Dear Editor,
While I am not free of carbon footprint hypocrisies, I do consider my decisions in this regard and feel very free to voice opposition to diluted bitumen pipelines and the hypocrisies of others, especially Justin Trudeau who said the National Energy Board’s broken process could not approve pipelines.
The pipeline ends in Burnaby (at a refinery, which can’t process this product), and so, perhaps in the thinking of Kinder Morgan are the corporation’s responsibilities, but Coastal First Nations as well as many non-indigenous folk have other things to say about it. The increased Tanker traffic is a huge concern to them, and rightly so.
Decreasing our own personal demand (carbon footprint), while worthy of thought and action, does not address the issues of oil sands expansion, increasing Canada’s raw hydrocarbon exports, increasing B.C.’s oil spill risks seven fold, or allowing overseas exports to pollute other lands, waters, or our common atmosphere.
Kinder Morgan, Notley’s Alberta and Trudeau’s Feds call this an economy, but booming mega projects such as Trans-Mountain really only fit well with corporate profits, short election cycles, and taxes, not with stable economies, national or local. Pipelines greatly affect refinery and oil sands workers in Alberta for the negative. Unifor — Alberta’s largest union — acted as an intervener against Trans-Mountain, saying it will hurt the economy and Canadian jobs.
Why import refined Venezuelan oil, while not upgrading our own bitumen? It’s a false economy based on fast track globalized profiteering for the few.
If we invested in local renewable initiatives we would provide solidity to a true economy, which extends much further into the future.
Landing the guilt for taking responsibility for this debacle, and silencing critical voice of locals who have no mass transportation infrastructure, does this issue a vast disservice, especially when not offering some solutions for carbon footprint reduction or creating any alternative projections for a different future.
Going with the flow (of oil) is not in our interest.
Rob Mercereau
Dunster, B.C.
