By the Editorial Board, Ottawa Citizen, October 12, 2016
Save the river, reject the pipeline
Re: An overflow of sewage-tank PR, Oct. 12.
The announcement by the municipal, provincial and federal governments of $232 million to protect the Ottawa River is great. However, I would take this one step further and it won’t cost us a dime.
An independent report commissioned by the Council of Canadians and Ecology Ottawa warns us that if there is an oil spill in the Mississippi or Rideau rivers, the quantity of oil released will be 13 million to 18 million litres. The Energy East pipeline will pump 1.1 million barrels of diluted bitumen per day through a 40-year-old pipeline built for natural gas. A spill will deprive Ottawa and Gatineau citizens of access to drinking water and cause interruption of recreational activities as well as loss of income-related to tourism.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/todays-letters-rivers-and-pipelines-dont-mix