Enbridge has denounced a hoax that claimed the Calgary-based company was collecting hair to absorb oil in case of a spill from the proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline in northern B.C.
The company said the hoax -- perpetrated by northern B.C. and Michigan environmentalists with the help of a spoof group called the Yes Men -- made light of a serious issue.
"It is not an Enbridge or Northern Gateway initiative, and Enbridge deplores this cynical attempt to take advantage of public concern about the environment," said Enbridge spokesperson Gina Jordan.
Some media outlets were fooled and treated the fake story as real.
Instead of informing the public on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, the campaigners trivialized the events of last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said Jordan.
Enbridge official Paul Stanway called the hoax was a form of identity theft.
The company said it is considering an appropriate legal response.
A fake news release was rolled out on Tuesday that said Enbridge was starting a program to turn hair clippings from more than 1,000 hair salons in North America into super-absorbent oil clean-up booms. (NASA scientists had done some tests in the 1990s that showed that hair could be used to clean up oil.)
The fake news release said the booms would be distributed along the coastal route traversed by tankers in northern B.C.
The 1,170-kilometre pipeline, which would pass just north of Prince George, is meant to carry crude from the Alberta oil sands for overseas exports to Asia.
On Wednesday, the perpetrators revealed themselves, launching another event, saying they were offering free hair cuts in front of Enbridge's offices in Vancouver today.
Skeena Watershed executive director Shannon MacPhail said the idea was to inject some humour into a serious debate, and counter the the hundreds of millions of dollars that Enbridge can use to promote the pipeline.
MacPhail, who is from Smithers, said she worked with people in Michigan and the Yes Men to launch the hoax, called MyHairCares.
The Yes Men are an internationally-known group who have used fake news and events, and impersonation, to draw attention to issues like globalization global warming.
Although MacPhail has worked in the pipeline industry, she said protecting the rivers and salmon in northern B.C. is more important than the any jobs that will be created.
"I won't risk my children's future," she said, pointing to Enbridge's oil spill last year into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.
