Ottawa, ON — August 1, 2013 — Following the announcement by TransCanada Corp. that they would seek to ship 1.1 million barrels a day — over 130 million litres — of tar sands oil through Ottawa, local group Ecology Ottawa is expanding their campaign to stop the proposed pipeline.
“The pipeline is all risk and no reward for the city and residents of Ottawa,” said Ben Powless, Tar Sands Pipeline Community Organizer with Ecology Ottawa. “Any spill could have devastating impacts on our farmlands, the Rideau River, and even on our drinking water. The pipeline would bring nothing but risks and would commit us to deepening our dependency on fossil fuels, the expansion of the tar sands, and dangerous levels of climate change.”
Ecology Ottawa recently hosted a public forum on the pipeline that attracted more than 100 residents. A petition rejecting the pipeline in the city has already garnered nearly 2,000 signatures. In the recent Ottawa South by-election, Liberal candidate John Fraser and the Green Party of Ontario declared their opposition to the project. Ottawa councillor Shad Qadri has also raised concerns about the pipeline.
“The residents of Ottawa are already very concerned about the pipeline and what it might mean for the city,” said Graham Saul, Executive Director of Ecology Ottawa. ” We are reminded of the drastic tar sands spills in the Kalamazoo River and in Mayflower, Arkansas, scenes we don’t want repeated in our city. We encourage everyone in the city to become more informed, and to reach out to their elected officials to voice their concern. ”
Ecology Ottawa has already distributed information packages to 10,000 households across the city and is hosting another Information and Strategy Session on the Proposed Pipeline at 6pm on August 6th at the Sandy Hill Community Centre, 250 Somerset East.
The petition against the proposed pipeline can be found here:
http://ecologyottawa.nationbuilder.com/tar_sands_oil
Ecology Ottawa also maintains a website with documents and maps about the proposed pipeline:
http://TarFree613.ca
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