The debate rages on over the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project.
I think Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake councillor Eileen Benedict made an excellent point when she said that more information about the project should be presented in 亚洲天堂 Lake, however I feel that some of this information needs to come from sources that are entirely independent from Enbridge.
The information should come from experts in a multitude of fields and be fact based rather than opinion based. Pipeline industry workers, community members already living with a pipeline in their backyard, shipping captains, ecological experts, wildlife experts, oil sands experts .... anyone and everyone with facts that will help the community make an educated decision on the project should be invited to such a meeting.
I have been to quite a few Enbridge information sessions, as I am sure many of you also have. I hear the same information over and over. I have, for the most part already heard enough about the double hulled tankers, the marine safety initiatives that will be undertaken and provincial job creation. I have seen and held the rope sample from the tug boats and read all the glossy brochures. After a while it all becomes mind numbing and you tend to tune out, but this is an important issue.
When I hear that Enbridge pay for the speakers at a community advisory board (CAB) meetings alarm bells ring out, for me anyway.
Although Enbridge maintain that CAB meetings are an entirely separate entity, don鈥檛 the funders of any project usually have some sort of control over how, when, where, who and why?
The fact remains that we as a community need more independent unbiased information and less opinions.
Interestingly, one of the speakers that was 鈥榝unded鈥� by Enbridge to come and speak at the last CAB meeting in Richmond was Dr. Patrick Moore, who is a cofounder of the environmental heavy weights Greenpeace.
The name Greenpeace packs a punch, however it appears Dr. Moore and Greenpeace are on a very different path. While Dr. Moore touts his past connections to Greenpeace, the organization seems to be doing their utmost to distance themselves from him. I have to wonder how a radical environmentalist like Dr. Moore does a complete 360 and is supportive of many of the things he was so against before. Clear cutting, vinyl production and now it would seem ... pipelines.
I have to wonder about some of his statements. Are the oil sands really left cleaner than they were before they were mined? I am not an oil sands expert by any means and don鈥檛 claim to be, but to me this statement is mind boggling. I guess if you are removing the bitumen from the sand it is no longer there, but what about the process of removal. The mining, the tailing ponds, the heavy equipment? Is this all really cleaner than if the tar sands are left alone in their natural state?
Another thing, Coun. Benedict mentioned that most of the spills we hear about are coming from 30 year old pipelines. A thought sprung to mind, won鈥檛 today鈥檚 鈥榥ew technology鈥� be tomorrows old? If the pipeline project does go through, one day we will be living with 30 plus year old pipeline technology in our backyards .... and then what?
