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E-mail the Prime Minister and urge him to keep oil tankers off the B.C. coast.
The oil industry is pushing the federal government to allow super tankers carrying millions of barrels of tar sands oil through British Columbia’s coastal waters. If the Enbridge project is allowed to proceed there could be over 200 tankers a year entering the Inside Passage. B.C.’s coastal economy relies on a clean and healthy ocean. Tourism, commercial fishing and recreational fishing are the foundation of many communities. Allowing oil tankers to ply these waters would put at risk the livelihoods of the people who work and live on the coast. Enbridge wants to build its Northern Gateway project which consists of an oil tanker port at Kitimat, B.C. and two 1,150-kilometre pipelines from the Alberta tar sands. The pipelines, one for exporting crude oil and the other for importing condensate, would cross approximately 1,000 streams and rivers, many of which are in the Skeena and Upper Fraser watersheds. If this mega-project is allowed to proceed, over 200 tankers would travel B.C.’s coastal waters every year in violation of the longstanding moratorium on offshore oil and gas and tanker traffic. According to international spill statistics, there have been 205 tanker spills of seven tonnes or more between 1996 and 2006. Globally, tanker spills of 700 tonnes or larger have occurred an average of 3.4 times annually between 2000 and 2008. Clearly, when it comes to transporting oil by ocean tankers, it is not a question of if a spill will happen, but rather when and how disastrous it will be. |
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Fill out this form to send an email to Prime Minister Stephen Harper with the message below (follow the orange arrows). Your e-mail will also be sent to the leaders of the opposition parties. |
YOUR MESSAGE: Dear Prime Minister Harper, I am writing to ask you to permanently ban oil tankers from Canada’s Pacific coast. I am very concerned with Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project that will transport oil from the tar sands to a terminal in Kitimat. If this mega-project is permitted to proceed, over 200 tankers would travel through B.C.’s North and Central Coast every year. Since 1972, eight successive Prime Ministers have recognized that large crude oil tankers have no place in the waters of British Columbia. I am asking for your government to make the ban permanent and truly protect B.C.’s North and Central Coast. Two recent polls found that 75 percent of British Columbians support a ban on oil tankers, with support even higher outside Greater Vancouver, where 80 percent of adults oppose tankers in the Inside Passage. B.C.’s coastal waters are a global treasure and a major cradle of marine life for the northwest Pacific Ocean. The economic life of B.C.’s coastal communities is intrinsically linked to the health of the ocean. Over 9,600 salmon stocks, combined with herring, halibut and other key species, still form the backbone of the economy and culture of the coast, and provide both jobs and traditional harvesting opportunities for coastal residents. The many species of whales, birds and sea life that inhabit our waters help generate tourism revenue and employment valued at over $850 million per year, 40 percent of which comes from marine-based businesses. A 2006 IBM Business Consulting study concluded wild salmon generate $110 million in revenue in the Skeena region alone. The future of these jobs, communities and coastal cultures would be placed at risk if oil tankers are allowed to travel these sensitive waterways. Please consider showing leadership on this crucial issue and making the protection of B.C.’s coast part of your legacy. Permanently banning tankers from B.C.’s waters is the only way to protect our coast from a massive oil spill. I look forward to your reply. Respectfully, |
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