This is an open letter to NDP leader Adrian Dix and his Energy Critic, John Horgan.
It’s time, gentlemen, to pee or get off the pot.
The issues of the proposed Enbridge pipelines and tanker traffic on our coast demand your immediate statement of policy.
In order that there be no misunderstandings, here are the facts, gentlemen – not assertions or opinions but plain simple to understand facts:
- A spill from both pipelines and tankers is a dead certainty.
- There is no way these spills can be cleaned up.
- The record of Enbridge is appalling.
- First Nations, be they on the coast or along the proposed pipeline right of way are opposed – 131 of them.
- Neither the federal government nor Enbridge have considered the real possibility of terrorism or vandalism.
The pipelines, one to take the bitumen to Kitimat and the other to take gas condensate back, traverse arguably the last untouched rain forest on earth. It’s certainly as rugged and remote from civilization as anywhere else.
Unlike other pipelines Enbridge has built, the route for the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline crosses the rugged, mountainous terrain of the Northern Rockies and the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Enbridge has no experience in this sort of terrain – most likely because no other government has been so stupid and uncaring as to give them or anyone else a right-of-way. The pipeline would cross some 1,000 streams and rivers, including sensitive salmon spawning habitat in the upper Fraser, Skeena, and Kitimat watersheds. Five important salmon rivers that would be impacted are the Stuart River, Morice River, Copper River, Kitimat River and Salmon River.
Surely you must be shocked to know that this pipeline is to be constructed by Enbridge which, since 1998, has had 811 “accidents”. The bottom line is, gentlemen, that this project would, beyond any doubt, have spills in terrain inaccessible except by helicopter, which spills would have a disastrous and permanent impact on our beautiful province.
There is nothing Enbridge can do after a spill – they can’t get there. Certainly no heavy equipment could be taken there and, even if it could, the damage will be permanent.
A useful step would be to look at the situation in the Kalamazoo River where Enbridge had a leak in July 2010 which has not been cleaned yet and never will be – the damage is forever. (You will note that Kalamazoo, Michigan is not deep inside rugged mountains.)
Let’s look at tankers on the coast.
Again, a spill is a mathematical certainty, certified as such by Environment Canada, scarcely full of radicals. Double hulling will help diminish the number of spills but they still are a certainty. In the past two years 4 double hulls have sunk.
Just as a luxury cruise ship can run aground in broad daylight under sunny skies and kill 29 people, a tanker will spill. And the consequences will be horrible.
Then there is the Kinder Morgan line into Vancouver. I’m not in a position to compare the old Trans -Mountain line with the proposed Enbridge line nor compare the consequences of a leak. What I can say is that there will be leaks – as there were earlier this week near Abbotsford and in Burnaby before that – and the spill will be permanent. With a tanker accident in Burrard Inlet and the Strait of Juan De Fuca, surely you can visualize the calamity that would mean to the Gulf Islands and southern coast of Vancouver Island and to the North Arm of Burrard Inlet and Vancouver Harbour itself.
Again, gentlemen, we are not talking risks but certainties.
Mr. Dix, Mr. Horgan, what more do you need for you to speak out in firm commitment from you and the NDP condemning the proposed Enbridge pipeline, the tanker traffic out of Kitimat, the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker traffic through and out of Vancouver?
I wish to speak plainly. There are many who think that the Common Sense Canadian supports the NDP.
We do not – we stand for a political commitment against the catastrophes I have described. That commitment cannot fairly be inferred from snippets of criticism, but only by you, Mr. Dix, declaring your firm opposition to these certain pipeline/tanker disasters.
If you don’t take a firm stand, what is to differentiate your position from that of Premier Clark?
Dix is not going to oppose this,because he has not backbone. When oh when can we find a true LEAder
That’s a bit unfair Damien.
McLeans Jan. 20
Province Jan. 12
Province Jan. 8
Blogs
Alan Forseth
Artswire
Friends of Wild Salmon
Cowichan Conversations
Progressive Bloggers
That’s just a quick google and only for part of January 2012. I’m not saying he can’t be louder, but to be fair you have to give him credit for speaking out. God knows, no one else is.
Well, now’s the perfect time for Dix to speak out – the media is finally really interested in Enbridge. And blaming it all on the MSM is too easy. There are many other avenues through which Dix can communicate his party’s position. The point is that when it has really mattered – over the past several months – we haven’t heard boo from him on Enbridge…When he’s raised it 500 times, then we can talk about cutting him some slack, Cheryl.
Adrian Dix has voiced his opposition to Northern Gateway over 150 times in 2011. Is it his fault the media chooses not to publish it?
FREE BC:
1. Stop having an antagonistic relationship with the Natives and give them more than their share.
2. Favour companies owned in BC by people who live in BC.
3. Lend those companies money from our own National Bank of BC, just like North Dakota does. All the interest comes right back to the development of BC (read Ellen Brown)
4. Stop projects like the Gateway to Poverty which will, as Rafe says, inevitably lead to the destruction of our coast and the many small industries which live there.
5. Retain all that is left of our resources – those which haven’t already been stolen by neocon governments like the Clark/Campbell cabal, and think deeply on how they can be used and preserved for the benefit of future generations.
6. This isn’t rocket science, the world is crumbling all around us and the only country which has so far come out a little bit on top is Iceland. They did it by disobeying all the rules and indeed jailing the bankers who tried to screw them into eternal poverty. It’s one thing to take an eternal vow of poverty in a convent but to be conned by the private media into vowing eternal ‘austerity’ is not going to fly in BC.
BANKS! BANKS! BANKS! Sorry for shouting here but as Harper and Clark keep preaching ‘austerity’ while paying billions yearly in interest to private banks for money created by same while the Canadian owned Bank of Canada sits idle where it could create its own money, and indeed could have saved us TRILLIONS over the years since 1974 when it stopped being used to fund national programs, the point needs reiterating.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/wildbankers.php
You have to read a little beyond the first few paragraphs but this guy has a good understanding (as many people have had throughout history) of just how harmful it is for a sovereign nation to give creation of its currency to private banks. At interest.
If we really were a democracy where the common sense of the people ruled over the ambitions of the bounders in government – by means of a direct vote on issues, we would use our own bank backed by our own resources and quickly become one of the richest countries in the world. We would give up ‘globalism’ in favour of nationalism and if we can’t do it in Ottawa (and we can’t) we should cut our losses and say goodbye. FREE BC!
Recently I was watching, on the news, showing traces of an oilspill that happened, in the Burrard Inlet near North Vancouver in the 1950’s. Traces of that oil was shown still in the rocks. This was on the CBC. I would like to know the details of that oilspill. When and where did this happen?
Where are the traces of this oilspill. I want to go to that shore and see them.
In resposnse to ‘Maharg’!
You are correct in your concern about the zero economic bebefit to BC but there is more to all of this than what we know thus far. It could be that there will be little economic benefit for all canadians, Alberta included. And as we are learning that was the plan all along
Please use the link provided on the previous post to yours by ‘R’ as it explains a lot. it appears we may all be being sold down the river.
Don
Rafe, your perpetual emphasis on likely damage to the BC environment continues to be ignored by our on-the-take main stream media.
What also exasperates me, more than any other issue, is the lack of any economic benefit for British Columbians. This province will be vulnerable to most of the environmental risks with zero benefits. The very few temporary or permanent job opportunities will go to outsiders. Much like the dismantling of the Kitimat smelter where the labour is supplied to Americans who will probably not pay Canadian and BC income taxes.
Christy Clark, the Queen of Photo Ops…Tarts…er Hearts…er Spades claimed that the BC coastline belongs to all of Canada, not just BC. That means that all of the tar sands also belong to all of Canada not Alberta, and being a Canadian resource a much better royalty structure should be implemented, and all tax concessions to the tar sands exploiters should be halted immediately.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Questions+Canadians+should+asking+about+China/6053091/story.html
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Questions+Canadians+should+asking+about+China/6053091/story.html
enter your message here…Rafe, Adrian Dix was on with Simi Sara last week, he did come out against the Enbridge pipeline.
In fact he blasted Christy Clark for not taking a stand, Dix called it..”A leadership void”
I suggest you call Adrian for confirmation if you have doubts, the media Rafe doesn`t make anytime for the NDP, just enough time to slag them.
Good Day
Well said Rafe! But being against the tar sands pipelines is not enough, the NDP needs to be against them because expanding tar sands production would be an unforgivable climate crime. 100% of tar sands oil leaks, some into the water – the rest into the atmosphere.
Bravo, Rafe!
Come on, Adrian — stand up!
My support in the last federal election hinged on who stated outright they were opposed to the pipeline and tankers..
My support in the future will largely depend on the same!
“Neither the federal government nor Enbridge have considered the real possibility of terrorism or vandalism.”
as i found when looking for information on pipelines, tankers, earthquake and tsunamis the other day:
http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/em/ccirc/_fl/ta03-001-eng.pdf
information on the threats to Canadian infrastructure..
i have found very little about the certainty of great seismic activity and how it would affect lines, terminals and ships.. it would likely not be good!
Don F. indeed that was a tragic day.. but i believe things happen for a reason.. there was a reason Jack left us when he did.. we may not ever fully understand the reason..
let’s look forward and follow his examples!
The only thing standing between me and my first ever Provincial NDP Membership is two items.
The first is what you mentioned in this article.
The second is to commit to fixing democracy, getting rid of the present First Past the Post electoral system.
If you are not in favor of the people, then you are in favor of another dictatorship and I am not interested in supporting any more of those.
August 22,2011 was a day I’ll never forget nor should any of us. That was the day Jack Layton succumbed to cancer.
That was the day that the plug was pulled from the sink that held hope and all the hope went down the drain!
We are left now with weak incompetant men. Men who see the writing on the wall and have made their decision to follow and not lead. Men who have decided to sell out the people of not only this province but this country as a whole for the corporate greed that has flourished.
How can they explain this to us when we can see the IPP projects, the manipulation of BC Hydro. Why if the tar sands are so great does Alberta run a deficet? Why are we still importing oil and paying high prices?
I asked also Rafe why aren’t Mr. Dix and mr. Horgan sreaming about this proposal and the only answer I can logically reason is that they no longer care, they are among those selling us out.
The best hope we have as a nation is to get a grip on this reality and the sooner the better. This pipeline represents much more than we understand and what the consequences may be are far reaching indeed.
Don
Troy Thomas says “If I remember correctly”…..I agree but I don’t want to have to remember….I want to hear it every day. Same with so many of the IPP’s that are getting closer and closer to approval….the Kokish, Narrows Inlet and the Upper Harrison.
If I remember correctly, Dix has been in opposition to the Enbridge pipeline since he was a candidate for the BC NDP leadership: “Dix also voiced his opposition, saying: “In short, the B.C. environment and climate protection cannot be risked on behalf of the rapid tarsands development now underway.”
http://wildernesscommittee.org/victoria/news/ndp_leadership_front_runners_take_stand_environmental_issues_liberals_silent
“Clark is essentially opposed to environmental assessment; we’re in favour,” Dix told his party. “She favours the Enbridge pipeline; we’re opposed. She favours offshore oil and gas: We’re opposed to it.”
http://pipeupagainstenbridge.ca/news/les_leyne_clark_dix_choose_industry_enviro_sides
Good letter,Rafe! Hope everyone wakes up in time. There is plenty enough flow from Alberta,too. I am sick of “jobs” as being the excuse to export raw material to build and pay for unneeded war machines, without the clear,messy,big picture of the near future looked at. I hope to see much more Common Sense in the near future.
I’m wth you in your opposition to Enbridge but I have to say that if I wanted the voters to see me as true leadership material, I would be criticizing the process and saying how it needs to be strengthened. I would be talking about how it is broken as we all saw with the Prosperity Project where the province accepted it and the feds found it a no brainer to reject. I would be pissed at Harper saying he is going to “streamline” the review process for major energy projects (the little guy will continue to be ground down) but wouldn’t comment on the feds, instead would promise to counter any such dilution by provincial robustness of review, especially for major energy projects (OK, that part is just me being petulent – he should make it robust for all projects. John Cummins came out in support and that stupid, especially because the company is still going through a process. I would, however, acknowledge that there is clear opposition to this pipe, nothing in it for BC other than chump change and lifetimes of liabilities and would express my concerns at their track record – heck, that should be a variable under discussion in the environmental assessment.