Today common everyday men, women and children are protesting much like during the Vietnam War. No one has been shot in Ohio yet (four were killed at Kent State University on May 4th, 1970) but hundreds have been arrested. The shootings seem likely to come; it is only a matter of time. Protests took place all this past month at the White House over the proposed pipeline from the Tar Sands in Northern Alberta to the refineries in the southern United States. They begin again in Ottawa this weekend on the 25th and 26th of September. Many more are prepared to be arrested to stand up against the construction of this southern bound pipeline.
Yesterday, September 20, approximately 225 residents of Kitimat, Terrace and the surrounding communities (some came from Prince Rupert and Smithers too) filed into the community Theatre to express their collective opposition to a different pipeline. This project, proposed by Enbridge, is to bring the same product to Douglas Channel, the shores of Kitimat for tankers bound for China. Although this forum gathering was billed as an information session, and lots of information was shared, it concluded with a stern rebuke of the entire proposal.
The first hour was devoted to presentations by four panelists. The second hour was to be a question and answer session. Every question asked, without exception, was framed to express displeasure with the proposal. The Enbridge representative was asked the majority of questions and most were similar to; "What would it take to make you go away?" In fact one questioner, Haisla First Nations citizen Morris Amos, demanded bluntly "When does No mean No!" The moderator, District of Kitimat City Manager Ron Poole, initially ignored the question and attempted to move on to the next person standing at a microphone when the audience, and that next person standing at the mic demanded, "No, we want an answer to that question."
The vast majority of the population is opposed to the pipelines. The tragedy of a spill has occurred in almost every region of the North American Continent and on the shorelines, inland and seaside. The Union of BC Municipalities have supported a ban on Tankers and the pipeline. Estimates are that 80% of the BC population are opposed, yet the governments, both Provincial and Federal are pushing ahead expressing their intentions to proceed with this proposal. The question put to me by my wife last night on the drive back to Terrace was, "What does living in a democracy mean then?"
Arlo Guthrie and his friends left the City Dump, as he describes it, with tears in their eyes looking for another place to dump the garbage. They came across another pile of garbage at the bottom of a 15 foot cliff. So in their wisdom they determined, instead of making two different piles of garbage, they would throw theirs on top of an already existing pile. They went off to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat. The next morning Guthrie got a call from Officer Obie who stated he found an envelope with his name on it under that pile of garbage. A long story short (18 minutes long) he was arrested, charged and convicted. Later during a draft board hearing he was dismissed from having to go to Vietnam due to this conviction.
But the logic Guthrie and his friend used was as good then as it is today.
Many in Kitimat yesterday asked the real hard question, why ship the crude oil, the tarsands bitumen out of the Northern Alberta region. The product is extremely corrosive to the pipelines. The claim heard last night was the pipeline failure is increased by a factor of 16 when shipping this highly abrasive product compared to other products; it is contaminated with sand/silica after all. Why not refine the product right where it is dug out of the ground? Another claim made was there had previously been 75 billion dollars set aside to build refineries but for some unknown reason these funds were cancelled and the refinery concept was taken off the table.
Read the source for this information here. http://albertaventure.com/2010/04/crude-awakening/
There are many benefits to refining the raw product right at the site, near Fort McMurray. First there is the literally thousands of jobs for Canadians (12,000 permanent full time jobs) to run the facility; even more to construct it. Then there is the enhanced value of the product, the increased revenues to every level of government, including employment taxes paid by the now thousands of working Canadians. There is the reduced threat of environmental damage on land and sea. There is also the reduced environmental damage to the planet as China, the proposed recipient of the tarsands bitumen, has far worse processing standards and the world will suffer as a whole. Just like the fall out from the radiation of the reactor meltdowns and explosions in Japan, the winds carry the airborne pollutants everywhere.
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