NO DIRTY OILympics SAY THOUSANDS OF ACTIVISTS TO PREMIER STELMACH

RBC Stop Funding Dirty Oil

12 February 2010 (Vancouver) — The entire Olympic Resistance march
stopped in front of Alberta House today to say STOP THE TAR SANDS and
STOP GREENWASHING THE OLYMPIC GAMES. Delegates from the Indigenous
Environmental Network, tar sands impacted communities and Albertan
residents, were joined by a diverse crowd of thousands of people, to
condemn the environmental and social justice crimes of the Alberta tar
sands and to confront Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, who was set to
speak.

The group was there to ensure the complete horror story of the tar
sands was communicated to the crowd awaiting the opening of the 2010
winter olympics and Premier Stelmach’s Speech.

“We want to ensure that the public knows the true tarmageddon story. A
story filled with toxic lakes, growing cancer rates, broken treaties,
pipelines and human rights abuses,” said Warner Naziel from the
Wet’suwet’en First Nation. “The impacts of the tar sands are being
felt by people across Canada, the United States and beyond. My
community is just one of many threatening by the sprawling tar sands
monster. The Premier can’t use the international Olympic spotlight to
gloss over the enormous human rights and environmental price tag
associated with the tar sands.”

This greenwashing of the tar sands by Alberta’s Premier is being
echoed by several tar sands companies that are also financially
involved in the games. Suncor, Petro Canada, RBC and TransCanada
pipelines all have a stake in the toxic tar sands industry.

“The world is watching to see if we’ll clean up our act. It’s well
past time this government stops selling out to big oil and corporate
interests and begins creating the renewable energy economy of the
future,” said Clayton Thomas Muller, Tar Sands Campaigner with the
Indigenous Environmental Network . “These tar sands corporations and
all the dirty oil money in the world can’t buy a tar sands greenwash.
While their profits rise, people die — this is the nature of this tar
sands industry. It’s time to shut them down.”

Extracting oil from the tar sands generates up to five times more
carbon dioxide than conventional drilling, and irreversibly damages
the land, water, and forests.

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For more information, please contact:

Clayton Thomas Muller – 1.218.760.6632 (Tar Sands Organizer, IEN)

Warner Naziel – 250.877.3915 (Wet’suwet’en First Nation Resident)

Scott Harris – 780.233.2528 (Prairie Organizer, Council of Canadians)

Tags: Olympics, RBC, Tar Sands