Media Release
July 14 2014
Updates / Pics: @risingtidetor
Enbirdge has no integrity. No Digs. No Pipeline.
Etobicoke, ON (Rexdale Blvd. and Kipling Ave.) — G.T.A. residents are blocking access to work being done on a section of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline in Etobicoke, Ontario (123 Rexdale Blvd – behind the Shopper’s Drugmart and Bowlerama). Blockaders turned away workers from the site where Enbridge is doing construction necessary before the reversed Line 9 can go into operation.
“The work being done on the pipeline is not a solution, it’s barely a band-aid,” says Lana Goldberg, one of the blockaders. “Line 9 has nearly 13,000 instances of corrosion, cracks, and dents but they’re addressing only a few hundred. Further, they refuse to do the hydrostatic test requested by the province.”
“We have stopped work at this site today because every inch of every pipeline is a risk to our most basic need as living beings, water, and threatens our homes and communities.”
The work site being blockaded today is is adjacent to a densely populated part of the city and if Line 9 gets turned on local residents will be at risk. International pipeline expert, Richard Kuprewicz, has given a 90% likelihood of rupture within 5 years.
The blockaders point to the disastrous rupture of an ExxonMobil pipeline that sent a river of oil through a suburban neighborhood in Mayflower, Arkansas.
The spill forced residents to either move away or face chronic health problems as it has proved impossible to fully clean up. Enbridge’s record is even worse. When Enbridge’s line 6b ruptured and spilled into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010, millions of litres of oil spilled and have so far proven impossible to clean up.
“This construction site is part of an integrity digs,” added Meghan Mills. “But to anyone watching the Line 9 issue, its clear Enbridge has no integrity. This work on the line is just a band-aid, a flimsy patch over the most outrageous flaws in the Line 9 plan.”
The Chippewas of the Thames are challenging the NEB approval of Line 9 in court yet Enbridge is continuing to do work on the pipeline. “While they claim otherwise, Enbridge has consistently failed to meaningfully consult with the first nations communities their projects run through and threaten the lives & culture of,” Meghan Mills explains.
“Line 9 is in direct conflict with first nations treaties and we are here in opposition to Enbridge’s reckless and illegal activity.”
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