OTTAWA – The Council of Canadians welcomes the announcement by Denis Coderre, mayor of Montreal, of his opposition to the Energy East pipeline. Along with mayors from six other Quebec municipalities, this wall of opposition represents a critical juncture along the path of the controversial project.
“This export pipeline offers few benefits to communities along route, yet threatens over 1000 waterways with a large scale diluted bitumen spill,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson with the Council of Canadians.
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences recently released the most comprehensive analysis to date of diluted bitumen spills. The study confirms diluted bitumen sinks in water, making it extremely difficult to clean. It further finds spill responders are poorly equipped to deal with the unique challenges of these spills.
“We are seeing opposition to this massive pipeline grow, from Quebec municipalities to Indigenous communities and landowners at the end of the line in Red Head, Saint John,” adds Barlow. “It is time to see leadership from Prime Minister Trudeau and Premiers that will lead us away from new large scale fossil fuel infrastructure to investing in climate solutionssuch as public transit and renewables, energy conservation and efficiency.”
The Council of Canadians submitted our report "Quantifying Risk: Calculating the probability of an Energy East pipeline rupture" to the Commission de l'environnement de la Communauté métropolitaine and they make reference to it twice in their decision not to support Energy East.
“Prime Minister Trudeau needs to listen to communities like Montreal,” says Andrea Harden-Donahue, Energy and Climate Campaigner with the Council of Canadians. “Trudeau made clear promises on the campaign trail to respect communities permission to projects like Energy East and significantly change the federal review of pipelines. It is time for the Liberals to walk the talk.”
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