Blog Archives

Pipeline update

2/12/2020

Thank you for your opposition to the new Enbridge fracked gas pipeline across rural Hamilton! There has been important momentum in the last few weeks, and we hope that will continue.

If you live in the Hamilton area, and wish to become actively part of the committee working to stop it, please email don.mclean@cogeco.ca.

You can also do more by asking your friends to sign the on-line petition at https://www.change.org/p/ontario-energy-board-stop-the-enbridge-fracked-gas-pipeline-in-hamilton-ontario. And you will likely want to attend the Feb 13 (this Thursday) free public talk by Jack Gibbons at the Hamilton Central Library starting at 7 pm. Jack is the Chair of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance which is also opposing the Hamilton pipeline. The meeting is co-sponsored by the Hamilton 350 Committee.

Many individuals and organizations have written to the Ontario Energy Board urging it to include climatic impacts in its pipeline hearings. Some of those letters are posted on the OEB website at http://www.rds.oeb.ca/HPECMWebDrawer/Record?q=CaseNumber%3DEB-2019-0159&sortBy=recRegisteredOn-&pageSize=400 along with other submissions and documents. We know many more letters have been submitted but have not yet appeared on this site. You may want to monitor it.

The registered intervenors in the hearings have also posted submissions, usually by their lawyers, and are adopting conflicting positions on the climate issue. Groups like the Ontario Power Producers and the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters are opposing inclusion of climatic matters. So is a submission by STAFF of the OEB (the Board is the decision-maker).

Other groups like the Green Energy Coalition (representing several groups including the Hamilton 350 Committee) and Environmental Defence support examination of the climatic consequences of Enbridge pipeline. So does a particularly compelling submission by the School Energy Coalition. The City of Hamilton submissions are also posted on the website as well as comments of the Hamilton Conservation Authority.

Apologies to Councillor Maria Pearson who DID participate in council’s vote on Friday. We mistakenly credited Chad Collins with participating in city council’s vote on Friday on the Enbridge fracked gas pipeline. Collins was there for part of the day, but left before the vote. Pearson stayed and voted.

Hamilton Conservation Authority takes strong position on Enbridge pipeline!

2/7/2020

Public pressure with respect to the fracked gas pipeline that Enbridge wants to run across rural Hamilton is having an effect! Pasted below is a resolution adopted unanimously last night by the Hamilton Conservation Authority board after hearing a presentation by Hamilton 350. You will be pleased to read it. The resolution was moved by councillor Brad Clark and seconded by board member Jim Cimba. This is a significant step forward in our efforts to stop the proposed pipeline across rural Hamilton, and another reason to send a letter to the Ontario Energy Board if you haven't done so already.

MEDIA RELEASE: Hamilton asked if pipelines are related to climate change

2/5/2020

For Immediate Release – February 4, 2020
OEB wondering if pipelines are connected to climate change
OEB asking the City of Hamilton and others

Could a new fracked gas pipeline affect climate change?

It’s 2020 and the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) is wondering if it should consider the climate emergency when it reviews the proposed brand new 48” Enbridge fracked gas pipeline across rural Hamilton (called Enbridge 2021 Dawn Parkway Expansion, file number EB-2019-0159).

The OEB is asking the City of Hamilton (an intervenor) and others for written comments by 4:45 pm on Monday, February 10 on whether it’s important to look at the climate-wrecking greenhouse gases emitted during extraction of the gas (by fracking) and/or the emissions when the gas is burned. Comments can be submitted by email to boardsec@oeb.ca or on-line at https://www.oeb.ca/participate/applications/current-major-applications/eb-2019-0159.

In their words, the OEB is asking for opinions on whether its review should include:
“i. impacts related to the methods of upstream natural gas extraction (such as hydraulic fracturing) for natural gas that will be transported through the pipeline
ii. impacts related to the ultimate downstream consumption of the natural gas transported through the pipeline.”

Hamilton 350 Committee believes that humanity is rapidly running out of time to minimize global heating and the droughts, wildfires, extreme weather and other effects that are already wrecking communities, killing people and causing extinctions. The world’s climate scientists warned in October 2018 that we must cut greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030; and since then the warnings have become more frightening. We can’t allow the fossil fuel industry to expand its infrastructure and carry on as though the planet doesn’t matter.

A climate emergency has been declared by Hamilton, Burlington, Milton, Oakville, Toronto and even by the federal government. The emergency is largely caused by fossil fuels, so it is especially outrageous to increase the extraction or transportation of more fossil fuels with infrastructure designed to last at least 40 years.