Enbridge has filed documents with the National Energy Board (NEB) asking for the second phase of permission for their plan to reverse the flow of an existing pipeline that runs between Sarnia and Montreal.
The group Environmental Defence, says that documents that Enbridge recently filed with the NEB confirm suspicions that the pipeline company is trying to pump tar sands oil to the East Coast for export - a claim that Enbridge has previously denied.
"The public has been kept in the dark about the full scale of Enbridge's plans all along. Given the company's track record of oil spills and failure to come clean about its plans, why should the Canadian public trust them now?" said Adam Scott, a spokes person for Environmental Defence. "Enbridge's plan could put the drinking water of millions of people at risk of a tar sands oil spill, all in the name of exporting more raw tar sands oil."
The Enbridge paper work, filed on October 10th, is for the second phase of their proposal to reverse a pipeline known as Line 9. If approved this will allow Enbridge to pump the dirty oil between Hamilton and Montreal. Earlier this year the NEB approved the reversal of a section of Line 9 that runs between Sarnia and Hamilton.
"Enbridge's plan to increase the volume of oil shipped through Line 9 to 300,000 barrels per day suggests this is about exporting raw oil, not domestic refining jobs," asserts Environmental Defence in a press release. They contend that the purpose of the pipeline is to pump Tar Sand oil to the East Coast for export.
"The current Line 9 leaves those of us along the route with the choice of whether to accept more of this devastation, or to step up and try to reverse it"said Toban Black, an environmental justice organizer based out of Kitchener.
"The fossil fuel industry will expand by any means possible if it is not dismantled."
He is part of a growing grassroots resistance to the pipeline project in First Nations and cities along the route of the pipeline.
"What is crucial right now is informing the public about the threats to Ontario, Québec, and the Great Lakes. The issues with this pipeline are not well-known, so people can't decide whether they want to oppose it," Black told the Toronto Media Co-op in an email.
"We must find ways to oppose this project in localities along the route."
According to Enbridge the pipeline passes through or near the following 115 communities:
- Aamjiwnaang First Nation
- Walpole Island First Nation
- Alderville First Nation
- Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point
- Chippewas of the Thames First Nation
- Hiawatha First Nation
- Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation
- Mohawks of Akwesasne
- Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte
- Munsee-Delaware First Nation
- Oneida Nation of the Thames
- Six Nations of the Grand River
- Kahnawake First Nation
- Kanesetake First Nation
- City of Belleville
- City of Brockville
- City of Burlington
- City of Cambridge
- City of Cornwall
- City of Etobicoke
- City of Hamilton
- City of Kingston
- City of London
- City of Oshawa
- City of Pickering
- City of Quinte West
- City of Sarnia
- City of Scarborough
- City of Toronto
- City of Mississauga
- County of Leeds & Grenville
–Township of Leeds & Thousand Islands
- Front of Yonge
- Lambton County
- Lennox & Addington County
- Loyalist Township
- Middlesex County
- County of Frontenac
- County of Halton
- County of Lennox & Addington
- County of Northumberland
- County of Ontario
- County of Oxford
- Loyalist Township
- Municipality of Brighton
- Municipality of Lambton Shores
- Municipality of North Middlesex
- Municipality of Port Hope
- Municipality of Tweed
- Municipality of Centre Hastings
- Municipality of Clarington
- Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc
- Municipality of Thames Centre
- Regional Municipality of Durham
- Regional Municipality of Halton
- Town of Alexandria
- Town of Ajax
- Town of Bowmanville
- Town of Deseronto
- Town of Greater Napanee
- Town of Milton
- Town of Oakville
- Town of Plympton-Wyoming
- Town of Shelburne
- Town of Whitby
- Augusta Township
- Township of Adelaide Metcalfe
- Township of Alnwick-Haldimand
- Township of Clarke
- Township of Cornwall
- Township of Cramahe
- Township of Darlington
- Township of Dawn Euphemia
- Township of East Hawkesbury
- Township of East Whitby
- Township of East Zorra-Tavistock
- Township of Edwardsburg/Cardinal
- Township of Elizabethtown
- Township of Ernestown
- Township of Lancaster
- Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands
- Township of Lansdowne
- Township of Matilda
- Township of Murray
- Township of North Dumfries
- Township of North Glengarry
- Township of North York
- Township of Osnabruck
- Township of Pittsburgh
- Township of Richmond
- Township of Sidney – City of Quinte West
- Township of South Dundas
- Township of South Glengarry
- Township of South Stormont
- Township of St. Clair
- Township of Thurlow
- Township of Tyendinaga
- Township of Warwick
- Township of Whitby
- Township of Williamsburg
- Village of Point Edward
- Ville de Laval
- Ville de Mirabel
- Ville de Montreal
- Ville de Montreal-Est
- Ville de Rigaud
- Ville de Terrebonne
- Ville de Point-Fortune
- Ville de Saint Clet
- Ville de Saint Janvier-de-Joly
- Ville de Saint-Andre-D’Argenteuil
- Ville de Sainte Anne-des-Plaines
- Ville de Sainte-Justine-deNewton
- Municipalité de Très-SaintRédempteur
Tim Groves is an investigative researcher and journalist based in Toronto. He can be reached at timgrovesreports [@] gmail.com. For more information on his work and writing, click here.
