Opposition mounting against Kinder Morgan pipeline plan
by Mid Island chapter of the Council of Canadians
The Mid Island chapter of the Council of Canadians is joining the Snuneymuxw First Nation, Save our Shores, the Sierra Club and Tanker Free BC for a rally outside the Kinder Morgan open house at Beban Park Rec. Centre, Bowen Road, Nanaimo, on December 4th from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.
Kinder Morgan is planning on twinning the Trans Mountain oil pipeline and increasing oil tanker exports from the port of Vancouver from one tanker a week to one tanker a day. The Trans Mountain pipeline was originally built to bring light crude oil from Alberta to refineries in Vancouver for use predominantly by BC industry and residents (and to Washington for use there). But in the last five years Kinder Morgan has been using the pipeline to export tar sands bitumen from the Port of Vancouver to Asia and elsewhere.
The purpose of the open house is to introduce the pipeline expansion proposal to the public and have project representatives on hand to answer questions.
The Council of Canadians maintain that this is not a proper consultation process but a public relations exercise on the part of Kinder Morgan. They are concerned with the consequences of a pipeline spill or tanker accident. Recent reports have shown that neither the government nor industry are prepared to clean up a catastrophic spill and that even for smaller spills the response time has been unacceptable.
Bitumen is much harder to clean up than light crude or refined gas or oil and the toxic dilute chemical mix used to help the oil flow is carcinogenic (cancer causing) and can make people exposed to spill fumes very ill. Recent accidents involving oil tankers with double hull technology have shown that this technology is not fail safe. A major tanker accident in Vancouver harbour would result in oil and toxic chemicals washing up on Nanaimo beaches within four days and would spread throughout the Salish Sea (Georgia Strait) within weeks. The economic costs of a major oil spill would be in the billions of dollars and the social, health and environmental consequences would be astronomical and unacceptable.
The rally is in solidarity with the Tsleil Waututh Nation and the Save the Salish Sea Declaration. People who wish to join the rally are encouraged to bring signs and banners. “We plan to be respectful and not disrupt the open house, but we want to show our opposition and share information about why we think this is a bad plan for the BC coast,” says Paul Manly of the Council of Canadians. “We think its time that the government of Canada stop subsidizing the oil industry and pushing the expansion of the tar sands, oil pipelines and tanker traffic. They should be focusing on green energy solutions to combat climate change.”
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For Immediate release
For further information contact
Paul Manly
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