Tuesday, December 11, 2018

577,The Unluckiest Number,Ten years out......The British Columbia Diluted Bitumen pipeline disaster



(I wrote this story in 2010....I wrote it in response to the proposed Enbridge northern gateway pipeline.....nothing has changed, big oil will never go away, the fight to save B.C. goes on...is no world Eden safe, can't we as a species strive to save what little clean environment that's left...Kinder Morgan is not our friend...however, KM is not our worst enemy..it's Trudeau, Notley and PostMedia's entire corporate newspaper chain..add in CKNW which is wholly owned by corporate propaganda central Global B.C.....we're alone on this one people...Horgan won't stop Kinder Morgan, nor will anyone help us....It will be the people of BC that stop Kinder Morgan...there will be political casualties..namely Trudeau and Notley(although Notley is already gone).....this story, change location, Island names and....this disaster is in the gulf Islands..

The Kinder Morgan Pipeline Disaster, Ten Years Out.......Grant G..April/17th....2018...)





Written by Grant G
                                    Number 577, The Unluckiest Number


The 10 year anniversary next month of the Bengal Lion Star tragedy and I had to come to ground zero to see for myself, perhaps it was a mistake to come here, from what I have seen i`m way too angry to cry and too sad for fury, in fact I almost have that peaceful easy feeling.

How I miss my dad`s analytical explanation and mom`s hope springs eternal talks, yet I fear that neither parent could explain away this tragedy, 10 years later, 10 years of black death extending it`s reach.


Looking around by boat off Banks island, one mile from ground zero the feeling is of the surreal, trees are still green but any ocean life or bird activity is eerily quiet, no salmon fry swimming , no squawking gulls just silence, for tens of miles in every direction the great kelp forests are gone, who gave us permission to gamble and lose what we didn`t own and what we could never replace, sacrificing little Fish lake was a horrid environmental mistake, imagine deliberately destroying a huge natural watershed for trinkets of gold, thousands of migrating birds executed for the mere sin of just landing, how many species of frogs or insects still get near or in the lake only to perish or leave half dead, what insanity compels man to convert clear clean water into a poisonous tailing lake devoid of life, but as horrible as the deliberate execution of little Fish lake, the scale of the Bengal Lion Star oil spill off Banks island in Hecate Strait is beyond compare, how is it that my only terms of reference in attempting to describe the aftermath is that of dead zones, in a way its very peaceful, no eternal battle for life here, those days are long gone.



Only if I could turn back the clock, why did it happen, the Bengal Lion Star should not have went out, a deep pacific low moving in, was the Captain pressured to leave, why why why, even with two large commercial tug boats assisting wasn`t going to stop the wreck, maybe if there were extra support tugs who knows but when lead tug boat Kitimat queen capsized in heavy seas nothing was going to stop the massive oil carrier from grounding on White jagged rocks that stormy (March 14, 2017) night, 30 to 40 foot high waves capped with fury pounded the Bengal Lion Star on unforgiving rocks, section after section burst like watermelons, spewing millions of gallons of tar sand oil, the 3rd largest oil spill in the world, maybe if the oil containment teams had gotten out here sooner but with storm force winds blowing for 2 days along with extreme high and low tides, my god, oil sprayed the shore line high on exposed rocks and layered thick into the lowest tidal zones, mountains of Alberta bitumen flowing in deep water, who could imagine the oil and heavy sheen would have spread 50 miles in different directions over 2 days, coves, bays, narrow channels coated in black death,  as far as I can look in any direction this paradise is dead, who knows what the bird count will ultimately be, millions of direct bird deaths with millions more that died in subsequent migrations, birds all along the coast found dead, birds with clear signs of contact with heavy oil, the natural engine in this migration route blasted with Alberta crude, indeed, the scale of the Bengal Lion Star oil spill can`t be measured in millions of oiled birds or the 40 distinct salmon runs that were decimated and or all of British Columbia`s wild salmon teetering on extinction, the sea lions, otters, coastal bears, eagles, ferrets, no salmon spawning led one extinction into another, we broke nature`s bond, too many dead for one`s heart to count, oil stained carcasses feed other animals that ultimately die too, black oil`s death-grip reaches on and on, only with time, generational time, perhaps millenia before this area recovers, can it recover, and for what, to spill another tanker of crude.

I don`t what is harder to take, the fragile existence of a few northern runs of salmon and southern Sockeye, it`s almost like the cycle of life has been thrown out, this large swath of nature, thousands of square miles destroyed forever, well at least for my lifetime, perhaps 6 or 7 generations before this area will become fertile again but with continued oil tanker traffic when will black death strike again, even if the shell fish recover, even if herring spawns again, the  Orca will never be seen again, the birthing females were first to die then the small adolescent Orca perished, 2 adult males are all that is left of the species, maybe mankind should have figured out how to start a new Orca pod before destroying the only one we had, unique species and west coast wildlife gone, in a blink, for all time, gone, why didn`t we learn from the Valdez disaster, there is no going back, First Nations have mourned, the northern and island tourism industries decimated, maybe I should have fought harder against the National review 15 years ago, 10 years out from this disaster and Hecate Strait still lay mortally wounded, you can still smell crude oil, I can only think of Charlton Heston`s Planet of the Apes movie when he sees New York`s Statue of Liberty and realizes that it was mankind itself that burned mother nature, this area is no longer worth fighting for, top scientists are mostly in agreement that outside of decades of time there is nothing on scale that can be done to remediate the damage.

It appears the only ones left fighting about the Bengal Lion Star are the litigants, where have we seen this picture before, the Exxon Valdez law suit still lingers unpaid(40 years later), the Liberian registered Bengal Lion Star oil tanker had but minimum insurance, $200 million dollars yet the insurance has been contested,  Bengal Lion Star hadn`t paid premiums in 2 years, Honshu commercial carrier insurance company have claimed bankruptcy, between the Province and Ottawa more than $14.9 billion has been spent on clean-up and species mitigation, First Nations, affected business`s and local town`s folk have law suits filed worth more than $15 billion dollars, everyone suing and litigating for compensation on something no one can return, Enbridge pipeline inc washes their hands of any responsibility, Shell, Exxon Mobile and the Chinese petroleum company are all pointing fingers at each other, owners of the Bengal Lion Star blame the escort tug company, tug company blames act of god and file for bankruptcy, how long will these trials go on and who will ultimately pay, what price, what price to return nature to the way it was, all this pain to secure dirty Alberta crude oil to China, oil use falls for the last 7 years, a dying product needing desperate tyrants, we sold out nature on British Columbia`s wild west coast for a handful of pesos, how can ancient dregs of plants take so much away from present and future life cycles, I can`t shed tears anymore, my life, my personal battles, millions of wasted words warning of potential harm or should I say risk management, I `m too old to repeat the warnings and too tired to muster passion, the battle for Haida Gwaii is over.

Even the First Nation`s blockade attempting to stop the very first oil tanker, 8 First Nations elders gave their life that day, not near enough pressure to stop that massive Vessel, oil tanker Shell diamond and its Canadian naval escort, dugout canoe versus high-speed frigate, symbolic but futile, the time to stop Enbridge was before it started, certainly native voices on opening day weren`t going to stop it, you can`t stop $5 billion dollars spent, never-the-less, January 13/2016 was the day the first super tanker left Kitimat, thousands of small protest vessels, nothing, not even Greenpeace and Suzuki foundation`s concentrated efforts could stop the Stephen Harper Federal Conservatives and the Gordon Campbell Christy Clark B.C. Liberal administration from rubber stamping this project from the git-go, proceeding at full speed behind closed doors, no matter how much evidence anti pipeline opponents, scientists, biologists and environmentalists put forward they were all but ignored, the NDP government vowed to stop the completion of Enbridge if they were elected in 2013, was the fix in, too much money invested to stop, too big to fail, needed economic growth, jobs jobs jobs, yes I heard everyone of those excuses justifying the completion of Enbridge, what jobs, imported foreign workers building the pipeline and 120 permanent after construction jobs, was it worth it.

Madness, I knew something really big would happen, not the 5000 barrels that spilt into the Skeena river, not the 50,000 barrels dumped at the port of Kitimat but something epic, mathematicians also knew it was coming, not if a big spill would happen but when a spill would happen, I can still hear Christy Clark talk about risk management, the best corporate spinners hired to say we can manage the risk, how come no one asked how do we manage armageddon, how do we clean up, how do we create more Orca, how do you bring back thousands of square miles from the dead, I wonder what Gordon Campbell would say today, Adrian Dix, the rejected NDP leader stated he regrets that the NDP didn`t do more to stop Enbridge, Gordon Campbell is long since dead, yes Stephen Harper and Gordon Muir Campbell I pass blame on to you and your complicit Cabinets, your legacy, Enbridge, bankrupt utilities, a dismal health care system, a dead central coast and slow dying life cycle, well, no one is listening to me, not the Governing federal Conservatives, not Premier Gordon Coons of the newly elected Refederation party, no, no one wants to listen to the left wing, after the BC Liberal led economic collapse, the seeds of P3s, IPPs and insider deals dominated, it didn`t matter who was Government in British Columbia, so many bad deals were signed, how many can the court overturn, the extent of the economic damage that came to fruition, what happened, like the Spanish flu in 1919 that killed millions, no one talks about the harm Gordon Campbell`s corporate Government inflicted upon us, the extent of one way contracts that ate up every Provincial dollar and more, I can`t help but think back to our 2010 Olympics, the pride, the I am Canadian attitude, Super Natural British Columbia but just a few short years after the closing ceremonies we have poisoned interior lakes, lost countless wild salmon runs to fish farms and now the third largest oil spill in the world, a death blow to our BC Coast, a massive spill in our migration engine.

Just picture heaven covered in oil, and what hurts even more, the people of BC don`t seem to care anymore, in the latest public opinion poll by Ipsos Reid job creation and big industry are more important than the environment, 67% for jobs and 16% say protect the environment, it`s times like this when I stare across at Mc Caully island or look into Norway inlet, smell the oil, I see the end of the world being played out, there is no shoulder of comfort to lean on, no soothing hugs that can squelch my silent anger, 576 successful departures from Kitimat, 576 loaded oil tankers that safely managed the inside passage, risk management, reward versus risk, despite 5 years of cruise ships not plying the inside passage, despite the loss to tourism, despite a sterile ocean desert, despite the tiniest of recoveries on the outer edges of the spill zone, despite of everything tanker traffic is predicted to triple over the next 3 years, an insatiable Asian appetite for oil and now that paradise is lost there is nothing left to fight for and no reason to stop, perhaps other Edens can be spared.

Number 577, no tears of anger no screams of silence, nothing but...

 "That peaceful easy feeling."





The Straight goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

41 comments:

Gary E said...

Exactly Grant. Absolutely no one is looking to the future. No one is taking a walk outside their mind. Campbell has forced a situation in this province whereby the poor are so dountrodden that they apparently have barely enough time to live for the day. They can't afford to think of the children. Unless it is how to put food on the table and keep them warm. And that situation is taking up all there time and money.
As for the NDP, they better start thinking outside the box. Time's a wasting.

kootcoot said...

Grant, I missed the date of this post at first and was confused - one I thought I had done a Rip Van Winkle and was even older than I thought, cuz I didn't think I was THAT young when the Exxon Valdez went aground. Then I'm wondering how did I never hear about the Bengal Lion Star, being a displaced Haida Gwaii exile.

Then I realized this was like my recent post taken from (?) the Portland Oregonian. Wonderful post, and on this day of Ressurection, dare we hope for any resurrection of values of justice, balance and respect for the world that we are all a part of, even if it seems most people have forgotten there is a real world beyond that potrayted by Canned Waste and Glow Ball!

kootcoot said...

" how long will these trials go on, who will ultimately pay, (?)"

Unfortunately, in the case of the Exxon Valdez, and other similar situations, the victims have already paid and the real criminals will never be held accountable, while they are busy counting stuff they can't eat, drink or breath!

Anonymous said...

Grant - And I also get personally upset when I read this new crap from that idiot AGT:

"I have banned three commenters (who continue to litter my inbox with absolutely insanity…must not be much to do in Powell River)"

Anonymous said...

Amazing about big Al's thought processes. He says he has banned us, but, "who continue to litter my inbox with absolutely insanity…". Hey big Al, how does that happen? I believe he is
confused more then normal. Sorta a lieberal thing Big Al?

Kam Lee

Kim said...

Your article was perfectly timed Grant, after reading about the great barrier reef and the unfolding disaster there. I hope it wakes people up to the intrinsic value of Haida Gwaii!

Anonymous said...

http://www.news1130.com/news/national/article/45110--exxon-oil-showing-up-in-alaskan-wildlife-20-years-after-spill-research-shows

Hugh said...

Note that the private members bill is non-binding.

Anonymous said...

How about reducing the price of gasoline locally so we won't be dependent on the Asian demand for our product, and won't need their dollars to afford that which we are lucky enough to own?

priscilla judd said...

Hi there,
I read your well informed posts - I see you know about the people in politics. Could you read my prison posts - it might take a while - there is something fishy there - If you can help figure out why Lumby's Mayor wants a prison... It's very wierd - fishy not nice fishy but sort of infected fishy
(only if you have time) I think it might be a liberal problem - but why would a Mayor suddenly want a prison?
thank you muchly
http://Priscillajudd.ca/theXpress

Anonymous said...

I think Gary E said it best when he inferred, 'Campbell has forced a situation in this province whereby the poor are so downtrodden that they have barely enough time in their lives to live by the letter of the law.' Or words to that effect.

Anonymous said...

The ongoing legacy of Campbell and his minions.

The horror, the horror.

Anonymous said...

I am saddened to hear that you assume that EVERYONE has given up. That is so not true. Time will fix this. At least 'till we run out of time. Progressives will always carry the message.
Now on to something real important... . Alex who?

Anonymous said...

It always puzzles me how true CONS seem to value their family so much. Their kids are everything to them, however they don't seem to give a crap about the future that they are willing to hand to them. Living in a dead environment will be hell on them, but hey, at least they have lots of money to worry about not losing on the stock market so it's all good.

People are so removed from reality I really have a hard time believing things will get better.

Anonymous said...

Harper has grandiose ideas to be, the energy giant of the world. He desperately wants that power and glory.

Harper and Campbell worked behind the citizens backs. The back door was left open for, the expansion of Prosperity Mine. The expansion could be reapplied for.

Harper and Campbell had worked for quite some time, on the Enbridge pipeline and the dirty tankers from China. Their intention was to, force this on the BC people and province.

They had also worked on, oil and gas wells to be drilled off the coast of BC.

They are fracking for gas. The amount of water used and contaminated, is obscene. In Southern Alberta and some U.S. states, they can light their tap water on fire, because the fracking, contaminates the clean underground water, for absolute miles.

I am so totally against, the Enbridge and the dirty oil tankers, coming into the Port of Kitimat. There is an abundance of our beautiful Orca and Humpback Whales, with hundreds of other marine life species in that channel.

I have read many times over, of the treacherous seas, 100 km winds, extremely high waves. That the channel is narrow, and the tankers from China are massive. The First Nations People, also rely on the sea for food.

The other atrocity is, they now want to log the Rain Forests, the home of the Spirit Bears and the unique small wolves. The logging will destroy salmon runs. Bears, eagles, wolves and hundreds of other wildlife depend on the salmon for food.

The first Nations People need the salmon to feed their family's. The dirty diseased fish farms, have taken enough of a toll on the wild salmon.

I feel we will never get rid of the curse of Harper, and the curse of the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals.

oceantor said...

Supertankers are more than 300 meters in length, (almost a quarter of a mile). They are as long as the world's tallest buildings are high.
They're also half a football field wide. And draw over 66 feet of water.
The huge size of these ships,however does not make them immune from accidents. Large storms and human error have caused many sinkings and spills.
Supertankers are too big to enter most ports.
A crash stop maneuver (from 'full ahead' to 'full reverse') can stop a fully loaded supertanker within approximately three kilometres, which takes about 14 minutes.
The turning diameter is almost two kilometres.
When the ship has reached port and is near the wharf, giant ocean-going tug boats come and pull and push it until it is tied up.
Strong as they are, however, these tugboats cannot move a fully loaded supertanker in rough weather, as they can other ships.

Don F. said...

Grant,
The magnificent orca with intelligence equal to us in their environmennt, yet I have never seen or witnessed one of them on entertainment tonight complaining about a lyposuction or botox treatment gone awry.
We are sunk!
Don

Anonymous said...

Holy Moses oceanter.

I knew the Chinese tankers were said to be massive, but I didn't know exactly how huge. Thanks for your input of knowledge.

The Valdez spill of over 21 years ago, would just be a drop in the bucket, compared to the Chinese monster tanker spill.

Don't give up Grant. I know you have had enough terrible grief in this last year alone, for ten peoples grief. Thing is, we rely on you so much, to dig away and find the truth for us. I wouldn't even know where, nor how to start looking.

Go to the s.p.c.a. and get some kittens, they desperately need good homes. My cat passed away. I vowed, no more pets. I was talked into just, "fostering" a kitten, from the s.p.c.a. who only had one more day to live. I still am fostering her, after 15 years. She has a good home, and I have had a wonderful companion, that is, most of the time. I am often woke in the night, by a noise like an elephants low rumble. There is a wet nose right by my ear, and the rumblings are purrs.

Anonymous said...

I just did a google news search for this story and found nothing. Is it just me or can anyone else find any stories?

Grant G said...

577 the unluckiet number.... That was the original name of this story,
the rest was added later.


Cheers

Anonymous said...

Grant, this continues to be one of your best. Anon in Mission

Anonymous said...

I am so pissed off with thetyee I could puke. They have banned me four times in the last four days, meanwhile cutting relevant parts of my comments and labeling 'sexist' or 'racist' other parts if not deleting them completely. Course nobody can see the comments anymore so I am banned and can't defend myself. What they really don't like is that I make fun of them as a quasi-alternative site with no interest whatsoever in giving the government back to the people who live here. That whole censorship deal with choosing 'best' comments and 'all' comments for their editorial agenda, then they delete or censor comments they don't like and ban people who don't share their bullshit view of this province. Pretty 'clubby' in my opinion - just like in high school where you had to smoke dope or hate hippies to be 'in' with certain groups. Well, I don't smoke dope and i don't hate hippies so where does that leave me? On thetyee, it leaves me banned for having my own opinion.
Hope you understand that the above is a metaphor or an analogy or something - I'm not actually talking about smoking dope or hating hippies. I'm talking about thetyee clinging to the status quo and kissing it like an old whore's asshole is what I'm talking about.

Anonymous said...

The article is right about catastrophe being sure to come to the coast if that pipeline goes through.
I also read in the comments on another site; think it was Rafe's CommonCanadian site, from someone who lives in Kitimat that the number of jobs after the pipeline is finished - the number of jobs in Kitimat when all is said and done - is about 50. Golly, 50 whole jobs! My guess though, is this pipeline will never get off the drawing board, though they keep trying and trying because corporations; unlike humans, never give up and never seem to care about the damage they cause.
Enbridge does have quite a few spills: http://www.onearth.org/blog/another-day-another-enbridge-oil-spill
and, according to this report from the Mennonite Church, are/were also involved in funding death squads in Columbia: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/files/programs/peace/EnbridgeInColombia.pdf&embedded=true

Kinda makes me nervous to think of them fighting protesters in Canada.

Anonymous said...

Re the post on Death Squads and Enbridge in Columbia, I advise you to be careful on what you say, or if indeed you publish the post. But it is up there on the internet so it probably isn't illegal for you to link to it. At least it is worth reading.

Grant G said...

I fear no corporation, all they can do is kill me, and as for my family, they already killed them..

Death squads, they are already here in Canada.

The Enbridge pipeline to Kitimat...

Ground zero for war, violence, revenge, after all, Enbridge executives have families too..

I can`t think of a better cause to die for, or kill for!

Good Day

Anonymous said...

Anonymous @1:17pm said:
"They are fracking for gas. The amount of water used and contaminated, is obscene."
And a lot of that water is coming from the Williston Lake/WAC Bennet dam because there really isn't that much water up here in NE BC.
http://www.ekcbm.org/node/361585
A lot of what there is lies on the surface, but go down a few feet and it is dry. There is an article in commondreams.org which predicts that people in the southwestern US could run out of water in the near future: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/05-0
So it seems fairly short sighted to be giving our water away to oil companies for use in fracking which further degrades the water table wherever it is used and makes that water undrinkable. It's not the water they use, it's the toxic chemicals (like diesel) they add for better results. Which leads me to wonder if the oil companies who get the rights to it will pull an Alcan and sell our most valuable resource to America while cutting us completely out of the loop.

Have to agree with Gary E, who said: "Campbell has forced a situation in this province whereby the poor are so downtrodden that they apparently have barely enough time to live for the day." Making a compliant work force ripe for the picking. And if that isn't enough, bring in Chinese companies who bring their own workers with them to keep wages low, buy the equipment they need here and use Chinese operators to cut the locals right out of the loop. Bust BC unions and sell your province's assets for nickels on the dollar (campaign contributions to the liberal party). Yep, Campbell (and now Clark; who was an integral part of his government before she left in fear of legal repercussions re the Great BC Railroad Robbery) is the worst thing which ever happened to BC. Our system of democracy doesn't work for the people who live here, and it was never designed to work for us. Instead of voting for politicians to represent us; with their inherently corruptible human nature and the fact that politics attracts the very best liars along with the idealists who are also sometimes susceptible to monetary persuasion, is the same as voting for a system which is practically guaranteed to make our lives more miserable as we are exploited. It doesn't make sense. The only vote I really want is a vote on whether Enbridge can push their pipeline through. On whether or not open net fish farms should be allowed in BC waters. On whether or not BC hydro has to buy ludicrously over priced power from (largely American) private power companies. In short, the only vote I am interested in is a vote on the issues - right on the ballot. My 'representative' should be bound by law to follow the will of the majority. You might say we are too stupid, but look at the mess we are in with current system (not just here but all over the world) and ask yourself who has benefited (the rich corporations) and who has been left on the sidelines eating whatever leftovers they are served? Us. The working people who live here. If you are lucky and your job wasn't exported to China.

'You'll hear the smart man, tell the dumb man,
How we're gonna do it, when we do it next time.
But you'll get no, second helpings,
if you keep standing, in line.
No you'll get no second helpings,
Not on this breadline'
(Butterfield played it very well, don't know who wrote the lyrics)

kootcoot said...

Anon above who is ".... so pissed off with thetyee I could puke.", welcome to the real world of sanity. I read the odd stuff there (Niforuk, Rafe, BillT and some others and even persuse their comment boards sometimes, when there isn't a suitable comedy on TeeVee. Other than that I just thank the day that Mr. Malt and Hops banned me, without even telling me - I found out after I hadn't bothered to login there for awhile and found that I couldn't.

I must confess, I detest a phony "free press" that poses as "progressive" while subtly undercutting progressive commentary and giving unwholesome support to the idiot trolls who thrive there like the phoney Luke or Realistic CrapMan. I find them more insidious than the National Post or Faux News, who at least don't pretend they aren't corporate and right wing nut shills who believe anyone to the left of Mussolini is a commie or too lazy to be rich.

This is why instead of removing their link from my place at the House of Infamy, I merely struck it out, and left it as a link to my comment by the taskbar explaining why. I considered linking their link to some child porn or something, but I don't know where that would be and thought that might be a little much.

I've done some statistical analysis of some of their comment threads where Beers and his crew allowed some idiot to dominate the thread with bullshit while cutting off everyone making sense for the most ridiculous reasons but haven't gotten around to writing up and publishing a post about it yet, someday.........

I consider the Tyee more of a threat to progressive values than I do SunNews/FoxNorth!

And to the last commenter, Butterfield played EVERYTHING he played very well, I feel fortunate to have seen the original band with both Bloomfield and Bishop playing guitar, numerous times, getting turned onto them the very first time they played the west coast in Huntington Beach around 65/66! Elvin Bishop, Bloomfield and Harvey Mandel (w/Charlie Musselwhite in the sixties) were my three fav Chicago guitar slingers of the caucasian persuasion............

Grant G said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Very creative scaremongering ... perhaps equally as thoughtless as the FedCons "foreign interference" commentary. Does no one believe in due process? Does no one believe there are not a couple of dozen Elmer Derricks out there, just waiting until "The Price is Right?"

Does everyone commenting truly believe that millions will be spent on a red herring process that already has "instructions" from the government to give a slam dunk approval to Enbridge? Does everyone believe all of the integrity in this situation is owned by the First Nations and the environmentalists and Hollywood celebrities who fly in to events on their corporate jets -- just as the Wall street leadership flew to Washington to talk about bail-outs?

In general I am in favor of the flavor of "keeping 'em honest!" represented by the Tyee.

When I read the Tyee, I know to expect a familiar bias. When I read the comments following, I know to expect a radical, screaming element which is adverse to anything progressive. Usually they live in Vancouver or Toronto,or in expensive homes on the Gulf Islands and live a nice Greta Garbo existence. They want to be "left alone" at the same time as they express no interest in anyone looking for work in the north.

While I have attended the opening NEB JRC hearings in Kitimat, and commend the Haisla for both their hospitality and efforts at walking the line, I have little doubt that the majority of 4000 intervenors will be opposed to an Enbridge pipeline. I do not expect it to get final approval, but I diagree that oil is buying time to buy better friends.

Grant G said...

"Scaremongering"...Not at all, fact, a oil spill disaster is inevitable, Enbridge states as much in their data.


Would you like to be the one who killed off the Orca?..We have no right.


Canada still imports 52% of its own domestic oil, from Saudi Arabia of all places, run your pipeline east, good luck with Quebec!

Thanks for commenting on the creativity, actually, it was a vision.


Good Day

Anonymous said...

Pipeline Disaster, ridiculous!

"As my brief history of oil pipeline spills in Alberta from 1970 to 2005 demonstrated, the problem of pipeline ruptures is endemic to the industry. Now with over 399,000 kilometres of pipelines under the authority of the province’s [Alberta] Energy Resources Conservation Board, industry specialists and regulators not only know that this system has never been free from oil spills, but that a spill-free system is an impossible goal. The recent history of pipeline ruptures in Alberta since 2006 further underlines these realities."

From 'The History of Oil Pipeline Spills in Alberta, 2006-2012' by Sean Kheraj, PhD found here:

http://www.seankheraj.com/?p=1257#comment-53049

Also by Sean: 'Alberta’s Oil Spill History' found here:

http://www.seankheraj.com/?p=1050

A must read for British Columbians who are planning on speaking against Enbridge's Northern Gateway (Chinese) Pipeline.

Pipeline disaster a fact of history!

Anonymous said...

Nice to see "Rich" Coleman flapping his gob in Alberta last night. Please remember, Rich, you represent B.C., not Alberta, and certainly NOT big oil. You clowns screwed up the B.C. economy and now you bandits are desperate to fix the debtload with revenue from dirty, poisonous oil sands.
Unless you can find some magic pixie dust in your bag of dirty tricks, you and your party will be wiped out in 4 months.

But Mr. Coleman, it's not that voters HERE hate corruption, It's just that we love the beauty of THIS province. All the money in the world cannot fix the destruction from just one spill. Remember, sir, that one must live within your means. Your party did not.

Hugh said...

http://www.sqwalk.com/q/bc-lng-exports-take-step-forward-transcanada-announcement

Oldstyle said...

Did BIG OIL Assasinate JFK?

Kennedy had plans to have the government invest in tidal energy projects. The thought/discussion was for the Passamaquoddy Bay in northern Maine. (Bay of Fundy)

Here the tides rise and fall 18 to 26 feet and the Atlantic Ocean pushes more than 70 billion cubic ft of water into two bays in northern Maine. It would require an international investment between USA and Canada.

France creates tidal energy at Rance River estuary to the tune of 240 megawatts. It has been in operation since the mid 1960's.

The 'Quoddy' project would produce 4 times the Rance River project and would supply all of the New England States

It is politics that get in the way and the influence of big oil and nuclear energy that stand against tidal energy.

France is not alone as Russia completed a similar project on the White Sea in 1969. Others are being considered today.

http://www.gcktechnology.com/GCK/Images/ms0032%20final.pdf

My Point:
Instead of using the oceans to ship dirty oil why not use the ocean to do away with oil, or our dependence on oil.

Anonymous said...

@KootKoot two years later: Yeah Butterfield did play everything extremely well. Mastered the notes of all who came before and just did it better. Everybody who hears him even today just stops to listen. He was that good. They stop for a moment, listen to what the music is and can't stop lisenining. On today's topic, here is a study by the SFU on why we shouldn't vote for a Liberal government which wishes to destroy our coastline:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Enbridge+underestimating+spill+risk+Northern+Gateway/8328200/story.html

Anonymous said...


Across the way - April 12 2014

An oil pipe leak is being blamed for excessive levels of the toxic chemical benzene in the tap water of one of China's key northern cities.

The official Xinhua News Agency said on Saturday a crude oil pipeline run by the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. had a leak that tainted the source water feeding a local water plant in the northwestern city of Lanzhou.

Xinhua says the leak has affected 2.4 million people.

The city of Lanzhou says it has been monitoring levels of benzene in its water pipes to ensure public safety.

The incident could raise concerns on the maintenance of China's oil pipes.

Last year, a ruptured oil pipeline resulted in explosions in the eastern city of Qingdao, killing 47.

HOWLLLLLLLL said...

who is paying for the initial pipelines and infrastructure to be built.

Anonymous said...

All very well to talk about fake oil disasters but the Sanchi went down in actual fact just two months ago, what China talked about as maybe the biggest environmental disaster of all time.
We still sitting here shitting with our useless paradigm of government in which we have actually no vote and and no rights.
You want to change anything Grant? Campaign to change our way of 'democracy' from a two bit lottery ticket every four years to the right to vote on important issues whenever they come up.
We haven't even come out of the stone age as far as democracy is concerned and some might even argue that we are way further behind Hoodoo Voodoo witch doctors who at least have the interests of their people in mind. Get real.

Anonymous said...

At least you allow anonymous comments here.
All this shit on thetyee.ca where you are only allowed comment if you log in under Google or Facebook or the other two major comment deniers is straight up denial of public opinion.
It is exactly like we are living in a jail not of our own making in which every letter we send out or receive is monitored by the wardens and released or denied according to their own best interests.
Big fuckin fish tank of controlled public opinion.

Unknown said...

Sorry Grant, looks like you got taken over. Sincerest apologies, hope you didn't actually get deqraded in the mix, because I always liked you.
If you were still alive you would no doubt be fighting Kinder Morgan hand and fist, which is why I don't necessarily believe you are even alive. Which kinda makes it more difficult;t for the rest of us. RIP Grant.

John's aghast said...

Grant: I wonder if you could do the same sort of story on a post Site C collapse.
A great slab of soft clay slides into the Peace River upstream of the dam, creating an enormous tsunami which takes out the dam and all inhabitants downstream. Post collapse they're still discovering bodies downstream.......etc. You know how it goes. Just a thought.