Mill Bay - Are Victorians and other British Columbians aware that the proposed twinning and expansion of the Trans-Mountain pipeline by Kinder Morgan means that 409 oil tankers will travel past Victoria and the southern tip of Vancouver Island?
That number represents a tanker or two a day for every day of every year into the future. There are presently five per month that ply that route.I attended the National Energy Board hearings at the Conference Centre on Nov. 28 to hear the presenters from the Pacheedaht Nation near Port Renfrew stating their reasons for opposition to the pipeline expansion.The tankers do now and would continue to travel through Haro Strait and into Juan de Fuca Strait past Pacheedaht territory and their pristine three miles of west coast beach, as well as past much coastal parkland.The tankers then pass over an area called Swiftsure Bank or Pacheedaht Bank and turn onto the open Pacific at a point where fog is a certainty and there can be heavy seas and often 10 foot swells.If the San Juan River, the Gordon River (two of the rivers that flow through Pacheedaht territory), the Pacheedaht Campground, Jordan River, the worldrenowned West Coast Trail, and Botanical Beach are known to you, you will know what is at risk. Please become informed and take action.The time is now.Kathleen PetersenMill Bay