Cullen, environmentalists not impressed -- but Enbridge welcomes announcement

A federal cabinet minister will be in Terrace today, for what's being billed as an announcement about "enhancing engagement with Aboriginal people in the development of energy infrastructure". Joe Oliver will make the announcement at the longhouse at Northwest Community College this morning at 9.

Yesterday, Oliver was in Vancouver, where he announced the Harper Government had tabled a bill to improve oil tanker safety off the B-C Coast.   The proposal includes annual tanker inspections, more fines for polluters and a review of the current liability fund for offshore oil spills. 

Oliver said the measures should help address public concerns in B-C about oil tankers of the West Coast.

"We are committed to world-class safety on land in pipelines, and on the sea in tankers,'' declared Oliver

B-C Environment Minister Terry Lake says the announcement is a good start, but Eoin Madden of the Wilderness Committee says the federal safety plan provides little comfort to B-C residents, especially considering recent closures to Coast Guard operations that have left coastal communities far less equipped to deal with a potential oil spill.

And Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen called it a "Greenwashing exercise", saying it's an attempt to distract from the real and serious environmental, social and economic threat the Northern Gateway pipeline poses to British Columbia.  He says it does not come close to addressing the real concerns that Canadians have about oil spills on the BC coast -- and he pointed to calculations by a 25-year veteran in the oil spill response industry, which used Enbridge's own research to show a 8.7 percent to 14.1 percent chance of a major oil spill in the project's first fifty years.

But Enbridge's  Todd Nogier said the company welcomes the federal government's announcement.   Speaking in Prince Rupert yesterday, where the Joint Review Panel hearings into the project are continuing, Nogier said Enbridge  will look at the new safety enhancements to ensure their response plans surpass the federal expectations.

"We feel very strong in that, we share the committment with the federal government, which is why we have gone through such great lengths to ensure that our marine plant has world class safety meassures inherited in its plan and that we have a marine emergency response program that far exceeds regulations, so we have a shared committment and a shared objective and that is to facilitate trade that benefits all Canadians and we do so safetly to protect the coastline," said Nogier.