It is not easy to be as optimistic as The NEWS makes it out to be with the headline “Protecting the sea” on John Harding’s Jan. 12 editorial. He wrote that those wanting to protect the Salish Sea from tankers have the B.C. Liberal government unexpectedly in their corner.
With the constant falling price of oil, it is conveniently easy for B.C. Liberals to oppose this pipeline expansion. Kinder Morgan is probably not eager to get on with it at this moment in time anyway and it could be a ploy by Premier Christy Clark to make it look like B.C. Liberals are actually respecting First Nation’s rights and being environmentally prudent.
The B.C. government is off the hook anyway because they know the Stephen Harper government already stacked the deck of the federal National Energy Board members.
It will be interesting to see when the timing is right for Kinder Morgan, if the B.C. Liberal government will proudly announce that the corporation has provided them with enough evidence for the B.C. government to now support the Trans Mountain Expansion project.
The announcement by B.C. Minister of Environment Mary Polak also has me wondering why the B.C. government is not so protective of the environment when it comes to LNG tanker traffic in the Salish Sea?
Ronda MurdockParksville