By Shaun Thomas, The Northern View, February 23, 2010
On February 18, a meeting was held by the Douglas Channel Watch group in the Raven room at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre to discuss the dangers that the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project could cause Kitimat and its surrounding communities - including Prince Rupert.
The Enbridge Northern Gateway Project is a set of pipelines that will run from near Edmonton, Alberta to a marine terminal in Kitimat that could carry 525,000 barrels of oil and 193,000 barrels of condensate a day. If the twin pipelines are put in place, that would mean supertankers would have to travel through the Douglas Channel.
“It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see that crude oil tankers aren’t a good idea in the North,” said Dave Shannon, a member of the Douglas Channel Watch group, adding, “I don’t think it is a smart idea to bring this into Kitimat.”
On previous nights a free moving viewing of the documentary Black Wave: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez was played for people to see. The Exxon Valdez was a tanker ship that discharged millions of gallons of crude oil into waters, and is known as one of the biggest environmental catastrophes in North American history. This wreck, as well as several others, were brought up in the discussion as a warning tale of what could happen in the Northwest if tankers were allowed to travel through British Columbian channels.
“Enbridge isn’t going to tell us what’s bad [about the pipeline project]. They’re going to give us information that makes the project look like a good idea,” said Per Norman, another member of the Douglas Channel Watch group.
Enbridge is saying that building these pipelines will create thousands of jobs, but Douglas Channel Watch group member Dieter Wagner is not so confident with those numbers.
“There are very few jobs that will be created with this pipeline,” he said, adding that this construction job would not be permanent.
To get involved with the Douglas Channel Watch group, or for any questions contact Jennifer Ricer at (250) 624-4147, or Dieter Wagner at (250) 632-7293.
