Line 9 blockade in Toronto highlights imminent danger

This morning in Toronto, A group of Council of Canadians activists, local residents, and allies blockaded a Line 9 construction site stating, “Today we are taking a stand to say NO to Line 9 and tar sands development. Our collective future has been put at risk by the reckless greed of corporate profiteers. It is our responsibility to combat further destructive projects that push many people and the planet towards imminent danger. For us, right now, that includes saying NO to Tar Sands destruction.”

These integrity digs are, “required before Enbridge can bring the reversed Line 9 into operation, involve digging up and repairing SOME of the over 12,000 anomalies in the pipeline. But we know that Enbridge has no integrity, and that Line 9 reversal is an unjust and dangerous project.”  

“Line 9 has at least 12961 structural weaknesses along its length. And yet, Enbridge is only doing a few hundred integrity digs. Enbridge has been denying the problems with the pipe for years, and they still refuse to do the hydrostatic testing requested by the province. Are we really supposed to simply trust Enbridge when they tell us that this time they’ll do it right?”

 

Many of the blockaders point to the disastrous spill from Enbridge’s line 6b into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010, where millions of litres of oil spilled and have so far proven impossible to clean up. They also point out testimony at the NEB that Line 9 has a 90% chance of catastrophic failure in the initial years after its operation is changed.

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