Why we don't need the Enbridge pipeline

Here is a link to an article written by Award-winning journalist Andrew Nikiforuk in theTyee.ca regarding the Enbridge pipeline. (The “quotes” are from his article.)
The report was written by David Hughes, a retired geologist that worked for Natural Resources Canada for 32 years, where “he analyzed coal reserves, shale gas and unconventional natural gas supplies.”
“Hughes is neither a radical nor a foreigner. Nor he is an environmentalist. In fact the no-nonsense geologist regards the oil sands as a strategic resource that should be developed measurably and carefully in the national interest.”

That report raises some interesting points:

  1. “Enbridge, Gateway’s proponent, has made up its own oil sands growth forecasts, which it has provided to the
    National Energy Board to justify the project.”
  2. "the Enbridge pipeline is based on a projection that accelerates liquidation of a non-renewable resource in the
    absence of any national policy. Hughes points out that Northern Gateway is not needed unless oil sands production is
    ramped up by more than three-fold over 2010 levels. Enbridge bases its Northern Gateway proposal on the
    assumption that oil sands production can be tripled in less than 25 years.
    (Remember it took 40 years to reach 1.5 million barrels.)
  3. “why does the Canadian government support a proposal to export oil to China when nearly half the country (Quebec
    and Atlantic Canada) is nearly 100 per cent dependent on declining or volatile reserves from the North Sea and the
    Middle East?”

thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/01/12/HughesReport/

Make sure you click the satellite images in the report to see how the project has grown over time.