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Mayor Jim Watson isn’t taking sides on the Energy East pipeline, even though the oil-transporting line would cut through rural Ottawa.
“I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there and we have to do a better job as elected officials, but at the same time I think before anyone jumps to conclusions and jumps on one bandwagon or the other, let the National Energy Board do its work,” Watson said Thursday after a breakfast event with business leaders at Ottawa City Hall.
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi was the guest speaker at the event, using his speech to underscore his province’s dire need to export oil through the Energy East pipeline, which would transport more than one million barrels of oil daily from Alberta and Saskatchewan to New Brunswick.
“I cannot make this more clear,” Nenshi said. “Market access is not about Alberta. It is not an Alberta issue. It is a Canadian issue and every single one of us in this nation needs to care about this.”
The Energy East project in the Ottawa area — near Stittsville and across the Rideau River — would convert an existing natural gas pipe to move oil. About 3,000 kilometres of existing natural gas pipeline will be converted along the entire 4,600-kilometre route between Alberta and New Brunswick.
Watson said the City of Ottawa has observer status during the energy board’s review of the pipeline project.
“We need to ensure that we’re at the highest safety standards in the world and that there are emergency backup plans if, for instance, there is a spill,” Watson said.
Watson suggested a pipeline might be safer than other modes moving crude oil across land.
“The alternative is what we saw in Lac Mégantic and we see trains transporting oil. There are no great alternatives and we have to look and see which one is the best and the safest for our citizens,” Watson said.
Watson said as of Thursday morning he had not spoken with Nenshi about the pipeline.
Watson’s approach contrasts with that of Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, who has expressed strong opposition to the Energy East pipeline.
“At the end of the day it’s not about personalities,” Watson said. “It’s about how we get products to market, number one, and how it’s done in the most safe and efficient fashion so that if there is a spill, and there are spills all the time with pipelines as there are train derailments with oil, let’s ensure we have the necessary mechanism to clean up and not denigrate the environment.”
Nenshi is in Ottawa for a meeting of Canada’s big-city mayors, many of whom showed up to hear the Calgary mayor’s breakfast speech. There was a large presence of city security and Ottawa police at the breakfast event.
The mayors are pushing the federal government to pour infrastructure cash into cities. Nenshi wants to see the money flow as soon as possible and he’s encouraged that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated this week the federal government wants to fast-track funding in Alberta as the province struggles under a sagging oil sector.
Watson said funding for infrastructure, transit and affordable housing are at the top of his priority list during the meetings this week.
jon.willing@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/JonathanWilling
查看原文...
“I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there and we have to do a better job as elected officials, but at the same time I think before anyone jumps to conclusions and jumps on one bandwagon or the other, let the National Energy Board do its work,” Watson said Thursday after a breakfast event with business leaders at Ottawa City Hall.
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi was the guest speaker at the event, using his speech to underscore his province’s dire need to export oil through the Energy East pipeline, which would transport more than one million barrels of oil daily from Alberta and Saskatchewan to New Brunswick.
“I cannot make this more clear,” Nenshi said. “Market access is not about Alberta. It is not an Alberta issue. It is a Canadian issue and every single one of us in this nation needs to care about this.”
The Energy East project in the Ottawa area — near Stittsville and across the Rideau River — would convert an existing natural gas pipe to move oil. About 3,000 kilometres of existing natural gas pipeline will be converted along the entire 4,600-kilometre route between Alberta and New Brunswick.
Watson said the City of Ottawa has observer status during the energy board’s review of the pipeline project.
“We need to ensure that we’re at the highest safety standards in the world and that there are emergency backup plans if, for instance, there is a spill,” Watson said.
Watson suggested a pipeline might be safer than other modes moving crude oil across land.
“The alternative is what we saw in Lac Mégantic and we see trains transporting oil. There are no great alternatives and we have to look and see which one is the best and the safest for our citizens,” Watson said.
Watson said as of Thursday morning he had not spoken with Nenshi about the pipeline.
Watson’s approach contrasts with that of Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, who has expressed strong opposition to the Energy East pipeline.
“At the end of the day it’s not about personalities,” Watson said. “It’s about how we get products to market, number one, and how it’s done in the most safe and efficient fashion so that if there is a spill, and there are spills all the time with pipelines as there are train derailments with oil, let’s ensure we have the necessary mechanism to clean up and not denigrate the environment.”
Nenshi is in Ottawa for a meeting of Canada’s big-city mayors, many of whom showed up to hear the Calgary mayor’s breakfast speech. There was a large presence of city security and Ottawa police at the breakfast event.
The mayors are pushing the federal government to pour infrastructure cash into cities. Nenshi wants to see the money flow as soon as possible and he’s encouraged that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated this week the federal government wants to fast-track funding in Alberta as the province struggles under a sagging oil sector.
Watson said funding for infrastructure, transit and affordable housing are at the top of his priority list during the meetings this week.
jon.willing@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/JonathanWilling
查看原文...
