Rising Tide Toronto

Rising Tide Toronto

On Thursday, June 20th, a group of people started an occupation of the Enbridge’s Westover Pump Station near Hamilton, Ontario, at one of the several sits of construction on the Line 9 pipeline. The action, which lasted nearly a week, was both a response to Enbridge’s careless disregard for our lives with it’s despicable track record of oil spills, and an act of solidarity with the communities most affected by Tar Sands developments.

TORONTO CONTEXT

In the past few years, we have seen different versions of Toronto’s possible future; in both Kalamazoo and Arkansas, an aging pipeline whose flow had been reversed to accommodate tar sands bitumen, spilled and devastated homes, wildlife, waterways and people’s health. Chemicals specific to the transport of bitumen poisoned the air, while the heavier bitumen sank in the waterways, making it near impossible to clean.

Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline – a 37 year old pipeline that is almost identical in build and age to the Line 6 pipeline that ruptured in Kalamazoo – runs alongside Finch Ave in North Toronto. Considering the risks involved with the transport of dilbit (diluted bitumen), this pipeline should not be allowed to carry this substance through any densely populated area.

But instead of opposing or even carefully considering Enbridge’s proposal to send tar sands through this aging infrastructure, the project is being pushed through without as much as an environmental assessment! In fact, the National Energy Board is doing everything it can to shut out voices from the public in the approval process.*

SOLIDARITY WITH SWAMP LINE 9!

We stand in solidarity with those at the Swamp Line 9 action because they acted directly to stop Enbridge’s Line 9 from carrying tar sands bitumen through Ontario. In doing so, they were protecting the Beverly Swamp in the headwaters of Spencer Creek, Hamilton’s largest watershed, and all of the watersheds that Line 9 crosses.

We recognize that corrupt forces are governing the approval process for Enbridge’s Line 9 reversal proposal, from Harper’s omnibus bills to an increasingly powerful tar sands lobby. We recognize that while Swamp Line 9’s tactics might technically be against the law, they are necessary in preventing this dangerous proposal from becoming an inevitability.