Enbridge

If you care about a healthy environment, aboriginal rights and the security of your investments… take action now! 

Summary

Enbridge plans to build two pipelines from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat on British Columbia’s West Coast.  Forget the fish farm debate—the fatal blow to British Columbia’s salmon might be the ensuing pressure mounting to lift or find loopholes in the moratorium on tanker traffic in BC's inside coastal waters. The recent Haida ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for Enbridge’s proposed pipeline to move forward without Aboriginal support. Enbridge has been pretty slick in their PR about support from First Nations for their proposals.  But the truth is that many First Nations will fight the pipelines and tankers tooth and nail, and the law is on their side.  Enbridge has not disclosed this risk to their investors, creditors or other financial backers.

Background

Enbridge operates the world's longest crude oil and liquids pipeline system, in Canada and the US,. The company owns and operates Enbridge Pipelines Inc. and a variety of affiliated pipelines in Canada, and has a 13% interest in Enbridge Energy Partners, LP which owns the Lakehead System in the US. These pipeline systems have operated for over 50 years and now comprise approximately 15 000 kilometres (9,000 miles) of pipeline, delivering more than 2 million barrels per day of crude oil and liquids. Enbridge is also the sponsor and manager of the Enbridge Income Fund. Enbridge is also involved in liquids marketing and international energy projects and has a growing involvement in the natural gas transmission and midstream businesses, through the Alliance and Vector pipelines, its investment in AltaGas Services, and various US assets that transport, gather, process and market natural gas and other petroleum products.

Enbridge first became the target of shareholder action in 2003 because of their potential involvement in death squads in Colombia. Colombia is in the midst of a brutal civil war, and security providers for Enbridge may have been associated with the Colombian paramilitaries. The allegation include the purchase of military equipment and passing “intelligence” on to death squads about “subversives” in communities through which the their OCENSA pipeline passes. (Enbridge is a major stakeholder in the pipeline.) 200 peasant families from one of these communities (Zaragosa) sued despite death threats and abject poverty, claiming that the pipeline had destroyed their lands.

Here in Canada, Enbridge has been found guilty of "criminal misconduct" by the Supreme Court for charging its Canadian customers late-payment penalties that exceeded permissible legal interest rate levels.

Why take action?

Enbridge/Pipelines

To support the projected huge expansion of crude oil production from the Alberta tar sands, Enbridge is proposing two parallel pipelines to Kitimat on BC’s West Coast.   One pipeline would carry from 800 000 to 1,000,000 barrels per day of tar sands crude from Edmonton to Kitimat where it would then be loaded onto tankers and shipped to China, India and California. The second pipeline would follow the same route but would import condensate, a toxic mix of chemicals and petroleum derivates needed to ease the flow of oil through pipelines. Because of Enbridge’s proposal pressure is mounting to lift, or find loopholes in the moratorium on oil drilling and tanker traffic in BC's insode coastal waters that has been in place for over thirty years.

In 1972, the government of Canada imposed this moratorium to prevent crude oil tankers from travelling through Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound enroute from the Trans-Alaska pipeline terminal in Valdez, Alaska.  

In the 1980s, the government was considering lifting the moratorium when the Exxon Valdez oil spill happened just north off of Alaska.. The huge slick washed on-shore like a black tide, leaving oil-soaked fish, whales, birds, and habitat suffocating in its wake. This, combined with heavy bunker C oil which escaped from a fuel barge in Washington State and washed up on beaches along the west coast of Vancouver Island, between Uclulet and Tofino, created public pressure to maintain the offshore moratorium.

Now, Enbridge is among the corporations planning to ship tar sands oil by pipeline to the West Coast of BC, and then on to Asian and Californian markets by tanker. If approved, three to ten tankers a week would travel 100 kilometers through the inside passage and coastal waters, another 140 kilometers up a fjord to transport crude from an oil tanker terminal in Kitimat, BC.  This can’t happen with the current moratorium on crude tanker traffic in the Queen Charlotte Basin.  Government and industry are trying to find a way around the moratorium, or to lift it, something recommended against by the Royal Society of Canada in 2004.  Enbridge and some ministries of the federal government are claiming the moratorium only applies to north-south tankers, not east-west tanker traffic.

The Queen Charlotte Basin is characterized by a deeply indented coast, with steep fjords, tremendous biodiversity and lucrative fishery. In addition, an extremely valuable cruise ship business operates in the area, part of the Alaskan trade. Opening up the area to oil and gas transportation would threaten the marine ecosystem, which is often referred to as the Galapagos of the North. Critical salmon spawning and rearing habitats would be at risk from tanker spills.  The Queen Charlotte Basin is home to a total of twenty-one threatened or endangered species.

Oil spills are common. Globally, and only counting tankers, there is on average a spill of more than 20,000 barrels every month, and every year a spill the size of the Exxon Valdez. The Exxon Valdez spill killed billions of salmon.  During winter the Queen Charlotte Basin is considered an “extreme operating environment”. Containing and recovering offshore oil spills under these conditions is impossible.

A winter oil spill would travel north towards the islands of Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), traditional territory of the Haida who have launched a lawsuit seeking recognition of the Haida Nation’s Aboriginal title to the lands and waters of Haida Gwaii. The islands of Haida Gwaii are ecologically and culturally unique, and boast Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Numerous coastal First Nations are opposed to any lifting of the current moratorium. Existing sectors of the coastal economy, most notably tourism and small scale fish-processing, could be gravely harmed by oil spills, oil polluting surface waters and coastal shorelines.

Canada’s Pacific ocean supports a wide range of sea life including Gray, Humpback, Orca, Fin and Minke whales, Pacific white-sided dolphin, Dall’s porpoise, Stellar sea lion, and the northern fur seal. The Exxon Valdez oil spill killed an estimated 2,200 Harbour seals, 22 Orca whales and 25 Gray whales. Do we really want to risk a disaster like that here?

In addition to the 400 species of fish in the marine ecosystem, birds such as great blue herons, bald eagles, kingfishers, albatrosses, swans, ducks and loons frequent the coast and could be negatively impacted by oil spill or low-level pollution. In addition, the birds of the coast feed at all levels of the marine food web and are therefore vulnerable to any impacts or decreases in their food supply.  The Scott Islands, a cluster of rugged isolated islands off the north end of Vancouver Island, are home to some of British Columbia’s most important bird colonies, including the Cassin’s Auklet, which is listed as a threatened species.

If built, Enbridge’s pipeline could devastate important ecosystems by aiding fossil fuel production.  They could destroy important habitat, wilderness and recreation areas in the places they run through like the Skeena. The risk of a huge environmental catastrophe as the result of an oil spill following earthquake, landslide or avalanche is great.  They are being proposed to facilitate the development of the Alberta tar sands (see below).
The recent Haida ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for pipeline projects and mining proposals to move forward in BC without Aboriginal support. The ruling held that First Nations have to be involved in “strategic decisions” such as licensing. This means they will have to be consulted and accommodated before new pipelines cross their territory. Enbridge has been pretty slick in their PR about support from First Nations for their proposals.  But the truth is that many First Nations will fight the plans tooth and nail, and the law is on their side.  Enbridge has not disclosed this risk to their investors, creditors or other financial backers.

Tar Sands

Development of the Alberta tar sands could be the most damaging energy project on the planet. The oil-rich sand is removed from the ground through a giant mining operation that leaves huge holes and toxic tailing ponds that you can see from the moon. The oil is then essentially cooked out of the tar-laced sand. This process consumes vast amounts of natural gas. Almost the equivalent amount of natural gas produced from the Mackenzie Valley will be needed to extract tar sands oil. In fact, it takes 5 to 10 times more energy, water, and land area to produce oil for tar sands, than conventional methods. That means 5 to 10 times the amount of greenhouse gasses are emitted. Increasing production from the tar sands would eviscerate Canada’s Kyoto commitments.

Corporations feeding off the oil sands like Suncor and Shell Canada, plan to double (some say triple) production in the next five to ten years. This increase cannot happen without an increase in pipeline capacity.  Enbridge is only too happy to oblige.

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