Omnitrax has suspended indefinitely a controversial plan to haul oil by rail across northern Manitoba, a decision heralded by environmentalists and Churchill MP Niki Ashton.
The rail giant last year proposed to ship up to 3.3 million barrels of Alberta crude a year from The Pas to the Port of Churchill beginning
in 2015.
Omnitrax Canada president Merv Tweed told the Winnipeg Free Press that shelving the plan is feasible thanks to the record success of grain shipments.
“Having reviewed all of our opportunities and the things we’d like to do, we decided it wasn’t necessary or in our best interests to pursue [oil shipments] any further,” Tweed told the newspaper over the weekend.
That was welcome news for Ashton, who had been vocally opposed to the proposal.
“People didn’t feel safe, not only for the environmental conditions but because the emergency measures aren’t in place at all,” Ashton told the Free Press. “Northerners and First Nations leaders spoke out loud and clear... although Omnitrax may not acknowledge that overtly.
Apprehension
While Omnitrax argued that petroleum products have on a smaller scale been safely shipped to Churchill for 50-plus years, that was not enough to alleviate public apprehension.
Public concerns were fuelled largely by last year’s derailments of oil-tanker trains in Lac-Mégantic, Que., and Gainford, Alta., not to mention non-oil-related derailments on the rail line to Churchill.
Keewatin Tribal Council Grand Chief Irvin Sinclair told The Canadian Press last year that just one derailment or oil spill could ruin the livelihood of generations who still live off the land.
Eric Reder of the Wilderness Committee environmental group had said the Omnitrax plan would spell trouble for Churchill’s ecotourism industry.
But in The Pas, headquarters of Omnitrax’s Manitoba division, Mayor Alan McLauchlan was favourable, saying the plan “would provide employment opportunities and enhance economic development in the region.”
