Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation blasted Enbridge for “too little focus on safety” that led to a disastrous tar sands oil spill in Michigan two years ago, and compared the company’s response to the “Keystone cops.”
It could be a taste of things to come for Ontario, since the pipeline
company wants to ship tar sands oil through the province.
Environmental Defence called on Ontario to protect its rivers and
lakes from oil spills, noting that a tar sands oil spill is harder to
clean up than normal oil. Enbridge is facing fines for 24 pipeline
safety violations in Michigan, and as such, shouldn’t be given the okay
to transport tar sands oil through its aging Line 9 pipeline. The
company wants to change the direction of this pipeline so it can ship
tar sands oil east from Sarnia.
“We can’t sit back and trust Enbridge to protect our water given
their behaviour in Michigan. But with federal rules now weaker, we’re
asking the province to protect Ontario’s land and water from a dangerous
tar sands oil spill,” said Gillian McEachern of Environmental Defence.
“If an oil spill happens, people will look to the province to clean up
the mess, so we’re asking them to be proactive now.”
