The Energy East pipeline could harm whales in the Bay of Fundy and impact those working in the fishing industry according to a report released by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.
Fundy Baykeeper Matthew Abbott authored the report and he says a key risk is the bitumen that the pipeline will be carrying from the Alberta oilsands in the event of a spill. He says bitumen is unlikely to behave like conventional oil does in seawater in conditions like the Bay of Fundy and it’s likely to sink and form tarballs making cleanup much more difficult or impossible.
He says tankers especially with noise is one of the key risks environmentally — he says the noise produced by tankers is at hte same frequency at which whales communicate so it can disrupt their communication.
Abbott has has a list of nine recommendations to TransCanada Corporation and decision-makers. Click here to read those along with the report itself.
TransCanada, meantime, responding to various aspects of the report, saying the council arrives at false conclusions based on errors in their research saying that first, the proposed location of the terminal isn’t within the critical habitat zone of the whales and that second, shipping lanes in the Bay were moved 10 years ago and notes that there hasn’t been a recorded collision between a ship and whale since shipping lanes were moved 10 years ago.
As well, TransCanada saying the additional marine traffic as a result of Canaport/Energy East would be roughly 115 ship calls per year, and combined with existing shipping traffic, would not approach the record levels of shipping activity the Bay Of Fundy has seen in the past.
