Images by Garth Lenz
For Exposing Energy East, Canadian photographer Garth Lenz spent two intense weeks last spring tracing the Energy East pipeline’s proposed route in New Brunswick and Quebec. He explored and documented the risks to countless ecosystems from the land, the sea and the air. For more about Garth’s work, please visit: Garthlenz.com
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The Hampton Marsh is one of the most fertile and productive wetland systems in New Brunswick. It’s part of the Kennebecasis River, which flows directly into the Bay of Fundy. The river and marsh are habitat for waterfowl, such as blue winged teal, black ducks, and wood ducks as well as nesting habitat for other marsh birds such as rails, yellow throats and bitterns. Birds and mammals – including eagles, osprey, swallows, blackbirds, several species of crane, moose, beaver, muskrat and otter – use these wetlands as foraging areas. The proposed Energy East pipeline would pump over a million barrels of tar sands oil a day across this river and marsh, just a few kilometres upstream from this location, putting this ecosystem and the diverse wildlife that lives here at risk.
This major tidal wetland system is one of the last intact salt marsh tidal estuaries on the entire Bay of Fundy. (Estuaries are transition zones between river and ocean ecosystems.) Designated a Marine Protected Area, the Musquash provides critical habitat for a variety of species including spawning fish and nesting seabirds. The Musquash is located just 20 kilometres south of Saint John, the proposed site of an Energy East export tanker terminal.The water levels in the marsh cycle with the Bay of Fundy tides, rising and falling up to eight metres twice a day, making the sensitive ecosystem highly vulnerable to a coastal oil spill.
Located in the Bay of Fundy, Deer Island is economically tied to the fishing and tourism industries. The island is dotted with fishing wharves, with boats travelling significant distances along the Bay of Fundy for their daily catch. Local tourism businesses thrive on unique wildlife activities, such as whale watching and scuba diving. Both the fishing and tourism industries, and the jobs related to them, depend on a healthy marine ecosystem. The proposed Energy East project would see hundreds of super-tankers exporting unrefined tar sands oil through shipping routes down the coast, increasing the likelihood of an oil spill. Even a small spill could have devastating consequences for coastal communities whose livelihoods rely on a robust marine ecosystem.
Shared by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world at 14.5 metres (47.5 feet). Each day, 160 billion tonnes of seawater flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy, more than the combined flow of the world’s freshwater rivers. A UNESCO biosphere reserve, its dramatic coastline is lined with provincial and national parks, large islands, and sensitive tidal estuaries. Energy East would see a massive new oil tanker terminal built in Saint John, substantially increasing oil tanker traffic in the Bay of Fundy. This traffic would dramatically raise the risk of an oil spill that could devastate the Fundy ecosystem and coastal communities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Maine.
Whale researchers have warned that the Beluga population in the St. Lawrence Estuary, near the proposed Energy East tanker terminal, are facing catastrophic population declines. Experts say in order for the Beluga population to recover, serious efforts should be taken to reduce the sources of stress on the animals, particularly in areas frequented by Beluga mothers and their calves. TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline and tanker project would do just the opposite, putting heavy industry and tankers into areas the Belugas rely on for their breeding and calving grounds.
île aux Lièvres is a pristine island nature preserve in the centre of the St. Lawrence River. It’s one of 20 islands between Kamouraska and the confluence of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence rivers. These islands and the ocean space between them provide critical habitat for nesting bird colonies ofspecies like eider ducks and provide important shelter for marine animals like seals. Acquired by the Quebec government as a wildlife sanctuary in 2013, île aux Lièvres is a focal point for the ecotourism industry – a key source of local employment. île aux Lièvres is located just west of Cacouna, Quebec, site of a proposed tanker port for Energy East. The pipeline and tanker project would threaten ducks, seals and other animals that live near île aux Lièvres. It would also put the region’s ecotourism industry at risk.
This region is home to 335 species of birds, including 150 species of seabirds, such as the snowy egret, eider ducks, black-bellied plovers, short-billed dowitchers, teals, double-crested cormorants and American white pelicans. Each spring, an estimated 35,000 migratory birds pass through a nearby wildlife area. The proposed Energy East tanker terminal in Cacouna, Quebec would put numerous bird sanctuaries at risk.
The current proposal for Energy East shows it would cross at least 90 separate watersheds and 961 waterways along its 4,600 km route. With a pipeline this big, oil spills are a statistical certainty. In recent years, the average oil pipeline spill rate in Canada ranges from between 1.5-2.1 spills for every 1,000 km of pipeline each year. For a pipeline of Energy East’s size that translates into the potential for seven to 9 spills every year, excluding tanker accidents. Energy East is proposed to carry tar sands diluted bitumen (dilbit), a substance shown to be more difficult to clean up when spilled into water. Ultra-heavy bitumen must be diluted with toxic chemicals to make it flow through a pipeline. When spilled, the diluent chemicals evaporate, leaving heavy bitumen which has can sink in water, coating the bottom of lakes and rivers. Dilbit spills are exceptionally expensive and time-consuming to clean up. Shipping dilbit in large quantities down the St. Lawrence River increases the risks of a devastating spill for vast stretches of Canada’s coastline in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island.
These Beluga whales are swimming near the location of the proposed Energy East tanker port at Cacouna, Quebec. This area of the St. Lawrence River, at the mouth of the Saguenay River, is a unique and important refuge habitat for marine mammals. In 1998, the federal government created the Parc Marin du Saguenay–Saint-Laurent to protect the habitat of more than 15 species of marine mammals that live here, including threatened Beluga whales. The Beluga whales of the St. Lawrence rely on this area as their breeding and calving grounds. In spite of the creation of the Parc, the Belugas are threatened, with the population declining. The federal government lists industrial disturbance and habitat degradation as the main threats to the Belugas’ recovery. Government scientists have said, even without an oil spill, an export terminal’s disturbance and increased tanker traffic related to Energy East would cause further harm to the threatened Beluga whales.
This scene is adjacent to the proposed site of Energy East’s tar sands tanker port on the St. Lawrence River. In September 2014, a Quebec Superior Court judge suspended TransCanada’s exploratory drilling for an oil terminal here due to concerns about impacts to threatened Beluga whales breeding in the area. Next to this location, in Baie de l’Isle-Verte, is a sensitive Ramsar-designated wetland – an internationally recognized protected area for critical bird and aquatic habitat. If built, Energy East’s oil tanker terminal would fill massive oil tankers, capable of carrying more than 750,000 barrels of oil in one load. A tanker terminal in this location would threaten birds, as well as Beluga whales and other marine animals.
The Bay of Fundy’s economy and culture are deeply connected to fishing. Fishing still takes place in the waters around Energy East’s proposed tanker terminal location in Saint John. The Energy East proposal would dramatically increase the size and number of oil tankers plying this coastline, putting fisheries at risk. Even small oil spills would threaten local jobs and access to local food.
If built, Energy East would be primarily an export tar sands project. Up to 90 per cent of the oil shipped on the pipeline would be exported unrefined. That’s about 1 million barrels of crude oil exported on tankers every day. The tar sands oil would be exported via massive oil tankers in the St. Lawrence River and the Bay of Fundy. In Saint John, Energy East’s proposed terminal and tanker port would be located just a few metres beyond this LNG terminal and would be much bigger. Massive oil tankers leaving Saint John’s port every day would put the region’s fishing and tourism economies in harm’s way. As most of the oil would be exported unrefined, the project would do little to create permanent jobs or help these local economies.
Located at the end of Energy East’s proposed route, the Irving Oil refinery is one of only three refineries that would be connected to the mega-pipeline. It is expected to be the only refinery on the entire pipeline route in Canada that would take a significant quantity of oil from the pipeline, as Quebec refineries would already be fully supplied by other sources. The Irving refinery can refine up to 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day. But, the refinery is unable to process large amounts of the ultra-heavy tar sands diluted bitumen Energy East would carry. Even if Energy East is built, the Irving Oil refinery is expected to continue to be supplied largely with light imported oil. There are no plans to build new refineries as a result of Energy East. For these reasons, Energy East is expected to export up to 90 per cent of its oil unrefined. This leaves few benefits, but all of the risks with communities across Canada.
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