HR0864 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0864 LRB099 15348 MST 39593 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company, has pipelines running through Illinois carrying crude oil and tar sands oil; this poses a risk of leaks and spills to the towns and cities, the farms and waterways, and the wetlands of Illinois and to Illinois residents; and

WHEREAS, Enbridge was responsible for the 2010 Kalamazoo Oil Spill in Michigan, the largest inland oil spill in the United States, and while it claims that it has fully cleaned up the spill, local residents say that the river is toxic and unsafe for fishing and for all the recreational uses that they enjoyed before the 2010 spill; and

WHEREAS, Enbridge has a history of 800 other spills, including the 2010 spill in the Village of Romeoville, litigation about which is still ongoing; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Commerce Commission has given Enbridge a certificate of "good standing" to expand and build additional sections of pipeline, using the rationale that the citizens of Illinois urgently need the oil that Enbridge is transporting; and

WHEREAS, The notion that the citizens of Illinois urgently need the oil that Enbridge is transporting is belied by the fact that a large portion of that oil is being refined and exported to other countries; and

WHEREAS, The decision that a constant supply of oil is a "public good" is further belied by the looming threat of climate change and the impending climate crisis; and

WHEREAS, The public good of the citizens of Illinois would be better served by massive investments in renewable energy and conservation; and

WHEREAS, The certificate of "good standing" gives Enbridge the right to use Illinois courts to demand that landowners give it easements to put new sections of pipeline across their lands and to use eminent domain to force the landowners to comply on terms largely favorable to Enbridge; and

WHEREAS, Enbridge is using that power of eminent domain in a bullying fashion, forcing landowners who do not want that pipeline to accept the pipeline and Enbridge's terms for it; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Enbridge and any other pipeline company transporting fossil fuels to have an environmental impact study conducted by a third-party scientific organization with no ties to the industry before they lay any new section of pipe and before any section of existing pipe begins to transport tar sands oil or natural gas extracted by fracking; and be it further

RESOLVED, That any environmental impact study must include the long-term impact of burning fossil fuels on the looming climate crisis; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Enbridge and any other pipeline company must be held fully responsible for any environmental damages caused by leaks or spills or for agricultural damage to the farms through which their pipelines pass.