Pipeline proposal could triple oil tanker trips

By Sean McIntyre – Gulf Islands Driftwood

Published: August 31, 2011

Broader public consultation and a thorough risk assessment are needed before a decision to increase the quantity of crude oil shipped through the southern Gulf Islands by more than 200 per cent by 2016 is made, says a group of concerned Gulf Islands residents and environmental organizations.

“The implications of these expansions are enormous both globally and locally, and the Salish Sea populace will be asked to bear the immediate risks with virtually no public engagement,” said Misty MacDuffee, a resident of North Pender Island and biologist with Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

National Energy Board commissioners are about to conclude discussions to determine how the group will proceed with Kinder Morgan Canada’s most recent application to increase the capacity along the Trans Mountain pipeline between Edmonton and the company’s Westridge Marine Terminal on Burrard Inlet from 300,000 barrels of oil per day to 380,000 barrels per day. That’s enough oil to fill the gas tanks of about 1.5 million average-sized cars each day.

By 2016, MacDuffee said, subsequent applications seek to increase that number to approximately 700,000 barrels per day.

To read the rest of this article please visit the Gulf Islands Driftwood website.

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Coastal wolf with a salmon in its month.
Photo by Dene Rossouw.