Is Canada's China Oil Exports Worth the Ecology of the West Coast?
Is push to export oil to China worth risk of catastrophic spill?
by Chris Genovali
A recent Canwest News report described how "China's energy buying spree is bypassing Canada's oilpatch." Depending on one's viewpoint, this could be something to lament or something to be relieved about.
According to the article, a primary reason for China's hesitancy has to do with "the lack of pipeline infrastructure to the West Coast that could facilitate the export of oilsands production to China and other countries in the Far East."
The article asserts there is "a tepid political climate at the federal level" in terms of supporting such infrastructure. Nevertheless, Enbridge Inc. is moving full speed ahead to convince British Columbians that embracing its Northern Gateway pipeline project is in everyone's best interests. With enormous financial backing, a phalanx of consultants, and a slicker than slick television advertising campaign, website, electronic newsletter and glossy coffee-table style brochures, Enbridge is counting on a sophisticated public-relations effort to swamp any opposition to Northern Gateway.
Art Sterritt, Coastal First Nations executive director, recently summed up the threat to aboriginal communities posed by oil tankers that would ship Alberta crude from the Enbridge pipeline to hydrocarbon-hungry markets abroad: "The minute there is tanker traffic, there is damage to a way of life."
The same could be said for non-aboriginal coastal communities.
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by Chris Genovali
A recent Canwest News report described how "China's energy buying spree is bypassing Canada's oilpatch." Depending on one's viewpoint, this could be something to lament or something to be relieved about.
According to the article, a primary reason for China's hesitancy has to do with "the lack of pipeline infrastructure to the West Coast that could facilitate the export of oilsands production to China and other countries in the Far East."
The article asserts there is "a tepid political climate at the federal level" in terms of supporting such infrastructure. Nevertheless, Enbridge Inc. is moving full speed ahead to convince British Columbians that embracing its Northern Gateway pipeline project is in everyone's best interests. With enormous financial backing, a phalanx of consultants, and a slicker than slick television advertising campaign, website, electronic newsletter and glossy coffee-table style brochures, Enbridge is counting on a sophisticated public-relations effort to swamp any opposition to Northern Gateway.
Art Sterritt, Coastal First Nations executive director, recently summed up the threat to aboriginal communities posed by oil tankers that would ship Alberta crude from the Enbridge pipeline to hydrocarbon-hungry markets abroad: "The minute there is tanker traffic, there is damage to a way of life."
The same could be said for non-aboriginal coastal communities.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
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