Three women, one from Sarnia and two from Guelph, were arrested Monday morning after causing the shutdown of Enbridge Pipeline's Line 9. A group of protesters entered the valve compound on Mandaumin Rd. around 7:30am and three chained themselves to equipment. Enbridge Senior Advisor of Public Affairs Ken Hall says the protesters notified the company in advance of their intentions to manually close a valve. The company immediately shut down the pipeline that carries western crude oil east, as a safety precaution. Hall says it's unfortunate the individuals felt the need to jeopardize their own safety and the safety of others.
"When you enter into a facility that is chained and has a barbed wire fence around it, it is because there are risks associated with that," says Hall.
"It's very, very disappointing that people seem to be willing to break the law and by their activities actually put themselves and potentially the environment at risk." After being freed with bolt cutters, Sarnia police arrested a 23-year-old Sarnia woman and two females from Guelph, aged 28 and 29. They're charged with mischief over $5000 and mischief endangering life. One of the Guelph women was also charged with resisting arrest. Protest spokesperson Lindsay Gray says they demonstrated how easy it is for someone to tamper with a pipeline, potentially leading to a catastrophic environmental incident.
"There's no protection around, there's only a fence which is very easy to get into, which is not very safe," says Gray.
"So we just turned it off because we do not want bitumen running through the Anishinabek territory, we did not give consent to that."
Hall said the company would make sure the valve is operational and ensure the pipeline is safe before restarting it. He expected that would take a few hours.
With files from Lee Michaels.
