Enbridge Pipeline Boosts Spill Risk, Native Group Says
(Corrects name of Coastal First Nations director in second paragraph.)
Enbridge Inc. (ENB)’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline should not be built because it increases the risk of an oil spill off the coast of British Columbia, a panel was told today as 18 months of hearings on the line began.
“An oil spill would coat the entire British Columbia coast,” said Art Sterritt, executive director of Coastal First Nations, a group of 10 native groups opposing the pipeline. “It’s not in the national interest to put 30,000 jobs in the fishing, fish farming and tourism industry at risk.”
When the hearings end next year, the three-person panel will make a recommendation on whether Enbridge should build the pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude to the British Columbian coast and on to Asia. Canada’s National Energy Board will then decide if the project should proceed.
“The B.C. coastline is extremely sensitive to oil spills because of its physical features,” federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said. The waters of the Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Basin are known to be exceptionally stormy, with some of the largest waves on Earth, she said.
The meeting in a recreation center in Kitimat Village, home of the Haisla aboriginal group and the planned terminus of the pipeline, began with traditional native drumming and singing. A panel, appointed by Canadian regulators, today will hear mainly from opponents of the 1,177-kilometer (730-mile) pipeline.
Northern Gateway is opposed by some aboriginal groups, who point to the risks to salmon streams, forests and coastal waters in one of the world’s largest remaining temperate rainforests. Oil producers and politicians are pushing for Canada to export crude to Asian markets and reduce dependence on the U.S., where demand for fossil fuels is stagnant.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Kitimat, British Columbia via jvanloon@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tina Davis at tinadavis@bloomberg.net; David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net
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