[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
