16 months after applying and being accepted to comment, and after many delays and extensions on Canada’s part, San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping just submitted our letter to Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) asking them to reject the Kinder Morgan pipeline saying: “We are writing to voice our opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project. Our concerns stem from significant adverse risk of oil spills in and around the Salish Sea which we believe will result from this Project proposal. We do not believe that these risks are acceptable and we do not believe that the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the proposed Project can be mitigated.”
Here’s the link to the entire letter (along with 722! of Safe Shippers’ petition signatures in Attachment 2): https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2811930&objAction=browse&viewType=1
Canada heard from other Islanders, as well (see links to their letters below), including our San Juan County Council who wrote: “We feel this project will benefit few while posing undo risk for those along its route. Our biggest concerns are increased vessel traffic in our waters that increase the risk of an oil spill from collision or running aground. The NEB is looking at this one individual project and its impacts. San Juan County feels this is shortsighted and inadequate. This project does not exist in a vacuum. We urge the NEB with other ministries and U.S counterparts to examine all proposed marine terminal projects and examine cumulative impacts of increased vessel traffic. For the reasons stated above and the issues detailed below the San Juan County Council opposes the Trans Mountain Expansion Project Expansion project.”
Amen!
It would be a good thing for Safe Shippers to say, “Thank you!” to our Council Members. Please e-mail them with your gratitude for their strong stance as well as their foresightedness for addressing the accumulation of more shipping projects planned for our region.
Bob Jarman: bobja@sanjuanco.com
Rick Hughes: Rickh@sanjuanco.com
Jamie Stephens: jamies@sanjuanco.com
cc: Mike Thomas: miket@sanjuanco.com, and Ingrid Gabriel: ingridg@sanjuanco.com
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LETTERS TO CANADA FROM FELLOW ISLANDERS:
Fred Felleman: https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2811937&objAction=browse&viewType=1
FRIENDS of the San Juans: https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2811370&objAction=browse&viewType=1
League of Women Voters of the San Juans: https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2804265&objAction=browse&viewType=1
Lopez NO COALition: https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2810690&objAction=browse&viewType=1
Lovel Pratt: https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2797859&objAction=browse&viewType=1
https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2811607&objAction=browse&viewType=1
Orcas NO COALition: https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2798319&objAction=browse&viewType=1
San Juan County Council: https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll?func=ll&objId=2811526&objAction=browse&viewType=1
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WHAT’S NEXT?
If the word on the street is true — that Canada’s National Energy Board will approve the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion (and the increased tanker traffic along our shores) no matter what the commenters and interveners had to say (let alone the Canadian citizens who were not “approved” to comment) — then our role will continue to be that of the annoying mosquito that vexes them at every step along the way. We will do this because this project proposal represents the greatest threat to our islands — the greatest increase in the risk of oil spills, and the product that would cause the greatest damage: Canadian tar sands crude oil. We will keep you informed of future opportunities to engage in this project’s permitting process. In the meantime, stay hopeful and stay powered up — ever ready to protect the Salish Sea that surrounds us!
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MORE INFO
Read about the effective tenacity of the Pacific Northwest’s “Thin Green Line” (for islanders, it’s more like the “Thin Green Moat”):
Sightline video: “The Thin Green Line”: https://youtu.be/w7WvWPdE2u4
Sightline article: “The Thin Green Line Is Stopping Coal and Oil in Their Tracks”: http://daily.sightline.org/2015/08/13/the-thin-green-line-is-stopping-coal-and-oil-in-their-tracks/
VOX article: “The thin green line: fighting fossil fuel exports in the Pacific Northwest”: http://www.vox.com/2015/8/16/9155849/cascadia-activism-billionaire
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Thank you for sticking with the cause, Safe Shippers! Our islands need every single one of your voices!
San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping 