Update: Directly Affected

By Brian Kingman

Some fifty people, a mix of older and younger folks attended the viewing of the University of the Fraser Valley produced film, “Directly Affected”. The film presented a slick overview on the possible dangers of shipping crude oil via a pipeline to the Pacific Coast for export to many global destinations. The film was quite professional, but the event organization was not as smooth due to the absence of a microphone, some special guests and a somewhat lengthy ceremonial procedure. There were many questions from the audience that were unable to be answered due to a Q&A panel who seemed unprepared and in my opinion, ill informed in regard to several questions that were asked about the actual workings of the current existing Trans Mountain pipeline.

There were several people in the audience that could have contributed meaningful answers, but this venue was by nature, against the construction of the second line and surely the facts surrounding the answers to questions such as separating the chemical ingredients in the Diluted Bitumen; or more commonly known as Dilbit; a bitumen diluted with one or more lighter petroleum products, typically natural-gas condensates such as naptha gas. Diluting bitumen Tar Sands crude makes it much easier to transport in pipelines. Other questions posed and unanswered included basic ones such as the depth in the ground of the existing pipe. 

Some panel members reported a doom-and-gloom on the horizon for not only B.C. but also for Canada and the world too. One panel member discussed the risk of a pipeline oil spill that could pollute the Fraser River and would wipe out the world’s largest Salmon runs. Disasters do happen but there was no discussion of the tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil traveling through the lower mainland daily by tanker cars on a train carriers that pose much greater chance of a disastrous oil spill than what a pipeline presents. 

In my opinion, that was a focus point that the environmental expert panel could have made some compelling arguments to gain political will that is needed to have the cooperative environmentalists gathered last night and gain the needed credibility for each of their specific organizations.