Will city follow through on tree pledge?

RE: Greening of Hamilton will make us all feel better (Sept. 28)

It’s wonderful that Hamilton is finally developing a strategy to substantially increase the number of trees in our city. But is there the council commitment to see this through? Right now a single company is cutting down thousands of trees across the rural part of the city for its so-called Line 10 pipeline replacement project. Enbridge Inc. is taking down 15 hectares of forest — more than 50 times the area that was cleared illegally on Scenic Drive.

Enbridge claims this is only a “safety and maintenance” project even though the company is replacing the existing pipe with one which can carry three times as much oil. And why is a “replacement” project also slashing through woodlands? Because more a third of the route has been changed so Enbridge can avoid the costs of going through several golf courses. Sadly it is much cheaper to sacrifice forests and agricultural lands and neither the federal regulator nor the city objected.

It is particularly ironic that thousands of trees are being sacrificed to an oil pipeline. We end up with much more carbon pollution and far fewer trees to counter its climate warming impact. With city council completely silent about Enbridge’s clear cutting, how are we to believe they will commit to increasing Hamilton’s forest canopy? Don McLean, Stoney Creek