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"EthicalOil.org" Exposed

Dear Editor,

I see the powerful tentacles of Big Oil are tightening around us again.

The "grassroots" group known as EthicalOil.org is reaching out through a compliant media, to spread its fear campaign that "foreign hordes," not Canadians, are going to decide whether the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline will be approved.

Grassroots, my ass! 

The talented, dedicated group of researchers who publishes *DESMOGBLOG.COM has exposed "EthicalOil.org" for what it is; "A small industry front group with secretive funding sources." As DESMOG explains, EthicalOil's message is being amplified through an "echo chamber" of powerful allies, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Sun Media ("Fox News North") to which Harper has close connections. (Not to mention Harper minions like Joe Oliver, whose earlier, infamous letter accused pipeline opponents of being a bunch of "radicals.")

The EthicalOil message? Foreign, deep-pocketed environmental "activists" wanting "veto power" are taking over the public hearings now underway on the project.

If approved, Northern Gateway will carry dirty, corrosive tar from the Alberta "oil sands" to the west coast of BC, then, via tankers, to China.

Conveniently missing from EthicalOil's message are the "hordes" of ordinary Canadians like myself, not to mention the First Nations people living along the proposed, environmentally-sensitive route, who have valid, legitimate concerns about this mega-project.

I guess the People's Republic of China, British Petroleum or Exxon just don't qualify as the kind of "foreign hordes" included in EthicalOil's lexicon! (All of these have monumental amounts of cash invested in either the tar sands, the proposed pipeline, or both.)

The pipeline will have to cross a thousand rivers and streams, at least three prime salmon river-systems, the Great Bear rainforest and the Continental Divide by the time it is completed.

(Enbridge, wanna-be builders of the line, had more than 600 leaks over a ten-year period, in pipelines they already operate! That's over a leak-a-week.)

Once the tar gets to the sea, it will have to be loaded onto huge oil  tankers.The long-standing moratorium on such ocean traffic off Beautiful British Columbia will need to be lifted. But oil installations never blow up, sink or leak, do they? (Just blot out from your mind the big, Italian cruise ship - while not an oil tanker - still has half a million gallons of oil on board, the Exxon Valdez, countless others and, of course, the Daddy of them all, the BP spill in the Gulf and you'll be OK.)

Put that in your next mass-mailing to all the news media you just know won't be asking any questions about your background!

Funny, isn't it. Your pompous bragging about the tar sands being "ethical" obviously assumes the following:

    •    Bulldozing of vast, pristine boreal forest is also "ethical."
    •    Widespread destruction of habitat for woodland caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife is "ethical."
    •    Damaging the "lungs" of our planet, hindering her very ability to "breathe," is "ethical."
    •    Poisoning of the waterways and killing fish is "ethical."
    •    Making those who live downstream sick, is "ethical."
    •    Using our life-giving atmosphere as a dumping-ground for increasing volumes of polluting greenhouse gases which cause catastrophic climate change, creating an uncertain future for our children is "ethical." (After all, the ravages of climate change/global warming stop obediently at international boundaries, don't they?)
    •    When the shoe is on the other foot, lobbying by Harper operatives (such as his Ambassador to the US, Gary Doer, former "environmentalist-turned tar sands promoter"), to get the US to weaken its resolve to protect its own air, water and soil and approve a pipeline through that country, is "ethical!"

Once again, the mass media needs to be reminded, it is we opponents of these mega pipelines, which would carry tar to the far reaches of our planet, who have science on our side, not the EthicalOils of this world.

They are obviously four-square behind a continuance of our nearly-total addiction to fossil fuels and unprepared to even consider a greater role for renewable, sustainable energy sources in our future. Nope, let's not talk about that. Let's not even look at conservation. Let's just continue with our orgy of gas-guzzling and diesel-burning as if there's no tomorrow.

In short, the EthicalOils of this world want it all.

One should also note that EthicalOil describes itself, not as an "activist" group, heaven forbid. Rather, they are a "grassroots, advocacy" organization.

Yeah, right!



And, make no mistake, EthicalOil, I say keep the damn tar in the ground. And I'm no rich, foreign radical. I'm an ordinary Canadian. I'm a senior on fixed income, I get no "hidden funding" from shadowy sources. At least I am who I say I am. You, on the other hand, are not.

*The stated mission of these DESMOG folks is to "Clear the PR pollution that clouds climate science." In this era of climate cranks, vested interests and lying propagandists, they have their work cut out for them. As far as I'm concerned, they deserve a medal!

Larry Powell
Roblin, MB  
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If you enjoy my blog, please consider a donation. Thanks! Larry