Englishman
Well-Known Member
Last night I attended the film called "On The Line" shown about the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, put on jointly by the UVic Environmental Law group and Ecojustice. The latter is the organisation that recently won the orca habitat protection ruling in the Supreme Court. Notwithstanding your views on that one, in this fight they are on our side, so hear me out. The film was about two guys who biked, hiked and paddled the entire actual proposed route of the pipeline and spoke to people along the route. This pipeline will rip across the Rockies and right through a lot pristine country in B.C. It will cross 743 waterways, including the Bulkley, and Morice rivers and several other Skeena tributaries. When there is a rupture and leak like recently happened on the Enbridge pipeline across the Kalamazoo river in the U.S. say goodbye to the steelhead and salmon runs of the Skeena system! However, the scariest part was the shots they showed to illustrate the map of the Douglas channel. Up to 250 super tankers will try and negotiate this long twisting narrow waterway, making two right angle turns in fog, bad weather and heavy seas in winter to make the Kitimat oil terminal from the open ocean. It is absolutely insane! After the pipe layers have ripped right across BC only about 40 permanent jobs will be created. In contrast there are about 15,000 jobs in BC connected with the commercial and recreational fisheries on the North coast and inland rivers. So BC will run all of the risk and sustain all of the damage so the fat cats in Alberta can add to their fortunes and Canadian bitumen can be shipped to China. All the recent posts about the halibut TAC and a privatisation of a huge common resource to 431 people are great, but it pales into a sideshow compared with what is going down if this pipeline gets approval.
Guys, go see this film! Organise showings to your fishing clubs and groups if you can! Write to your MP’s and MLA’s !!(the MP for Skeena/Bulkley was a very articulate opponent, almost in despair on the film about what this pipeline is going to do to his constituency). Donate to Ecojustice who are preparing to fight this one in the courts (where some of you believe things must go to get resolved, based on what I have read in the Halibut threads). Write letters to your newspapers!! In the immortal words of Ray Bradbury “Something Wicked This Way Comes” and all who care about fish, fishing and the river and ocean ecosystems of BC should be fighting this proposal with all our might.
Guys, go see this film! Organise showings to your fishing clubs and groups if you can! Write to your MP’s and MLA’s !!(the MP for Skeena/Bulkley was a very articulate opponent, almost in despair on the film about what this pipeline is going to do to his constituency). Donate to Ecojustice who are preparing to fight this one in the courts (where some of you believe things must go to get resolved, based on what I have read in the Halibut threads). Write letters to your newspapers!! In the immortal words of Ray Bradbury “Something Wicked This Way Comes” and all who care about fish, fishing and the river and ocean ecosystems of BC should be fighting this proposal with all our might.