Editor:
I am writing to voice my objection to both Kinder Morgan's plans for a massive expansion of tar sands crude exports out of Vancouver Harbour and the proposed Enbridge pipeline expansion project.
As it stands, the tar sands are Canada's fastest growing source of greenhouse emissions; the proposed pipeline would facilitate tar sand expansion by 30 per cent. The federal government has resolved to weaken environmental protection and has publicly endorsed the Enbridge project, stating that it is in our nation's best interest. Really? Enbridge pipelines have consistently spilled oil when they run through relatively flat terrain. Have the pipelines' engineers taken B.C.'s extremely varied terrain into consideration, or the fact that B.C.'s coastline is on a geo fault line? (Incidentally, the pipelines would be carriers of diluted bitumen, with a specific gravity far heavier than water, making it extra challenging to clean up both in streams and at sea.)
I strongly urge citizens who are opposed to these pipeline expansion projects to express their concerns and objections to local governments and insist they take a strong stand on behalf of all those who believe in responsible environmental stewardship.
I also urge you to consider taking the social responsibility rhetoric that corporations like Kinder Morgan and Enbridge use to pave the way for their profit driven agendas with a huge grain of salt. Their measure of success needs rethinking.
Please, let's not wait for disaster to strike before speaking out.
Jacqueline Rogers, Gibsons
