Opinion: Federal election impels candidates’ moral obligation to cancel TMX

This opinion piece was written collectively by members of the Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion (BROKE). If you’re interested in submitting an opinion piece to the Beacon, reach out to us here.

As the name BROKE (Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion) implies, our group’s opposition to this pipeline expansion dates back to when it was owned by a Texas-based oil company. Our reasons for opposing it remain the same:

• Diluted bitumen contains carcinogenic toxins such as Benzene.

• 5 million barrels (800 million litres) of this flammable toxic oil would be stored in a densely populated residential area, near the SFU Burnaby campus. Chris Bowcock, Fire Chief of the Burnaby Fire Department, has warned: “the close proximity of storage tanks to the fenceline dramatically increases the risk of wildland fire to the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area.”

Since the federal Liberal government bought the pipeline for $4.5 billion in 2018, the reasons for opposing it have multiplied, along with its exorbitant costs:

• A team of SFU’s School of Resource and Environment Management issued a report in February 2020 stating Canada will incur a loss of $11.9 billion due to construction costs increasing from $5.4 billion to $12.6 billion, combined with new climate policies that will reduce the demand for oil; costs may now exceed over $20 billion due to Covid and other delays.

• The CER (Canada Energy Regulator) issued a report last November declaring the TMX might not be needed if Canada strengthens its climate policies to cut more greenhouse gas emissions.

• TMX would create only 50 permanent jobs in BC. The remaining temporary jobs may not all go to local workers.

• Despite opposition by the City of Burnaby, TMX is in the process of cutting down over 1300 trees without city permits and has asked the CER to allow it to cut down another 86 trees, jeopardizing the habitats of wildlife, including birds and salmon.

After a summer of wildfires and an unprecedented heat dome, we’ve all felt the devastating effects of the climate crisis. Building the TMX through Burnaby’s creeks, rivers and Conservation Areas fans the flames of this emergency.

This federal election impels the candidates’ moral obligation to cancel the TMX so today’s children don’t face a future in climate hell.