Enbridge Northern Gateway Project

[Static]

How about re-routing the pipeline to Stewart? Or Bella Coola? or Wrangell, Alaska?

Exactly. It is going to happen one way or another. (No pun intended :dyinglaughing: )

Disclosure: I am an Enbridge shareholder :discodance:

And therein lies the problem: Individuals with a financial interest don't care what locals have to say, they only seem to care about what is profitable for them. Shareholders don't have to live where the issues are.

The issues at hand are all "what-ifs". You too can become a shareholder.

[Sneaksuit]

Thursday, February 16, 2012 by Will Horter

Harper's Big Bad Wolf Tactics No Fairy Tale

My daughter loves fairy tales, particularly the Three Little Pigs. You know how it goes: the Big, Bad Wolf huffs and puffs and threatens to blow down the houses of various pigs.

Strangely, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s plans for West Coast oil tanker and pipeline projects to serve Chinese interests are starting to resemble my daughter’s favourite nighttime fables. Headlines screaming, “Canada PM vows to ensure key oil pipeline is built” look like lots of huffing, and way too much puffing with the Prime Minster looking more like a Big Bad Wolf than the public servant sworn to protect the interests of all Canadians, not the interests of state-owned Chinese oil companies.

Unfortunately for Harper and his Alberta oil buddies, widespread opposition to crude oil supertankers from the public, municipalities and First Nations creates a brick wall no amount of huffing and puffing can tumble. The simple fact is the vast majority of British Columbians oppose oil supertankers and there is no way to ship oilsands crude to China without bringing Exxon Valdez-sized oil tankers to B.C.’s inside coastal waters. Attempts to force British Columbians to accept supertanker projects will be met with stiff resistance — in the courts, in the streets and ultimately at the polls.

Harper’s claims about the supposed benefits of West Coast pipelines and oil tankers increasingly appear to be made of straw and sticks, rather than hard facts. Economist and former Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) CEO Robyn Allan has come out against Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline and oil tanker proposal saying that, “the higher price Canadian oil is expected to command if the pipeline is built will have negative consequences … in the form of an inflationary price shock, which will have a negative and prolonged impact on the Canadian economy by reducing output, employment, labour income and government revenues.”

Fortunately, no amount of huffing and puffing can overcome the brick wall we are building against this project.
A recent University of Ottawa study also blows holes in Harper’s national interest straw man. The study found the rapid expansion of Canadian oil exports has already resulted in a hollowing out of Canada’s manufacturing sector, due to the increase in the Canadian dollar as it tracks the price of oil. This dynamic —sometimes referred to as “Dutch Disease” — was responsible for 42 per cent of currency-related job losses in Canada between 2002 and 2007. That works out to about 140,000 jobs lost in the manufacturing sector because of the rapid expansion of the oilsands — and the disease would be exacerbated by Harper’s much touted pipelines.

Harper’s Big Bad Wolf persona is also visible in his attempts to demonize Dogwood Initiative and other community and environmental groups (as well as First Nations) that are opposing West Coast oil tanker and pipeline proposals. Harper’s efforts to distract attention from his bully tactics with labels like “radical” are reminiscent of the wolf’s attempts to entice Little Red Riding Hood by dressing up like grandma. The costume didn’t fool Little Red Riding Hood, and the wolf’s true intentions quickly became clear.

Just as the fairy tale’s wolves would do just about anything to get what they wanted, Harper appears willing to go to any length to fight for the interests of oil companies. Democracy, indigenous rights, fair and independent processes and British Columbians’ wishes all seem expendable in Harper’s quest to expand oilsands production.

Fortunately, no amount of huffing and puffing can overcome the brick wall we are building against this project. While Harper’s arrogance is understandable given he has finally achieved his yearned-for majority, he ignores history’s fables at his peril.

When you cut through all the huffing and puffing and attempted disguises, the question is becoming: Is Harper willing to try to force the risk of an oil spill onto unwilling British Columbians?

If he is, I am convinced my daughter will be reading about his defeat in the history books, not in fairy tales.

[Static]

The value of the Canadian Dollar is not tied to the price of oil, but rather all exports, in addition to the the nations trade balance and the government finances.

When exports exceed imports, more currency is being demanded by outsiders than we are sending abroad. When a government runs a surplus, they have no need to issue currency (debt). Both scenarios take money out of circulation which increases the value of a currency.

Oil has squat to do with the value of our currency. It is an important export, but there are far more goods and resources that Canada export that help impact our trade balance.

Manufacturing job losses do are not a result of the Loonie. This started long before the Loonie started increasing in value. The losses are due solely to wage competition from Asia, and the consumers love of imported goods. If the loss of these jobs truly are a concern for the CDN consumer, perhaps we should commit ourselves to purchasing CDN made goods. But, keep in mind, this will be at a large premium. So at the end of the day, blame your neighbour and yourself for the loss of manufacturing jobs. :sillygrin:

How many supertankers cross the globe annually? How often are their oil spills? The method of transports has proven that the risks of this occuring are very small.

[steven lloyd]

Disclosure: I am an Enbridge shareholder

And therein lies the problem: Individuals with a financial interest don't care what locals have to say, they only seem to care about what is profitable for them. Shareholders don't have to live where the issues are.

And therein lies the problem: individuals with a stake in the pipeline - ie. the locals who are depending on the jobs and long term economic spin-offs for these long forgotten communities (except when convenient for some "environmental" cause) - have to live where the issues are (ie. poverty, hopelessness, unemployment and underemployment). Contrary to the myths, not everyone living in the north lives in a cabin or depends on firewood for winter warmth. Furthermore, the backlash from the populations against the city councils that have had the audacity to oppose the pipeline on "their behalf" has been most telling.

[ForestfortheTrees]

Furthermore, the backlash from the populations against the city councils that have had the audacity to oppose the pipeline on "their behalf" has been most telling.

Can you clarify this please?

From the Calgary Herald in November of last year:

Terrace, Smithers and Prince Rupert, cities which fall near and around the project's intended 1,140-kilometre route, elected candidates who, for the most part, ran on platforms opposing the pipeline.

http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/iphone/news/national/story.html?id=5752002

[jm32]

Oliver, BC man gets RCMP visit days after speaking out against Northern Gateway:
http://www.chbcnews.ca/Pages/Story.aspx?id=6442596603

[steven lloyd]

Oliver, BC man gets RCMP visit days after speaking out against Northern Gateway:
http://www.chbcnews.ca/Pages/Story.aspx?id=6442596603

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=39042

[Sneaksuit]

3:1 against oil tankers off BC coast.

[jm32]

If you want to voice your disapproval of Northern Gateway, please sign the online petition:

No Enbridge tankers/pipeline in BC Great Bear Rainforest! Currently at 8566 signers:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_Enbridges_Northern_Gateway_pipeline/?whtizcb

[Sneaksuit]

Enbridge pipeline controllers in Edmonton ignored repeated leak warnings for 17 hours before shutting down a pipeline that poured 20,000 barrels of oil into the Kalamazoo River...

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/enbr ... er-spill-2

[hobbyguy]

Enbridge pipeline controllers in Edmonton ignored repeated leak warnings for 17 hours before shutting down a pipeline that poured 20,000 barrels of oil into the Kalamazoo River...

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/enbr ... er-spill-2

This just confirms my thinking that no matter how many "safety" systems you put in place, in a complex system "human error finds a way". There are just too many links in the chain, from programming glitches in computer controls to engineering errors, to poor welds, to geologic surveys, employee training, budget pressures...

The consequences of a spill in the Skeena drainage or Hecate Strait are just too mind numbing to accept the risks inherent in this proposal.

[Homeownertoo]

This just confirms my thinking that we need to shut down ALL oil and gas pipelines in North America NOW. They are all potential environmental disasters and we can't afford any of them (except the one that brings gas to Kelowna).

[NAB]

Are you referring to gas as in gasoline Homeowner? If so, that there is one running into Kelowna is new news to me so it must have been built rather recently. Where does it bring the gas from?

Nab

[masen]

The hearings are coming to Kelowna at the end of Jan. 2012. There needs to be a frank discussion on alternatives to this so that we create jobs and enough jobs so that all people can work. We all need this security and the joy that comes with it. There are other ways to power our cars and other vehicles. We need to find them and use these new energy sources to create jobs, of a different type. A good website is Peswiki, Pure Energy Science. When we speak against something we should first have an alternative so that there is a choice of what we can do. Oil will be needed for a few years until cold fusion, solid state electronics, magnetic motors, noble gas engines, etc go into production later this year.

[Homeownertoo]

Are you referring to gas as in gasoline Homeowner? If so, that there is one running into Kelowna is new news to me so it must have been built rather recently. Where does it bring the gas from?

Nab

You need to turn on your sarcasm detector.