Protesters demand closure of Enbridge oil pipeline

Around fifty people concerned about the potential environmental repercussions of the Enbridge oil company’s line 9B demonstrated Saturday morning in Montreal East to demand its closure.

This gathering, organized by groups Antigon Collectivee et The living defends itselfstarted at 9 a.m. in front of the loading terminal of the American oil company Valéro, located at the corner of Hinton Avenue and Notre-Dame Street.

Around fifteen police cars were at the scene of the demonstration, which ended around noon.

Protesters are calling on Justin Trudeau’s government to close the 9B pipeline, which transports tar sands oil from Alberta to the east of the country, within five years. During this period, environmental groups are already planning several activities to pressure Ottawa to act.

Today […]it’s a warning to say that we’re going to come back. We will intensify our means of actiondeclared Olivier Huard, of the collective The living defends itself.

The age of the oil pipeline denounced

The advanced age of the 9B pipeline worries protesters. They describe this supply line as a time bomb.

It’s a pipeline that is extremely old, it’s almost 50 years old, it’s completely corroded, so it could leak at any time, that’s what’s really worrying, it’s a really imminent dangersays another member of the group The living defends itselfMathilde Horvais.

Line 9B has been in operation since the 1970s. It passes north of Toronto and runs along the St. Lawrence River to Terrebonne, north of Montreal, before ending in Montreal East. It crosses hundreds of rivers that empty into Lake Ontario.

In 2015, the Enbridge company drew attention to this pipeline by reversing the flow between North Westover, Ontario, and Montreal in order to supply refineries in Ontario and Quebec with oil from Alberta.

These infrastructures must close [si on veut] be consistent with the energy transitionadds Olivier Huard for his part.

A significant date

Two years ago on this date, October 19, 2022, demonstrators occupied the Valéro company oil terminal for a day.

Some had occupied the road access to the terminal, while others had climbed the loading towers and chained themselves to the structures. Still others had barricaded themselves in a container.

It was therefore symbolic for the group to choose October 19 this year to resume actions. The campaign is committed to returning every yearconcludes Mathilde Horvais.

At the time these lines were written, the Valéro company, owner of the line 9B terminal in Montreal East, as well as the federal government had not reacted to the demonstrators’ demands.

With information from Danielle Kadjo and Alexis Gacon