The ongoing catastrophic oil spill off the coast of the United States serves as a wake-up call about the path we are all headed down if our fossil fuel dependent and wasteful way of being carries on unabated.
At Enbridge's AGM recently, the company's CEO made the statement they are imminently forging ahead with their crude oil pipeline project from tar sands to Kitimat. The project would see crude oil pipelines cross upward of 1,000 rivers and streams in northern B.C. and then to massive oil tankers in the Kitimat port for the first time ever. The pipeline would cross two rivers in close proximity to Prince George, the Salmon and Stuart. The Stuart is upriver from our river aquifer-fed water supply.
At present, Prince George has an outstanding water source in an increasingly parched and thirsty world. The very concept of placing our watersheds and marine environment at this risk is nothing less than a madman's dream, however, of more concern is that the only step that stands in the way is a three-person National Energy Board review, none of the members of which are from B.C. The National Energy Board's track record is to approve most projects.
Will the day come when bike and pedestrian paths have equal or higher priority than vehicle routes through the city, community gardens expand and flourish, local agriculture and farmers' market take on an honoured central role in our civic life, and we are able to feed ourselves and the community from local sources.
Will the day come when our garbage significantly declines and all energy is clean renewable energy. When oil pipeline plans and the risks they bring are considered crazy.
I hope for the day when people see where water and food truly comes from and what ultimately sustains our lives on this planet. Let's stop to think about the kind of world we want to bequeath to our children and further generations.
Will we allow companies to come into our area, with offers of short-term jobs and long- term catastrophic risk to all that is precious to us. I say no.
Let's stand up for the north together. Please, say no to Enbridge Northern Gateway, and do what you can to speak out against this project.
Mary MacDonald
Prince George
Editor's note. There is a Mary MacDonald who is one of the organizers of a group in Prince George opposing the Enbridge pipeline.
