Dr. Patrick Moore, ex Greenpeace cofounder arrived in Burns Lake last week at the invitation of the Burns Lake and District Chamber of Commerce.
Accompanied by Colin Kinsley, former mayor of Prince George and current chair of the Northern Gateway Alliance, Moore gave a presentation on sustainability, discussing the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project.
No longer in agreement with Greenpeace on an increasing number of environmental issues, Moore left the organization in 1986, citing differences in opinion.
He is now the chair and chief scientist of Vancouver based Greenspirit Strategies Ltd.
As reported in the Lakes District News edition of July 20, 2011, Greenpeace have since labelled him as an environmental turn coat. They say that since leaving the organization he has promoted salmon farming, genetically engineered crops, mining and pipelines.
During the Burns Lake meeting, Moore further explained why he left the organization. He said over the years it has grown from a small group meeting in a church basement in the mid 1980s, to ‘Greenpeace International’, an organization pulling in tens of millions of dollars in donations worldwide.
“I was the only director with any science education, the others were entrepreneurs interested in growing it into a big organization,” he said. He left when Greenpeace wanted to incite the worldwide ban of chlorine labeling it as toxic to human health.
“They were saying that chlorine is toxic in all forms. I tired to explain to them that adding chlorine to drinking water and using chlorine based pharmaceuticals is the most important element for public health. It fell on deaf ears and I ended up leaving,” he said.
According to Moore, 86 per cent of the worlds energy is derived from fossil fuels. Of which, he says, oil is the most important.
Moore says transportation, for the foreseeable future, is dependent on oil. He said the Albertan oil sands operation is basically a massive sand cleaning operation. Oil sand goes in one end and comes out the other as clean white sand.
There is currently 100,000 kilometres of pipelines across North America. “In the past they were partially buried. This one [Northern Gateway Pipeline] is entirely buried. There are over 600 water crossings and each one is individually engineered. They are buried 40 to 50 feet underneath the water and the pipe is pulled through so the river could never possibly interfere.”
“Why oil through pipes? Because it is the most economical and safest way, there are no moving parts, unlike a train.”
Moore said the reason why he got involved in the fossil fuel sector is that he was tired of people saying the boreal forest was being destroyed in Alberta. “Look on Google Earth and see if you can see the oil sands — you have to zoom right in to see it.”
He said oil sands companies are turning disused mines back into boreal wetland areas and the land is being re-contoured and replanted. “More than $800 million in contracts go to First Nations companies and thousands of First Nations people are employed in the oil sands industry, and making good money too.”
According to Moore, there was an oil slick in the Athabasca River long before the oil sands operation. “There has been hydro carbons in the river for a long time and I don’t know how much is ‘natural’ or how much is caused by industry, but there is nothing in the water that is sufficient enough to cause health problems downstream, specifically in Fort Chip.
Local resident Chris Paulson expressed many concerns about the pipeline during the meeting. “It is going to go through our community,” he said.
Moore said the pipeline will not be coming down main street, but will be in the hinterland and will be buried underground. “It’s just a pipeline. There are three going through the Pine Pass that have been there for a long time. If you are going to sell oil to Pacific rim countries you have to get it to tide water .... I am not saying I am for or against it, I have to wait to see what the joint review panel say. In the end it is democracy that will determine the outcome.”
Moore went on to say that he did not feel that First Nations culture is going to be destroyed by a pipeline that goes underground. “Some countries don’t have this [public consultation] process. It is as good as any community involvement process. They don’t get this in Nigeria, they just get a pipeline.”
“They [China] want oil, we have oil and in a market system we are going to sell it to them.”
Lakes District News also spoke with Enbridge about the meeting. Spokesman Paul Stanway said that the meeting and other similar meetings by Moore are not funded by the company. He did however add that Enbridge has assisted organizing some of the meetings being held by Moore across the North, but not the Burns Lake one.
According to Stanway, because Colin Kinsley is a member of the Northern Gateway Alliance [who is driving Moore through Northern B.C. for the tour] he is having his out of pocket expenses paid by Enbridge.
“This means his fuel, food and hotel rooms are being paid for,” Stanway said, adding that only Kinsley is being reimbursed.