Editor:
I would like to mention a few picky details you might want to consider before you welcome the gateway pipeline to a backyard near you. Let’s look at some of the reasons you cite for accepting it:
1. Lower fuel costs: How are we going to get lower fuel costs by shipping raw bitumen to China? Even if the gateway pipeline was going to be used to deliver the bitumen to Canadian producers, that would not necessarily mean Canadian customers would get any price advantage because international free trade agreements might prevent Canadian producers from giving us a preferential price. By the way, what does influence our fuel prices? I don’t know – do you? All I know is the price we pay keeps going up. Having a pipeline through our backyard is not going to change that.
2. We use lots of diesel fuel ourselves, so if we oppose the pipeline, we are somehow being hypocritical: Since the purpose of the proposed pipeline is to ship all the bitumen to China, I don’t see what our objections to the pipeline have to do with our own use of fossil fuels.
3. We all want a strong economy and good jobs: Since when has any multinational corporation been required to hire Canadian workers? Even if 40,000 jobs or 140,000 will be created by the building and operation of the pipeline, they will not necessarily go to Canadian workers.
The one thing we will get:
4. Pollution: The track record of existing pipelines should be cause for worry even for the most fervent proponent of the scheme. Why should we believe that the safeguards will be any better on this one than we have seen elsewhere? The dangers the gateway pipeline would pose for us are real and very disturbing; even more so considering that the federal government is clearly oblivious to the dangers and to our objections.
It is true that our lifestyles are deeply dependent on the burning of fossil fuels, but that does not mean we should have to accept absolutely anything that the producers of the product want to dump on us.
So what do I support?
I would support a full and meaningful investigation of the project, believable assurances that effective prevention would be in place to protect our environment, and a credible explanation of exactly how we are going to benefit from it.
If the pipeline is such a good idea, why can’t we have that much?
One more thing worth considering: Why the rush to extract and give away all the oil in the tarsands – right now? Will it go bad if we don’t get rid of it all as soon as possible?
Kindest regards,
Hilda Earl