The Martlet

With the Northern Gateway pipeline project hearings now underway, fossil fuel industry supporters are fiercely debating with those that oppose the 1 172 kilometres dual pipelines that would run from the Alberta tarsands to Kitimat on the B.C. coast. Although the proposed pipeline is enjoying support from federal and provincial government and many who work in the oil industry, Enbridge, the company that is pushing the project, is now almost synonymous with environmental destruction in many communities in B.C. and across Canada. So it’s slightly shocking to see that the title sponsorship for the B.C. Cancer Foundation’s largest annual fundraiser is Enbridge.

The Ride to Conquer Cancer (now called the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer) is the B.C. Cancer Foundation’s biggest fundraiser for cancer research. It’s a two-day bike ride that follows a route from Vancouver to Seattle. The annual Ride started four years ago and Enbridge got involved last year as the title sponsor. Their current commitment is to sponsor the Ride from 2011–2013.

Several ironic and enraging issues arise when you think about Enbridge sponsoring a cancer fundraiser in B.C. The first is that Enbridge is in the oil business and petroleum is a known source of carcinogens. It seems incongruous that a company whose viability depends on transporting a substance associated with carcinogens is the title sponsor of a cancer fundraiser.

With hearings expected to continue for the next 18 months, Enbridge’s name is in the news nearly everyday; and for the most part, not in a good way. The project and company are very unpopular in most of B.C., especially in the region where it proposes to lay its dual pipelines.

Enbridge already created a public relations mess when the company it contracted to survey land for a potential terminal site cut down 14 culturally modified trees that were important to the cultural history of Haisla First Nations people in the region. The matter was handled appallingly and to this day is not resolved. This is a company that wants residents of B.C. to trust them with not spilling oil all over pristine wilderness and delicate ecosystems.

Energy analyst and geologist David Hughes wrote a report with high criticism of the pipeline project back in November. Hughes, who worked for Natural Resources Canada for 32 years, brings up several reasons the project is not in the national interest of Canada and will jeopardize long-term energy security for Canadians. One thing he points out is that Enbridge actually improvised its oilsands growth projections. Hughes says that Enbridge used figures from the Canadian Association of Oil Producers (CAPP) to support the project, but they took the figures from the most optimistic growth scenario of oil production, and then extended them even further, based on, apparently, nothing at all. Certainly not CAPP’s numbers according to Hughes, although Enbridge attributes the numbers to the association.

Enbridge is clearly a company that is trying to pull the wool over Canadians’ eyes and it is using some savvy public relations tricks to make us think otherwise. The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer is a good example of the “green washing” the company is accomplishing (Look guys! Enbridge hates cancer too!). Luckily more and more people are realising this; which is presumably why the B.C. Cancer foundation has now supplied talking points to staff on how to answer questions from people who are wary of Enbridge’s association with the fundraiser.

We need to find out everything there is to know about Enbridge — that includes the good and the bad — before we put B.C.’s lakes, streams and lands into their hands.