A North Bay-based environmental organization is watching for more details when it comes to the Northern Shield Energy Corridor project.
Brennain Lloyd, coordinator of Northwatch, describes the Alberta and Ontario premier’s announcement of a proposed route for the West-East crude oil pipeline for export as a ‘slow moving project’ released on ‘a slow news day’.
“Potentially more a photo opportunity and an attention grab than a real project proposal, but we can’t take that risk,” she says. “Unfortunately, this project would be all risk and no reward for Northern Ontario.”
Lloyd says we don’t know the specifics on the route, just that it appears to be in close proximity to the natural gas pipeline along Highway 11.
She says the first issue with any new pipeline would be the disturbance to the land and water.
“The second issue is the risk of pipeline rupture,” says Lloyd. “Releases of crude oil into the land and into waterbodies which would be very challenging for clean-up and very damaging to the environment and ecosystem.”
On a global scale, she says there’s concern about the continued focus on fossil fuels.
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Lloyd also says deregulation around nation-building projects is another issue that’s being seen with the Deep Geological Repository for nuclear waste and port projects.
“That they will be sped through, and we won’t have the robust debate and examination that’s really necessary, and that projects like these require and deserve,” she says.
Overall, Lloyd says their interest is seeing if this project is going to be of benefit to Northern Ontario, or ‘of harm’.
“At this point based on the limited information available, we would say no it’s not of benefit,” she says. “It’s not a project that should move forward.”
The province says a feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
