News Release
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New video shows Energy East pipeline is about export, not domestic use
Toronto, ON – The Energy East pipeline proposal isn’t the made-in-Canada energy solution TransCanada says it as. A new video by Environmental Defence highlights that Energy East is about exporting oil unrefined – not providing oil to Canadians.
TransCanada has pulled out all the stops to try to convince Canadians that Energy East would supply Eastern Canada oil. But slick advertising can’t change the facts: Up to 90 per cent of Energy East’s oil is expected to be exported unrefined via tankers on the East Coast. That means huge risks, but few lasting economic benefits for Canadians.
“As an export pipeline, Energy East won’t bring permanent jobs or lasting economic benefits to communities along the pipeline’s route. It will spread the risks of devastating oil spills and climate pollution across Canada,” says Environmental Defence’s Adam Scott. “An export pipeline might fatten TransCanada’s bottom line, but let’s not confuse the best interests of oil companies with the best interests of Canadians. It’s time to put people and communities ahead of oil companies.”
In widespread advertising, TransCanada continues to imply Energy East is for domestic supply. To counter this misinformation, Environmental Defence and partners crunched the numbers and released a report last year showing that eastern refineries won’t have the capacity to refine the majority of Energy East’s oil.
By the time Energy East could be built, Eastern refineries will already be full from other supplies of western oil. The transparent analysis shows that up to a million barrels would likely be put onto tankers for export – everyday. The video released today, aimed at countering TransCanada’s massive and misleading advertising campaign, draws from that report.
Energy East would threaten the water of millions of Canada. The mega-pipeline would cross nearly 1,000 sensitive Canadian waterways, including sources of drinking water for cities like Winnipeg and North Bay. It would also threaten iconic ecosystems like the Bay of Fundy, putting the fishing and tourism industry at risk.
The majority of Energy East’s oil would leave Canada, and the profits would flow mostly to a few multinational oil companies. Communities along the pipeline’s route would be left only with the risks of dangerous oil spills, and all Canadians would be saddled with rapidly growing climate pollution. Climate pollution associated with Energy East is equivalent to putting 7 million new cars on the road. (And that’s just from the oil’s production, not its use.)
Watch the video here.
Read the report here.
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