B.C. NDP point to U.S. oil spill report to condemn Enbridge’s Northern Gateway

VANCOUVER – The leader of B.C.’s Opposition New Democrats says a scathing report about an Enbridge pipeline spill in the United States should serve as a wake-up call for the company’s planned Northern Gateway project.

A U.S. regulatory board has issued a report into a July 2010 pipeline spill in Michigan, concluding that the company failed to fix a defect discovered years earlier and then responded poorly when the spill occurred.

Enbridge is the company behind the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline proposal between Alberta’s oil sands and the B.C. coast, which is currently under review before the National Energy Board.

NDP Leader Adrian Dix says the report reinforces his party’s opposition to the project, which he says he would try to stop if elected premier in next May’s provincial election.

Dix says the U.S. report suggests the provincial and federal governments should be focusing on more environmental rules, rather than introducing measures to reduce the number of regulatory hurdles for big projects.

Neither Premier Christy Clark nor Environment Minister Terry Lake could be reached for comment.

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