XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: van.general   
   From: Çons@minority#s   
      
   Posted: Aug 11, 2012   
      
   Scathing U.S. report missing from Northern Gateway hearings   
      
      
   A scathing U.S. government report on the 2010 Enbridge oil spill in the   
   Kalamazoo River,   
   Mich., has yet to be entered as evidence into the proposed Northern Gateway   
   Pipeline   
   hearings, a B.C. economist says.   
      
   In an interview airing on CBC Radio's The House, independent economist Robyn   
   Allan told   
   guest host Louise Elliott that while the U.S. National Transportation Safety   
   Board (NTSB)   
   report was published in July, "Enbridge hasn't tabled any information, at all,   
   about the   
   spill."   
      
   Allan says that Enbridge is underestimating the risks posed by the proposed   
   Northern   
   Gateway pipeline because the company's risk assessment excludes the Kalamazoo   
   spill.   
      
   "So far, it's as if Kalamazoo never happened," Allan said.   
      
   A ruptured Enbridge pipeline leaked an estimated 877,000 gallons (3.3 million   
   litres) of   
   oil into the Kalamazoo river on July 25, 2010, coating wildlife like birds and   
   fish.   
      
   The NTSB report concluded there was a "complete breakdown of safety at   
   Enbridge" and that   
   employees at Enbridge acted like "Keystone Kops," failing to recognize that   
   the pipeline   
   had ruptured and continuing to pump oil into the surrounding area.   
      
   The cleanup costs have been estimated by Enbridge and the U.S. Environmental   
   Protection   
   Agency at $800 million U.S., making it the single most expensive on-shore   
   spill in U.S.   
   history according to the NTSB.   
      
   When asked about his concerns with the U.S. report, Natural Resources Minister   
   Joe Oliver   
   told The House he had spoken to Gaétan Caron, the Chair of Canada's National   
   Energy Board   
   (NEB), and they agreed this was an issue that "we have to learn from."   
      
   "There obviously also has to be a management culture of safety and it has to   
   permeate the   
   organization."   
      
   "We feel that the company [Enbridge] has to focus on some of these management   
   issues and   
   the NEB which has direct oversight responsibility is very much attuned to that   
   and is   
   going to pursue it in an objective, independent, and scientific way," Oliver   
   said.   
      
   However, when asked whether the U.S. report should be submitted as evidence   
   into the Joint   
   Review Panel looking into the proposed Northern Gateway hearings, Oliver said   
   he could not   
   comment on that.   
      
   "I don't want to in any way get into the specifics of what the panel is   
   looking at. First   
   of all, it's inappropriate and it's also a slippery slope. I think it's up to   
   the NEB, to   
   the chair who oversees it, and to the panel to make these decisions."   
      
   Feds raise concerns about pipeline safety   
   With public opinion against the pipeline mounting, the federal government   
   appears to have   
   softened its tone with respect to the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline,   
   which Prime   
   Minister Stephen Harper deemed "in the national interest."   
      
   When asked if he could explain the federal government's shift in tone, Oliver   
   said: "I,   
   personally, have not said that this pipeline should go through."   
      
   But he went on to tout the economic benefits of the proposed project,   
   insisting that   
   safety comes first.   
      
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   "On the assumption that the project is safe for Canadians, safe for the   
   environment, we   
   think it's very important to proceed because there are enormous economic   
   benefits for the   
   country from coast to coast to coast," Oliver said.   
      
   Heritage Minister James Moore told a radio program in Vancouver last Wednesday   
   that doubts   
   about the Northern Gateway project are "widespread, given the behaviour of   
   Enbridge   
   recently."   
      
   Meanwhile, the Calgary-based energy company took out national newspaper ads   
   this week   
   touting its pipeline safety record and pledging to invest another $800 million   
   into   
   boosting pipeline safety in 2012.   
      
   In an interview with CBC News, Pat Daniel, President and CEO of Enbridge said   
   "we're   
   involved in a highly politically charged project in Northern Gateway and it   
   requires us   
   going to measures to get the word out to the Canadian public."   
      
   But Allan said Canadians would be better off if Enbridge tabled the NTSB   
   findings instead   
   of spending money on a public relations exercise.   
      
   "You'd think that for a company that continuously claims to meet or exceed   
   standards of   
   practice or legislation that the polite and responsible thing to do would be   
   to table all   
   of the NTSB findings... that they would actually take action and make sure all   
   of that   
   documentation was on the table instead of spending time writing ads," Allan   
   said.   
      
   Mounting opposition in B.C.   
   The proposed Northern Gateway project has met with outrage and opposition in   
   British   
   Columbia, particularly in the northern town of Smithers, B.C.   
      
   Smithers is located directly along the pipeline's proposed route, which would   
   carry   
   bitumen from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. -- where it would then be shipped by oil   
   tankers to   
   Asia.   
      
   According to Taylor Bachrach, the mayor of Smithers, the ads taken out by   
   Enbridge this   
   week will do little or nothing to sway public opinion and restore confidence   
   in B.C.   
      
   "For the people up here it's not a matter a technology, it's a matter of   
   trust," he said.   
      
   "What we saw coming out of the recent Enbridge oil spill in the United States   
   and the   
   report from the NTSB was really that it's the human systems that fell apart,   
   and that   
   there are some serious problems around the way these projects are managed. I'm   
   not sure   
   how that trust could be rebuilt."   
      
   B.C. Premier Christy Clark asking for the province's "fair share" was not   
   enough, Bachrach   
   said. He would like to see her reject the pipeline altogether.   
      
   "One thing that needs to be made clear is that folks up in this neck of the   
   woods aren't   
   opposing the pipeline because they aren't getting enough money. They're   
   opposing the   
   pipeline because they don't want to see their current economy and their   
   lifestyle and   
   their future put at risk. And I don't think there's any amount of money to   
   change that   
   opposition," Bachrach said.   
      
   The northern B.C. mayor said he would like to see Clark "stand with   
   communities in the   
   northwest and with First Nations and say that this project isn't appropriate   
   and shouldn't   
   go forward."   
      
   ================================================================   
                                        We don't want your steenkin' pipeline !   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)