– Join The BiNational Fight Against Pumping Tar Sands Crude Through The Line 9 Pipe
From Maude Barlow, National Chairperson for the Ottawa-based citizens advocacy group, Council of Canadians
March 17th, 2014 – As governments approve tar sands oil and fracking projects around the Great Lakes, the Council of Canadians is warning that these extreme energy projects are putting the Great Lakes in peril. Council of Canadians Chairperson Maude Barlow outlines the web of pipelines, refineries and oil shipments that threaten the Lakes in her new report released today entitled, Liquid Pipeline: Extreme energy’s threat to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Council of Canadians Chairperson Maude Barlow calls on people across the Great Lakes basin to speak out on the Line 9 Tar Sands pipe.
“We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg and only just beginning to understand the grave impacts these extreme energy projects are going to have on the Great Lakes. We often see these projects approved piecemeal but we have to step back and think about how all these projects are going to affect the Lakes,” says Barlow in her report, which is available here. “Enbridge is asking that the Alberta Clipper pipeline transport 800,000 barrels of oil per day, Calumet Specialty Products wants to ship millions of barrels of oil across Lakes and TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline cuts through the Great Lakes watershed. If governments continue to allow projects like this, what are our lakes going to look like in 20 or 50 years?”
“Federal, state and provincial governments all say that we must protect the Great Lakes but they continue to approve these projects. The Harper government has gutted environmental legislation to grease the wheels for industry and fails to put adequate funding into Great Lakes protection,” says Emma Lui, water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “These governments can no longer just pay lip-service. We want them to stop approving these extreme energy projects that are threatening the Lakes.”
The Liquid Pipeline report warns about the serious environmental implications of extreme energy extraction methods which are more water and energy intensive. Barlow says in her report: “The threat of extreme energy to the world’s vulnerable water supplies is very real. Large-scale water consumption combined with massive pollution from extraction methods are harming watersheds around the world. Extreme energy extraction, production and transport are about to put the Great Lakes of North America at risk.”
The Council of Canadians has launched an action alert calling on state governors and provincial premiers to ban extreme energy in the Great Lakes before it is too late.
The Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens advocacy group with more than 60 chapters across the country and 11 chapters near Line 9 including London, Guelph, Brantford, Hamilton, South Niagara, Peel Region, York University, Toronto, Northumberland, Peterborough and the Kawarthas, Brockville and Montreal. Find out more about the group by clicking on http://www.canadians.org/ .
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Niagara At Large 
I recently contacted Channels 2, 4 and 7 in Buffalo and inquired whether they were involved in investigating reporting and were they aware of the approval rubber stamped by the Federal “National Energy Board” of Canada giving the Canadian Corporate giant Enbridge permission to transport Alberta Tar Sand Bitumen through the Great Lakes Basin using an aging pipeline (Line9) to Quebec where it is to be refined.
They apparently knew NOTHING of this plan, of its approval or of the environmental disaster that could contaminate the total Great Lake system if this pipeline, which is similar to the one (Kalamazoo River) that is “still” three years later being cleaned up by Enbridge.
This Kalamazoo River disaster that allowed 1.000.000 gallons of this heavy Alberta Bitumen to flow through a six foot rupture in the pipeline was not immediately stopped in fact the alarm in Edmonton, Alberta was thought to be a bubble in the line and the pressure was in increased for 17 hours before the pipeline was shut down.
This Heavy bitumen is diluted for flow purposes and also contains agents that causes friction and heating in the line as it passes through. The time effect of a rupture and during contamination of a river the diluting agent evaporates into the air and this very heavy oil (does not float) sinks to the bottom causing extra problem for clean up.
This line9 is routed through and under the City of Toronto and can anyone imagine the environment and human damage a rupture similar to the one noted above can cause to our greatest asset, the Great Lakes.
An expert in pipeline construction and maintenance has already given his opinion which is this line9, due to age and construction is an accident waiting to happen and he feels the same type of rupture that poured so much heavy Alberta Sludge into the Kalamazoo River is surely a certainty if this approval is not stopped.
The NEB appointed board is weighted heavily by Alberta proponents of Pipelines as a transport medium and it is felt that they basically just rubber stamped this approval mechanism..
The Buffalo, New York TV Stations were unaware of Enbridge’s plan to use this line9 reversing the flow to transport this heavy diluted sludge called dilbit or the fact that that the Canadian Federal Government is pushing this plan. NOW THEY KNOW AND IT AFFECTS ALL THE STATES THAT BORDERS ON CANADA AND THE GREAT LAKES.
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well done, Joseph Somers. Am I surprised that no one in Buffalo knew of the NEB decision and how it will affect all of us who live here. No. Thanks to you for the Heads up. I am, honestly, defeated by the nefarious ways of the Harper Government and their minions. Transparency? Ha!
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A note to Mr Somers: Of course the Buffalo tv stations were not aware! It takes a major disaster to actually happen BEFORE US media even realize that they have another country to the north and east of them!
And now that you have advised them, they will continue to ignore it.
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