Monday, April 14, 2014 is the deadline for public comments on the Alberta Clipper pipeline to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC).
It is critical that the MPUC hear your concerns about how Line 67 will impact your community. Written comments are due at 4:30 CT on April 14, 2014. To learn more about how to submit a public comment on this risky pipeline, visit MN350.org’s website.
The MPUC hosted five public hearings along the route in March and one in St. Paul last week.
The Council of Canadians sent in comments today to the MPUC to express concerns about the risks of the Alberta Clipper pipeline including the impacts on species at risk, potential for oil spills, the impact of tar sands expansion on climate change as well as the lack of free, prior and informed consent of indigenous communities along the route.
The Alberta Clipper — also known as Line 67 — runs from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin at the very western tip of Lake Superior. The project near doubles the pipeline’s current capacity to 800,000 barrels per day (bpd). Approval has been given to increase capacity to 570,000 bpd and this expansion project is expected to be completed by July.
Line 67 has been called the linchpin for tar sands oil projects in the Great Lakes. The project is expected to pave the way for more tar sands projects around the Great Lakes including the Calumet Specialty Products-Elkhorn Industries project that would have tar sands or fracked oil shipped across the Great Lakes. Another project is Line 5 that would transport tar sands oil through the Straits of Mackinac, known as the heart of the Great Lakes.
The letter states: “We are writing to express our grave concerns about the expansion of Enbridge’s Line 67 project. The expansion project — which near doubles the pipeline’s current capacity to 800, 000 barrels per day (bpd) — threatens the drinking water and health of communities along the route and around the Great Lakes Basin. We are urging you to protect communities’ water sources and curb climate change by denying the Certificate of Need that Enbridge has applied for which would increase the amount of oil flowing through Line 67 to its maximum capacity of 800,000 bpd.”
Council of Canadians’ National Chairperson Maude Barlow recently released Liquid Pipeline: Extreme energy’s threat to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River which details plans to transport dangerous new forms of energy around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River including the Alberta Clipper expansion project.
To sign our petition calling for a ban on extreme energy, click here.
The Council of Canadians is hosting its second Protect the Great Lakes Forever Virtual Town Hall on Strategies to stop extreme energy in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin. The Virtual Town Hall will be held from 12:00 – 1:15 p.m. on Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22, 2014.
Speakers include Maude Barlow (National Chairperson, Council of Canadians), Emily Carroll (Midwest Region Director, Food & Water Watch), Pat Gibbons (Researcher, Save Our Saugeen Shores) and Myeengun Henry (Aboriginal Traditional Counselor from Chippewa of the Thames First Nation). Maude will provide an overview of extreme energy projects in the Great Lakes. Emily will talk about strategies to fight fracking. Pat will talk about his group’s success in protecting Saugeen Shores from nuclear waste. And Myeengun will discuss the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation’s challenge against the National Energy Board’s approval of the Line 9 pipeline project. To learn more and register, visit our Great Lakes webpage.
Photo: Xopher Smith Via Flckr C.C. Attribution 2.0 Generic, Lake Superior
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