B.C. New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix said August 22 that, if elected premier in next year’s provincial election, he will withdraw from the federal government’s Enbridge Northern Gateway Project review process and establish his own “made-in-B.C.” environmental assessment.
“Within a week of taking office, we will serve the federal government with 30 days notice to terminate the 2010 deal in which the Liberals signed away B.C.’s interests,” Dix said. “British Columbia’s citizens, communities and First Nations must have full confidence that their voices will be heard by Victoria.”
An environmental assessment into Enbridge’s proposed oil pipeline from the Alberta oil sands through northern B.C. to Kitimat has been underway since January. The project is controversial because the project crosses more than 800 streams and waterways, and because existing Enbridge pipelines have had severe spills such as one in Marshall, Michigan, which caused oil to spill into the Kalamazoo River.
Cleanup costs for that spill have been estimated at US$800 million, making it the single most expensive onshore spill in U.S. history.
