From: Vancouver Observer
Michelle BarlondSmith in a photo by Mike Chisholm
Michelle BarlondSmith had a blunt assessment of her
experience with the 2010 Enbridge oil spill on the Kalamazoo River.
“You get to say goodbye to a lot of friends.”
Speaking to a standing room crowd at Vancouver’s Mt. Pleasant’s Heritage Hall Thursday night, the photographer and former airline worker from Kalamazoo, Michigan recounted the hours and days living along the Kalamazoo River after an Enbridge pipeline spilled almost one million gallons of diluted Alberta oil into the river and along the riverbank.
BarlondSmith used her own photographs of the devastation to the river and wildlife along the river, the subsequent clean-up efforts and the health impacts to provide a first-hand impression of what an oil spill of diluted bitumen can do to a community.
“We had four deaths in first year –two died within two months. I now have said goodbye to 17 people who I met since the oil spill,” said BarlondSmith. “When these spills happen, there are going to be consequences.” The Vancouver Observer has not been able to confirm the validity of BarlondSmith's statement that people died as a result of the spill, despite inquiries in Kalamazoo. There are no other reports of such deaths.
MORE
Speaking to a standing room crowd at Vancouver’s Mt. Pleasant’s Heritage Hall Thursday night, the photographer and former airline worker from Kalamazoo, Michigan recounted the hours and days living along the Kalamazoo River after an Enbridge pipeline spilled almost one million gallons of diluted Alberta oil into the river and along the riverbank.
BarlondSmith used her own photographs of the devastation to the river and wildlife along the river, the subsequent clean-up efforts and the health impacts to provide a first-hand impression of what an oil spill of diluted bitumen can do to a community.
“We had four deaths in first year –two died within two months. I now have said goodbye to 17 people who I met since the oil spill,” said BarlondSmith. “When these spills happen, there are going to be consequences.” The Vancouver Observer has not been able to confirm the validity of BarlondSmith's statement that people died as a result of the spill, despite inquiries in Kalamazoo. There are no other reports of such deaths.
MORE
No comments:
Post a Comment