IT'S Easter - traditionally a time for joyful hosanas.
But even as an encouraging seismic shift is underway in the Roman Church that for 1,500 years has been the dominant cultural force in Western civilization, ironically in B.C. there's trepidation in the air. Elections will do this. Polls indicate a possible seismic shift of our own on May 15, yet fundamental issues still need clarifying.
In North Vancouver is there anything more in need of illumination than where our political figures stand on the massive Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline proposed to run along Burrard Inlet? With Ottawa's announcement last week of its oil-tanker spill recovery plan, we're intended to feel better about shipping Alberta bitumen through our front-yard. But after the recent federal closure of the local Canadian Coast Guard station and marine communications centres, it's hard to see the plan as more than damage-control optics by Stephen Harper's Tories.
Even timely spill-recovery operations capture only 10 per cent of major oil leakages. Burrard Inlet-bound tankers haul 600,000 barrels of bitumen, three times more than the infamous Exxon Valdez spill. The proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline would see new generation supertankers hauling up to two million barrels. There's the worry. Disasters happen. We've already witnessed a B.C. Ferry catastrophe off Hartley Bay up north.
Sadly, there's a conversational disconnect between the federal government, which acts increasingly paranoid about pipeline proposals and members of the environmental movement who sound dogmatic. Isn't there any middle-ground?
Are there no possible ugly compromise deals out there? Not one new idea from the battalions of federal mandarins, eco-theorists and blue-collar workers from the tar-sands and support industries involved in this issue?
The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain line follows an existing right-of-way through the Rockies to the Burnaby side of Burrard Inlet. This costs less to triple the outflow. We're told that because there hasn't been a major accident in 50 years, the future will be OK. But respected oil industry analyst Andrew Nikiforuk reports that the National Energy Board ordered Kinder Morgan to reduce pressure on the 60-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline after a leak appeared on a pipe that failed to operate properly after a pump station expansion in 2005. Locally, Kinder Morgan had a serious leak and an oil tanker spill near Burnaby in 2007 and 2009.
Greenpeace International co-founder Rex Weyler observes that it's the global hydrocarbon economy that's baking our planet. The freak weather disasters becoming more common are symptomatic of the climate change crisis. "Junk crude" oil project negatives are outweighing the positives. That's why the New York Times just nixed support for the Alberta-Texas Keystone pipeline proposal.
Yet exploiting Alberta's tar-sands keeps Canada from joining the likes of Greece and Spain. Who doesn't have a friend or know of someone heading north to work the oil patch? At a wedding this past week, I got another look at the changing face of Fort McMurray. A planeload of folks flew to balmy Vancouver the way that North Shore locals head for Maui. An ethnic East Asian plumber tied the knot with a Latin American schoolteacher. The East Indian Christian preacher hailed from Australia. Best man, Chinese. The reception guests looked like a U.N. delegation demonstrating good citizenship: every colour, creed, in tuxedos, saris, hanboks, Lululemon. It was the most cheerful, democratic Canadian gathering I've seen in ages. Not a whiff of official multiculture funding: just hard-working folks celebrating together.
That's the new face of Canada's northern gateway. They're simply after a piece of the dream that we Lower Mainlanders take as a right. Yet indirectly they're
demonized in the eco-debate, even as we urbanites live relatively guilt-free by off-loading our dirtier production problems on the developing world, notably China.
We're shaped by the environment we live in. That's what makes a healthy ecology worth fighting for. The language in the pipeline debate is growing desperate. However, it's the greed of chasing profits without the will to make necessary sacrifices that's compromising the environment for us all. We need some new ideas about harvesting and transporting Alberta's oil. As the ancestors of the future we have a responsibility to get this right.
A canvas of local political views shows that we're thinking about it, but cautiously. Andrew Saxton, North Vancouver's Conservative MP says "Pipeline proposals are subject to rigorous, open, science-based reviews and projects will not proceed unless they can demonstrate to be safe and responsible. I do have some concerns about the increased tanker traffic that would result from an expansion of the current pipeline, however, it is difficult for me to draw conclusions on a proposal before an application has been made and a review has even begun."
That review of Kinder Morgan's proposal begins soon. Jim Hanson, B.C. NDP candidate in North Vancouver-Seymour and a lawyer who has represented survivors of the B.C. Ferry tragedy says, "With a B.C. NDP government, in the first week legislation will be brought in to ensure the review of the Kinder Morgan proposal takes place at a provincial level, not with a federal agency." There's an idea! Securing rapid action like this would probably require an Order-in-Council.
Jane Thornthwaite, Seymour's incumbent B.C. Liberal MLA responds that B.C. getting a fair share of economic benefit is still essential "so that if there's a catastrophe, taxpayers aren't on the hook." She reminds that neither the province's NDP nor Liberals have formally announced positions for or against the Kinder Morgan proposal, so "we don't have a judgment on it yet." She clarifies that three of the B.C. Liberals' five criteria for heavy-oil pipeline construction relate to the environment.
In North Vancouver-Lonsdale, longtime city councillor Craig Keating is the candidate for the B.C. NDP. He teaches environmental history and notes accurately how "we have energy policy in Canada that develops in isolation from environmental policy about climate change. In broad terms, the B.C. NDP recognizes that carbon-based fuels are going to be part of the future. But because it is the law, we need to find offsets for that in the rest of the economy." Because this would likely focus on urban areas, we need to learn more about this.
Current Lonsdale MLA Naomi Yamamoto echoes Thornthwaite reflecting that while she is not opposed to such construction, "All pipeline projects in B.C. must be subjected to the rigorous review of an impartial environmental assessment process. The careful consideration of the project will ensure that the Kinder Morgan project meets the same five conditions that B.C. has established for any heavy-oil pipeline." She expresses confidence in "the integrity and fairness of the evidence-based environmental assessment process."
Meanwhile, it's spring. Birds are pairing up; squirrels are chasing each other through the trees. Let's enjoy the season, get the election out of the way, and start properly addressing the critical pipeline issue.
We can all agree that a much-needed North Shore public forum would be a constructive start.
