“There is no pipeline debate – there is just a pipeline fight”
Photo by Wendy Shepherd
On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 16, protesters gathered in downtown Guelph to rally against the reversal of Line 9, an oil pipeline that runs between Ontario and Quebec.
Organized by the Guelph Anti-Pipeline Action Group (GAP), the protest began at the Guelph Farmers Market and proceeded to march up Wilson Street to rally in front of City Hall.
One protester shouted, “It’s about our world, our future, our children, our children’s future.” Another said, “This is the last chance for us to send a message to Prime Minister Harper that he really has to rethink about stopping the reversal of Line 9.”
Line 9 is owned by Calgary-based energy company, Enbridge Inc. Since the 1990s, the pipeline has pumped oil westward from Montreal to Sarnia, Ontario. The west-to-east reversal would give Quebec refineries access to domestic bitumen – originating from the Alberta’s oil sands – in a move Enbridge says will save Quebec refineries billions of dollars in the coming decades.
In addition, the reversal would increase the pipeline’s capacity to 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day, up from the current 240,000 barrels.
The National Energy Board (NEB) is currently in talks to approve the application of reversal of Line 9, but the final hearing was postponed after protestors disrupted those proceedings.
Activists argue that the reversal would jeopardize the Beverly Swamp and Spencer Creek wetlands, located in southern Ontario, and oppose the expansion and growth of the oil sands altogether. A statement on the Swamp Line 9 website reads: We are against “toxic diluted bitumen from the Alberta Tar Sands [flowing] through our communities and watersheds.”
“The development of the oil sands is reckless,” echoed one of the protestors at the Guelph protest. “The environment is at risk wherever the crude bitumen is extracted or transported.”
According to Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli, “Ontario won’t conduct its own environmental assessment of a plan to reverse the flow of the Line 9 oil pipeline that runs through the province.”
Working in partnership with the Idle No More campaign, the protestors also claim that crude flowing through the reversed pipeline would be more corrosive and would stress the aging infrastructure, increasing the chance of a leak.
Line 9 crosses the traditional territory of Channonton, Mississagi Anishinabec, and Onondoawaga people, affecting both the Grand River and Six Nations people who are opposing the oil line.
Donna Jenison of GAP said, “People need to wake up and become active citizens… Decisions are not always made in or for the public good”
Nation-wide protests against the reversal of Line 9, including the one held in Guelph, aim to do more than just bring attention to the debate. According to the Swamp Line 9 website, “there is no pipeline debate – there is just a pipeline fight.”