Line 9: The tar sands come to Ontario

Line 9 was built in 1975 to transport imported oil from Montreal to refineries in Sarnia. Enbridge has now applied to Canada’s National Energy Board to reverse its direction of flow so that it can transport oil from Sarnia to Montreal. Enbridge admits that among the possible uses of Line 9 is transporting “heavy oil” a category that includes bitumen, the hazardous raw material extracted from tar sands. The pipeline passes through cities, watersheds, rivers, and farmland. 9.1 million people live within 50 km of line 9, including 18 first nations communities and 115 communities in total. (Sarnia, Hamilton, North York, Kingston, etc.)