Price too high

Dear editor:
TransCanada’s Phillipe Cannon (Kenora Daily Miner and News, May 20 and June 24, 2014) claims that pipelines are the safest and most environmentally-friendly way to transport dilbit, which is bitumen mixed with thinners like toluene and other known carcinogens, to make the oil flow.
In Kalamazoo Mich., an Enbridge pipeline carrying dilbit spilled more than three million litres into the Kalamazoo River.
The cost of clean-up is more than $1 billion and counting.
Mr. Cannon states that the pipeline will be thicker. Is the company going to replace the whole of the existing line with new pipe?
He says that the line will be buried deeper under watercourses. Whether the oil rises or falls, it will reach our lakes and rivers.
He says that pipelines produce the “fewest amount of greenhouse gases,” but forgets that the oil to be carried by the pipeline is oilsands crude.
A Canada-Alberta Review Panel authorized Shell Oil’s Jack Pine oilsands project; but admitted the project would cause “irreversible” harm to the land, which will never be restored to its original state, to the plants and animals, and to aboriginal people’s harvesting grounds.
He says that the company will be able to shut off the flow of oil if a leak is detected. How many swimming pools of oil will leak out while we wait?
He says that crews will be in place to handle spills. How many crews and where will they be located, and how long will it take to get to sites not serviced by roads?
Will we ever be able to get dilbit out of the lakes and streams? Ask the people of Grassy Narrows about the lasting effects of mercury spilled into the English-Wabigoon River system.
Mr. Cannon states that the pipeline is “vital” to Canada’s economy. Can we not create the same jobs through wind, solar, and hydro projects, by insulating our homes, reducing energy consumption, or refining the oil in Canada instead of shipping it overseas, where most of it seems to be headed?
What is “vital” to the northwest is that we keep our lakes and water safe and pure.
The price for Energy East is too high.
(Signed)
Peter Kirby
Kenora, Ont.