The Editor,
Premier Christy Clark’s predictable approval of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion jeopardizes our coast, betrays B.C. interests and makes a mockery of the province’s “climate leadership.” But Enbridge’s Northern Gateway was also rubber-stamped by Big Oil’s political handmaidens, and it’s dead.
If our communities stick together, Kinder Morgan will be beaten, too.
We can support First Nations’ legal challenges to the farcical pipeline approval process. We can defeat the Clark government in the May provincial election and replace it with one that sees a greener path to low-carbon prosperity. If necessary, we can support a provincial referendum.
And if all else fails, we can join forward-looking politicians on the blockades, and the 20,000 people who have already pledged to do “whatever it takes” to stop it.
Besides exaggerating economic benefits and underestimating risks, Kinder Morgan’s expensive propaganda ignores the downstream impact on global warming, the Alberta government’s self-declared ceiling on tar sands expansion, the relative safety of bitumen transport by rail, Canada’s own energy security, the huge job potential of investing billions in renewable energy rather than marine “protection” against unfixable bitumen tanker spills, and much else. (For an information antidote, see policyalternatives.ca and thetyee.ca.)
According to financial analysts, investors and contractors have cause to be nervous about Kinder Morgan’s prospects, even with the political elite’s acquiescence. The more the project is delayed, the more likely they are to pull out. It’s encouraging news that a Coquitlam residents’ group is forming to take up this challenge.
Bob Hackett, Burnaby
