Editor:
The Enbridge Gateway pipeline project is a project that almost every environmentalist will consider opposition to as an absolute necessity. People who oppose projects like this appear to me to base most of their opposition on, what I call, what ifs, what if this, or what if that, rather than providing seriously researched, factual information in support of their cause.
So it is with taking a position against any development, if you are going to address a judge or a panel, research out the facts of what you want to say. The people who sit on a review panel must, in the end, sort and sift the facts from rhetoric. Small claim TV judges may be a good example of what not to bring before a judge. These judges often dismiss unilaterally questionable statements and rhetoric as a waste of their time.
Certainly answering and dealing with what-if statements force the developer to examine every nuance of a project. However, strong, well-founded, well-researched environmental information against a project is not so easily dismissed. Advice such as this could apply and be a lesson to those in opposition even to local projects.
Up north, according to an Alaska historian, “The wealth generated to the (Alaskan Economy) by Prudhoe Bay and the other fields on the North Slope since 1977 is worth more than all the fish ever caught, all the furs ever trapped, all the trees chopped down; throw in all the copper, whalebone, natural gas, tin, silver, platinum, and anything else ever extracted from Alaska too. The balance sheet of Alaskan history is simple: One Prudhoe Bay (and its pipeline) is worth more in real dollars than everything that has been dug out, cut down, caught or killed in Alaska since the beginning of time.” Italics added.
The 48-inch Alyeska Pipeline, in its 800-mile length, crosses three mountain ranges and 30 major rivers and streams. Including native land claims, it took some time for eventual approval; every environmental and native objection raised was at some point addressed and a solution inevitably found.
Since April 30, 2008 to July 2011 some 19,625 tankers loaded at Valdez with only the Exxon Valdez having spilled its oil. Regretfully disasters can be an important learning tool for every potential project.
From plastic water bottles to the clothes we wear and everything in between, most are manufactured from oil.
Doug Wilson
Williams Lake