The full spread article on the pipeline in the June 6 Sooke News Mirror was an interesting read. Some good points and also a couple of misleading points, to wit:
The article mentioned a 2012 study commissioned by Trans Mountain on the Fate and Behaviour of Diluted Bitumen Oils on Marine Waters that was conducted by Witt O’Brien’s, Polaris Applied Sciences and the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation. The WCMRC is, in fact, more than 50 per cent owned by Kinder Morgan, so that report certainly should be viewed through the lens of a serious conflict of interest.
Additionally, when Kinder Morgan noted to the Black Press that “pipelines account for about one per cent of Canada’s greenhouse emissions” we need to keep in mind that it’s not pipelines per se that are driving Canada’s GHG levels off the charts, rather it is the tar sands, whose doubling in size the pipeline will facilitate, that accounts for Canada’s large GHG output (nine per cent now, set to double in 10 years).
Jo Phillips
Otter Point