NO GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Last Monday's Waterloo Region Record carried this story "Five protesters arrested at Line 9 construction site". Five protesters were arrested and jailed and taken to the Brant County jail in Paris. The charges against four of them are mischief and disobeying a court order. The fifth protester also faces two counts of breaching probation. Interesting but the only charge that could remotely be construed as "antisocial" is the mischief charge. The other charges are basically due to the judiciary feeling disrespected. I expect that thiose charges and penalties will exceed the mischief charges.

This pipeline plan by Enbridge is risky and ill thought out. The direction of flow is being reversed and the product being transported is thicker and more corrosive. The pressure inside the pipe will be greater and lets face it Enbridge and others do not remotely have pristine environmental records. The fact that to date our authorities are unwilling to provide a transparent, open and honest environmental assessment is nothing new. Our newly named MOECC are inherently corrupt from the top down and protect powerful polluters rather than citizens and the environment. My hat goes off to these protesters.