THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - Francois Paulette is pleased with his recent trip to Washington, D.C., as part of a delegation lobbying against Alberta's oil sands project with American legislators, particularly against a proposed pipeline to the U.S.

Francois Paulette: Pleased with Washington trip to discuss oilsands.

Paulette, a resident of Fort Fitzgerald, Alta., and a member of Smith's Landing First Nation, said the three-member delegation met with about nine representatives and senators during their Sept. 20 to 22 visit, along with several environmental organizations.

"There was meeting after meeting, right from 8 o'clock in the morning to 8 o'clock in the evening," he said.

Plus, he said the delegation's trip was publicized by a number of American newspapers and television outlets.

The other members of the delegation were George Poitras, a former chief of Mikisew Cree First Nation in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., and Marty Cobenais, a member of the Red Lake Band of the Chippewa (Ojibwe) First Nation in northern Minnesota and an opponent of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

That pipeline would carry crude oil from the oilsands to the United States.

"The message by the three of us is to put a moratorium on that pipeline that's being proposed south to the States," Paulette said, claiming it would double the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the oil sands project.

Some industry and government officials say, if the U.S. doesn't buy the oil, China will, but Paulette said that would require a pipeline through the mountains to the coast, something he doesn't see ever being built because of huge opposition.

Paulette said he found American officials receptive, although he said they don't know what takes place north of Fort McMurray.

"Most of these Americans they're naive about what takes place outside of Fort McMurray and the pollutants and hard metals that go into the river and into these stacks," he said, adding they never see the big picture that water flows from the oil sands to the Arctic Ocean. There are more than 30 First Nations north of the 60th parallel and there is the huge Wood Buffalo National Park north of the oil sands.

"Their awareness sprung up when I talked to them about the whooping cranes that nested in Wood Buffalo and the tarsands is right in their flyway," Paulette said.

American government officials who visit the oil sands know there is a problem, but the ones who haven't seen it figure everything is hunky-dory with the environment, until they start getting more information, he said. "So they have many second thoughts."

Paulette said there will "absolutely" be more trips to Washington. "This is a start."

This month's trip was sponsored by the Pembina Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Paulette will also be part of a group travelling with environmental activist James Cameron, the Canadian-born director of the movie blockbuster 'Avatar,' who will visit Fort McMurray on Sept. 27 and Fort Chipewyan on Sept. 28.

"One big thing is he has profile big time and the press follow him around from the States," Paulette said. "So, when somebody of this calibre comes to the tar sands, people will open up to him."

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