From the Campbell River Courier-Islander – May 13, 2011
The Museum at Campbell River will host a presentation by Katie
Terhune of Living Oceans Society on Thursday, May 26, at 7 p.m.
Entitled ‘Oil and Water: Navigate the Facts’, this presentation will
examine the impact of introducing oil tankers to the North and Central
Coast.
British Columbia’s coast is a truly incredible part of the
planet. It’s rich with life, resources and natural beauty. It has
sustained First Nations for millennia and coastal communities for
generations. Its waters are world renowned for their fishing and
tourism opportunities. All of that is now threatened by Enbridge Inc., a
transnational pipeline company.
Enbridge wants to run twin
pipelines from the tar sands to the coast. If it’s allowed to proceed,
the Northern Gateway Project will bring 220 crude oil tankers per year
to the waters washing against the shore of the Great Bear Rainforest.
These supertankers will be carrying up to two million barrels of crude
oil — nearly eight times more than the infamous Exxon Valdez spilled
in Alaska — from a proposed marine terminal in Kitimat to markets in
Asia. It is a project that benefits Big Oil corporations at the cost of
coastal communities.
Living Oceans Society is working to ensure
B.C.’s North and Central Coast remain tanker free forever. They’ve
created a Google Earth map, called Oil and Water. Navigate the Facts,
an interactive map where you can explore what’s at stake if oil tankers
come to the coast. Google Earth lets you zoom in close to the coast so
you can explore nature’s riches with photos and facts about features
like salmon streams and eel grass beds, orca habitat and herring runs.
Other layers show the human presence on the coast, the places where
people live, work and play.
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