Ban Tankers on the Pacific Coast

The Tale of Three Devils

All of Canada is focused on the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway project, the devil in the middle. Well not quite, under the radar Kinder Morgan (the middle devils shadow) is also trying to fast track Alberta Tarsands Dirty Oil. (The devil on the right)

Let us begin with where everyone is looking, the devil in the middle, the one up north, and then we will look at its shadow down south. Why is one in the news today and not the other? There is a reason, Kinder Morgan is already in place and the Northern Gateway Project is still at the proposal stage, or let me say that is what we are supposed to believe as opposed to what is really going on.

We keep hearing idiots saying we need to base this discussion on facts. Let me correct myself here, they are not idiots, they by intention want people to think there are no facts, when indeed there are tons of facts out there.

They don’t want the public to know there is lots of factual research out there that is very credible.

Here are two; there are many others if anyone cares to do research. Have you seen these or the many others studies done out there?

  1. POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF AN OIL PIPELINE RUPTURE ON REACH 2 OF MORICE RIVER
  2. Oil and Salmon Don’t Mix

 

Likewise you hear the sales pitch JOBS JOBS JOBS we need more JOBS, really does it provide more jobs or does it cost Canada jobs? 26 jobs in return for $13 billion a year in exports according to the Alberta Federation of Labour.  Yes you read that right, because what you have been hearing is a spin on numbers. That is why even Alberta’s pro Tarsands party is objecting to the loss of jobs.

Jobs Jobs Jobs, but for China! Not for Canada.

 

When you propose a project of this magnitude, and when it affects so many people, under pre-existing law (meaning prior to Harpers arrival) it has to go through a hearing process, then it a “verdict” not a “recommendation” is handed down. Thus we have what they call a Judicial Review Panel set up under the National Energy Board.

Another point missed by most Canadians is that submissions to the Judicial Review panel must be in regards to the proposed Enbridge Pipeline, none of the other issues are permitted to be part of that hearing, because the hearing is about the Enbridge submission, and nor about oil tankers or Tarsands.

Meaning the NEB Hearings are only about the proposed Enbridge Pipeline.

So when Harper ignores our Supreme Court by not sitting down with First Nations he is at very least bending the law, if not breaking the law. Secondly by proceeding with the deals he made with China, Harper has in fact pissed all over the judicial process.

Yes you read that right; it is a disgusting and obvious attempt to undermine the legal system in Canada.

Enbridge admits openly that the pipeline is 40% owned by the oil suppliers, meaning that China as major owner of Alberta Tarsands, it is also a major shareholder in the Enbridge pipeline.

Thus we are all focused on the insane blame game of who is allowed to talk about this and who is not, in a country that is built on the premise that we are a democracy, that we cherish our rights to freedom of speech.

Canada has for decades advised other countries in regards to environmental protection, and in one sweep Harper makes all of Canada look like a bunch of idiots. Harper is now telling the world he can commit any environmental catastrophe he wants and its only Canada who should be allowed to talk about it.  Original Text

Through CIDA, Canada will contribute $16.6 million to the Rain Forest Pilot Project launched by the G-7 nations and Brazil to protect the Amazon rain forest. This includes a $10-million project in the State of Acre, the conversion of $4.6 million of Brazilian indebtedness, and a $2 million grant to the project core fund.

Canada will spend $8 million over the next five years to support the work of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Institute of Forest Management in promoting sustainable forest management in Southeast Asia.

So it’s fair to say that Harper has shamed all Canadians by his attempts to silence his critics from outside of Canada.

Now in regards to the shadow devil, (also in the middle) or the devil hiding from the public’s scrutiny, it is Kinder Morgan. Unbeknown to most Canadians is that Kinder Morgan recently plans to double the amount of oil going through its pipelines.

I want to bring to your attention slide eight in this presentation by Kinder Morgan in regards to tanker traffic as a direct result of its own increased production via the existing pipeline, and note this is before doubling it as noted above for 2012.

Now based on Kinder Morgan’s own projections look at slide ten of this presentation and you will see they expect close to 3,500 tankers in 2016 as compared to 2,832 in 2010.

OK that is all before doubling the capacity on the existing lines, then adding a second line beside the existing line, then based on the approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway project, they want to also add a line to Kitimat.

I hope people can visualize just how many tankers we are now talking about!

That total will have to exceed 10 Thousand Oil Tankers per year. None of them will carry conventional oil like the Exxon Valdez and all of them will be substantially larger 3 times as large as the Exxon Valdez.

Now we have identified the Devil on the Left, you know how our weather and navigation gets in British Columbia, so regardless of the weather we could be talking in excess of 27 Oil Tankers per day!  

It is not uncommon for a winter storm to have gale force winds extending out over 1,000 miles from the center, covering an area larger than the entire United States. There is no way to avoid such a storm the way a tropical cyclone can be avoided.

These Oil Tankers will all be navigating the treacherous waters of our coastline.

Consider that if Kinder Morgan can double their capacity on the existing line, then what about doubling the capacity on all the other lines? We could be talking in excess of 100 Oil Tankers per day, again take note this is not ordinary crude but much more toxic and much more dangerous Tarsands Crude.

OK now let’s have a quick look at the Devil on the Right, or alternatively about the Tars Sands and why we should have no part in its production.

For those of you who listened to what the First Nations people said in regards to water contamination and the destruction of the boreal forest we need to wake up and find out just what the hell is going on up in Northern Alberta that seems to be banned from publication by the press. See section six, seven and eight of their testimony and you will hear first-hand just how bad it is up there.

Recently stories began to appear about wolves dying from drinking the poisoned waters in Northern Alberta. For years, Dr. John O’Connor, the family doctor for Fort Chipewyan, has been growing increasingly worried about the number of cases of bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinomas), colon cancers, lymphomas, leukemia, autoimmune diseases such as lupus, as well as thyroid cancers, overactive thyroid, and skin rashes.

Others have called it The Most Destructive Project on Earth. It is the single greatest reason why the United States rejected the XL pipeline, and why former Canadian Governments have rejected the expansion of Tarsands development. It is only, and I stress only because we have an oil executive running Canada that we have as a nation made fools of ourselves in regards to the Kyoto Accord.

Why? Because Canada cannot honor its commitments to the world and open up the Tarsands for full scale production at the same time.

How has Alberta handled the crisis in regards to affected wildlife? Well, just have a look at who they got to testify that all was fine the Sherwood Park Fish & Game Association who admitted they were all employees of the oil companies that install pipelines. Who were they testifying for the wildlife or their jobs?

Then you have the CBC report Tarsands may threaten whooping cranes’ survival due to the tailings ponds and their toxic content. It is not just the ducks that are dying, it also the wolves that are dying as well. In fact the government figures that if they are all dead, then people won’t feel sorry for them, so they decided to go ahead and kill them.

 

Now let us have a quick look at the oil itself. A B.C. engineering consulting firm claims it has hard numerical proof that Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal augurs poorly for the future of modern society.

Now you know the Tale of Three Devils, and believe me that this is a condensed version of the truth, in particular a condensed version of the evidence that is out there.

The solution all in one, ban tanker traffic on the Canadian Pacific Coast, in fact there is already a ban in place, thanks to MP Nathan Cullen however it does not cover the entire coast.

So here it is, the answer to today’s problem, and I don’t care who you want to get behind to put this Tanker Ban in place, the facts is it is the only made in BC solution to British Columbia’s problem. Dealing with Alberta will have to become another issue, and another problem for others to deal with.

Right now we can help their First Nations people; we can help our own First Nations people, by putting all of your support behind them, both online, on the street and in our courts. Let us make it happen, ban tankers and we fixed our pipeline problems in one sweep.

British Columbia has the power to impose a ban; the Liberals have less than a year left before the next election. We all need to pour our efforts into getting the NDP to promise thy will bring in a ban on tankers now. Don’t just talk about it, do it, be the change you want in British Columbia.

Even if you don’t support the NDP, get behind a tanker ban, everyone needs to be calling for a tanker ban on the entire Canadian Pacific Coast to bring an end to this madness, this is not about politics this is about saving British Columbia.

This article is dedicated to the counselors of, Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitimat, Kitwanga, Hazelton, Kispiox, Moricetown, Smithers, Telkwa, Houston, Granisle, Burns Lake, Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof, Prince George who are sitting on the fence.

Point of clarification on jurisdiction.

There are a lot of people ducking behind false information in regards to jurisdiction. It is true that the waters off the BC Coast fall under Federal Jurisdiction, and they have to option to ban tankers from those waters.

At the same time British Columbia has the right to ban tanker traffic from all BC Ports or from the shoreline of British Columbia. It is a perpetuated myth that British Columbia cannot invoke a tanker ban, it can ban tankers from its shorelines.

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One Response to Ban Tankers on the Pacific Coast

  1. Julie says:

    We know there is a horrific danger, in the massive tankers coming in to Port Kitimat. There are many times warnings, of hurricane force winds. There are also 40 to 50 foot waves. The channel narrow, the tankers massive, which also have to do hairpin turns. They say, those seas are difficult to navigate in good weather. In bad storms, forget it. Kitimat Port, is a Northern Port, and really bad storms are frequent in those seas.

    There was a Japanese freighter loaded with logs. They got caught in one of the coast of BC’s violent storms, off the Northern tip of Vancouver Island. The storm tore the top of the logs off. They were very afraid, if the bottom load of the logs shifted, the ship would capsize. They put in a distress call, it took many hours for the rescue to get to them.

    There is not one shadow of a doubt, there will be a Chinese tanker spill, or a liquid gas tanker spill. Depending what country’s Harper can con into accepting the dirty tar oil, we could have hordes of, oil tankers in that sea. We could also have other country’s coming in for the natural gas, in Kitimat as well. If the LNG tanks being built in Kitimat ever explode, the entire town will be gone. The area will look like a war zone.

    The Enbridge pipeline, is total lunacy. There are avalanches, mudslides, earthquakes, rock slides and swift flooding rivers, that take out homes and highways, every year. Even forest fires are a danger. Enbridge had a, 1,500 barrel pipe burst in Wrigley N.W.T. during the Slave Lake fire. Can you imagine, if the oil sands caught fire?

    BC has a vast wilderness. How many days could it take, to even find the pipe burst? Then, how do they get through 15 feet of snow to get to the spill? Or perhaps, Enbridge wouldn’t bother to clean up their eco disaster, as they did in the Kalamazoo River spill.

    In Alberta, there is outrage over just, one glacier in Jasper Park under a supposed threat. Alberta seems to think it’s just fine, the dirty tar oil can threaten our entire province.

    I do sign any of the petitions, the F.N. put out. I have noticed, not one of those greedy buggers, forcing these atrocities, have mentioned one word about the F.N. food sources, that will be destroyed, by both the Enbridge pipeline, and the tanker spill into the sea.

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