Keeping dialogue about pipelines going
Re Indigenous self-determination the real force behind another pipeline’s dead end, Sept. 6
I am writing in response to this opinion piece from writers Stewart Phillip and Tara Houska that made statements about our Line 3 Replacement Project.
First and foremost, the Line 3 Replacement Project is about enhancing safety. In making a safe pipeline safer, Enbridge is replacing infrastructure that is critical to our society, much like a highway, a bridge or an airport.
Secondly, it’s important to recognize the broad support this project has among governments, landowners and Indigenous communities. That’s due in part to an engagement effort that included more than 150 Indigenous communities in Canada as far as 300 kilometres from the pipeline right-of-way.
We have co-operative agreements with 95 Indigenous communities and groups that will generate approximately $275 million in contracting and labour spending with Indigenous businesses in Canada. We’re proud to say that today there are more than 480 Indigenous people working on the project, and that number will grow as construction ramps up.
In Minnesota, we’ve engaged extensively with tribes, and have made route modifications in order to respect their views.
Recently, we entered an agreement with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa that respects tribal sovereignty and protects the environment. Additionally, we have committed to investing $100 million with U.S. tribes, including training, contracting and hiring.
On both sides of the border, we have taken our engagement program to new levels with the Line 3 Replacement Project. Enbridge remains committed to ongoing dialogue about the energy we all need. Leo Golden, Enbridge vice-president of the Line 3 project, Calgary A full page ad in the Star on Thursday appears to have been placed by the Province of Alberta. The ad urges Canadians to find a way to get the Trans Mountain Pipeline built so that our oil resource can get to a waiting market.
The ad states that the present delay is costing Canadians $40 million every day, making it abundantly clear we all have a stake in this project. Otherwise, why did we buy into it in the first place? Al Truscott, Collingwood