GreenWatch

By B. McPherson This is some of the environment that would be put at risk with oil tankers traversing the treacherous seaways. Native elders and chiefs spoke in Kitimaat Village today regarding the proposed routing of the Gateway twinned pipelines through the Great Bear Rain Forest to the west coast of British Columbia. One of the Chiefs who spoke today expressed concern regarding the routing of the pipeline, likening the risk to his people as a double-barrelled shotgun. Pipeline spills through the sensitive land area plus the hundreds of oil laden tankers threading their way through the twisted canal leading to the town of Kitimat are very real dangers to the pristine environment. The Haisla are facing a double-barrelled shotgun by the bringing of that oil by pipeline and shipping it by sea," Hereditary Chief Ken Hall told the opening day of environmental hearings into the project. "The pipeline threatens our grandchildren," he said Tuesday. "It...

By B. McPherson Hearings are scheduled to start in Kitimat, BC, to hear the public speak about their interest in the proposed Enbridge Gateway Pipeline that is proposed to dig its way through the Great Bear Rain Forest to bring crude oil from the Alberta oil sands to the BC coast at the end of Douglas Channel. The Calgary based company has proposed the construction of twin pipelines that would snake from outside of Edmonton to the village of Kitimat. One pipeline would carry crude oil west while the second pipeline would carry the solvent needed to make the crude flow, east for reuse. Enbridge is the same company that has its megaproject in the US stalled, the Keystone Pipeline. The proposed route through British Columbia is a poor choice because it targets the untouched temperate rain forest, it ends at the head of a tortuous fiord, and many of the native land claims involving this land have yet to be settled. Prime Minister Harper has stated that a pipeline ...

By B. McPherson The decision to delay the building of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline until after the US presidential elections next year may doom the project. Opposition to the building of the oil pipeline which would connect the oil fields of Alberta to refineries in Texas has been loud and growing. The proposed route of the Keystone pipeline would take it across the Nebraska Sandhills, an environmentally sensitive treasure. Any breaches in the pipeline could easily contaminate the Ogllala aquifer. This aquifer is the supplier of water to much of the Midwest, both cities and aqriculture. Those that support the building of the $7 billion project point out the economic benefits of the pipeline. Many people would be employed in good paying jobs; oil from Canada is a stable source; there could be a reduction in oil tankers plying the Gulf of Mexico. At first glance, this looks like a victory for environmentalists. It is not. It puts the focus on a different environmental treasu...