Environmental group pranks Enbridge

An environmental group trying to make a point about the danger of oil spills tricked some news outlets into publishing a hoax that left Enbridge officials fuming this week.

About 1,000 hair salon owners also were led to believe that Enbridge was starting a MyHairCares program to collect 450,000 pounds of hair for use in mopping up oil spills. No Minot salons are known to have received the false request for hair.

People Enbridge Ruined in Michigan concocted a phony news release under Enbridge's name with guidance from The Yes Men as part of the Yes Lab for Creative Activism, which trains activist groups in creative ways to get media attention.

PERM opposes Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipelines project that will transport oil from Alberta to a British Columbia port in Canada. The group, spearheaded by former oil workers, has been critical of Enbridge's record for oil spills and its response to cleanup, particularly a spill in Michigan's Kalamazoo River last summer.

Jennifer Varey, head of Media Relations for Enbridge, said PERM is a group of environmental radicals.

"Its aim is to terrorize innocent salon consumers into fearing the Northern Gateway project and thinking our company is less than fully prepared for catastrophe. I can assure you, when inevitable oil spills do occur, we at Enbridge have more up our sleeves than a handful of hair," she said.

The hoax prompted Enbridge to announce the creation of a $20 billion liability bond for the Northern Gateway project. The company had planned to make the announcement at its annual meeting in Calgary May 1.

Enbridge reported that will take court action against the perpetrators of the hoax.

Jill Schramm