8
viewpoint ABBOTSFORD NEWS I Thursday, April 19, 2012
Comment on any story online at abbynews.com or email newsroom@abbynews.com Published and printed by Black Press Limited 34375 Gladys Avenue, Abbotsford.
All have a stake in this
Kinder Morgan announced on Thursday that it plans to more than double the capacity of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline, which runs from Edmonton to Burnaby. It runs through Abbotsford. The pipeline will carry an additional 550,000 barrels per day of crude oil and refined oil products, for a total of 850,000 barrels per day. Some will be shipped to Asian customers through an existing marine terminal on Burrard Inlet. The company has been studying the economic feasibility of expanding its system for some time, and the heightened interest in shipping Alberta crude, some of it from the oil sands, to Asian customers has been obvious. While there will be enormous pressure from environmentalists to stop this pipeline, the case needs to be fully studied on all fronts — economic, environmental, legal and ethical. While many groups love to decry fossil fuels, the fact remains that most
parts of the world are dependent on them to keep their economies functioning. The Trans Mountain pipeline is, in many ways, a better alternative than the Northern Gateway pipeline which has attracted so much attention. It is an existing pipeline and land issues have been sorted out. The operators over the years have had a good, albeit nor perfect, track record. There was a major spill in 1971, due to clear-cut logging above the pipeline near Merritt, and another in Burnaby in 2007, due to a rupture of the pipeline by a contractor. Those appear to be the most damaging incidents in the pipeline’s almost 60-year existence. Kinder Morgan needs federal approval to build the pipeline extension. In the meantime, it needs to do extensive consultation in communities along the pipeline route — including Abbotsford. We all have a stake in a project of this magnitude. – Black Press
Environmentalism for dummies Tom
Fletcher
B.C. Views David Suzuki has resigned as a director of his namesake foundation so it won’t be the target of federal government “attacks.” This news is conveyed to me in a Globe and Mail report that is typically tilted in deference to “Canada’s most famous environmentalist.” The usual assumptions are woven in: Suzuki is a saint. His every utterance is treated as scientific fact, even when it’s a left-wing political rant. The Conservative government is a front for Big Oil that has “attacked” environmental groups by reminding them that political activities are not eligible for charitable tax exemptions. In recent years, the David Suzuki Foundation’s campaign focus has been noticeably in step with the large U.S. foundations that fund most of B.C.’s enviro-scare industry: first salmon farming and now the Alberta “tar
sands” in all its exaggerated horror. Suzuki’s personal activities aren’t easily distinguished from those of his foundation, as was illustrated with his recent CBC documentary that demonized the tar sands. Diseased fish were displayed, but natural contamination of the Athabasca River was glossed over. Aboriginal objections were highlighted, while local support and economic benefits were overlooked. This isn’t science or charity. It’s tabloid journalism. Sensationalize, ignore facts that weaken the drama, play to people’s emotions. And he expects to be subsidized by the CBC and charitable tax exemptions as well? This news comes as I finish reading Patrick Moore’s book, Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout. I was one of many young fans who cheered as Moore, Bob Hunter and the other 1970s Greenpeace pioneers set out from Vancouver to disrupt Soviet nuclear testing, and then turned to the regime’s slaughter of whales. In 1986, Moore split with Greenpeace and worked to set up a family chinook salmon farm. He said Greenpeace opposed aquaculture because it destroys tropical mangrove swamps.
Tropical prawn farms have no rational connection with B.C., but a global organization needs simple ideas that sell. This approach was seen in an earlier 1980s campaign against chlorine in pulp mills. Greenpeace protests against dioxins and the herbicide 2,4,5-T were eventually dumbed down to opposing the use of chlorine in all industries, including production of PVC plastic.
Suzuki is a saint. His every utterance is treated as scientific fact, even when it’s a left-wing political rant. Pulp mills developed a way to eliminate trace dioxins from their production, but that didn’t matter once Greenpeace had a global campaign going. They still used chlorine, so they’re bad. Speaking of chlorine, PCBs are polychlorinated biphenyls, a persistent background toxin. Tests found levels three to five times higher in some wild salmon compared to farmed. But the
wild salmon results were ignored in a 2004 study, used by Suzuki to depict farmed salmon as poisonous. His foundation’s salmon farm campaign quietly disappeared down the memory hole after its PCB claims were debunked. Moore highlighted another bit of greenwashing in a visit to Victoria last year. The vaunted “LEED” certification for green building standards gives you points if your concrete is locally sourced, but no points for using wood instead. That’s because the long campaign by major environmental groups has devolved to “logging is bad.” Here’s the latest example. Greenpeace, ForestEthics and the Sierra Club were bankrolled by U.S. foundations to negotiate with the B.C. government, aboriginal people and forest companies for the 2006 “Great Bear Rainforest” agreement on the B.C. coast. Economic opportunity was delicately balanced against preservation, and First Nations gained new control of forests. Now the big enviros have begun campaigning against their own deal. As much as 50 per cent could still be logged, they say. It seems this particular green peace is bad for their business. tfletcher@blackpress.ca
34375 Gladys Avenue Abbotsford, B.C. V2S 2H5
COPYRIGHT
MEMBER OF B.C. PRESS COUNCIL
The Abbotsford News is a member of the B.C. Press Council, a self-regulatory body governing the province’s newspaper industry. The council considers complaints from the public about the conduct of member newspapers. Directors oversee the mediation of complaints, with input from both the newspaper and the complaint holder. If talking with the editor or publisher does not resolve your complaint about coverage or story treatment, you may contact the B.C. Press Council. Your written concern, with documentation, should be sent to B.C. Press Council, 201 Selby St., Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 2R2. For information, phone 888-687-2213 or go to www.bcpresscouncil.org Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department Second class mail registration no. 1246
Andrew Franklin Publisher
Andrew Holota Editor
Alana Green Creative services
Harv Toews Creative services
publisher@abbynews.com
aholota@blackpress.ca
alana@abbynews.com
harv@abbynews.com
604-851-4538
604-851-4522
604-851-4516
604-851-4542
SWITCHBOARD 604.853.1144 I CIRCULATION: 604.870.4595 I CLASSIFIED: 604.851.4537
Copyright and/or property rights subsist in all advertisements and in all other material appearing in this edition of The News. Permission to reproduce wholly 2009 WINNER or in part and in any form whatsoever, particularly by a photographic or offset process in a publication, must be obtained in writing from the publisher. Any unauthorized reproduction will be subject to recourse in law. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER