Quebec’s third-largest city has declared its opposition to the Energy East pipeline.
“We are against it—firmly against it,” Laval Mayor Marc Demers said earlier this week. The project poses an “unreasonable safety risk” to Laval’s waterways, drinking water, agricultural land, and residential neighbourhoods, and the thought of a major leak or explosion “sends shivers down my spine.”
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Dozens of smaller communities across Quebec “have already expressed reservations or outright opposition to the project,” CBC reports. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre has declared the pipeline “risky,” but hasn’t taken an official position on the project. Demers said Laval would present its position at a set of public consultations hosted by the Montreal Metropolitan Community, in which project proponent TransCanada Corporation has said it will not participate.
Steven Guilbeault of Équiterre applauded Demers’ statement. “On the eve of the Paris Climate Change Conference, Mayor Demers is absolutely right in saying the future of Laval is not in the development of fossil fuels,” he said.
