April 29, 2012
9431 Gormond Road,
Richmond, B.C.
V7E 1N7
Secretary to the Joint Review Panel
Enbridge Northern Gateway Project
444 Seventh Ave. SW
Calgary, AB T2P 0X8
My name is Mya; I'm a grade five student
at A.B. Dixon Elementary school in Richmond, British Columbia
I'm writing this Letter of Comment to share my thoughts about the
proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline Project. The pipeline would affect
various habitats and living organisms in the Great Bear Rainforest.
Hopefully this letter will explain the potential consequences of human
actions on protected and diverse ecosystems. I have been studying the
issues involved from many perspectives including: Enbridge, Ledcor,
First Nations, Government, living organisms, and environmental groups,
Canadians, Asians and Americans. If you would like to know whether I
am for or against the N.P.G please read on!
Did you know that the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project will
affect every single living organism in the Great Bear Rainforest
whether they live in water or inside the rainforest? If there were to
be an oil spill, it would, most likely kill all the fish and other organisms
that live in water, and all the animals and First Nations that eat fish
will have to eat another resource. Living organisms that don't live in
water can also die by the impact of humans and oil. In B.C., and
probably the rest of Canada, there are a lot of humans that go hunting.
These humans continue to hunt for the animals in the rainforest,
because they know that these animals will die by the impact of oil.
Little do they realize that they are not actually helping these animals
or the environment but rather making the problem worse. This is not
the answer to the problem since we are killing innocent animals and
harming our environment at the same time. Is it fair to say that we
should kill animals just because they have been affected by the oil
spill?
Oil doesn't just affect living things (humans and animals) it also
affects non living things. How would you feel if someone tore down your
house because they were building a pipeline? In my opinion, I would be
frustrated because I wouldn't have a home. Well, this is what would
happen to living organisms and environments in the rainforest. I'm sure
you know that if we didn't have trees we wouldn't have any oxygen to
breathe. We don't want these animals to struggle and live in a logged
area with no oxygen! There would be a lot of construction and
consequences for years in the Great Bear Rainforest! It is unbelievable
that the government will allow the Northern Gateway Pipeline to go on
and destroy our environment.
You might think this project is a good thing or you may think it's
not. Well, Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister is for the project,
it's not a bad thing to be for the project or not, everyone has their own
opinion. The real problem is that our Federal Government wanted to
hear the perspectives of Canadians (if they were for or not for the
pipeline project). But, there were so many Canadians who didn't want
the pipeline and now all citizens that wanted to share their perspective
can't, because Stephen Harper wants the project and he knows that
the majority of Canadians don't want the project. The pipeline will be
good and bad for the country and there are a lot of reasons why it will
be good and sometimes it could be bad!
The Northern Gateway Pipeline Project is a dual pipeline. In the first
pipe line there will be toxic gas rushing through very fast and in the
other pipeline there will be oil and raw bitumen, which is a very thick
liquid like molasses. This pipeline isn't just going to affect British
Colombia and Alberta; it will affect all of Canada because the oil is
going to another country so all of Canada has to be a part of this
project. This oil will be going to Asian countries that are on the other
side of the world. This will be a big journey for oil and Canada doesn't
want a spill.
In my opinion, this project will affect the environment and our
living organisms very severely. The Northern Gateway Pipeline Project
would potentially cause too many problems for the environment because
the oil will be affecting the animal food chain. We don't want animals to
change their diet because of the impact of oil! I have been researching
the cougar and I know there are many of them in the rainforest but
there are also so many other animals that would be impacted as well. I
hope you enjoyed reading my Letter of Comment I hope this helped you
decide whether you're for or against the project.
Sincerely,
Mya bhari