One of my biggest environmental pet peeves is the Keystone and Enbridge Pipelines. What I find most ironic is the fact that these projects are allowed to occur. You are right this is NOT SUSTAINABLE. Yet, Oil is….politically the unfortunate truth…. Pipelines would violate the Fisheries Act (1985), which “makes it illegal to harm fish habitats or fishing grounds. Environment Canada is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Fisheries Act as it pertains to spills and environmental emergencies. The following sections of the Act are relevant:
- Section 35 prohibits any work or undertaking that results in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat.
- Section 38(4) makes reporting of spills of deleterious substances mandatory.
- Section 38(5) establishes an obligation for owners and carriers of a deleterious substance to take reasonable measures to prevent a spill and to cleanup if a spill occurs.
- Section 38(6) provides an inspector with the authority to direct cleanup where immediate action is necessary to prevent damage to water frequented by fish.(1)
No matter how far the pipelines are from water, they still will put the rivers, lakes and even oceans at risk. Not to mention tailing ponds leaking into the water. One of the biggest concerns with the Enbridge Pipeline is that Pacific Salmon are at risk when they return to the rivers to spawn, if this happens the salmon will not spawn and die, or the eggs will die and the fish populations will not recover.
Excuse me for my slang but I find Oil extraction, pipelines and tar sands mind boggling. All the laws we have for environmental protection, assessment, water, pollution, First Nations and more all seem to mean nothing when it comes to Tar Sands and Pipelines, I guess with a price tag, these are overlooked.
Alberta tar sands companies “that everything is fine, and that all the pollution is “natural”.”(2)According to Professor David Schindler, exploiting the Alberta tar sands is polluting the river with toxic heavy metals, the oil sands industry releases 13 elements [heavy metals] considered priority pollutants (PPE) under the US Clean Water Act, via air and water, to the Athabasca River and its watershed. (2)
Schindler also said that both federal and provincial guidelines for protecting aquatic life had been exceeded for seven PPE—cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, silver, and zinc—in melted snow and/or water collected near or downstream of development. Fish are now dangerous to eat because of toxin levels, what does that say about fish health and water quality? Again how come the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and the Fisheries Act are not being followed? Because the companies rely on RAMP, an industry-sponsored monitoring program that keeps concluding nothing is wrong, but they don’t do proper monitoring. Why does RAMP override the law?
Side note, where is our Prime Minister from, Calgary, Coincidence?
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