Photo: The Rideau River about 30-km downstream from the Energy East pipeline route.
The Ottawa Citizen reports, “TransCanada Corp.’s (proposed) Energy East pipeline project could send as many as 850,000 barrels of crude oil a day through rural areas in the south end of Ottawa and across the Rideau River. The ‘conceptual’ route map for TransCanada’s cross-country pipeline sees oil routed east near Highway 7, through the former municipality of Richmond, then south near Malakoff Road.”
Richmond is located about 35 kilometres south-west of Parliament Hill.
“From there it will transport oil through environmentally sensitive lands around the Rideau River before passing through the waterway. The pipeline will then continue further southeast, through North Grenville, a neighbouring municipality that includes Kemptville. …The pipeline’s proposed path would funnel crude oil through the region’s rural residential areas, many of which are dependent on wells for their drinking water.”
“Calls to Mayor Jim Watson’s office inquiring whether TransCanada has approached the city were not returned. A spokesman for the mayor said no meetings have taken place between the mayor and TransCanada. However, according to the City of Ottawa’s lobbying registry, on April 17 a TransCanada representative met with city officials including city manager Kent Kirkpatrick and deputy city manager Nancy Schepers, with some subsequent correspondence. On June 10 another TransCanada representative met with George Young, Watson’s senior adviser for communications and operations, with correspondence continuing through Monday.”
“Maryam Adrangi, a climate and energy campaigner with the Council of Canadians, said the proposed route will bring massive amounts of crude through some of the province’s most densely populated areas and said not enough has been done to educate Ontarians about the project and the potential dangers it poses. ‘Communities on the ground are going to face the real costs’, she said. ‘If there is a pipeline spill, will TransCanada take responsibility? Or will the City of Ottawa have to be there trying to do what they can. Where is the accountability?’”
TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline is a 4,400 kilometre artery that could carry 500,000 to 850,000 barrels per day from Alberta to Saint John, New Brunswick as soon as 2017. Those backing this pipeline have highlighted the export potential of the pipeline given the deep water port in Saint John. Gordon Laxer has stated, “Instead of supplying domestic conventional oil to eastern Canadians as part of a national eco-energy plan to transition Canada off fossil fuels, this is just another tar sands-exporting ploy. If it succeeds, it will sink Alberta and Canada even deeper into a ‘hewers of wood’ trap — which is also a carbon trap.”
TransCanada is also the company behind the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to Texas.
For more, please read:
NEWS: Whistleblower presents ‘bleak picture’ of TransCanada pipeline safety
NEWS: Harper backs Energy East pipeline
NEWS: Saint John mayor boasts of Energy East pipeline export options in the Bay of Fundy
NEWS: North Bay, Ontario expresses opposition to Energy East pipeline
