Imagine for a minute what you would think of a neighbour who decided to build a three-storey, 2,000-square-foot addition to his home. He tells you he’s going to rent it out to a family of six and make a lot of money off of it. You ask him if he’s considered the impact on the neighbourhood – traffic, waste, noise? He says that’s not his problem. Would you consider him a good neighbour? Probably not.
Well, that’s pretty much what the National Energy Board is doing.
This week economist Robyn Allan withdrew from the National Energy Board’s review of the Kinder Morgan pipeline project. She said the NEB is not impartial, and further, the outcome is predetermined.
Now, Allan isn’t the first person to say this. And she won’t be the last.
Allan questions why the NEB is not considering the entire scope of the Kinder Morgan pipeline project. The plan is to nearly triple the capacity of the existing pipeline in Burnaby. (It would see 890,000 barrels of Alberta oil, much of it piped to the terminal in Burnaby, where the oil would then be pumped to tankers bound for Asia.) She sees Burrard Inlet turning into a tanker parking lot. And, of course, she mentions the risks involved with storing massive amounts of oil in a storage facility that was built 50 years ago.
Imagine what would happen in an earthquake?
Allan wonders why the NEB is ignoring these factors. Her conclusion is, naturally, that to look at any of the potential consequences of the pipeline would force the NEB to acknowledge the whole plan is unsupportable. And, in fact, it could place both the environment and the urban population at considerable risk. We still don’t even know the details of Kinder Morgan’s emergency plans, because of “security” issues.
The Burnaby Board of Trade, not known for being a hotbed for socialists, has even come out saying the pipeline is simply not appropriate in a densely populated urban area. Perhaps 50 years ago it was – but not today.
The BBOT is right and did not come to its conclusion without considerable study and thought.
After the fuel spill in Vancouver last month, you’d think saner minds would prevail and reconsider what would happen if a tanker leaked oil in Burrard Inlet. And then just this week, an oil pipeline leak in California has devastated beaches near Santa Barbara.
Surely, we don’t need more examples of what can go wrong – and does go wrong – despite safety precautions and smooth reassurances from oil company spokespeople.
