So much expansion in BC's coast with energy concerns. It might be good to lobby the companies involved directly as well since our governments are quite slow to respond, or just turn a blind eye and go with what the companies want.

I've just sent a message to Stephen Harper telling him that tanker and pipeline projects on BC's coast need real scrutiny, not a rubber stamp.

Please take a minute to do the same.

Visit: http://www.dogwoodinitiative.org/not...real-scrutiny/

This is what the letter says:

Dear Prime Minister Harper:

Enbridge is proposing to build a supertanker port at Kitimat, B.C. and two 1,150-kilometre pipelines from the Alberta tar sands. This is a major fossil-fuel infrastructure project that deserves the highest possible level of public scrutiny and review.

The pipelines, one for exporting crude oil and the other for importing condensate, would cross approximately 1,000 streams and rivers, many of which are in the Skeena and Upper Fraser watersheds. These two river systems are among British Columbia's most important wild salmon rivers.

A Joint Review Panel by the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has been proposed to review the Enbridge project. I do not believe this process is adequate to evaluate the full range of issues and allow for meaningful public participation.

The proposed Joint Review Panel is a process in which the decisions that count are made in very formal proceedings run by high-priced corporate and government lawyers, making it inaccessible to the public. The Joint Review Panel will focus on the question of how the project proceeds, not the more important question of whether it should proceed at all.

Not only is the proposed Joint Review Panel inaccessible, its proposed scope is insufficient. The proposed process will not consider the implications of lifting the oil tanker moratorium, the impact of the pipelines on tar sands expansion, nor the project's broader relationship to Canadian energy sustainability and climate change.

Three decades ago there was a similar proposal for an oil port at Kitimat and pipeline to Alberta. To review this project, government initiated the West Coast Oilport Inquiry under Dr. Andrew Thompson. The Enbridge Proposal should undergo no less scrutiny.

For these reasons, I urge you to establish a full public inquiry for the proposed Enbridge pipelines and supertanker port.



Respectfully,