Energy East: Our Risk, Their Reward

From April 7-16, the Council of Canadians, with local partners, will be visiting communities across Ontario to talk about why TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline is all risk and little reward for Ontarians.

TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline project would convert a 40 year-old natural gas pipeline from Saskatchewan to Ontario, connecting it with new pipeline through Quebec and on to Saint John, New Brunswick. Transporting 1.1 million barrels of oil every day, it would be the largest oil pipeline in North America.

Join Council of Canadians Chairperson Maude Barlow and Eriel Deranger of the Athabasca Fort Chipewyan First Nation to hear more about how the Energy East Pipeline project is “Our risk – their reward.” Each tour stop also features a local guest speaker and video presentation about the diluted bitumen pipeline spill in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

(Ecosocialism Canada editor Ian Angus will speak at the Kemptville meeting, April 15)

Tour dates:

• Monday, April 7 ­–  Kenora 7:00 p.m.
  Knox United Church, 116 Fifth Ave S (map)
• Wednesday April 9 – Thunder Bay 7:00 p.m.
  Lakehead Labor Centre, 929 Fort William Rd (map)
• Saturday, April 12 – North Bay 7:00 p.m. (doors open 6:30)
  Canada Room, Royal Canadian Legion, 150 First Ave W (map)
• Sunday, April 13 – Ottawa 7:00 p.m. (doors open 6:30)
  Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank St (map)
• Tuesday, April 15 – Kemptville 7:00 p.m. (doors open 6:30)
  North Grenville Municipal Centre Theatre (map)
• Monday, April 28 – Cornwall 7:00 p.m.
  The Social, Conference & Event Centre, 130 Sydney St (map)

The tour is taking place at the same time as Ontario Energy Board consultations on the implications of the Energy East pipeline for the province. These consultations are an important platform to have our voices heard, and encourage our provincial government to stand up for Ontarians against this broken pipeline plan. Free admission to all events.

Background Information:

Ontario is a key battleground for the TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline.

• The conversion of an existing gas pipeline, which would transport oil across major waterways in Ontario, raises heightened concerns about the potential for a major spill or rupture.
• Diluted bitumen produced in the tar sands is unlike conventional oil ­– a spill would have devastating environmental impacts that are nearly impossible to clean up as seen with the Enbridge pipeline spill in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
• The pipeline would result in more than 650,000 barrels per day of additional tar sands production, which means even more toxic exposure for downstream communities.
• The increased production would also generate up to 32 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year –  equivalent to the annual emissions of all the cars in Ontario
• The vast majority of the tar sands oil that will be pumped through the Energy East pipeline will be exported. We get all the risk, they get all the reward.

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