The federal government gave conditional approval to the Northern Gateway tanker and pipeline proposal late Tuesday afternoon despite ardent opposition from First Nations, British Columbians, nature groups and scientists.

Buried beneath the headlines lies a curious and little-known truth that Nature Canada and our provincial affiliate BC Nature uncovered during the Northern Gateway hearings.

We discovered that Enbridge’s Northern Gateway submission was full of holes. Our legal team, based out of the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre, was able to get Enbridge’s own experts to admit to a variety of deficiencies with their application ranging from an incomplete analysis of endangered caribou habitat to a far-too-rosy assessment of the likelihood of an oil spill.

As one of only two environmental coalitions physically present throughout the hearings, our legal team cross-examined Enbridge’s experts for over 25 hours, brought several important motions and secured the late admission into evidence of key material on threats to endangered caribou populations.

What became clear during those hearings was the extent to which Enbridge was willing to gloss over the risks of an oil spill and downplay the effects on endangered wildlife. Out of these hearings, we learned one stunning fact that has gone mostly unreported in the media: that the project has a twenty five per cent risk of an oil spill within its lifetime.

Statistically speaking, the odds of a devastating spill are worse than playing Russian roulette.

Just think about that for a moment. That’s a one-in-four chance of a devastating oil spill hitting pristine waters, incomparable wilderness and countless communities relying on the integrity of the land to survive. Statistically speaking, those odds are worse than playing Russian roulette.

When faced with these kinds of punishingly risky odds, I think the most reasonable response ought to be to say, “Thanks but no thanks.”

To people who don’t think the risk is too great, I propose that we sit down and discuss it over a cup of coffee. Actually, on second thought, I’ll buy us four cups of coffee. Only one will have motor oil in it.

Go ahead. Drink up.

Paul Jorgenson is senior communications manager for Nature Canada, the oldest nature conservation charity in Canada.

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