Sunday 20 January 2013

Stop Line 9 Reversal

Here are reasons why we have to stop the reversal of Line 9 pipeline from Sarnia to Montreal.

I am not going to discuss the inevitable environmental destruction when Line 9 ruptures and spills its toxic contents into the Green Belt of Southern Ontario. I am not going to delve into the facts as to why the condition of the 40-year old pipeline will be incapable of safely transporting the more corrosive tar sands bitumen.

Here is what is the real push behind the Line 9 reversal.

The Harper government and its constituents, Big Oil companies, are in a panic. Expansion plans for tar sands development are on hold. Big Oil cannot deliver its product to its customers. TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline through the U.S.A. to Texas, while temporarily suspended by U.S. President Barack Obama, has divided citizens south of the border. It has received fierce opposition in Nabraska and other states.

Big Oil's Plan B is Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline with hopes to bring tar sands oil to tanker terminals in Kitimat, B.C., to be shipped to China. Harper and his oil men are so desparate that they have sold out to China, and given CNOOC (Chinese National Offshore Oil Company) the right to sue for damages at any level, federal, provincial or municipal, if decisions are made that damage CNOOC's expected return on investment.

The Northern Gateway pipeline will never see the light of day. Our First Nations brothers and sisters will make certain of that.

Which brings us to Plan C, to reverse the flow of Line 9 in order to move tar sands oil as diluted bitumen (dilbit) from Alberta through Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ontario, Quebec, Vermont, New Hamshire, to Portland, Maine.

Why is the Harper goverment and Big Oil so desparate and in such a hurry to sell tar sands oil?

Because of global warming and climate change.

The rest of the world, particularly European countries, are able to see the potential devastation caused by escalating carbon emissions. European countries are light years ahead of U.S.A. and Canada "we'll do what big brother does" in developing renewable energy. The Alberta tar sands deposits are the second largest deposits of carbon on the planet, next to the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. If the carbon from the Alberta tar sands were to be released, it would be game over for humanity. European nations know this. The rest of the world knows this. It is only a matter of time when the global community boycotts Canada for its role in poisoning the global atmosphere.

Here is the ultimate irony. Harper and Big Oil needs to get tar sands bitumen out of the Alberta fast because of global warming and climate change. It is only a matter of time when the global community suffers irreversibly from the release of too much carbon into the atmosphere. And time is running out!

The tar sands is cash in the ground as Harper and Big Oil see it. Liquidating the tar sands is not about the well-being of Canadians or protection of the environment. It is about Big Oil stuffing their pockets with money. Harper and Big Oil is desperate and determined to cash in on this bounty before the door closes.

This is not just about pipelines. This is about tar sands.

This is a Call for Action!

Hamilton Line 9
Council of Canadians
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=17878
Council of Canadians Line 9 blog
Stop Line 9 - Toronto
Environmental Defence
The dilbit disaster in Kalamazoo
http://rabble.ca/news/2012/09/enbridge-line-9-other-other-pipeline
http://rabble.ca/news/2012/11/toronto-conference-lays-basis-mass-challenge-tar-sands-pipeline
http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/line-9-shipping-tar-sands-crude-east


Hamilton 350 Blog