Greenpeace team travels to Gulf of Mexico to send warning to Canada

NEW ORLEANS, LA, June 28 /CNW/ - A Greenpeace Canada team is bearing witness to the environmental and social devastation caused by the BP Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The team plans to bring its experience, images and video back to Canada to pressure governments and companies to ensure a similar disaster doesn't occur in Canadian waters.

The team is undertaking the mission because the Canadian government is considering a proposal from pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. to build twin Northern Gateway pipelines from Alberta's tar sands to Kitimat in northern B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest, bringing more than 200 crude oil tankers annually through some of the most treacherous shipping lanes to the region.

    
    Who:   Greenpeace Canada team led by British Columbia Greenpeace director
           Stephanie Goodwin.

    What:  Mission to the Gulf of Mexico to support demand that Canadian
           politicians keep Canada's West Coast clean by enacting a legal ban
           on oil tankers and oil and gas development for B.C.'s coast.

    When:  June 28 to July 3

    Where: New Orleans
    

Comment from team leader Stephanie Goodwin:

    
    "Greenpeace is visiting the Gulf of Mexico because we want Canadians to
    know what will happen to British Columbia's coastline unless Canada
    legally bans oil tankers from our West Coast. We are horrified by the
    devastation the BP Deepwater oil spill continues to cause to coastal
    communities, ecosystems and wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico."
    

Today, Greenpeace launches the Coast is Clear Photo Contest to encourage Canadians to reflect on the beauty of B.C.'s coast and what would be lost in an oil spill. The winning photo will be used in Greenpeace's Coast is Clear campaign and be published in the autumn edition of Greenpeace Magazine. More details can be found at www.greenpeace.ca/CoastIsClear.

For further information: Raina Delisle, Greenpeace media and public relations officer, 604-345-2893; Stephanie Goodwin, Greenpeace B.C. director, 604-761-6722 (on location in the Gulf of Mexico)