"Force Lloyds to dis-insure Canadian pipeline", Sum of Us

Force LLoyds to stop insuring project pipline!

A giant pipeline just leaked 190,000 litres of thick tar sands oil on Indigenous land in Canada. Lloyd’s of London quietly insures this planet wrecking pipeline.

Sum of Us

18 July 2020

The Trans Mountain pipeline is a mega-oil highway, transporting crude oil across Canada. Just last month, it spilled 190,000 of thick tar sands oil near a sacred Indigenous burial ground.

This is just one of 85 spills from this pipeline in the last 10 years.

We can’t wait around for another spill to destroy more Indigenous land -- so the affected communities are demanding insurance companies drop this
dangerous pipeline.

Lloyd’s of London is in the middle of a huge controversy as its original owners have profited off colonialism and the slave trade. Its insurance contract on Trans Mountain pipeline is also going to expire in August. A huge public outcry about its on-going role in colonialism could force the insurance giant to pull out and leave this mega-oil project that threatens Indigenous people’s way of life.

If this pipeline is expanded, it will also lead to climate disaster.

Unfortunately for our planet, right before the COVID-19 crisis hit, the Canadian courts greenlit the expansion of Trans Mountain pipeline – a reckless project that would increase oil tanker traffic by seven hundred percent, endangering the already struggling Orca whale population.

And if you think the global pandemic would stop this pipeline, think again -- despite social distancing measures, construction on the climate destroying expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline has already started.

The start of construction also comes the instalment of “man camps” which have been linked to violence against Indigenous women and to the spread of COVID-19 in Native communities.

Insurance companies hold the key to stopping this pipeline -- if the pipeline can’t get corporations to pay for cleaning up its spills, it can’t operate. And two of the biggest insurance companies that insure Trans Mountain have already pulled out because of the pipeline's effect on the climate.

Earlier this month, after public outcry, Lloyd’s of London apologized for its role in the slave trade and colonialism. Yet, those words are empty as Lloyd’s continues to actively participate in the colonization of Indigenous people by insuring this pipeline. Lloyd's insurance contract runs out next month, and now while it's still in the middle of a PR disaster, is the time to push Lloyd's to uninsure the Trans Mountain pipeline.

SumOfUs has forced financial institutions to pull out of dangerous pipelines before. When over 360,000 members like you signed a petition calling on major banks to pull the plug on the Dakota Access pipeline during the heart of the Standing Rock protests, the largest bank in Norway decided to pull funding the day after we brought your names to their headquarters.

And just last week, the US courts forced Dakota Access pipeline to drain all its oil and stop operating. Activists were able to stop the Dakota Access pipeline because we took action over and over. And together, we can stop the Trans Mountain pipeline too, but only if keep the pressure on.

More information:

Sumas First Nation chief says Trans Mountain spill happened just south of a cultural and burial ground of great significance, National Observer, June 14,2020 https://act.sumofus.org/go/538496?t=1011&akid=76105%2E13006207%2ExJn5_N

Insurance companies drop coverage for Trans Mountain pipeline, City
News, July 6th, 2020
https://act.sumofus.org/go/540615?t=1013&akid=76105%2E13006207%2ExJn5_N