Valdez.

The Premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark, has said, according to Canada.com:

I understand the national benefit in this, and the huge benefit to Alberta in this. I understand that. But there is a very large risk to British Columbia for our marine and terrestrial environment. And there is a very small — at the moment — benefit to our province.

The NRDC is urging Clark to back up these concerns.

Send a message to Premier Clark right away. Ask her to protect the Spirit Bear Coast and say No to the Northern Gateway pipeline.

For more information on the NRDC, you can find them on Facebook, Twitter, and NRDC.org.