— by Margie Doyle —
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“Salish Sea Stands” day of action today, [January 16] started at the Eastsound Waterfront Park as representatives of the organization and the public met to protest Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion to the United States. The Trans Mountain Pipeline, owned by Kinder Morgan, received approval from the Canadian government to proceed.
Salish Sea Stands Orcas Coordinator Mark Mayer, Orcas NoCOALition member Michael Riordan, Jay Julius of the Lummi Nation, County Councilman Rick Hughes and Director of the Friends of the San Juans Stephanie Buffum all spoke to a gathering of about three dozen people. Youth were on hand to distribute information and signup sheets.
Hughes prefaced his remarks by reassuring the gathering that, regardless of who was in Federal government, the County Council would conduct “business as usual” in regards to matters such as environmental protection, voting rights, and immigration policies. With regard to protecting the Salish Sea from oil disasters, Hughes emphasized that dangers come from increased tanker traffic of all sorts. With the Canadian government’s approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline last week. Hughes pointed out that the Salish Sea is “the roundabout” for traffic in the Georgia Strait and Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. He said that in his work with the US-Canadian environmental agencies such as Islands Trust, we may obtain funding to obtain more oil spill response equipment, including tugboat protection. He welcomes letters and conversations about ways to protect the Salish Sea; and that support and input from the public will “direct which way the county goes.”
Michael Riordan introduced Jay Julius of the Lummi as a leader in opposition to the Cherry Point Coal Terminal near Bellingham and the traditional fishing grounds of the Lummi tribes. Julius said, “It is an honor to come home where my great grandparents walked the land.“ He spoke of the common sense required now: “We’ve got to take a look at where we are today, and ask, ‘Are we okay with that? How does that impact us?’
“What do we do today?” Julius said future generations must work with leadership to move to clean energy.
Stephanie Buffum called the younger people at the gathering to the front and said, “We’re standing for tomorrow’s children; standing to get beyond conversations of oil spills, oil response and oil spill prevention.” She said that the 696 tanker ships that pass through San Juan – Salish Sea waters today will increase to 14,000 in the future. Buffum urged people to attend an event on February 13 in Olympia, “Salish Sea Stands on the Hill,” and to contribute to the youth canoe program.
Riordan made the announcement that the Lummi Nation has signed a Letter of Intent to purchase the Youngren salmon hatchery on Orcas Island. Jay Julius said that the Lummi Nation has a hatcheries department. “We’d love to preserve the area; and it would be a more appropriate way for Lummis to come back to the island.”
Other members of the gathering spoke of partnering with OPALCO to provide solar panels on public buildings, where possible.
At noon, many of the Orcas Island attendees left to join other events planned for the interisland ferry and Lopez, Shaw, and San Juan Islands.
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I suggest to you that Rick Hughes is doing exactly the right thing, in terms of transshipment of petroleum products through local territories.
Providing protective and spill-mitigation equipment and training, and demanding the coöperation of Canadian authorities, is the best that can be done under today’s circumstances.
We are still heavily dependent upon petroleum products, and we will continue to be dependent upon them for quite a long time, no matter what anyone might prefer or might wish for.
Trying to cut off that dependence, rather than gradually weaning ourselves off of it, is both futile and a waste of (dare I say it) energy.
Given that the world will still need petroleum for quite a long time, we must note that pipelines have proven to be a much safer transshipment method than are tanker trucks and tanker-car trains. Therefore, fighting against oil pipelines is futile, even counterproductive.
Fighting to stop coal trains will continue to be a losing proposition, while demanding close oversight and regulation of them instead would give us a chance at control.
The very same will prove to be true in the matter of oil pipelines. I strongly suggest that Rick’s proposal to regulate, to control, and to prepare for accidents will prove to be the best way to go.
Thank you Steve. Can I share your bunker? See, I agree; it’d be so nice to go “cold turkey” on oil & gas, but until we come up with stuff like solar/wind jet aircraft, we need to keep it real. And there are so many more issues driving the current “Climate Change” debate frenzy too. I’m a Sierra Club life member myself, but that happened forty years ago, and the times have, um, changed.
The overwhelming majority of the oil that will be shipped by tankers through the San Juans by Kinder Morgan will be shipped to Asian markets. With the seven fold increase in tanker traffic a spill will occur. Michael Riordan mentioned that a spill is considered contained with 13% cleanup. Not only will wildlife die, but the soils of our lands will be tarnished, tourism will dry up and property values in the islands will suffer dramatic losses. Let’s join with the First Nations of the US and Canada and the vast majority of BC residents who oppose this encroachment on human dignity. A tugboat is critical, but admitting failure before an effort to halt the project is weak kneed. Keep up with the latest on the project by reading the Times-Colonist and the Vancouver Sun.
Thom Carnevale wrote: “The overwhelming majority of the oil that will be shipped by tankers through the San Juans by Kinder Morgan will be shipped to Asian markets.”
So, what’s wrong with that? They’ve got to get it from somewhere, and pipelines and tanker-ships will still be involved. Stopping the traffic here just shifts the burden onto someone else.
Next, Thom wrote: “With the seven fold increase in tanker traffic a spill will occur.”
Obviously, his crystal ball works better than mine does. I can’t make such a definitive statement, either pro or con. Where do the statistics in that statement come from?
And then Thom adds that carrying oil by ship is somehow an “encroachment on human dignity.”
That seems to me to be merely an assemblage of emotionally-loaded trigger words with no real meaning. I don’t understand how even a disastrous oil spill could be an “encroachment on human dignity.”
Does Thom mean that getting dirty while cleaning up a spill is undignified?
Arguments based solely upon emotions, and put forth loaded with hot-button trigger words, are just not particularly convincing. Neither are they helpful.
Please, Thom, instead could we have some real facts, and some logical constructs based upon them?