Ottawa ignoring safety

Ottawa ignoring safety
By Arthur Williams - Prince George Free Press

Retrieved from: www.bclocalnew.com

Published: July 08, 2010 8:00 AM
Updated: July 08, 2010 2:29 PM

The proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Project has drawn heavy criticism from politicians, environmentalists, First Nations and competitors.

On June 21 federal Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff weighed into the debate by calling for a moratorium on oil tankers along B.C.’s coast.

“The Harper Conservatives refuse to recognize the tanker moratorium off the B.C. coast, and have taken no steps to protect our marine ecosystems from harmful oil spills,” Ignatieff said in a written statement. “The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a grim reminder that we must always be vigilant. While the Conservative government has left our coastal communities and oceans vulnerable, the Liberal Party is proposing innovative, decisive action that will make Canada a world leader in protecting our oceans and coastal communities.”

In his speech, delivered in Victoria, Ignatieff stated clearly that his party opposes the development of a tanker terminal in Kitimat.

Local environmental group Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance formed to oppose the development of the Northern Gateway Project. Spokesman Josh DeLeenheer said the pipeline project will have little long-term benefit for the region, while exposing it to the risk of an environmental disaster.

“We really feel this project doesn’t have social license. This project doesn’t really represent any kind of diversification,” he said. “We’re not against economic development, but we want to see it move in a different direction.”

Other opportunities like bioenergy and logistics will create new, sustainable jobs without the same degree of risk, he said.

The ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an example of what could happen if a tanker were to run aground in the Douglas Channel.

“You really get a sense of the tragedy of it. You really start to see the scope of what the damage can be to tourism, fisheries, the environment,” he said. “Obviously there are differences between deep-sea drilling and tankers. But once the oil hits the water, it’s the same. When you’re talking about the very large crude carriers that can carry two million barrels, it could be devastating.”

On June 2 Amnesty International called on B.C. and Canada to not allow the project to go ahead without, “the free, prior and informed consent of the affected First Nations.”

The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council and Wet’suwet’en First Nation are directly in the path of the pipeline and say they will not support it. In addition, 26 other First Nations groups downstream of the 773 water crossings have voiced their opposition to the project.

Carrier Sekani Tribal Council vice-chief Terry Teegee said the council has been clear from the beginning they oppose the project.

First Nations have a clear human right to appropriate consultation on natural resources projects in their traditional territories, Teegee said.

“That’s what we’ve been advocating to the province and Canada,” he said. “They need to be looking at the cumulative impacts of development.”

Instead of looking at the pipeline in isolation, there needs to be an examination of the total human impact on the ecosystem and river systems, he said.

First Nations groups have been shut out during the development of major infrastructure projects in the past and unless there is a change it appears that is being repeated with the Enbridge project, he said.

Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Canada has filed a letter with the National Energy Board saying the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project is redundant.

“We didn’t see there was an adequate review of alternatives to the project, which is required under the process,” Kinder Morgan communications director Andrew Galarnyk said. “The application needs to have backing consumer support, and it doesn’t.”

Kinder Morgan Canada currently operates the Trans Mountain Pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby. In 2008 Kinder Morgan completed upgrades to the 50-year-old pipeline to increase capacity from 225,000 barrels per day to 300,000 barrels per day.

Using the existing right of way Kinder Morgan could increase its capacity by another 400,000 barrels per day.

“We see our project as being less environmentally impacting,” Galarnyk said. “We have an existing right of way with pipe in the ground now. We have existing dock facilities in Burnaby.”

Unlike the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project, Kinder Morgan could increase its capacity incrementally as demand warrants, he said.

“We will not file our application until we have that support.”