The Vancouver Sun’s article “There Will Be No Pipeline” highlights the issues surround the development of Enbridge’s $7.9 million Northern Gateway pipeline on Nak’azdli territory. 14 out of 40 First Nations groups that live along the proposed route continue to oppose the building of the pipeline out of concern for the potential environmental impacts on their ancestral territory. To Enbridge, the opposition they face is considered an external factor to their business model that falls in the political category. Without the agreement of all the First Nations groups the pipeline will be affecting, Enbridge cannot commence construction without breaching their rights to their territory. Even if they do manage to convince the rest of the groups to sign on, Northern Gateway will still be viewed as a threat to the environment around it, and the traditional culture of the First Nations.

Three Gorges Dam, Hubei Province, China. Photo from: Business Insider

The disruption in the lives of local people due to a major energy project has been encountered before, in the building of the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei, China. According to Jill Mcgivering’s article “Three Gorges’ Dam Social Impact” in the BBC News, the dam has displaced more than a million people. 1200 villages and 2 major towns have had to have been abandoned and rebuilt. Under a different political system, the displacement of people would not have affected the government’s building of the dam politically, the way intruding on First Nations’ land would have affected Enbridge, but it is still an external factor in the social category. Once thought to be an object of pride by the Chinese government, the Three Gorges Dam is now being criticized for its human costs, according to the New York Times. It is spawning environmental problems such as water pollution and severe landslides. As a result, even more people are being displaced. Although the dam is providing an alternative to air polluting coal, it is being frowned upon by critics and citizens alike for its social impact on surrounding communities.