Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline in Canada is the newest proposed assault on the lands and waters of Canada and the U.S, as well as on international waters and the many tribal and other fishing and eco-tourist economies throughout the Pacific Ocean and smaller affected seas, inlets, and straits, of which there are many. The Trans Mountain Pipeline expansions and concurrent export terminal expansions will affect many U.S. lands, watersheds, and ocean routes, especially out west in the environmentally sensitive and rich but fragile ecosystems in the Chukchi Sea (Aleutian Islands & Arctic ecosystem) and the Salish Sea, off the Washington and southern BC coasts. The increased tanker passages would concentrate in these areas, but also affect a much larger coastal area as well as the entire Pacific Ocean.
Kinder Morgan claims to employ over 11,000 people. How many more jobs and viable clean economies will be lost to their pollution and negligence? Who will clean up another of their oil spills? Who will pay for cleanup? How would the benefits outweigh the risks? To read more about some of Kinder Morgan's bribes, blunders, and violations, read Sightline Institute's report here.
There is only ONE way that the U.S. can have a voice in the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion review process. Our legislative representatives and the Department of Ecology in various affected states (in this case, Washington State and other affected Pacific States) must put in a formal request for Intervenor Status, and time is urgent to convince your representatives to do so. Please ask/demand your representatives and your state Department of Ecology to apply for Intervenor Status. The deadline is Feburary 12th.
Trans Mountain is just one monstrous head of the many-headed Hydra of oil pipelines and export terminals blighting Canada and the U.S.A. The U.S.A. is the world's largest importer and consumer of oil. So, one wonders, why are the U.S. and Canada risking future life on Planet Earth to export our crude oil, bitumen, petcoke, and coal to be refined by China and Asia, and the refined products likely sold back to the U.S. for huge profit? To export these substances to Asia for refining will pollute China's and our air from China's coal burning. The oil, bitumen, and petcoke exports will endanger our oceans and all coastal economies. In my opinion, this is criminally insane action concocted by psychopaths. Please act now.
For further reasons why this makes no economic or environmental sense, here's Sightline's sobering and informative related article about the Asian Coal Bubble, and the why the related coal export plan engineered by Peabody, partnered with Kinder Morgan, will be a giant fail.
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