Critics take umbrage at Enbridge project
Re: Northern Gateway pipeline will protect B.C.'s environment, Opinion, August 7 Many British Columbians were likely a bit dumbstruck reading the editorial from Janet Holder, Enbridge's VP for Western Access, which runs in glaring contradiction to what Enbridge has proposed, and how they have carried themselves throughout this process.
Enbridge has consistently ignored or outright insulted the sincere and articulate concerns of our communities as "misconceptions, misunderstandings, myths and disinformation."
British Columbians want to know what has changed since 2010, when an Enbridge pipeline burst, spilling over three million litres of oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, causing an ecological disaster that affected hundreds of residents, and triggering a billion-dollar cleanup that continues to this day.
Enbridge is a company with more than 800 oil spills on record since 1999. In May of this year, they were condemned by Canadian regulators with a 93 per cent failure rate at their pump stations. They knew about safety defects in the Line 6B pipeline that caused the Kalamazoo River spill five years before the spill happened and did absolutely nothing about it, according to U.S. officials.
Now we are asked to believe Enbridge has become an entirely different company. From commercials that lie about the basic geography of B.C.'s coast to the refusal to accept the basic science that the oil from their pipeline will sink in fresh water, the culture of the company remains unchanged.
If Enbridge couldn't mount an effective cleanup in the relatively calm, warm waters of the Kalamazoo River, how might they attempt a cleanup from a supertanker or pipeline in the unforgiving waters of the north coast or in one of our many rolling, pristine rivers in the northwest? Just two weeks ago, Ms. Holder paid a visit to my hometown of Smithers, where we watched Enbridge take questions but provide no real answers, listen but not act, and pretend once again that a few phone calls and meetings are enough to address our legitimate concerns.
We in the northwest of British Columbia reject Ms. Holder's suggestion that our schools and hospitals are at stake if we do not say yes to her pipeline. And we absolutely reject Ms. Holder's notion that our rivers, our coast and our way of life are dice we should roll for the sake of an export pipeline and a few jobs. We've seen the economic and environmental damages wrought by boom-bust industries before, and Enbridge's plan for raw bitumen export is a relic of the past we hoped we had seen the last of.
We're waiting for the day we wake up to hear the news that Northern Gateway is over, so we can keep moving forward toward achieving the kinds of responsible, sustainable, long-term development we want to see in our region as well, whether it's in traditional industries or in the growing and innovative green economy.
Nathan Cullen
Member of Parliament,
Skeena - Bulkley Valley
Access article here: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Critics+take+umbrage+Enbridge+project/8786769/story.html#ixzz2byEdWq7W