Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Tuesday April 10 2018, @05:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the rejecting-the-dirtiest-energy dept.

Common Dreams reports

Environmental and indigenous groups are cheering after Kinder Morgan announced Sunday [April 8] it was halting most work on its controversial Trans Mountain expansion pipeline project, citing continuing opposition. Map of proposed route

"This is a sign that organizing works, and it could well be the beginning of the end for this dangerous pipeline", declared Clayton Thomas-Muller, a Stop-it-at-the-Source campaigner with 350.org.

"This is huge", added British Columbia-based advocacy group Dogwood.

In the company's statement announcing the move, chairman and CEO Steve Kean said Kinder Morgan was suspending "all non-essential activities and related spending" as a result of the "current environment" that puts shareholders at risk.

"A company cannot resolve differences between governments", he added, referencing resistance from B.C. lawmakers that is at odds with support for the project coming from Ottawa and neighboring Alberta. "While we have succeeded in all legal challenges to date, a company cannot litigate its way to an in-service pipeline amidst jurisdictional differences between governments", Kean said.

Unless legal agreements are reached by May 31, Kean said that "it is difficult to conceive of any scenario in which we would proceed with the project". (There are still 18 pending court cases that could thwart the project, the Wilderness Committee notes.)

B.C. Premier John Horgan, for his part, said in a statement Sunday, "The federal process failed to consider B.C.'s interests and the risk to our province. We joined the federal challenge, started by others, to make that point."

[...] Greenpeace Canada's climate and energy campaigner Mike Hudema, said:

Investors should note that the opposition to this project is strong, deep, and gets bigger by the day. This announcement shows that this widespread opposition has reached critical mass. British Columbians' desire to protect clean water, safeguard the environment, and stand behind Indigenous communities cannot be ignored or swept under the rug. We encourage Kinder Morgan to shelve this project before the litany of lawsuits, crumbling economics, and growing resistance against the pipeline does it for them.

While the company "looks ready to pack it in", said Wilderness Committee Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney, the opposition is "not going anywhere until this pipeline no longer poses a threat to the coast, the climate, and Indigenous communities along the route".


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by dwilson on Wednesday April 11 2018, @12:30AM (2 children)

    by dwilson (2599) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 11 2018, @12:30AM (#665159) Journal

    while BC residents look at the massive ecological disasters that oil spills create and, wisely, choose not to push their luck with another environmental-disaster-looking-to-happen.

    Pipeline-protesting has been in the news up here in canada for several years now, for various different pipeline projects. I've often wondered why the companies behind the pipelines don't take the following approach...

    "So, you don't want a pipeline through your area, and you cite fear of a breach leading to a spill leading to an ecological disaster? Fair enough! If you're that worried about the safety of pipeline technology, we won't build it. INSTEAD, we will send the projected daily capacity of the pipeline through your area by tanker truck. On your roads and highways. Every day, for a month. Let us know when you want the (-far- more) dangerous trucks to stop moving the product, and we'll talk about the much safer (and cheaper, for everyone) pipeline we'd like to build..."

    --
    - D
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 11 2018, @07:41AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 11 2018, @07:41AM (#665276)

    Because:
    1/ that would be very expensive and pointless to do.
    2/ Lawsuits would stop it instantly.
    3/ It would only take a couple of sympathetic local cops to put every one of those trucks off the road for as long as the cops feel like. There isn't a truck on the road that a cop can't find a fault in if they want to.
    4/ I cannot think of any tactic more well designed to kill a company than to align every possible enemy against it by acting as such an arrogant bully.

    • (Score: 1) by dwilson on Wednesday April 11 2018, @08:41PM

      by dwilson (2599) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 11 2018, @08:41PM (#665537) Journal

      In no particular order...

      point 4: Humans suck at assessing risk. A tactic like that would help to get the point across, that a pipeline, while dangerous, really is the least-problematic option when compared to moving product by truck. Or by train, for that matter. I'd expect their PR department to stress than point.

      point 2: Lawsuits may be filed instantly, but unless you can point out which existing laws they are breaking by doing so, I don't expect they'd go anywhere. The lawyers would win, as usual...

      point 1: Expensive, yes. Pointless? Not if it gets their point across. And if anyone has money to burn, it's the energy companies.

      point 3: 'cops'. RCMP? not so much. unless the trucks are speeding or breaking other traffic laws, they won't give two fucks. The DOT, aka commercial vehicle enforcement cops? Sure, if they look hard enough they can find a fault in any trucker's rig. But DOT is federally directed, and in most of these cases the federal government has given it's blessing to the pipeline projects, it's (very) localized opposition, amplified entirely out of proportion by the internet and non-local bandwagon support, that's causing the problems. The DOT won't give two fucks.

      --
      - D