Re: "Science to decide fate of pipeline, Harper says," Aug. 8.
My jaw dropped when I heard Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling on science to pull a rabbit out of the Northern Gateway hat.
Seriously? It looks pretty hypocritical, given his government's hostile attitude towards all things scientific.
I have worked in the environmental assessment field in northwestern B.C. for 15 years and know firsthand the unpredictability of the remote and rugged coast mountains through which the pipeline and tankers would have to pass.
The pipeline route crosses hundreds, if not thousands, of streams, for most of which there is very little or no scientific data such as stream flows, geotechnical, fisheries and other ecosystem values.
However, the recently "streamlined" environmental assessment process is to be concluded by end of 2013, much too short a time to collect credible data required to carry out any serious environmental assessment.
In the absence of hard data, the risk assessment becomes an "educated guess," as we will never have complete certainty about many environmental factors.
How is science then going to decide? The risk to the environment will never be zero and a hurried assessment process won't even allow the determination of this risk with any kind of confidence.
But then, do we want to accept any level of risk in the face of truly catastrophic consequences?
Wilf Dreher
Courtenay
