Two fundraisers for opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline in British Columbia are planned this week on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Both seek donations for Pull Together, which is raising funds for a lawsuit against Kinder Morgan based on indigenous rights to clean water, air and land, said Ed Chadd of Olympic Climate Action based in Port Angeles.
Finnriver Farm &Cidery will be the site of an event from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the farm at 124 Center Road in Chimacum.
From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, an event is planned at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center, 401 E. First St., in Port Angeles.
The keynote speaker at both will be Eric de Place, policy director with Sightline Institute of Seattle.
De Place is “the leading expert on fossil-fuel export proposals and the threats they pose to our region and the planet,” Chadd said.
Visitors to the Chimacum event can interact with the North Olympic Orca Pod performers, sing songs about water protection with the PT Songlines Choir, listen to Jamestown S’Klallam storyteller Hawk Grinnell and learn about changes in the Sierra Club, according to a flyer for the event.
A vegetable and fruit tray will be provided. Food and drinks will be available for purchase.
The Port Angeles event will feature entertainment, Indian fry bread, speakers from across the region and a rap performance by the North Olympic Orca Pod.
After a social hour with food, music and displays, visitors will hear from Vanessa Castle of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and de Place, and see a Pull Together video.
Door prizes will be awarded.
The Chimacum event is sponsored by Finnriver Farm, Green Sanctuary, Sierra Club, Native Connections Group with the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and Sightline.
The Port Angeles event is sponsored by Olympic Climate Action, Sierra Club and Sightline.
Donations to Pull Together can be made by cash, check, credit card, or directly online at https://olyclimate.org/ or https://fundraise.raventrust.com/team/117261.
Chadd said that the pipeline, which would deliver tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to a port in British Columbia, could increase oil tanker traffic coming through the Strait of Juan de Fuca by 700 percent.
“Tar sands oil sinks rather than floats when spilled and would be virtually impossible to clean up,” he said.
“The noise and spill threat alone could devastate marine life, and the carbon released from burning this oil would compound the already dire consequences of climate change,” Chadd said.
To fight this pipeline, a cross-border coalition of environmental, indigenous and social-justice groups has formed under the name Pull Together.
“This name evokes the traditional canoes that generations of first peoples have used to transit the Salish Sea — the region that encompasses the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia in Canada,” Chadd said.
“Recognizing that the Salish Sea is a single ecosystem, groups on both sides of the border are recognizing their common interests in protecting this special place,” he continued.
