A group protesting Enbridge’s plans to pump bitumen along a pipeline between Sarnia and Montreal made its case in front of local conservation officials Friday.
The Waterloo Region Coalition Against Line 9 demonstrated outside a Grand River Conservation Authority meeting and then spoke to the organization.
The group says it has more than 500 signatures on a petition opposing plans to use the pipeline for bitumen, which is heavier than crude oil.
“That presents a number of environmental and ecological issues,” spokesperson Adam Lewis tells CTV News.
Lewis points to Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline in Michigan, which saw three million litres of bitumen spill in 2010.
“They’re still cleaning that up to this day,” he says.
“Were a rupture to happen along Line 9 … we could be looking at similar impacts.”
In Michigan, those impacts have included dredging the affected river system, as unlike lighter crude oil, bitumen sinks.
GRCA spokesperson Cam Linwood says the organization will take a closer look at the issue before taking any action.
