The Enbridge proposed pipeline from the Tar Sands to Kitimat has been much in focus since the terrible spill by Enbridge into the Kalamazoo River recently. This is the same company – which has a pathetic safety record, incidentally – that proposes a “1,170-kilometre pipeline moving petroleum from Edmonton to the deep-sea port of Kitimat on the central B.C. coast, and a smaller companion pipeline moving condensate along the same route”.
(See Fallout from Enbridge’s Michigan oil spill spreads to B.C., by Carrie Tait and Julie Fortier in the Financial Post.)
British Columbians should be asking a lot of questions, which they no
doubt will, which will be answered by the first class PR division of
Enbridge. One of their favourite answers – and I’m not sure the example
is right but it’s only by way of illustration – is that there are only 300
barrels of oil spilled for every 1,000,000 shipped. As I say, the
numbers could be different but they ignore, conveniently, that the
oil/sludge isn’t spilled 100 barrels at a time.
Let’s look at what’s in it for BC.
In a word, virtually nothing.
This isn’t a BC company employing the people of BC. There are no taxes from
Enbridge. At best perhaps some “peppercorn” rent for the right-of-way.
And what do we get?
A disaster waiting to happen!
A gloomy prediction?
Of course it is but it’s a fact. It’s simple mathematics and logic.
If you took a revolver with one hundred chambers and just one bullet and
started pulling the trigger with the barrel at your temple, and you
decided to do it 10 times, you run a risk and you can calculate it.
If you decided to do it steadily for one hour, you run a risk and can
calculate it.
If, on the other hand, you pull that trigger with no limit as to numbers
or no time limit, it ceases to be a risk but is a certainty waiting to
happen.
Thus it is with a pipeline. And thus it is with the Trans-Alaska
pipeline which spilled 5,000 barrels last May, which is only one of many.
The citizens of Alaska wish to God they’d never approved it in the first
place.
Now we’re not only dealing with a certain rupture of the pipeline, we’re
dealing with the uncertainty as to where the breach will come, how much will be spilled, and what damage will be done. The pipeline traverses some of the
most important grazing regions of caribou, not to mention our great
wilderness which, according the Campbell government, is the “best place
on earth”.
Enbridge presents this undertaking as great news for Northern BC and
Alberta. No doubt it helps Alberta to move its product – oil sludge – to
its market (China) but what does it do for Northern BC?
We hear of employment but never are told that most of that employment will
come from outside the province – nor that it will come mainly as short term construction jobs. In this regard it’s reminiscent of the
so-called “run-of-river” projects where the projects typically hire only a third local, and they are the lowest paying jobs.
Who’s going to patrol this pipeline and make sure that safety measures
are observed?
Presumably the same people who police the fish farms and the private
power people in whose interest it is to exceed their flow regimes.
It’s interesting to note that the oil/sludge, when it reaches Kitimat,
is no longer Enbridge’s responsibility but that of the tanker outfit
which probably flies a flag of convenience and is effectively not only
ill equipped to handle a spill but has no assets to speak of as well.
Do you think for a moment that Gordon (Pinocchio) Campbell will insist
upon a very large bond to be posted by Enridge or the tanker companies?
Right! And pigs can fly.
This project, then, does nothing for BC and presents the certainty of oil spills both on land and, once it gets to the tanker to China, on our coast.
This is, plainly, a great deal for Enbridge and oil/sludge producers but a lousy one for BC and ought not to be even countenanced.
Campbell will not care if he is opposed, he will do it anyway. Because, the First Nations People opposed him, over the dirty oil tankers, from China. Campbell told them, they would not get a break from the HST. Any bad press for Campbell, newspapers get no government ads. Because, he lost the court battle, of the Anti-HST, he now, is not going to call, Legislature in the fall. We are not dealing with a sane, normal person, We are dealing with another Hitler. Hitler, could have stopped the war, however, he let the war go on. Because, he said the German people and the cities deserved it. He blamed his citizens, they were the reason he lost the war. Campbell is destroying this province, He will take every dime he can lay his hands on. He is blaming the people, for his own failures. A decent politician, would say, I have lost the peoples confidence, so I will step down. Not him, he lies, deceives and uses dirty tactics, against the people. If you don’t watch your back around Campbell, you will get a knife in it. Campbell’s treachery is total, there is nothing beneath his dignity, that he won’t do.
Campbell will not care if he is opposed, he will do it anyway. Because, the First Nations People opposed him, over the dirty oil tankers, from China. Campbell told them, they would not get a break from the HST. Any bad press for Campbell, newspapers get no government ads. Because, he lost the court battle, of the Anti-HST, he now, is not going to call, Legislature in the fall. We are not dealing with a sane, normal person, We are dealing with another Hitler. Hitler, could have stopped the war, however, he let the war go on. Because, he said the German people and the cities deserved it. He blamed his citizens, they were the reason he lost the war. Campbell is destroying this province, He will take every dime he can lay his hands on. He is blaming the people, for his own failures. A decent politician, would say, I have lost the peoples confidence, so I will step down. Not him, he lies, deceives and uses dirty tactics, against the people. If you don’t watch your back around Campbell, you will get a knife in it. Campbell’s treachery is total, there is nothing beneath his dignity, that he won’t do.
Campbell should be run out of town, on the BC Railroad, that is, if we still had it. There will be out and out war, if Enbridge, tries to pollute, our pristine coastal waters. Pipelines leak, and the leaches into, rivers, streams and on the soil, and into our eco system There is still oil, gathering on the rocks, from the Valdez spill, 21 years ago. I don’t care if China, has bought a big chunk, of the Alberta, dirty tar sands, they can dammed well, carry the oil to China, in individual jam cans, on individual ships. Campbell and Harper, have another good polluting idea. They are going to drill oil and gas wells, off our coast. The fact, the was a 6.6 earthquake, doesn’t even enter their polluted heads. This country will never be safe, until we get rid of Harper and Campbell. Enbridge, has had 12 spills. However, Campbell has this province, in the billions of debt. He is rabid for money, and, he will sneak. He and Harper, have a very close relationship. Both of them bear watching, Both of them are working together on, other China projects. No space. Harper is expanding the rail yard, in Ashcroft BC. for easy access, for China, into Canada.
Thank you Karen. Lots more coverage coming on this one. For a start, preliminary public hearings on Enbridge’s proposal are being conducted by Environment Canada
in Kitimat on Aug 31 and in Prince George on Sept 8.
Go to gatewaypanel.review-examen.gc.ca
to submit comments or register to make a presentation.
Thanks Rafe
As usual, a rollicking piece of informative environmental tragedy thanks to short-term profit and Pinocchio Campbell (shocking how much one person can lie).
But, I am sure that the majority of us who read your Columns and the Canadian already are aware of the insidious workings of a system through which all of these horrors are able to occur. Is it possible for you to research the progress (so-called) of the pipeline? Has it been started? Where exactly is it? Where does it geographically start in BC? Can we get to it? How far along are they? In short, how can we REALLY stop it beyond awareness. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE your finesse of making everyone aware of the hell that is and will destroy all that we hold dear in ‘the (Pinocchio-called) best place on earth’, but can we get a defensive/ offense set up (and can you help us?) so that we can truly protect our beloved and sacred BC? In short, can the Canadian help us to organize beyond making us aware?