To the Editor,
Re: Environmental value too high, Opinion, July 26.
Thank you sincerely for your firm and entirely correct editorial in which you say the Northern Gateway Pipeline should not be considered at all.
You are right on when you say that no amount of money could compensate us for the oil spill that is a certainty.
It is unconscionable that this stinking, poisonous mixture of condensate and tar sands bitumen should be transported by pipeline anywhere.
When it leaked into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, the fumes made people sick for miles around and for days and weeks afterwards.
Because it sank, it was impossible to clean up and cost Enbridge close to a billion dollars to try to return the river to its normal state.
How many creatures died; how much of their eco system has been poisoned for generations?
This toxic gunk should be refined at the tar sands.
Even in a refined state, it’s deadly to the environment, but at least somewhat less so than as diluted bitumen.
If we had a government worth their salt, they would have announced early on that the pipeline was a non-starter.
Thank goodness we have a government in waiting that is adamant in its opposition to either the Northern Gateway or the Kinder Morgan pipelines.
Arlene Feke
Nanaimo