Green leader May says documents show federal government used tax money to assist Northern Gateway
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May claims leaked documents to be revealed today will show the federal government is spending taxpayer dollars to assist Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Project.
The controversial oil pipeline proposal would deliver diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to a port at Kitimat, where it would be loaded onto tankers for delivery to customers in Asia.
The documents — in condensed form — were to be released at 10 a.m. today at a press conference with Oak Bay-Gordon Head Green MLA Andrew Weaver at the Hotel Grand Pacific in Victoria. They are a “smoking gun” and will show that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is running a so-called Northern Gateway Project for the purpose of researching what diluted bitumen does in an oil spill, essentially subsidizing research Enbridge failed to do to satisfy the province, said May.
Environment Canada, meanwhile, is spending tens of millions to enhance navigational meteorological reports for the route from Kitimat and through Hecate Strait specifically for supertankers with oil, claims May.
“This is getting in place what you would need to tell a tanker, ‘Don’t enter the Hecate Strait now, there is a major storm brewing.’ That’s what this is for. This is not anticipatory. This is not about a study. This is about operationally dealing with supertankers full of dilbit,” said May.
The documents belie Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s statements to the effect he will not make decisions about Enbridge’s proposal before it is reviewed by the Joint Review Panel, conducted by the National Energy Board and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, says May.
A hearing process has concluded and the panel is expected to submit its recommendations to the federal government, through the Minister of Natural Resources, and make those recommendations public by Dec. 31.
“We have essentially caught them in a lie,” said May, in an interview. “We have specifics of exactly what they are spending, where they are spending it, and it absolutely demonstrates — from my point of view at the federal level — that Stephen Harper has misled the House.”
The full documents will not be released, said May, to protect whomever or whatever group leaked them to Weaver. However, it will be clear that it is Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans information, May said prior to the news conference.
“They are spending substantial money now for a project that according to them is hypothetical. They want it to go ahead. They are spending money now,” May said. “They don’t want any delays — at the point of approval — for putting in place a meteorological system, so they are jumping the gun and spending the money now so there will be no delays later.
“We are blowing the whistle on it and we’ll see what Canadians want to do about it,” May said.
The federal government’s economic action plan 2013 proposes providing $248 million over five years to Environment Canada to revitalize Canada’s weather services.
Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans spokespeople were not immediately available for comment.
“We have essentially caught them in a lie,” May said. “Nowhere in the budget does it suggest that the priority for meteorological services in Canada is for a tanker route that’s currently not used and that most British Columbians never want to see ever used.”
In June, the provincial government rejected the Enbridge Northern Gateway oil pipeline proposal, saying the company plans do not adequately address B.C.’s concerns about environmental damage.
In a final written response to the federal Joint Review Panel, the province said it cannot support the $6-billion project as it stands because it did not meet provincial conditions and that company plans for dealing with bitumen spills are inadequate.
“Northern Gateway has said they would provide effective spill response in all cases. However, they have presented little evidence as to how they will respond,” B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake said at the time.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is researching what diluted bitumen does in an oil spill and how it behaves in a marine environment, which is the information the B.C. Liberal government said was inadequate, May said.
“They are backstopping gaps where Enbridge didn’t do it’s homework; they are working on doing the research that would answer questions that the province said needed to be answered,” May said.
In terms of Environment Canada’s research, “they are committing tens of millions to one region for the purpose of guiding oil tankers through navigational routes that currently are not used by supertankers — so of course it’s anticipatory of an approval,” May said. “It would be absolutely appropriate if the project were approved but the project is not even through the National Energy Board project yet.”
Access article here: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/green-leader-may-says-documents-show-federal-government-used-tax-money-to-assist-northern-gateway-project-1.611976