Re: Enbridge Proposal Pipeline to Kitimat
Most people everywhere are dead set against pipelines going through their lands and for good reason. After the initial construction is finished the benefit for the population is over. But they are left with a potential disaster to their native, commercial, and sport fisheries.
These companies and their shareholders know that it is a hard sell, so they hire a small army of spin-doctors to sell their product. The number of jobs is usually inflated. Two years ago Enbridge promised 60 permanent jobs after construction and now they quote 200. How can that be?
Dangers of spills according to Enbridge are about nonexistent. Does their record back this up? I looked it up in Alberta and across the border: An average of 8,000 barrels spill yearly, 126,000 gallons in 2010 in North Dakota, 500 environmental violations in Wisconsin on one line, and had to pay $1.1 million in fines, and this mostly on flat stable land.
In mountainous B.C. and its big rivers it would not be a question of if, but where, and how many spills? That could wipe out the last of the salmon runs. Plus the danger of oil tanker traffic on BC'S Coast.
Will tourists flock to B.C. to see oil tankers and oil spills? The width of the swat for the pipe would be 300 ft and almost a 1,000 miles long, that would be lost for growing timber and no heavy equipment allowed to cross over it. What about the hundreds of farms, ranches and other private lands this pipeline will cross?
Having 500,000 barrels of oil go through your land every day, is about the worst trespassing I can imagine. The bottom of the resale value of those lands will drop out. Can we, with a good conscience, endanger our renewable resources like our rivers and oceans? We can no longer accept offers of "give me your house and I'll give you a job tearing it down."
Premier Campbell said "but look at the 100's of jobs this will create".
Well, forest fires create jobs too. So are we going to set the forests on fire this summer?
If we always leave the last words to the 'Gordon Campbells' and our so called 'business leaders', then heaven help our children and this planet.
Vincent Larsen
Prince George
