Report says BC should ban oil tanker traffic, reject pipeline
The National Resources Defense Council, the Pembina Institute, and the Living Oceans Society recently released a report arguing that bitumen (crude oil) from Alberta’s oil sands can’t safely be transported across British Columbia. The report calls for federal and provincial governments to reject the proposed pipeline and to permanently ban oil tanker traffic on BC’s north coast.
Reaction to pipeline report
According to Nathan Lempers of the Pembina Institute, the Northern Gateway pipeline project doesn’t plan for all eventualities—such as the impact on the pipeline of possible catastrophic events like earthquakes and landslides—and that they aren’t prepared for a worst-case scenario, creating an unacceptable level of risk for British Columbians. Paul Stanway, communications manager for Northern Gateway, countered the report by accusing the groups of “raising unreasonable fears” and setting “zero-risk targets that no pipeline project could ever reach.” Stanway also countered the argument that bitumen is more dangerous to ship because it’s corrosive, claiming in a recent press release “nobody has been able to identify any additional risk or hazard involved with transporting oil sands crude.”
Timberwest buying logs from endangered forest
The Wilderness Committee learned recently during a BC Supreme Court hearing that Timberwest has contracted to purchase logs from the Snaw-Naw-As Forest Services Ltd’s proposed logging of DL33—a red-listed Coastal Douglas-Fir forest. The Committee has joined with a number of groups including the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities to demand that Timberwest immediately halt the logging of DL33, citing that logging the area goes directly against both Timberwest’s and the Sustainable Forest Industry’s policy regarding environmental protection.
Communities back BC pesticide ban
Thirty BC municipalities are now supporting a BC-wide ban on lawn and garden pesticides. According to a list released by the Canadian Cancer Society, the municipalities have passed motions to support the ban. These 30 communities encompass more than 1.8 million British Columbians. Gideon Forman, executive director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, says the proposed pesticide ban has huge momentum. “It is a significant issue when 30 communities across the province are pressuring the government to take action,” said Forman in a recent press release.