British Columbia Forum on Tankers and Pipelines. LOVE THIS RESPONSE ON THIS PAGE.... Bob Loveless 1. The pipeline will cross thousands of rivers and streams. Enbridge has a horrible record with oil spills on their pipelines, detecting these spills and an even worse record of oil spill cleanup. 2. Oil tankers will have to navigate narrow treacherous inlets with many reefs and rocks and fast moving currents. The area often experiences hurricane force winds during winter months. It is not if a tanker accident and oil spill will happen - it is just a matter of when. Cleaning up diluted bitumen, which is projected to sink into the water column and cause toxic gasses that can linger for days, is very complicated. There is no technology on earth that can clean up and restore an ecosystem damaged by a diluted bitumen spill. 3. The very definition of oil industry madness is to ship oil by pipeline or super tanker through an active earthquake zone. Earthquake zones and tar sand pipelines/supertankers are a very dangerous combination. A 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Haida Gwaii on October 28, 2012. 4. The Great Bear Sea and Rainforest is one of the richest and most biologically productive places on earth. So, the environmental impact of this pipeline and resultant oil tanker traffic will be incalculable. For example, Humpback whales have returned in record numbers in the past decade, but the introduction of supertankers could see them disappear from the west coast of Canada. Ship strikes are inevitable with the large number of tankers coming to Kitimat. Also, the submarine noise pollution from oil tankers, that will exceed 100 decibels, will interfere with the whale’s communications. The Great Bear Rainforest is the only home to the Spirit bear which is as rare as the Giant Panda. It is also home to five species of Pacific salmon, orcas, fin whales, bald eagles, grizzly bears and many other species. This area is an international treasure, many comparing it to the Serengeti. 5. Copepods are the basis of all life in the sea. Without them, life in the oceans would die. Regular oil floats on the surface killing “only” surface dwelling creatures. On the other hand bitumen sinks through all layers of the sea all the way to the sea floor in so doing killing all copepods in its path. Result would be an ecological dead zone. 6. The Nechako white sturgeon is one of several endangered or threatened species along the pipeline route. The pipeline will cross the Stewart and Endako rivers where the highly imperiled species live (only 335 are left). Under the Species-at-Risk-Act harming or harassing species on the list is prohibited. 7. The pipeline route would open up the woodlands along the route even more than at present, exacerbating an already severe wolf-predation problem on the dwindling caribou population. 8. First Nations lifestyle has been in existence for thousands of years. They are rich people from the bounty of the sea. An oil spill would destroy that. 9. 20 year after the Exon Valdez oil spill fish and wildlife have yet to fully recover. Communities still have not recovered. Oil is still being found under rocks. 10. David Black’s refinery proposal for Kitimat changes little. In fact, it makes things worse for the people of Kitimat. A recent study revealed the dangers to anyone living near a refinery processing bitumen. They found increase cases of cancer among those people. Bitumen is a very toxic and dangerous substance! 11. Can anything a company says be trusted when they use deceptive advertising? Example – Enbridge altered a map showing a clear wide open channel into Kitimat, eliminating all the islands and hence all the narrow treacherous channels oil super tankers would have to navigate. 12. The Alberta tar sands produce the dirtiest oil on the planet. The carbon emissions are the highest for any oil on this planet, producing 244% more carbon. Many consider the tar sands to be the most destructive project on earth.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 05:20:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015