Big oil vs. big whale: Will pipeline trump iconic orca?

If you don't live on the West Coast, perhaps it's hard to appreciate just how poorly approving an oil pipeline at the expense of an endangered population of killer whales might play out.

To give it an Easternperspective, it's a bit like saying Bonhomme might have to die to make way for a new museum dedicated to Stephen Harper's legacy.

In approvingKinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion this week, the National Energy Board said it weighed thebenefits of the project against its burdens.

Among the "adverse effects" deemed to be most"significant" were those likely to impacta population of about 80 southern resident killer whales found off the coast of Vancouver Island.

Those are the same orcaswhich threaten to capsizeferries every time acaptain announces a sighting off one side of theboat. Marine mammals immortalized in statues,stuffed animals,keychains, paintings, posters and T-shirts bought as lasting reminders of a trip to theWest Coast.

That's to say nothing of the central role killer whales play in the mythology and practices of many coastal First Nations. Too bad the NEB says associated "Aboriginal cultural use" will also likely take a "significant" hit.

But the iconic orca may yet have a card to play beyond popularity: the law.

'OK' to push species towards extinction?

Southern resident killer whales are designated under the Species At Risk Act (SARA), which means federal prohibitions exist against anything that would harm them or habitat considered critical to their survival.

Misty MacDufee, a biologist with the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, says she won't be surprised to see a legal challenge pitting the powers of SARA against those of the regulatory tribunal.

"They've essentially said that it's okay to push this species towards extinction," says MacDuffee.

"I don't know that the NEB are empowered to make a decision about whether a unique population that's protected under the laws that we have federally that it's OKfor them to make [that]decision."

Although orcas may no longer be threatened globally, the southern resident killer whales are considered a unique ecotype, or as MacDuffee explains it, "a genetically unique population."

They'reconsidered at risk because of their small population, low reproductive rate and a variety of threats including marine traffic and food supply.

A human equivalent might be that of a smalltribe whose cultures andpractices are threatened; people may still exist as a whole, but one genetically and culturally unique group face extinction.

Have beloved belugasblazed trail?

The threat of a whale derailing a major pipeline project isn't just theoretical.

Last year, energygiantTransCanadascrapped plans for a port for its proposed Energy East pipeline afterprotesters raised alarms aboutimpacts onthecalving grounds ofthe vulnerable beluga population of the St. LawrenceEstuary.

As a result, Federal Fisheries Minister HunterTootooannounced new measuresthis monthto protect the species.

Any future human activities impacting the beloved belugaswouldrequire a specialdecree, known as a Critical Habitat Order signed by the minister himself.

The main threat posed by the Trans Mountain expansion would come from increased volume ofshipping traffic and underwaternoise.

TheNEB says the project would increase capacity from five shipsa month through BurrardInletto a maximum of34 oil tankerscapable of carrying 120,000 tonnesof diluted bitumen at a time.

According to the report, Trans Mountain acknowledged the additional noise the project would create, but noted that a host of past activities have contributed to the peril currently facing the southern residents.

"Trans Mountain argued that the shipping lanes will continue to host marine vessel traffic with or without the project, and that the impacts to the southern resident killer whales will continue to exist with or without the project," read the report.

MacDuffee's organization was one of the many intervenorsat the NEB hearings. Their research which was acknowledged in the NEB's findingsshows the species at a crucial point.

"Right now, they're on a fulcrum they could go one way or the other," says MacDuffee.

"And if we increase noise and reduce their ability to catch salmon, then we send the population in one direction towards extinction."

Blackfish versus black gold

UBC zoology professor Rick Taylor, who chairs the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, says federal ministershave "considerable discretion" to override prohibitions surrounding species designated under SARA.

They do it from time totime but for fish and plants most Canadians probably wouldn't recognize if they stepped on them, not the star of Free Willy.

"We're talking about an iconic species here: the southern resident killer whale," he says.

"Although it's technically possible ... whether or not they would do that given the high profile of this species, particularly in southern British Columbia that would be very, very tricky."

The Tsawwassen First Nation also intervened at the NEB hearings.

They aren't a whaling nation, but theirterritory faces out onto the Salish Sea, thebody of water the southern resident killer whale population calls home, comprising the Georgia Strait, Puget Sound and the Juan de Fuca Strait.

The First Nation's ocean-going canoes are adorned with an image of the orca and the species also figures in Tsawwassen legend.

"Humans are pushing this race to the brink of extinction," their submission says.

"TFN takes very seriously any assaults to these magnificent creatureswhose very existence as a top predator in the SalishSea is the ultimate indicator of the health of this ecosystem the very ecosystem that sustains the lives and livelihoods of TFN citizens.A sea that is fit for killer whales is one that isfit for TFN."

That same sentiment propelled a documentary in opposition of whale captivity Blackfish to international success.

Themovie's target, SeaWorld, disagreed vehemently with the findings of the film; but the public outrage it generated led to SeaWorld banning killer whale shows and ending orca breeding.

And so begins round two: blackfish versus black gold big oil againstbig whale.