Nearly half of British Columbians support construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline, according to results of a poll commissioned by the project's main proponent
released this week.
The Ipsos Reid study shows, of 1,000 adults polled, 48 per cent expressed approval, with 14 per cent in strong favour, compared to 32 per cent who said they disapproved, with 13 per cent strongly against the project.
"Project support is well ahead of opposition," stated the poll report.
The study was conducted
Dec. 12 to 15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Enbridge Inc. of Calgary commissioned the poll as the public consultation stage of a federal government review begins Tuesday in Kitimat. A public hearing is set for Jan. 18 in Prince George.
"One of the things you hear quite often from our opponents is the public debate is finished, British Columbians have made up their minds and 80 per cent are opposed to the Northern Gateway project," said Enbridge spokesman Paul Stanway. "Clearly that's not the case."
Emma Gilchrist, a spokeswoman for Dogwood Initiative, an environmental group opposed to the project, noted the poll found that 55 per cent of people province wide were either "not at all familiar" or "not very familiar" with the project.
"It shows that there is a little bit of a disconnect between what the project is and the risk of the project and that I think is the reason you see a higher number in support," Gilchrist.
"We've been polling for about five years on questions related to oil tankers and when you ask about introducing tankers to the inside coastal waters you see 75 to 80 per cent opposed."
She also said the number of northern B.C. residents polled is only a portion of the total and so the margin of error for the region rises to about plus or minus 7.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20. In all, 168 northern B.C. residents were polled.
Stanway said of those 168 northerners, 61 per cent said they were either "very" or "somewhat" familiar with the project, and 55 per cent were in favour of seeing it go ahead.
"I think the message we see from this poll is that the more familiar you are with the details of this project, the more likely you are to support it," Stanway said.
He added the review panel will make a decision based on the merits of the project, not public
opinion.
"But we also recognize that we need a social licence to build this pipeline through particularly the area west of Prince George, an area that's not very familiar with the pipeline industry," he said.
Estimated at $5.5 billion, the project consists of a 36-inch pipeline, which would transport diluted bitumen 1,177 kilometres from the Alberta oilsands to Kitimat for transfer onto container ships for shipment to Asia at a rate of 525,000 barrels per day.
A second smaller 20-inch pipeline would send condensate the other way at a rate of 193,000 barrels per day to dilute the bitumen. A
terminal with two berths and the capacity to hold five million barrels would be constructed in Kitimat.
A final decision is expected in late 2013 on whether to allow the
project to go ahead.
