Please alert us to any upcoming meetings involving Enbridge, the Calgary-based pipeline transport company seeking to bring tar sands crude through Quebec.
The problem:
Enbridge is embarking on a stealthy series of seemingly open-door meetings.
The pattern:
Enbridge organizes a "public" meeting, but fails to advertise it, so attendance is poor.
The reason:
This strategy enables the company to say that they have consulted with the public, and earned community approval for the project.
Why you should be worried:
- Enbridge is the company behind the largest inland oil spill in the history of the United States, in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2010.
- In a report on the Kalamazoo oil spill, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) condemned Enbridge for its "pervasive organizational failures" and "complete breakdown of safety."
- The clean-up costs for the Kalamazoo spill have surpassed $700 million.
- Line 9, the pipeline that Enbridge would like to use to transport heavy tar sands crude through Quebec, is already more than 40 years old.
- Line 9 was built to carry a lighter type of oil, not heavy tar sands crude (which requires more pressure to be transported, and is more corrosive and abrasive).
The solution:
1. If you hear about an Enbridge meeting in your area, let us know:
- ldehoux@equiterre.org
- (514) 605-2000
2. Attend the meeting to ask questions about:
- the risk of spills
- the transport of tar sands crude via ageing pipelines
- plans by Enbridge and Suncor to refine tar sands crude in Montreal refineries
Pictured: On Monday, October 22, citizens and environmental groups rallied in support of clean energy in front of the Hilton Montreal Bonaventure hotel, the site of the 4th annual conference of the Quebec Oil and Gas Association.
