Trans Mountain Pipeline: The last hurdle.
We’ve left off writing about the latest chapter in the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion until the dust has settled somewhat. There was plenty of knee jerking going on. Claims of victory, expressions of anger and disappointment and attempts to lay blame.
Let’s take blame first. The Alberta Government led by any party we think has the right to be angry, not at the decision of the judges of the Federal Court of Appeal to reverse the Federal Government’s approval of the project, but at how it could happen. Judges follow the law and in a free country are going to apply it by the numbers, right is right, wrong is wrong, there is not much middle ground.
There are likely three blame fairies here, a Conservative federal government, a Liberal government and the National Energy Board (NEB). Any one of them throwing political and procedural blame stones at each other is likely to rebound on them.
In life and in business if one doesn’t follow the procedure properly, cross the Ts and dot the I’s then at some point an omission or a failure is likely to come back and bite the proponents in the arse (pardon our French). This has happened because of what looks to be not enough consultation with indigenous people along the route of the pipeline and a failure to properly assess the environmental risks of more tankers off the B.C. coast.
The court’s judgement, in our opinion, offers a road map to get the project done rather than kibosh it altogether. Alberta’s reaction of pulling out of the federal climate change plan was a big headline but unlikely to bite for some time, plenty of time for a fix.
The fix can be enabled by the current federal government. Changes in law and following the court road map. We think that this pipeline is such a political monster that not getting it underway may harm the Liberals and the Alberta NDP at the ballot box next year. Plenty of incentive to get it done.
Now for some questions that have occurred to us. The investors of Kinder Morgan have approved the sale. Presumably
President Trump will sign off on it. Hopefully, he may have done so already. Could he prove to be a wildcard opponent?
The decision of the Court of Appeal seemed to have surprised, nay amazed many. Legal decisions are very logical. Was there no one in government and regulatory circles that didn’t see this or the risk of this coming? Certainly, the project was good to go and just last week we had releases of workers and equipment set to get to work almost immediately. Surely confidence must have been sky high now, it’s in ruins. What measures, if any, are being put in place to compensate companies and workers that now have no work to do?
Appealing the decision to the Supreme Court is an option but could take up to a year, unless it’s fast tracked. Even then if the situation is the same regarding the hurdles it’s likely the decision will be the same. Therefore, presumably there must be a combination of fixing the errors and work in parliament?
We also can’t figure out why the deal went through when there was a court case in the offing that could have derailed it? Surely there should have been some sort of clause in the agreement to cover this? If the Federal Government and the NEB can’s get this fixed and quick then the Liberals risk being stuck with a $4.5 billion lemon, do they not?
For those that have declared victory, we think it is only temporary. There is going to a lot of will pushed west to get his project done, one way or another. However, it is almost certainly an opportunity to get a better deal.