To the editor:
The Trans Mountain Pipeline is not what we want or need.
Now that the federal government has made the decision to put our tax dollars at risk by taking over the Kinder Morgan pipeline, they have put our economy in jeopardy. This is not what we want or need.
There was another way to get this bitumen to market and would not have cost us. I am speaking of the Energy East pipeline. Because the mayor of Montreal said no to that project, the feds relented and did not give approval. How is it that they can browbeat the B.C. government and force this on us but let Quebec off? Is not the Quebec pipeline also not in the national interest? The simple answer is votes. B.C. is expendable.
Shipping bitumen east would have allowed it to be processed in Canada and eliminate the need for imported oil to meet their needs. There would be no chance of a spill in the ocean or all the other areas of environmental concern. There would be less impact on the land as there are already many pipelines heading that way. I think it would be easier to contain a spill on land than in the ocean.
These billions would have been better spent on clean energy alternatives and create more permanent jobs. That is not how government works, however, as seen by what is happening in B.C. Site C, so-called natural gas, which in fact is highly polluting due to the methods of extraction, are two projects that come to mind. Where is the vision for the future?
Down here in trenches, we realize that better energy sources are out there but both governments ignore them. For what reason are they not able to see what we see?
Somebody has got to them and they have deep pockets.
So much for us voting for anyone when they can be convinced by big business to ignore our wishes. The saying used to be “all for one and one for all” but now it is “all for them and none for us”.
Ed Aiken
Cobble Hill
