enbridge northern gateway pipelines vs. the people of northern bc

VS.The people of Northern BC

In 2009 Enbridge Northern gateway pipelines proposed a 1170 km Pipeline from Bruderhiem to Kitimat BC

Enbridge

• Enbridge has been building Pipelines in North America for over 60 years.

• Operate largest pipeline system in North America

• Moves more then 2 million barrels of oil per day.

The proposed pipeline would move 700,000 barrels a dayThe pipeline would move 6 barrels of oil a second, a spill could fill an Olympic sized swimming pool in 43 minutes (2,500,000 litres)

Enbridge has 60-70 spills per year on all its pipelines. Most spills are said to occur in the pump house

Enbridge is currently in the process of being sued by the state of Illinois for a spill that happened in September of this year

A larger spill occurred in southern Michigan two months prior spilling 800,000 gallons into Kalamazoo River.

The pipeline would cross the upper Fraser, Skeena and Kitimat watersheds, posing an issue for the 5 species of salmon that use the area for spawning grounds.

In total the Pipeline would cross 773 watercourses.

If an oil spill occurred, oil would enter a river system

Light oil would accumulate on the surface and spread downstream

Heavier oil would sink and get trapped in spawning gravel

First Nations groups, including the Haida, Metlakatla, Heiltsuk, Gitga’at, Kitasoo and Wuikinuxv Nation are all opposed to the pipeline

In 2009 Enbridge executives told coastal first nations “if all first nations within this geographic region didn’t support the pipeline they would stop the project”

Pipeline spills are not the only concern.

A super tanker terminal would need to be built in Kitimat.

BC has a tanker exclusion zone keeping ships moving between Alaska and the rest of the US off the BC coast line.

Kitimat sits at the end of Douglas channel

Locals believe that with the size of the tankers and the narrowness of some of the turns of Douglas Channel a spill would be inevitable.

Turning radius of a supertanker- 1200-1500 meters

On March 24th, First Nations from BC and Alberta along with environmentalists came out in large numbers to the Enbridge office in Vancouver to oppose the pipeline.

March 24th, 2010 was the 21st anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil spill in Alaska.

An Oil spill would devastate populations of whales, wolves, bears and birds a five year study by Raincoast Conservation concluded.

The destruction of salmon from an oil spill on BC’s coast would erase a large part of first nations culture as well as destroying thousands of jobs in BC’s fishing industry.

Vicky Husband, receiver of the Order of Canada and the Order of BC spoke out about the pipeline in congruence with the Union of BC Indian Chiefs Saying “Canada’s conservation community is unanimous in its opposition to the pipeline and to any tanker traffic on our coast.”

The creation of the pipeline and Tanker terminal would cause an expansion of the tarsands moving Canada in the wrong direction from renewable energy.

July 28th 2010, Four Greenpeace activists locked themselves to the doors of Enbridge's Vancouver offices. All four were arrested.

Hundreds of locals gathered in Kitimat on August 31st to protest the Pipeline outside of the Riverlodge Recreation center.

The first public meeting with the Federal Joint Review panel was held inside.

On September 15th,2010 four hundred people marched through downtown Terrace.

• Protestors carried signs, drummed and chanted together.

• They stated concerns of climate change, Tarsand expansion, Oil spills and First Nations land titles.

A community meeting was held in Burns lake in September with a panel from Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines

Important questions were left unanswered such as “If the project is allowed to go ahead and First Nations say no, will you go ahead with the pipeline?”

Locals left the meeting unsatisfied with the answers they received and answers they didn’t.

The pipeline has yet to be approved by the Federal Government

Sourceshttp://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/caledoniacourier/news/102836354.htmlhttp://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/terracestandard/news/102314219.htmlhttp://bucksuzuki.org/http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9I5TOSG0.htmhttp://www.energeticcity.ca/fortstjohn/news/02/27/09/enbridge-northern-gateway-pipeline-talks-continuehttp://www.northerngateway.ca/aboriginal-partnershipshttp://www.northerngateway.ca/newsletter/story5.htmlhttp://oilsandstruth.org/big-jump-tar-sands-oil-tankers-vancouver039s-porthttp://oilsandstruth.org/kitimat-enbridge-revives-gateway-looking-super-tanker-tar-sands-bitumen-asiahttp://pipeupagainstenbridge.ca/news/public_flare_up_during_enbridge_meetinghttp://pubs.pembina.org/reports/oil-and-salmon-dont-mix-fact-sheet.pdfhttp://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/tylermccreary/2010/09/hundreds-protest-enbridge-northern-gateway-pipeline-kitimat-bchttp://www.tarsandswatch.org/bc-pipeline-plans-meet-resistance-enbridge-shareholders-vote-down-activist-proposals-meetinghttp://www.thestar.com/business/article/872212--illinois-sues-enbridge-over-pipeline-leak-near-chicago-last-monthhttp://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2010/07/28/GreenpeaceEnbridge/index.html?commentsfilter=1http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/first+nations+oppose+Enbridge+pipeline+Kitimat/2716959/story.html