WINNIPEG - With today’s announcement that the proposed Energy East pipeline fiasco is finally finished, First Nations communities, concerned citizens and environmental activists are relieved and resolved to end the construction of any new fossil fuel infrastructure.

“There is such a relief that this insane idea is finally finished,” said Wilderness and Water Campaigner Eric Reder.

For several years now the Wilderness Committee has been releasing reports and organizing community events to educate people of the risks of this project and fossil fuel infrastructure in Manitoba and Ontario, explaining the risks to our climate, the costs to our public utility and the uncertain legality of the proposed pipeline.

“North America’s biggest pipeline project is stopped,” said Reder. “Everybody knows the future has no place for fossil fuels – even TransCanada.”

With Energy East dead in the water, all eyes are on the two pipelines Trudeau approved last November.

“Today is for celebration,” said Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney. “Tomorrow we continue fighting to stop Kinder Morgan in BC and Line 3 through Manitoba.”

In August, the National Energy Board announced it would review the carbon pollution created by the oil inside Energy East. Many are attributing TransCanada’s decision to environmental groups’ long push to include climate change in pipeline reviews.

“Today’s announcement shows when pipeline reviews have to account for climate change, it stops these projects dead in their tracks,” said McCartney. “It's an absolute travesty that this standard was never applied to Kinder Morgan's pipeline and Line 3. Now the government is paying the price.”

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For more information, please contact:

Eric Reder | Wilderness and Water Campaigner - Winnipeg
204-997-8584, eric@wildernesscommittee.org

Peter McCartney | Climate Campaigner -  Vancouver
778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org