THUMBS UP TO MAYOR NORM MACFARLANE!!!!!

NB Telegraph-Journal | Saint John
As published on page B1/B2 on November 19, 2005


Mayor comes to defence of Rockwood Park
McFarlane sends letter to Maritimes and Northeast Pipelines asking that they select alternate route

By John Chilibeck
Telegraph-Journal

The mayor of Saint John has asked the company that wants to put a huge natural gas pipeline through Rockwood Park to consider another route.

Norm McFarlane sent a letter to Maritimes and Northeast Pipelines sometime over the last couple of days, following several weeks of controversy over the unpopular proposal.

"My preferred route for the natural gas pipeline is not through Rockwood Park," he says in the letter. "Ultimately final route decisions are with you and the National Energy Board of Canada and I urge you to consider alternative options available for this pipeline."

The public statement is the strongest the mayor has made so far to stop pipeline development in the large municipal park in the heart of Saint John.

The company says it will apply for the pipeline easement through the National Energy Board in Calgary. The board has the ultimate say on the matter because the pipeline would be international, running from the planned liquefied natural gas terminal on the city's east side all the way to the United States.

On Thursday, several people who attended a presentation at the New Brunswick Museum on the flora and fauna in the park peppered city officials with questions over how much damage would be created by blasting through the wilderness to bury a pipeline.

City manager Terry Totten tried to reassure the crowd that council had met with officials from Maritimes and Northeast and told them in no uncertain terms they didn't like the proposed route.

Many people at the meeting questioned if the city council couldn't do more to stop the company from creating a gash that would run alongside the existing hydro lines in Rockwood. Already, a newly formed group called The Friends of Rockwood Park has collected about 1,000 signatures from people against the development proposal.

The mayor said Friday he thinks the company should listen to the community.

"They can go wherever they want, they have that authority. I'm just saying please listen and look at alternative routes. The people of Saint John are saying they don't want it through the park."

Mr. McFarlane doesn't want to scare off the company, nor does he want to come across as anti-business. He has long championed the idea that Saint John should be an energy hub, and he also brokered the favourable tax concession for Irving Oil's LNG plant.

In his letter, he states that Saint John must maintain its balance between industry, the area's natural beauty and public green space. But he denies that he soft-pedalled his message about finding a different route.

"You don't just say, 'Don't do it there.' That won't get you anywhere. I believe in working with people. And maybe this will convince them."

Environmentalist David Thompson was pleased to hear the mayor had sent a letter, but he said it was only a first step.

Mr. Thompson says it's untrue the city is powerless to stop the pipeline if the company won't back down.

"There are things the city can do. We're asking them to refuse permission to go through the park, and not to sign any kind of option agreement on the land. If we refuse that, in essence the community will have refused to let the pipeline go through the park."

Unlike the mayor, Mr. Thompson sees little positive about a new pipeline and does not make a connection between the LNG plant and the jobs it will create, and the pipeline that will transport the natural gas.

"Maritimes and Northeast won't be opening up an office and creating any jobs. They're just coming here to transport the product from the community to the U.S.A. And they want to do that by going through the community's public park."

Mr. Thompson says the pipeline should be built across the Bay of Fundy from Red Head all the way to the west side. The ocean floor in this area is made up of fine silt, and is not biologically significant, he says.

"I don't take the ocean's environment lightly, after all I am the Fundy Baykeeper," Mr. Thompson says, referring to his work with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. "But we're talking about a degraded seabed. Rockwood Park is made of bedrock and would involve a lot of blasting."

A few weeks ago, members of council met with officials from Maritimes and Northeast Pipelines, but so far the company has not held many consultations with members of the community. No detailed maps have been made public, nor has the exact route been described. But part of the plan would be for the underground pipeline to run out somewhere near Peacock's garden centre on the park's western boundary, then shoot down Churchill Boulevard, through Shamrock Park, across the St. John River and then on to Milford on the west side. It's a route many of the councillors think is ridiculous because it goes through so much parkland, rather than follow the throughway or snake across the ocean floor.

The company says it simply wants to follow the existing hydro coordinator, where a big swath has already been cut out. Presumably, it would be less expensive to widen the corridor a few extra meters by removing trees and rocks than building a pipeline on the ocean floor or digging up more public streets and highways.

As part of its application process, the company must consult with the public, write a report and submit it to the board. The board would then hold public hearings on the matter. Mr. Thompson says he doesn't want it to reach that stage because he describes the hearings as quasi-judicial and unfriendly toward lay people. He says company lawyers will probably question whether intervenors qualify as real experts.

Common Council will discuss the pipeline on its open agenda Monday night.