Many residents of northern British Columbia – both First Nations and non-First Nations – are deeply concerned about the proposed Enbridge pipeline that would transport huge volumes of bitumen across the land, rivers, and coastal ocean of the territory. They are especially concerned about the potential environmental damage of spilled bitumen, which is a toxic substance and extremely difficult to clean up.

 

Much has been said and conjectured about what the limits of Enbridge’s liability would be for a spill, as well as that of the tankers that transport the bitumen in coastal waters. But what about the provincial and federal governments response? Just what could we, as northerners, expect from government, especially if Enbridge went bankrupt or a foreign-based tanker abrogated its responsibility?

 

Let’s look at two relatively recent examples. In November of 2010, several vehicles, including two trucks, were involved in an accident on the Trans-Canada highway on the Spuzzum bridge, 50 kilometres north of Hope, BC. One person was killed, spilling diesel fuel (toxic to all forms of life) and debris into Spuzzum Creek which is a tributary of the Fraser River. The accident happened just upstream from a popular swimming hole for Spuzzum First Nation children, who use it to cool off in the summer in the hot canyon.

 

Despite the fact that the accident happened almost 1 ½ years ago, some of the diesel contamination and debris lingers on at the site. In a Global TV news report, the Chief of the Spuzzum First Nation, James Hobart, showed reporters heaps of booms and absorbent mats that had been used to soak up the diesel but had been left near the creek for all this time, leaching contaminant into the salmon-bearing waters. Other wreckage remains in the creek and on the embankment overlooking it. 

 

Chief Hobart believes that “if the accident would have happened … somewhere more visible to the public, such as West Vancouver, it would have been cleaned up within the week” (1).

 

For her part, Mary Polak, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs claimed in the Legislature on March 26, 2012, that she “had been advised that the diesel has now all been drained from the vehicle tanks,” and that “all the debris except for the remains of the trailer that is wrapped around the supports of the bridge has been removed.” However, she made no mention of the booms and mats used to soak up the diesel and heaped near the creek, nor the pieces of wreckage still in or near the waters.

 

Nor did Polak explain why, after almost 1 ½ years, the site is not cleaned up other than to say that CP Rail had concerns about “impacting the bridge structure” and that ICBC and CP Rail are currently working to “come up with a plan” to address those concerns.

 

How much would it cost to clear all the rest of the wreckage and remove the contaminated booms and mats and stop the contamination of a pristine salmon-bearing and recreational creek? Whatever the cost for a few days of such work – whether in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars – it would be a relatively tiny amount compared to the huge cost of the BC Place Stadium roof in downtown Vancouver which has now ballooned to $563 million. But the fact is that even this small amount has not been spent and the job of cleaning up the river has still not been completed. So much for the provincial government’s commitment to a rural area and a First Nations community.

 

But then let’s look at the federal government. A few years ago, amid much hoopla and fanfare, the Harper government announced that it would be pledging $100 million annually for ten years ($1 billion in total) to help rural areas of BC cope with the devastating pine beetle epidemic which has affected an estimated 17.5 million hectares of lodge pole pine in the Interior, impacting dozens of rural communities spread out over a vast area larger than many countries in the world.

 

In itself, this $1 billion was not a lot, given the sheer scale of the community impact and environmental devastation, and given that, over the decades, the forest industry and forestry-based communities have contributed many tens of billions of dollars in taxes to the Feds (as well as many tens of billions in stumpage payments and taxes to the provincial government). By way of comparison, the $1 billion originally pledged by Harper amounts to the same cost for just 2 ½ of the controversial F-35 jets that the government is proposing (each jet costs $400 million in its life cycle).

 

But the Harper government hasn’t even delivered on the $1 billion. After just two $100 million payments, the government discontinued the program, alleging that it was folding it into other funding programs, which is another way of saying it has disappeared forever into the political fog and the budgetary maze. Thus what rural British Columbians finally received under this program for this catastrophic epidemic amounts to the cost of just half of one F-35 jet.

 

So what will happen if the Enbridge pipeline is built and the inevitable bitumen spill in a northern river or on the coast takes place? Will the provincial and federal governments step up to the plate? Will they be in it for the long haul? Or, after all the big city television cameras and reporters have left, will our beautiful, pristine, highly productive, but sparsely populated, northern region be on its own once again, left with a partially-cleaned up, poisoned river or fouled coastal waters, as well as devastated communities?

 

Something to think about.

 

(1) Global TV news – April 9, 2012 http://www.globaltvbc.com/diesel+truck+wreckage+left+in+the+fraser+river/6442617621/story.html