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Northern Gateway opponent questions company's facts

Enbridge proposal receives heavy criticism from Terrace, BC writer

Dear Sir:

With all the experts Enbridge has working for the company, it is absolutely appalling to hear the half-truths that continually emanate from their professional ranks.

As Janet Holder, Exec. V.P. Western Access, has recently notified us in her newest advertisement “In the spirit of honesty” that “oil tankers have docked at Kitimat for a quarter century.”

Methanol, natural gas condensate and liquid pitch tanker traffic (1/3 or less the size of a VLCC oil tanker) have used the port.

Comparatively tiny coastal tankers carried heating oil for Kitimat homes from the 50s to the 70s.

But let's be truthful, VLCC oil tankers have never docked in Kitimat. Why would they. It's not an oil port.

There were no LNG tankers at the time either. And since crude oil, especially diluted bitumen is one of the nastiest, most persistent spills to experience; well, that is the issue here, Janet!

If you follow the National Energy Board Joint Review Panel hearings, you will have heard months of deficiency after deficiency being pointed out by the intervenors re: the Enbridge proposal.

Enbridge witnesses, huddling together to prepare a sanitized story, omitting facts, answering very few questions directly can only leave you with one conclusion: Stay far away from any business with this company. Getting the facts is like trying to nail jello to a wall.

Only two weeks before the horrible and still unfinished cleanup on the Kalamazoo River, Enbridge submitted a report stating Line 6B was in good shape, knowing the line was in need of repair. Trustworthy people?

They use roto tillers to scour the bitumen that has settled to the riverbed. How can booms work in our fast moving rivers? How will our fish bearing rivers/streams survive the invasiveness of roto tillers?

They have containment booms for ocean spills too. The only trouble is they don't work in currents over a couple knots along with moderate ocean waves.

Statistics tell us that most spills will occur at the terminal. Their response to a sizable spill that reaches the Kitimat estuary would be to set it on fire! How many different forms of life are created in our estuary or our river?

Three retired sea captains, at least one of whom was qualified to be captain of any ship on the sea and spent a lot of time in the north, including Douglas Channel, have all told us this project is insane. Being retired and not collecting a paycheck from the oil industry makes their opinions highly valid.

Jody Williams, one of 5 Nobel Prize laureates, all of whom recently came to this area to hear the stories of women opposing the Enbridge proposal had this to say, “The only thing that really matters in life is action.”

For our future generations please unite to defend all life. It's precious. And that's the truth.

Mary Ann Shannon, Terrace, B.C.