Editor:
The Trans Mountain pipeline is a financial burden for taxpayers and needs to be cancelled.
Not only is it a disaster for the climate, the coast and Indigenous rights, but it’s fast becoming a government boondoggle of epic proportions.
A new report released by Stand.earth shows that beyond the $4.5-billion purchase price, costs are piling up as delays mount. Construction activities haven’t once been on schedule. The pipeline route hasn’t been approved yet, and ongoing route hearings are adding even more delays (and even more costs to taxpayers).
Key hotspots along the route are sure to face determined public resistance. These hotspots pose serious risks to communities – to finish construction, the federal government plans to drill under the Fraser River and Burnaby Mountain, tunnel under several drinking water aquifers, and increase fire risk by expanding oil storage ‘tank farms’ in Burnaby and Sumas. The government also plans to bring in worker “man camps,” which puts the safety of Indigenous women and girls at risk at a time when the Canadian government has committed to addressing the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
There’s a lot to be concerned about and no time to stall in a climate crisis.
Shawn Warmington, New Westminster
