Transcription by André Faust (June 10, 2017)
André Faust: I’m here with Mark D’Arcy of the Council of Canadians. In your press release, you made reference to secrecy in relationship to the pipeline. In what context do you mean that?
Mark D’Arcy: Energy will be the largest pipeline project ever constructed here in North America. There is a two-year review process, it been held up because a controversy and the original National Energy Board Panel actually was forced to resign and so this whole project has been delayed. One obstacle after another being put off by the government’s unwillingness to be public with the law of risks associated with the tar sands and the bitumen pipeline.
So here in New Brunswick, we had no public meetings only one by the city of Edmunston because of their watershed, drinking water watershed being traversed by the proposed pipeline route that is it!
No other public meetings in the province whatsoever over the last three years four years this project review, and why is that. The waterways you see in behind men the St. John River, the Nashwaak River, multiple crossings by this long pipeline route over the tributaries leading into these rivers system.
Tar sand bitumen is very different from conventional oil it will actually form tar balls and then those sink to the bottom and aggressively stick to the sentiment. Very, very difficult to get the lion’s share 20 to 30 percent of the bitumen will stick to these waterways after a major spill as seen by the North Saskatchewan River as seen last year as well as the Kalamazoo River in Michigan back in 2010.
A lot of these risks of the tar sand bitumen pipeline the government and its proponents, TransCanada and Irving do not want the public to know about them.
The watershed there is catastrophic long-term damage to the waterways and acutely the communities along the pipeline route there is a severe acute health risk to be exposed to a tar sand bitumen pipeline spill.
There would have to be early warning air raid sirens installed in the communities along the waterways where a potential spill would enter. People would have to be evacuated immediately because of the very neural toxic chemicals that are used to dilute the tar sands bitumen.
This is not something you fool around with and unfortunately there are has been no real math provided, no community notification along the pipeline route here in New Brunswick, and you when you look at the accumulative effect of all of that, people have been left in the dark. So there is complete secrecy by TransCanada, by Irving, by the lobbyist which includes the government of New Brunswick and the Government of Canada, and they don’t want the community to know one; the route and two; the extreme risk that tar sands bitumen pipe line will put their watershed at.
André Faust: Thank you, Mark
Mark D’Arcy: Thank you.
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