Fundy Baykeeper Matt Abbott hosted the heads of 11 of Canada’s top environmental organizations in Saint John on Wednesday, Sept. 16. The groups set out on a local fishing boat and were joined by local fishers for a tour of the harbour and Red Head to see firsthand the unique ecosystem and sustainable jobs at risk from TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline project.
Abbott and several other leaders spoke with CTV’s Live at Five.
The groups outlined several concerns with the pipeline project and tanker farm proposal, including the impact an oil spill in the Bay of Fundy would have on 5,000 jobs in the local fishery as well as sustainable jobs in tourism; the impact an oil spill would have on marine life (in particular lobster and scallop); the impact of increased tanker traffic and noise pollution on marine life and the endangered North Atlantic right whale; and what the pipeline would mean for the expansion of the oil sands in Alberta, a major contributor to Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions which cause climate change. Learn more about these impacts in our report: Tanker Traffic and Tar Balls: What TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline Means for the Bay of Fundy-Gulf of Maine.
Groups are also concerned that a number of proposed export projects that would see more tanker traffic in the Bay of Fundy are being considered and approved by regulators on a case-by-case basis, instead of looking at the cumulative impact these projects would have on this highly-productive marine environment.
This piecemeal approach to project approvals doesn’t ensure whales, other marine animals, and sustainable jobs in fisheries and tourism are properly protected from increased tanker traffic and noise pollution in the bay.
The tour was also covered by CBC Evening News in New Brunswick.
“We’ll get a sense of the impacts that are already felt by industrial development from the fisheries perspective and we’ll see that even though this is an area that’s already industrialized, there’s still a great deal to lose,” Abbott told reporters.
“This whole notion that there’s massive numbers of jobs in the pipeline field has been countered by lots of studies that show that basically once the pipeline is done, there’s very few jobs that reside in the community,” said Peter Robinson, CEO of the David Suzuki Foundation’s.
Those who participated in the tour include: Joanna Kerr, Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada; Peter Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, David Suzuki Foundation; Ed Whittingham, Executive Director, Pembina Institute; Sidney Ribaux, Executive Director, Équiterre; Tim Gray, Executive Director, Environmental Defense; Éric Hébert-Daly, National Executive Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society; Mark Butler, Policy Director, Ecology Action Centre; Diane Beckett, Interim Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada Foundation; Chief Hugh Akagi, Passamaquoddy Nation; Ron Tremblay, Wolastoq Grand Council; Lynaya Astephen, Red Head – Anthony’s Cove Preservation Association; Jessica Clogg, Executive Director and Senior Counsel, West Coast Environmental Law Association; Matt Abbott, Fundy Baykeeper, Conservation Council of New Brunswick.