It’s official. Round two of the legal fight to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has begun.
Earlier today, Ecojustice lawyers filed a motion with the Federal Court of Appeal seeking leave to challenge Cabinet’s decision to re-approve the pipeline project.
This high-stakes lawsuit is only possible thanks to supporters like you.
By making a gift today, you can help hold the Canadian government to account for breaking the law when it re-approved Trans Mountain — a project that will accelerate climate change, push an iconic species toward extinction, and ultimately, hurt the people and the places we love.
This lawsuit charts new territory in the legal fight to protect endangered species. For the first time ever, Ecojustice lawyers will be arguing that the government cannot justify approving a project when it will result in species extinction.
There are just 76 remaining Southern Resident killer whales, including two calves who must survive one year before they will be added to the official population count. Cabinet’s decision to re-approve the Trans Mountain expansion failed to mitigate the project’s impacts on these orcas — a clear violation of the Species at Risk Act.
While our legal arguments will focus on protecting the salmon-eating orcas who live and forage in the Salish Sea, we are also acutely aware of the climate crisis.
And make no mistake, this pipeline is incompatible with a climate-safe future.
The science tells us that we must halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and get to zero emissions by 2050 to avoid climate breakdown. This means we must rapidly decrease our emissions now, not build projects that will increase them and fuel climate change for decades to come.
Thanks to supporters like you, we have fended off the Trans Mountain project at every turn for more than five years. Ecojustice lawyers led one of the landmark lawsuits that overturned the federal government’s initial project approval and effectively brought pipeline construction to a halt.
To stop Trans Mountain once and for all, we need you to stand with us. Please, make a special gift today and join round two of the legal fight to protect endangered orcas and safeguard the climate for generations of Canadians to come.
