WHO ACTUALLY BENEFITS
Follow the Money
Where the Money Goes
Foreign Investment Funds
BlackRock and overseas institutional investors capture the majority of returns.
State-Owned Companies
Chinese state enterprises hold significant pipeline ownership stakes.
Calgary Executives
Corporate leadership collects bonuses regardless of what happens to your shoreline.
Who Takes the Risk
Coastal Fishing Families
A single major spill will end many commercial fisheries — not for a season, but permanently.
Retirees on Fixed Incomes
Coastal property values built over a lifetime would collapse overnight.
Taxpayers
Capped corporate liability could leave taxpayers on the hook for a large portion of the clean-up bill.
Side by Side
BC's Real Economy vs. Their Risky One
Our Coast Works
  • $11 billion annual local economy
  • Generational fishing & tourism jobs
  • Clean water for our kids
  • Property values retirees built
  • Local control over our future
Their Plan Costs Us Everything
  • Short-term construction revenue
  • Only around 100 permanent jobs (based on similar projects)
  • 350 million litres of crude oil per ship
  • Capped liability — you pay the rest
  • Decisions made in Calgary, Ottawa & New York

The math is simple: we carry all the downside and almost none of the upside. That's not a deal — that's a trap.
"Polluter Pays" Is a Fairy Tale. It's the People Who Live Here Who Pay.
We've seen this story before. And it doesn't end well for coastal communities.
A Warning from Recent History
The Nathan E. Stewart: What Really Happened
When the Nathan E. Stewart spilled diesel in Heiltsuk waters, a local clam fishery — a community breadbasket — was wiped out.
The owners never paid for the lost income. The community absorbed the loss. The company moved on.
That was a small tug. Now imagine a supertanker carrying 350 million litres of crude oil hitting a reef in the same waters.

A supertanker spill won't just be a "bad year." It will be the end of the commercial fishing industry and the end of the coastal property values retirees have spent a lifetime building.

Sources:

Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries

B.C. ocean’s worth of almost $5 billion to GDP likely an underestimate

The ocean is very valuable to B.C., in terms of GDP, jobs, and income.

Sacred Trust

What would the economic cost of an oil spill be? - Sacred Trust

A medium-sized spill on British Columbia's north coast would cost the regional economy up to $189 million and require $2.4 billion for cleanup costs.

CBC

Why the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill looms large over northern pipeline debate | CBC News

The Exxon Valdez disaster happened more than 36 years ago off Alaska's coast, but the catastrophic oil spill still looms over plans for a pipeline from Alberta to the northern British Columbia coast.

Freight Forwarding, LCL Services Singapore Shipping Agent | Star Concord

The Nathan E. Stewart Spill: Five Years After

Location where the Nathan E. Stewart articulated tug ran aground and spilled diesel fuel (Transportation Safety Board of Canada Marine investigation report (M16P0378))

File upload

MARINE OIL TRANSPORT IN CANADIAN WATERS: WHO IS PAYING ACCIDENT COSTS FROM OIL TANKER SPILLS?

northcoastoilcleanup.info

Canada's Oil Spill Liability System: The Risk to Taxpayers

Claims by politicians and industry that Canadian taxpayers need not worry about being on the hook for the costs of a major oil spill in coastal waters are misleading. Below is an explanation of how the marine oil spill liability system does and does not work in Canada. Much is uncertain. While C

ship-rail.gc.ca

The source of our funds

Where does the money for the Ship Fund come from?The polluter pays principle

Transport Canada

Marine liability and compensation: oil spills

Compensation for ship-source spills in Canada

Environmental Defence

Who Benefits? - Environmental Defence

More than 70% of oilsands production foreign-owned, while Canadians pay higher subsidies to keep the industry afloat & clean up the mess left behind.

docs.google.com

Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines (2010)