Dear Sir,
The theme for Kitimat’s Canada Day parade this coming Friday is, “Canada Goes Green”.
While it’s important for every one of us to practice our three R’s (reduce, recycle, re-use) I would ask the people of Kitimat to join Douglas Channel Watch in our effort to stop Enbridge’s Northern Gateway oil pipeline and oil supertanker port proposal.
The time for fence sitting on this issue is getting shorter.
Kitimat is being asked to shoulder the risk of over 200 supertankers a year, each making three 90 degree turns in narrow channels just to enter Douglas Channel, as well as leaks from Enbridge’s pipelines which would carry 82 million litres of oil a day west, and 3.5 million litres of condensate a day east.
The 25 people currently loading condensate onto railcars would likely lose their jobs, leaving Kitimat with a net gain of only 7 jobs at Enbridge’s 32 employee tank farm.
The largest supertankers will be 1,100 feet long, draw 70 feet of water, and carry up to 300 million litres of oil. Two thirds of the supertankers will go south to the USA, one third will go to Asia.
A leak from Enbridge’s pipeline will have to be larger than 174,000 litres per hour to trigger an alarm in their Edmonton control centre, potentially spilling 2.5 million litres a day until the leak is noticed.
The people of Kitimat should stand up right here, right now, to protect our river and our coastline from the Northern Gateway proposal.
Those who don’t speak out against it risk losing an Internationally recognized environment of global significance. Their silence will be interpreted as their being 100% in agreement with Enbridge’s proposal, and indifferent to Enbridge’s record of large oil spills.
Douglas Channel Watch is a group of concerned citizens dedicated to protecting Douglas Channel and its watersheds from oil pipelines, oil supertankers, or any other project where massive environmental risk far outweighs economic rewards. Visit our facebook page, or contact Margaret Ouwehand at 632-3337, or Deiter Wagner at 632-7293.
Murray Minchin
Kitimat, BC