Dear Editor:
Re: City to apply for intervenor status in Kinder Morgan expansion, Burnaby NOW,Dec. 27.
As a North Burnaby resident for 56 years, I am astonished that Kinder Morgan would believe that N.B. residents would welcome increased pipeline capacity, significantly increased tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet, and a twofold increase from 13 to 26 storage tanks on Burnaby Mountain.
In the long run, there will be finite benefits for those employed building the pipeline and storage tanks. Maintenance of facilities and distribution of oil would require some permanent employees as yet unspecified, and Kinder Morgan will increase its income and would pay an increase in taxes, an amount as yet unknown.
However, the benefits to personnel, the company, the City of Burnaby and the province, will fail to compensate for the tragedies inherent in the production of oil. The oil sands lands will be desecrated forever, and worst of all, the storage of waste products in the production of oil is said to cover 172 square kilometres and there is presently no known method as yet developed to eliminate this ungodly waste. And, that a tanker might leak spill oil in B.C.’s waters is unthinkable.
The waste materials promise to expand with great speed for the readily accessible oil from traditional wells is slowing down, and companies are increasingly extracting oil from shale, a process which has the extraordinary power to desecrate the land and water for generations, and, of course, contribute to global warming.
For me, I feel that to continue to destroy immense parcels of lands in our country, especially in B.C. and Alberta, for the sake of shipping oil across the seas is an act which in years will be considered the height of folly for the benefit of a few extra tax dollars for B.C. Future generations of our families will pay for the consequences if we do not put a stop to more oil extraction and processing. We can and should learn to live with what oil is being sent here.
