Canadian envoy defends pipelines after hundreds protest in Maine
The Canadian government has moved to shield the oil industry from yet another public-relations storm related to pipelines — this time on the U.S. East Coast.
Canada’s envoy to New England penned an editorial published in a Maine newspaper Monday, two days after more than 1,000 protesters in the state expressed concern Alberta oil could soon flow across the region.
Consul General Pat Binns wrote in the Portland Press Herald op-ed that the environmental record of oilsands production has improved in recent years. “Technology is making oilsands production increasingly efficient and environmentally responsible,” said Binns, who has served as premier of Prince Edward Island and as Canadian ambassador to Ireland.
He also dismissed allegations diluted oilsands bitumen is more corrosive in pipelines than other crudes: “Pipelines have proven to be safer than all other methods of transport, including trucks, rail and ships,” Binns wrote.
The response comes as projects to send oilsands crude to the West Coast and the U.S. Gulf Coast have been stalled amid controversy, and oilpatch producers are searching for new ways to transport Canadian oil to market.
The Maine protesters on Saturday opposed the prospect of Western Canadian oil eventually being pumped through an existing pipeline between Montreal and Portland, the state’s largest city.
Demonstrators marched through Portland to a rally, where Mayor Michael Brennan and Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree delivered speeches about the serious environmental risk of allowing heavy oil from Alberta to cross northern New England.
No plan has actually been announced for such changes to the pipeline, but opposition to such a project has grown on both sides of the border.
Opponents say Alberta crude is more likely to cause spills and could put fragile ecosystems in Quebec, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont at risk.
They point to a recent proposal by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. to reverse the flow on Line 9 between southern Ontario and Montreal. That project would see Alberta crude sent to Montreal.
People who live in communities along the PortlandMontreal Pipe Line believe the Line 9 initiative could eventually open the door for a reversal on the New England pipeline, which currently pumps foreign oil from the U.S. seacoast to refineries in Montreal.