Enbridge Shut Out Again

Ottawa, Alberta and the rest of Canada want to ram Enbridge down British Columbia's throat as operator of the environmental calamity they call the Northern Gateway pipeline but the Americans aren't so indifferent.

Following Enbridge's latest pipeline failure, in Wisconsin, the U.S. transportation secretary has ruled Enbridge won't be allowed to restart the pipeline until it can prove it's safe.   In other words, what Enbridge says about the safety of that pipeline means diddly squat.

"Accidents like the one in Wisconsin are absolutely unacceptable," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement Tuesday.

"I will soon meet with Enbridge's leadership team and they will need to demonstrate why they should be allowed to continue to operate this Wisconsin pipeline without either a significant overhaul or a complete replacement."

This is, of course, the same outfit that the Alberta government, the federal government, and just about all the provincial governments other than British Columbia's argue should be allowed, without objection, to run a potentially catastrophic bitumen pipeline across remote and seisimically active British Columbia wilderness and out to Asia via supertanker traffic through insanely treacherous coastal waters.

Really.  Are you f--king serious?  This is precisely where the rubber meets the road.  This is where this nonsense ends.  Alberta is one thing but the way we see the rest of Canada and our bond to confederation will be directly impacted by the response of the other provinces.  If you allow us to be trampelled underfoot by the petro-pols in Alberta and Parliament Hill, our response will be utterly predictable.  Your choice.