Enbridge consistently underestimates tanker risks in North Pacific: Raincoast

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. – A conservationist and long time mariner says Calgary-based Enbridge (TSX:ENB) consistently underestimates the risks of a tanker spill off the B.C. coast.

Brian Falconer of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation says the company has repeatedly manipulated statistics on weather, storm conditions and shipping traffic to paint a more favourable picture for a federal panel currently reviewing the proposal for the oil pipeline and tanker port.

Falconer says the supertankers that will carry oil from a proposed port in Kitimat only need to have one major spill in 30 years in order to cause irreparable harm to the coast from Alaska to Vancouver Island.

A lawyer for Raincoast and other environmental groups questioned Enbridge experts today at the hearings in Prince Rupert, as Falconer accompanied a group of journalists into Hecate Strait where some of the tankers will pass.

Lawyers for Coastal First Nations also asked Enbridge officials about the risk to local fisheries, suggesting the company is basing its assessment on incomplete information.

Jeff Green, of Enbridge, responded that in some cases traditional and cultural resource use information was not provided to the company, and they still welcome that input.