Karen Campbell, Staff Counsel with the Pembina Institute's BC Energy Solutions program, made the following statement in response to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's release of the final Terms of Reference for the environmental review of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline:
"The proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway project would result in a 30 per cent increase in average daily oilsands output, with major environmental consequences, but the environmental assessment of the project will ignore these impacts.
"The oilsands are already Canada's fastest growing source of greenhouse gas pollution, and production related to the Enbridge pipeline would produce an estimated 6.5 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year, equivalent to putting another 1.6 million cars on the road.
"Despite the magnitude of these and other environmental impacts, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has rejected recommendations to include consideration of these impacts in its environmental review. This calls into question the adequacy of the entire review process for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline."
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The Pembina Institute is a non-partisan sustainable energy think tank.
For more information contact:
Karen Campbell, Staff Counsel
The Pembina Institute
Cell: (604) 928-2258
karenc@pembina.org
The fact sheet Opening the Door to Oilsands Expansion: The Enbridge Oilsands Pipeline outlines the key oilsands impacts resulting from the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. It can be downloaded from www.pembina.org/pubs.