The Council of Canadians Sudbury chapter has written Sudbury city council about the position FONOM has taken on the Energy East pipeline.
As noted on their website, “The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is the unified voice of Northeastern Ontario, representing and advocating on behalf of 110 cities, towns and municipalities.” The group has stated that, “FONOM continues to advocate that TransCanada’s Energy East project is safer method to transfer oil across northern Ontario as opposed to other methods such as road or rail. FONOM will continue to engage in the Ontario Energy Board review process and participate in the National Energy Board process by way of Letter of Comment.”
Chapter activist Glenn Murray writes, “On practically the eve of the upcoming FONOM meetings on the 6 to 8th of May I would like to express my concerns regarding this organisation’s support of the Energy East Pipeline. While they expressed their support during their 2014 AGM I wonder if they would continue with that support if they have read the Ontario Energy Board’s Final Technical Reports. … Reading [them] one cannot reach any other conclusion [than] there is not sufficient practical I formation to make any other decision then for the OEB to NOT APPROVE this pipeline based not only on the environmental concerns of a large portion of the voting public, but the financial concerns as well that seem to the only driver of this project.”
He adds, “This pipeline that FONOM is all for is about much more than a possibility of a few short term jobs, it’s consequences are reaching much further. Think of 7 million cars all spewing noxious gases into the atmosphere. Consider the destruction of the environment from a leak. We already know about the high cost and difficulty in cleaning up a spill of diluted bitumen (dilbit) into the Kalamazoo River. 1.21 Billion dollars has been spent and apparently still not completely cleaned up. And what about the nightmare created by the fracking process [that the Energy East pipeline would help promote], who in their right mind would want this on their conscience or in their municipality?”
And Murray concludes, “In spite of TransCanada being a ‘Gold’ sponsor of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities, an unbelievable relationship that should never exist, I urge our mayor in his capacity of a second vice president of FONOM to bring this matter up to the federation and ask that the resolution to support this pipeline be rescinded. I also urge members of this council also review for yourselves the Final Technical Reports from the OEB.”
For more on our campaign to stop the Energy East pipeline, please click here.
