Radio-Canada reports, “Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the Official Opposition, says that ‘We cannot reverse of the flow of the Enbridge Line 9 pipeline’ because the environmental assessment process is unreliable. The NDP leader made this statement on Monday at a forum on economic issues in Repentigny (a suburb of Montreal).
“The article notes that, “Mr. Mulcair has in the past defended the idea an east-west transportation of Alberta oil to ensure energy security and reduce dependence on foreign oil,” but that his position has changed because of, in Mulcair’s words, the “rampage of environmental laws” by the Harper government in the C-45 omnibus legislation.
Line 9 is a 38-year old pipeline between Montreal and Sarnia that passes through more than one hundred communities in Ontario and Quebec. It would carry 300,000 barrels a day of light crude oil (and in the future likely heavier crudes such as diluted bitumen) from Alberta to Montreal. The cities of Toronto and Hamilton have expressed concern about the pipeline, and Quebec government cabinet ministers have suggested that public hearings would be held to address Quebec’s concerns about the pipeline. Gordon Laxer – a long-time Council of Canadians member and supporter of a Canadian energy strategy – recently outlined his opposition to west-to-east pipelines in a Montreal Gazette opinion piece.
US environmental groups have raised the concern that the reversal of the Line 9 pipeline would facilitate an export connection through Vermont and Maine by way of an existing 236-mile pipeline.
The Radio-Canada report (in French) can be read at http://blogues.radio-canada.ca/rive-nord/2013/05/14/pipeline-enbridge-mulcair/.
For more, please read: VIEW: Laxer opposes west-to-east pipelines NEWS: Enbridge broke NEB safety rules for Line 9 pipeline NEWS: 29 Vermont towns vote against a Montreal-Portland pipeline NEWS: Toronto seeks standing at NEB hearings on Line 9 pipeline NEWS: Quebec may hold ‘public inquiry’ on west-to-east pipelines
