Kitimat Councillor Steps Down From Enbridge Community Advisory Board

Tuesday, December 07, 2010 03:53 AM

Kitimat, B.C. – A Kitimat councillor has stepped down from the Enbridge Community Advisory Board, calling the process a “sham”.

Randy Halyk says he originally joined the board because he felt that Kitimat should have a voice, that it was a good way to find out about the positives and negatives of the Northern Gateway Pipeline, and open a dialogue with Enbridge. However, he says the CAB has morphed since its early days and has degenerated into and Enbridge vehicle to stifle community participation.

“Throughout this time the group was changing, the vacant chairs where being filled, new faces appeared around the table but not one citizen of Kitimat only companies set to make a profit. The CAB is now ostensibly made up of project supporters from the Lower Mainland, from Terrace with a few from Kitimat including our EDO, with the remaining being Enbridge Staff.

Furthermore, I don’t know how you can call what remains, “a Community Advisory Board” when most members are from out of town and the region. “

Kitimat Council has voted for a resolution that it will stay neutral on the project and Halyk says he is bound to continue to support that plan. However, he says can no longer participate on the CAB and expect to maintain both his own integrity and that of Council’s. Halyk is urging his fellow members to sever all ties with the Enbridge CAB and find another way for Council to engage the company.

Halyk says sooner than later, Kitimat Council will have to take a side on the contentious pipeline project.

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Posted on Tuesday, December 07, 2010 03:53 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: IMO on December 7 2010 7:58 AM

And AGAIN we see how corporations MAKE IT LOOK like they are giving us a voice. Thank God there are still people with integrity and self worth like Randy Halyk. Too bad our Prince George mayor wont and cant show this type of behaviour. Is he not on this board as well?

People we really need to start forcing our voice on issues like this or are we content with sitting back and letting a company like Enbridge get EVERYTHING they want?

Posted by: chickenbus on December 7 2010 8:06 AM

Well said IMO! The pipeline would be an environmental disaster that would cost us millions.

Posted by: Dragonmaster on December 7 2010 9:22 AM

The people are becoming increasingly aware of what these corporations are doing to us all.
Good on you Randy Halyk, thanks for standing up.

Posted by: Krusty on December 7 2010 12:45 PM

The Enbridge (or any other) pipeline along with coastal tankers is an "all pain-no gain" proposition. If (when?) the oil disaster happens, will Enbridge even be around to pay for the clean up?
Anyone recall the Giant gold mine in the Yukon? After all the problems they had, after all the ways the employees were exploited and the gold was gone, the government ordered them to do a thorough environmental clean-up. There were thousands of 45 gallon drums hidden underground, filled with mercury contaminants from the extraction process, for example. What did the company do? They siphoned off all the profits into a "holding" company and put Giant Mines into receivership and told Ottawa that if they wanted a clean-up they could go ahead do it themselves.
Would Enbridge be any different if something happened to the oil sands?

Posted by: Give more on December 8 2010 12:06 PM

Yeah and can you just imagine the mess if their pipeline sprang a leak in some remote area and started running under the snow and ice of creeks leading into rivers and lakes and no one noticed for a few weeks or months? It would take stripping all the vegetation and soil all along the banks of such streams and rivers to get it cleaned up. If the job was done like the cleanup from the Exxon Valdes or the Gulf, we'd be saddled with it for a long, long
time to come. If it was the other pipeline carrying the chemical back to the oilsands, it may be a lot harder to clean that stuff up and what effect does IT have on our enviroment???