Group Formed To Fight Enbridge Pipeline

By 250 News

Prince George,  B.C.  - A group known as the Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance has been formed in Prince George with a view to raising concerns about the proposed Enbridge Pipeline that would cross BC ending up at the coastal port of Kitimat.

Josh Deleenheer, says his group has attracted 300 members in less than a week after being formed to inform the public of the risks of the oil pipeline and the tanker traffic.

Enbridge proposes to construct two parallel pipelines from Northern Alberta’s tar sands to the port of Kitimat; one pipe will carry crude bitumen, a heavy oil product, to the coast of BC for oil tankers destined for Asian and American markets. The second pipe will carry condensate inland; condensate is used to transform the heavy oil from the tar sands into product that can be moved by pipeline.

Meantime David Luggi, Tribal Chief of the Carrier Sekani Chief Council, appearing on the Meisner program on CFIS says the majority of the bands over which the pipeline will pass are opposed to the construction.

Between Alberta and BC Luggi says there are 60 First Nations over whose territory the line will pass.

Enbridge says they have 29 bands on side, but many says Luggi are fringe bands , in other words whose territory borders another band were the pipe line crosses. Plain and simple says Luggi"The majority of the bands are opposed to its construction, right down to the port of Kitimat."

Enbridge according to Luggi would employ about 200 people when the line has been finished and the risk to the watersheds of the Fraser, Skeena, Bulkley, and all of the northern rivers is too great to allow the project to go ahead.

Luggi singled out Mayor Dan Rogers for criticism saying that the city has recently hired a Public relations officer and Rogers supports the pipeline project. "Can we expect that the new PR guy will be spinning a story to us about the benefits of the pipe line at a cost of $95,000 a year?"

A recent study prepared for the Pembina Institute by David Levy, outlines the vast number of salmon that would be at risk in the event of a spill along the line.

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