Merry Christmas to All Of Canada
According to the National Post the Trans MountainPipeline is scheduled to have pipe in the ground by Christmas. Wow, what great Christmas present for Canada from our government. There issues with this present. As Citizens, we should keep after Ottawa to make sure the environmental issues are addressed.
- Oil Spills
- Tanker Traffic in the Burrard Inlet
- The Pipeline Route
- Wildlife
- Economics
It is clear the Oil Corporations will benefit from this project in all of its phases. Are they going to be held responsible for the clean-up after the pipeline is no longer useful or if there is a disaster? There is a sugar-coated plan that shows ” Don’t worry we won’t let anything happen.” History as shows us with Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico that bad things happen and the Oil and Gas Industry usually does very little to clean-up. There should be some jobs created from this project but who will get the jobs as it crosses 1000’s of Kilometres. Here is a big economic issue who is paying the raw product from Alberta? Why the raw product and a refined product which could cause even more jobs here in Canada? We as the public should be asking these questions.
Raw oil from the tar sands is very heavy and expensive to refine into gasoline. Understand that most of the gasoline does not land in our cars as fuel. Gasoline is an important component in making Nylon. With the Bitumen being heavy and more expensive to process it has a lower demand on the open market. A better plan would mean to partly refine the product before it leaves Alberta. Starting a refining process in Alberta would give them more jobs and give Canada and a better chance to increase the Gross National Product.
The impact on the wildlife will not just come from a diaster like was mentioned earlier the impact comes from increased Human activity in areas where it is very little. The migration of the Orcas will be effected in the Burrard Inlet. Caribou runs will be disturbed as the pipeline crosses British Columbia. The pipeline construction will also tear out valued tree and forest that might take generations to re-grow.
The question is how great of Christmas Present is this to the People of Canada.
