Oil must be shown to be essential

Re: Notley opts for crude by rail, Nov. 29

Buying rail cars is not a solution for activist groups who do not want oil tankers on the Salish Sea.

For the past few days, tribal leaders from Washington State have been meeting in Victoria with Canada’s West Coast Indigenous leaders. For six years, these Indigenous groups and B.C. activists have protested against pipeline construction because they fear more tanker traffic on the Salish Sea is a danger to orcas, salmon, fish populations and the environment in general.

For these people the means of conveyance does not matter. They do not want more tanker traffic with heavy crude oil on the sea; many do not want fossil fuel at all.

The NDP government and the federal government must argue against the rationale that pipeline protesters have regarding oil tanker traffic on the Salish Sea, and Alberta oil’s overall effect on the earth’s environment. It must show how Canadian oil is essential to their lives if Alberta crude is to get on the sea.