iT's time 2 UNLearn the BS & ReFResh..

June 14, 2019

Letter 2 Govt: REJECT TMX PIPELINE EXPANSION!

[via letter-writing tool @ DavidSuzuki.org ] --but majorly customized, i.e. re-written by me!

[PS. TRUDEAU:  YOU ARE FIRED!]

Dear PM Trudeau & Cabinet

URGENT:   DECISION ON TRANS MOUNTAIN (TMX) PIPELINE EXPANSION

As an informed Canadian citizen & resident of Vancouver BC, I feel it’s my duty to communicate my deep concerns to Government officials over this critical life-or-death decision.  I urge you to re-consider the far-reaching & irreversible consequences of approving this TMX Expansion, & to use your position as a Government official to reject this onerous project.

The broadest-ranging effects of the TMX Pipeline Expansion relate directly to its status as a fossil-fuel mega-project that entails constructing the world's largest open-pit tar sand mine, which would wipe out 292 square kilometers of Alberta’s forests & wetlands.  Extracting & refining tar sand oil - the world’s dirtiest fuel – has already turned vast swathes of northern Alberta into a wasteland of cleared forests [critical wildlife habitat], poisoned water [eg. heavy metals from tailings] & polluted air [refineries emit increasing levels of GHGs].

Approving TMX would make a mockery of Canada’s commitment to climate action..

The world has already witnessed more than 2 decades of discussion about the reality of a warming planet, starting with the UNFCC’s 1992 Earth Summit where nearly all the world’s nations agreed on a need to stabilize GHG (CO2) concentrations:  http://unfccc.int/meetings/copenhagen_dec_2009/meeting/6295.php

17 years later in 2009, more than 100 world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen committed to limiting global warming no more than 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures - beyond which the UNFCC & other experts predict irreversible & potentially catastrophic climate change impacting coastal regions, food production, water supplies & more. Since global warming is already underway (average global temperature has risen 0.85°C since pre-industrial levels) experts believe we can’t afford a temperature increase of more than 1.2°C above today’s level. The European Commission on Climate Action states, “To stay within this ceiling, the scientific evidence shows that the world must stop the growth in global GHG emissions by 2020 at the latest, reduce them by at least half of 1990 levels by the middle of this century & continue cutting them thereafter.”

2020 is next year.  And Canada’s carbon tax, “Climate Action” & other weak initiatives have failed to slow our steep rise of CO2/GHG levels.  If ever there were a time Govt leaders had to step up & take action to protect our precious natural resources & transition to green energy policies, IT IS NOW.  As Genus Capital’s sheet reads, Canada’s economy will only benefit by moving away from fossil fuels.  Opposition to TMX is backed by science.  Green energy leads oil & gas in both number of employed & growth rate for jobs in Canada. This pipeline locks us into decades more eco-destruction & tarsands pollution, which the global scientific community is desperately trying to tell us we cannot afford if we hope to have a habitable planet in the near future..

This is not a distant threat, it is here & now.. We are living unsustainably. Easy access to cheap, abundant oil has created a high standard of living for many cultures and societies. At the same time, the extraction, refining, distribution & use of this oil – as energy & in products – is increasingly undermining many of our planet’s life forms & the fragile balance of conditions that support climate stability & human prosperity. These effects are occurring on local, regional & global scales.  The Arctic & Greenland icecaps are melting at an increasing rate of speed.  Dead fish are washing ashore in Nova Scotia, & Orcas are struggling to survive in an increasingly industry-heavy Vancouver harbour.  It is imperative that we fight climate change & the ways in which climate change is exacerbated.  Supporting the financial interests of banks & oil barons is not sustainable, & the building of additional capacity to transport oil is simply criminal.  We need to stop producing and exporting more fossil fuels.  Period.  Building more pipelines only increases production of fossil fuels:  simple math/logic.

The public interest in slowing down global warming & preventing more environmental pollution/spills must take precedence over the selfish financial interests of tar sands investors & the political interests of politicians who pander to status-quo industries desperately clinging to yesterday’s consumer-driven economics without compromise.  It is up to YOU, dear leaders, to make up for Canada’s lost time spent ignoring/ suppressing scientific imperatives.. & ACT on behalf of all Canadians to bring about a sustainable future..

We residents of BC are in panic mode over this impending TMX approval, for many reasons.  Expanding the Trans Mountain pipeline will lock in decades of increased tanker traffic & climate-destabilizing carbon emissions. It will also put the incredible ecosystems of Vancouver Harbour, the Fraser River estuary & the Salish Sea at risk from a catastrophic bitumen spill & shipping increases.  The existing & expanded proposal would deliver 890,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day to Vancouver. Oil storage capacity at Burnaby would triple, adding 14 new tanks to store another 3,900,000 barrels. The pipeline would cross more than 500 streams in the Fraser River watershed. Tanker visits would increase by 574% above 2010 levels to more than 400 oil-laden trips through Burrard Inlet, the Fraser estuary, the Gulf Islands, Haro Strait & Juan de Fuca Strait, every year.  The integrity of our waters would be forever destroyed, for questionable economics that have not even been properly analyzed or disseminated..

This is a frightening prospect that we have a responsibility to oppose.

The threat from oil tankers to Southern Resident killer whales, a listed Species At Risk, is insupportable.  Importantly, even if the project goes completely according to plan, with no oil spills & no ship strikes, the increased noise alone from more than 800 tanker transits significantly increases their risk of extinction. When cumulative effects are considered, these whales face more than 50% chance of functional extinction within the next century.  If you approve the TMX expansion anyway, the catastrophic outcome will be on your heads, to explain to your children & grandchildren.

Please read Raincoast’s Executive Summary reporting the risks posed to the Fraser River’s productive salmon populations:

https://www.raincoast.org/reports/salmon-oil-pipeline/

Being emotionally overwhelmed by the number of threats currently endangering BC's environment & the wildlife I care about, I include this link to details on exactly how the TMX Expansion would affect BC, by the unflinchingly hard-working Raincoast Conservation group:

https://www.raincoast.org/trans-mountain-pipeline/

Canada’s recent policy changes aimed at reducing carbon emissions will be undermined by the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Building major infrastructure for oil and gas exportation will have catastrophic implications for decades to come. 

Please take every reasonable action to reject the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Sincerely,

Sarah (Saz) Chesterman
Vancouver, BC