NEB approval of Line 9 deepens the crises of Canada’s troubled tar-sands industry

Oct 17, 2015

NEB approval of Line 9 deepens the crises of Canada’s troubled tar-sands industry

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NEB approval of Line 9 deepens the crises of Canada’s troubled tar-sands industry

Toronto, October 17, 2015 – The National Energy Board’s approval of three minor hydrostatic tests  of Enbridge’s Line 9B effectively gives the company ‘leave to open’ to go ahead with the controversial reversal of flow in the aging pipeline.

Environmental activists will respond to this misguided decision by redoubling efforts to prevent transport of dangerous tar sands oil through Line 9 and other pipeline projects.

Approval of the Line 9 reversal puts the people of Toronto and everyone along the pipeline route in double jeopardy -- from the risks of explosions and spills associated with transporting tar sands oil and other explosive oil products, as well as the dangerous effects of increased climate change as a result of burning the transported fossil fuels.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has shown that up to two-thirds of all known fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground to avoid the worst effects of climate change – a goal incompatible with present plans to expand tar-sands extraction.

The 40-year-old Line 9, running from Sarnia to Montreal, crosses or comes close to 18 First Nation territories, numerous municipalities, towns and cities, and all the waterways that feed Lake Ontario, the source of drinking water for millions of people. Any significant spill -- like that of Enbridge’s Line 6 in Kalamazoo River, Michigan, which released a million barrels of diluted bitumen in 2010 -- would threaten the health and well being of millions of people.

Line 9 was scheduled to be reversed in  October 2014 but persistent community protests persuaded the federal regulator to twice impose safety conditions that delayed the project for a year.

The recent approval pre-empts any decision by the federal court regarding an appeal of the project by the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation. Their case is based on the absence of consultation by the Crown regarding the pipeline and possible effects on the First Nation’s territory, as required by Canadian constitution.

This stiff ongoing resistance from First Nations and environmental activists across the country has prevented Line 9 and other pipeline projects from gaining social license from impacted communities, increasingly essential in a democratic society.

As a current example, Les Citoyens au Courant, a Montreal-based group (https://www.facebook.com/Les-Citoyens-au-Courant-529200363768200/), has repeatedly called on the NEB to conduct a proper hydrostatic test of the entire length of Line 9 in accordance with the NEB’s own Onshore Pipeline Regulations standard for pipelines that have not been in use for 12 months. The NEB ignored them.

It also has become obvious that the tar sands must stay in the ground in order for the Canadian government to meet our country's emissions targets and respect the rights of indigenous communities that are being poisoned by the mega-project. Repurposed pipeline projects like Line 9 and Energy East provide additional export routes for tar sands bitumen, thereby allowing for an expansion of the toxic industrial project.

Statement prepared by Rosemary Frei and John Sharkey, members of the Toronto No Line 9 Network.