Reader's Digest publishes major takeout on BC pipeline and tanker perils

[This post has been updated] Reader's Digest in its February issue publishes a remarkable 5,000-word original article drawn from research excerpt for his forthcoming book The Oil Man and the Sea by Arno Kopecky, a Vancouver-based environmental journalist and travel writer. He writes about traversing the inside passage of BC and considering its peril from future Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker traffic. The piece is illustrated by photography of Ilja Herb. (Curiously, the Valentine's-themed cover of the issue makes no mention of the 18-page article.)

I'd say the story reporting and the editing are careful, providing both sides -- those who oppose Enbridge's pipeline and those who favour it. But the balance is clearly a warning against the project and it is hard to see how a story in a magazine with Canada's largest readership can fail to contribute to swaying public opinion on the issues. Here's a taste:

"Are we really going to put at risk tens of thousands of existing jobs in fishing and tourism, the watersheds and the internationally renowned Great Bear Rainforest for a couple hundred jobs promised by Enbridge?" asks Caitlyn Vernon, coastal campaigner with Sierra Club B.C.  

We just might. But in an age of rational hubris, Canada's West Coast  is one of the few places that reminds us of the unreasoning primacy of nature. Coastal residents believe they can win the Northern Gateway debate if they can get their fellow citizens to understand value in larger terms than money -- to see it, instead, in terms of functioning ecosystems, a healthy climate and a democracy that respects minorities.

The story is not available online; so if you're not a subscriber, you'll have to pick up at copy at the newsstand for $4.25.  [Update: the article has now been posted online http://www.readersdigest.ca/magazine/true-stories/273-billion-question-enbridge-and-northern-gateway-controversy (But you could buy a copy anyway.)]