Tony backs ban on Great Lakes drilling

NEWS RELEASE

TONY MARTIN, MP

************************* Martin wants Canada to ban Great Lakes drilling as U.S. has CHICAGO - Sault MP Tony Martin agrees with 20 U.S. Congressmen asking Canada to follow the United States lead and institute a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes. “The Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill in the Gulf Coast along with the crack in a Michigan pipeline that led to more than one million gallons of oil spilling into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River [photo] which flows into Lake Michigan reminds us of how at risk our ecosystem is,” Martin said. “”There is an estimated 45 million people in the United States and Canada relying on the Great Lakes for drinking water, fishing, recreation, agriculture, industry and shipping. A ban on drilling will put them first.” Like U.S. Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Bart Stupak (D-MI), Martin is writing Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Environment Minister Jim Prentice and the Commissioners of the International Joint Commission urging Canada to re-examine its oil drilling policies in the Great Lakes. Stupak and Quigley noted “as we witnessed in the Gulf of Mexico, oil spills know no boundaries. So long as we continue to have different laws on drilling in our shared Great Lakes waters, we are all at risk.” The U.S. Energy Policy Act prohibited oil and gas drilling in the American Waters of the Great Lakes in 2005, however, the ban does not extend to Canadian waters. Martin and Stupak have collaborated on a number of Great Lakes initiatives including invasive species and St. Mary’s River environmental concerns.

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