Can you believe that there now have been at least two oil spills in the time since the public hearings started for the Enbridge pipeline?

The first spill was a natural gas pipeline owned by Enbridge that ruptured on the same day that the hearings started!

The second spill was right here in BC. This accident pushed the one existing pipeline from the tar sands to the west coast, owned by US-based multinational Kinder Morgan, back into the public eye. Working under most of the public's radar, Kinder Morgan has for the past years been trying to expand their capacity to export tar sands crude.

The Kinder Morgan pump station on Sumas Mountain in Abbotsford had a spill early on the morning of Tuesday, January 24. My phone started ringing with calls from concerned residents on Tuesday morning. Folks were concerned about noxious odours and associated head aches and nausea. Later that day the local elementary school kept all the kids indoors due to health concerns after Kinder Morgan informed locals that there had indeed been an oil spill. We spread the word to the media about what was taking place and it turned into an ongoing news story for the rest of the week.

To date, Kinder Morgan has still not told anyone what caused the spill. They have only revealed that about 690 barrels of oil were spilled and that it was contained to their facility. You may remember that this was the same pipeline that ruptured in 2007 in Burnaby.

We want to make sure that it's clear to everyone that all oil exports through BC are unacceptable, regardless of whether it's from Enbridge or Kinder Morgan. We need to stop the growth of the tar sands if we are going to do our part to stop runaway global warming. It's just that simple.

If you would like to help stop oil exports through BC, we could use your help. We are fundraising right now to help cover the costs of organizing opposition to oil tankers at the upcoming Enbridge public hearings. We are also putting together action kits for local activists who want to do grassroots organizing to raise awareness and force public hearings on the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker traffic.

This kind of on the ground organizing is exhausting and expensive. We could use all the help we can get. We wouldn't ask for money unless it was important, but this is a big moment in one of the biggest environmental struggles of our generation. If you can contribute to these efforts it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Ben West | Healthy Communities Campaigner
Wilderness Committee