Recently, Clark and the BC Liberals announced 5 demands that must be meet before they consider giving the go ahead to Enbridge's infamous Northern Gateway Pipeline. If you're not from BC - or if you've been living under a rock for the past couple of years - the Northern Gateway Pipeline is a proposed pipeline that would carry bitumen oil from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat BC. From Kitimat, it will then be loaded on to super tankers and shipped down BC's precious, fragile, and perilous coast. The pipeline has faced a great deal of opposition from BC residents for a number reasons: a fear of the pipeline bursting and destroying the world's largest intact temperate rainforest, increased tanker traffic along BC's coast and the ensuing damage to the precious ecosystems along the way, and increased development of the tar sands and the environmental and economic concerns surrounding that. Furthermore, a staggering number of First Nations communities along the pipeline's proposed route have stated their adamant opposition to the entire project- while pointing to their exclusion from talks between Enbridge and the Government.
While other political parties have come out and declared their support for or against Enbridge's pipeline, Clark has remained fairly quiet on the issue - that is until recently. As previously mentioned, the Liberals have announced 5 demands that must be meet before they approve this project. They include a full environmental review, a detailed plan for oil spill response, another detailed plan for oil spill prevention, a recognition of first nations legal rights and their inclusion in the economic benefits from the pipeline, and greater compensation to the BC Government for the economic and fiscal benefits Enbridge will receive.
Although I applaud our premier for finally taking a stance on an issue she's avoided for quite sometime now, I wonder if her demands go far enough. An environmental review is a great place to start, but doing an environmental review does not ensure that Enbridge and the BC Government will follow through with the recommendations of the review. Furthermore, having plans for oil spill recovery and prevention does not excuse the number of spills Enbridge is already responsible for. Even further - and despite conflicting reports - Enbridge claims to already have support from 60% of the First Nations communities along the pipeline's proposed route. All 60% have supposedly signed agreements with Enbridge. These claims go against what First Nations leaders have been stating in the media calling Enbridge's claim a sham.
There is one demand, however, that Christy Clark seems to be focusing on; Clark would like to see a bigger share of the profit - that will presumably flow from this pipeline - in the province's hands.
While BC is expected to receive $6.7 billion in revenue over 30 years, Clark argues that this is not enough compared to the $32 billion Alberta would receive and the $36 billion Ottawa would receive. The whole obsession on this point has sparked a political drama between BC's premier, Clark, and Alberta's premier, Alison Redford. Clark has gone as far as walking out of meetings at the gathering of premiers in Halifax, during the Council of the Federation.
Clark's tantrums and verbal spats are silly and ultimately a distraction. I would like to argue that no amount of fiscal compensation and no amount of emergency spill planning and preparation is enough to gamble with BC's wilderness and the lives of the people who live there. No amount of money is worth forgoing the rights and sovereignty of the First Nations people who inhabit the areas along the pipelines proposed route. We have the largest intact temperate rainforest, the Great Bear Rainforest, and one of the most beautiful coastlines that is home to such amazing sea life, including humpback whales and orcas. No amount of demands, no matter how high the standard, is worth gambling away these precious ecosystems.
I pray that you don't get distracted by such silly political dramas.
This is very insightful post.
ReplyDeleteI kind of lean on the side that the environmentally concerns and the profits should be dealt with separately. I think it would be more than fair for government to ask for some finical compensation. It after all our money we spend cleaning up the environment and plus the economic and physical damage of any surrounding community. However I do agree that that actual decision to go ahead with or not should determined on the environmental risk factor