[All] Lake Erie Pipeline: For oil not water theory

Sat May 29 13:51:36 EDT 2010

Hello everyone

Currently the Region of Waterloo is conducting studies to determine the feasibility of a water pipeline to Lake Erie but in my view, I believe the possibility exists that this data may in fact be a means to secure funding and information to explore the possibility for an OIL pipeline to Lake Erie, not water. Here's why:

Manitoba is sending it's hydro to the US. The announcement happened this week. If this energy went to Ontario we could run Ontario on 100% carbon free energy. Ontario has lots of natural gas/oil along Erie and I think that's what certain agencies may be planning on to provide Ontario's energy needs with. This vision fails to have regard to the need to reduce emissions.
The US bans drilling for fossil fuels along the Great Lakes, Canada doesn't. This should change in order to protect the integrity of the Great Lakes Systems from harmful spills. We must protect this fresh water supply for the long term.
Searches for "Ancient Aquifers" for our future water supply and searches for Nuclear storage areaaroundnd Erie have already taken place but this data may have been a creative way to fund the hunt for fossil fuels. Bore hole data can be used many ways and the MNR's mandate to promote mineral extraction on Crown lands becomes much easier with this data.
The intake for the water pipeline, proposed to go from Lake Erie to Waterloo is at the Nanticoke pumping station, a facility that was originally built to provide water for a large city that was never built. How did that happen? 
Imperial Oil has an oil refinery in Nanticoke. 
A pipeline to the 401 is a handy thing for oil companies to have. Could the data of the studies for the "water pipeline" be used for this purpose too?
The 426 might be another pipeline/oil route in the works leading to deposits in Erie.
I find it highly unlikely that a water pipeline to Erie is a reasonable economic investment to make in terms of cost when there has been no reasonable study to prove the projected demands will pay for the sytem. 
Erie is degrading due to human mismanagement related to roadsalt, effluents, toxic blue green alga, pollution, lack of fisheries enforcement, invasive species, development and aggregate extraction in source areas, water diversions, etc. It's to the advantage of fossil fuel companies if Erie is degraded because it means less constraints for extracting. It can be deemed an advantage to those who want short term profits from crown lands.  In light of the risks, is this a viable long term water supply option for the Region of Waterloo?
If the water in the moraine goes bad, there's short term money in aggregates, fossil fuels etc. but enormous economic and environmental losses for our nation related to loss of municpal water supplies, illness costs, loss of fisheries etc.
We don't know how much water remains in our area aquifers.The Federal/Provincial governments and Region of Waterloo lack this data currently. Many of the studies forming our base knowledge is based on the work of experts hired by developers that show pro development biased by way of poor test times and methodologies. We must standardize and audit testing protocols.
Why does the Region of Waterloo have such a strong desire to secure expensive water pipeline studies to provide water in 2035 yet they are disregarding the protection of known primary recharge areas currently in their approvals of development and aggregate proposals in our Region. The West Side Lands and the Owens property in Waterloo are perfect examples of how the Region disregards our local water resources.
Currently, 75-80% of our municipal water comes from groundwater. 80% of that is gathered in the primary recharge areas which only make up approx. 20% of the entire Waterloo moriane yet our region recently approved their regional official planning policy that shows encroachments to these key areas by development and aggregate interests. The Reginal planning processes appear to lack regard for the need to protect local water resources for the long term. Why put so much money and so much focus on future water supplies when our current supply is already at immediate risk by current planning processes?
The MNR DECLINED to support a Waterloo Moriane and Galt Paris Moriane Act yet on their own website they actually SUPPORTED the formation of a protected park in the Galt Paris Moriane system in order to secure long term mineral needs. It was since removed but I found the data in the cashe file here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:i27zOIQAxV0J:nhic.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/nhic/areas/areas_report.cfm%3Fareaid%3D4266+bp+ministry+of+natural+resources&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca
The Greenbelt restricts aggregate extraction but I don't know if this applies to oil/gas prohibitions. To make up for the lack of aggregates in the Greenbelt they may be looking to exploit the moraine aggregates in the Waterloo and Galt/Paris sooner than later. 
If the Region wants to secure our long term water supply, why did they NOT support our request for review for a Waterloo Moraine Protection Act in order to gather data to help determine if a pipeline is actually needed?
The proposed Lake Erie "intake pipe" is in the area of large oil deposits under Erie.
To date the dimensions of the proposed pipe itself has never been noted in any of the reports. There is no data regarding the water transfer costs or treatment costs that could help to indicate the pipe size or projected volumes being transfered. They have not accounted for all the costs related to upgrade the Nanticoke pumping station. Perhaps it's because they don't actually intend to use the pipe to transport WATER. 
The Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, said in a press release, "A recent study by the Ministry of Natural Resources found that licenced close-to-market sources of high-quality aggregate reserves are growing scarce and will be in short supply within a decade." 
The State of the Aggregate Resource Report (SAROS) completely negated to have any regard to water issues related to aggregate extraction. They have not placed any fiscal value on the natural capital costs provided by the aggregates in the ground at all. We have no data to assess the value of aggregates in providing municpal water supplies and no data to assess the value of water itself.

The Weakest Link: The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Here is the The Strategic Direction for Management of Ontario Crown Lands as established by the Ministry of Natural Resources. This document clearly shows the exact same conflict that was recognized last week by President Obama in regards to the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS), the firm responsible for offshore drilling.

Like the MMS, our provincial MNR is acting as a promoter and regulator of mineral resources.

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@mnr/@crownland/documents/document/mnr_e000072.pdf

In my view this document places more worth to land under water more than on water itslef. They state the value of crown lands in Ontario is worth 22 billion but if they take the time to factor in the value of water iself on and under crown lands. It would be worth FAR more money than this. How much MUNICIPAL water is gathered on crown land? How much is that water worth? How much is the aggregates that gather and transfer municpal water supplies worth?

In the attachment is the press release for our Waterloo Moraine Act Request for Review that places very conservative estimates on water volume costs in the area of the Waterloo Moriane. Now take these same equations and factor in the worth of water on ALL crown lands in Ontario. This bumps up the 22B estimate significantly.

Until we value the worth of water and the aggregate resources that provides these resources we're planning in the dark and compromising the very source of our nation's food and water supplies. We can no longer to avoid the key question: HOW MUCH IS WATER WORTH? 

Louisette Lanteigne
700 Star Flower Ave.
Waterloo Ontario
N2V 2L2
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