
Liberals’ interim pipeline measures fall short
Energy East, Kinder Morgan, Pipelines
February 2,2016TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline would have seen millions of litres of toxic diluted bitumen pumped under major waterways from the Prairies to the Atlantic coast. It would have passed directly through hundreds of communities, like Kenora, ON, putting their drinking water, land, and local ecosystems at risk from spills.
Ecojustice represented grassroots community group, Transition Initiative Kenora on this file. What began as an effort to show the risks this pipeline would bring to just one small community became a chance to counter bias at the National Energy Board (NEB) and ultimately play a role in toppling Canada’s largest ever pipeline proposal.
Timeline of our efforts:
A leak of diluted bitumen or other crude oil products from TransCanada’s decades-old pipeline would have been disastrous to any community that was along the project’s path, including Kenora. A spill could have polluted their drinking water, degraded their environment, and impacted their livelihoods.
We also support efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across Canada and believe that it is important to be involved in cases related to projects that will accelerate demand for tar sands development.
What the fall of the Energy East pipeline tells us is that these fossil fuel mega-projects are less economically viable and will only become a tougher sell as the world keeps moving toward low-carbon energy.