FIN IN THE NEWS: It is time for a renewable energy solution

Northwest MPs give Enbridge a firm ‘NO’

The cross-province pipeline is too environmentally damaging, MP Nathan Cullen and Fin Donnelly said. Instead, greener alternatives should be sought.

Houston-Today
Published: March 31, 2010 5:00 AM

NDP MPS have drawn a line in the sand by introducing a private member’s bill in Ottawa that if passed and if implemented would ban oil tankers from the north coast, effectively stopping any move by Enbridge to ship Alberta oil sands oil through its planned $4.5 billion Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Skeena – Bulkey Valley MP Nathan Cullen joined two other MPs in saying the risk of an Exxon Valdez-type spill is simply too great.

“It’s a risk British Columbians and Canadians should not be asked to make,” said Cullen.

The private members’ bill was introduced by NDP fisheries and oceans critic Fin Donnelly March 24 as an amendment to the Canada Shipping Act.

“I’ll be tabling the bill this week, hopefully Friday,” said Donnelly.

“Do we really want to put all this at risk?” said Donnelly of potential damage to salmon and other fishery habitat.

Specifically, his bill would ban tanker traffic in Hecate Strait, Dixon Entrance and Queen Charlotte Sound.

The Enbridge plan is to ship oil from the Alberta oil sands through a 1,100km pipeline to a port at Kitimat where it will be loaded into tankers for export to the United States and Asia. As many as 225 tankers a year would ply the north coast waters.

Enbridge is within months if not weeks of formally submitting its project for federal environmental approval, a move in itself that has drawn objections from First Nations and environmental groups who say the assessment will not be rigorous or detailed enough.

The overall prospect of more development of Alberta’s oil sands is being hotly opposed by environmental and other groups who say adds to the warming of the earth’s atmosphere and is an example an old-fashioned energy industry.

Cullen and Donnelly said it was time for the Canadian economy turn to one of renewable energy.

“We can have both, a clean economy and an environment,” said Cullen.

The March 24 press conference hosted by Cullen and Donnelly and another NDP MP, Linda Duncan, was heightened by references to the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska which killed hundreds of thousands of sea birds and thousands of other marine creatures.

The anniversary date of the 1988 spill is March 24.

Yesterday, nearly 30 coastal First Nations groups said they were using their ancestral responsibilities and laws in issuing a declaration banning oil tanker traffic.

Cullen said it was clear that a majority of people oppose Enbridge’s plan.

He also said it would not be the economic saviour for places such as Kitimat which has just lost more than 500 jobs when West Fraser closed its Eurocan pulp and paper mill last month.

“The actual number of permanent jobs created by this project would be the equivalent of opening up a medium-sized Canadian Tire,” Cullen said.

“The risks involved with this project to the economy of Kitimat, the environment and the economy of the entire northwest are significant.”

“It seems to me there are other options to the community,” he said.

The chances of a private member’s passing a vote in the Parliament and then being enacted are slim, but Donnelly said some parts of a private member’s bill could be adopted.

“They could take the heart of this bill and create legislation,” he said.

Cullen said the bill is one part of a campaign aimed at stopping the Enbridge plan.

“There’s Parliament, the courts and the court of public opinion,” Cullen added.

He said the intent is to put the campaign as forcefully as possible before the federal government so that it has to act.

“The battle is now upon us,” said Cullen.

He also expressed disappointment that Enbridge has so far resisted efforts to take part in regional meetings to go over questions and answers about the pipeline, saying he and his staff have spent a year trying to set up the sessions.

Cullen has said those sessions are preferable to ones featuring Enbridge and then others featuring those who are opposed.

“I hope they change their minds and come to the table,” he said.