Protesters read Dr. Seuss at pipeline site
Children’s story about Once-ler tree-cuting read out
A protest at the Line 10 pipeline in rural Ancaster Friday afternoon bore some resemblance to storytime, as a group read Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax” aloud to disrupt work at the construction site.
The demonstration — organized by Hamilton 350 Committee — included coalition co-ordinator Don McLean dressed in a Lorax costume, with others playing the role of a Truffula tree and the Once-ler, who as the story goes, arrived in town and started cutting down trees.
“I am the Lorax who speaks for the trees, which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please,” McLean read to a handful of workers and security staff at the Highway 5 site.
The protest was a response to Enbridge taking down almost 15 hectares of forest during work on the Line 10 Westover Segment Replacement Project.
“That 15 hectares is an area the size of Gage Park, so it’s an area of thousands and thousands of trees that have been cut down,” McLean said at the site, where roughly 15 people and one dog gathered, waving kale to represent trees.
The pipeline company sponsored a public viewing of the film “The Lorax” two summers ago in the forest, which McLean called “greenwashing.”
Jaydene Lavallie — who assembled McLean’s costume made out of a yellow onesie and deconstructed pompoms for eyebrows and a moustache — came to support the group.
“It seemed like a really nice way to get other people involved,” she said, calling it “wholesome” and “entertaining.”
The group carpooled to the site and assembled outside the construction area.
After finishing the book, they chanted: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.” And “We speak for the trees who have no tongues.”
Line 10 is a 143-kilometre pipeline that extends from Westover into the United States.
The section of pipeline being replaced — 32 kilometres of 12-inchdiameter pipe and 35 kilometres of 20-inch-diameter pipe — will connect the Calgary-based company’s Westover Terminal in Flamborough to its Nanticoke Junction Facility in Glanbrook, just east of Mount Hope.
“This is not a capacity expansion — no increase to the already approved maximum operating capacity is being applied for,” Enbridge spokesperson Jesse Semko said in a statement.
Environmental protection is a “top priority” for Enbridge, he wrote, noting the company plans to restore the area of the pipeline to as close to what it was like before construction through mulching and seeding once work is complete.
“Enbridge has committed to plant 2,000 tree seedlings on the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation reserve in 2018 in collaboration with Kayanase Greenhouse, a Six Nations business located on reserve,” Semko said.