Energy Wars: Pipelines define environmental struggle – Toronto Star
Energy East pipeline is part of the wider standoff over natural resource development that has become a defining struggle in the country’s environmental and economic future.
OTTAWA—Energy East, the pipeline being designed to carry massive amounts of oil from Alberta through Ontario to Eastern Canada, will tell Canadians a great deal about their energy future.
Potentially one of the largest pipelines in North America, TransCanada’s project would span 4,600 kilometres and move 1.1 million barrels of oil a day to eastern Canadian refineries and export terminals.
With other proposed new pipelines to haul Albertan crude facing fierce political opposition, Energy East has emerged as possibly the most obvious near-term option for a petroleum sector desperately in need of export facilities.
But the pipeline is also part of the wider standoff over natural resource development that has become a defining struggle in the country’s environmental and economic future. While opposition to Energy East has so far been modest, it is growing. So the outcome of the National Energy Board’s approval process for this latest pipeline proposal may indicate whether Canadians will accept any megaprojects that enable more oilsands production.
