B.C. files court challenge against Alberta law to cut off oil shipments
The B.C. government struck back at Alberta on Tuesday in the Kinder Morgan pipeline dispute, launching legal action challenging the constitutionality of Alberta’s new legislation that allows it to turn off the fuel taps to B.C.
Alberta passed Bill 12 last week, giving the province the power to control the flow of oil, natural gas and refined products out of the province in response to B.C.’s opposition to the Trans Mountain expansion project.
The lawsuit filed with the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta argues, in part, that the law is unconstitutional because it specifically is intended to discriminate against British Columbia.
The lawsuit cites the fact Minister of Energy Margaret McCuaig-Boyd stated the legislation is mean to “inflict pain” on British Columbia.
“We believe it would be reckless in the extreme and therefore highly unlikely that Alberta will actually attempt to use the powers they granted to themselves in Bill 12, especially when there’s an ongoing constitutional challenge to the legislation,” B.C. Attorney General David Eby told reporters Tuesday.
“However, if Alberta did take the remarkable step of attempting to use this law, we are prepared to immediately file an injunction.”
Added Eby: “If damage is caused to British Columbians by Alberta using this legislation, we will not hesitate to argue that Alberta is directly liable for any damage caused.”
The lawsuit states that a significant disruption in the supply of gasoline, diesel, and crude oil from Alberta to British Columbia would cause B.C. irreparable harm.
In addition to economic harm, the suit claims a disruption in supply could injure human health and safety in remote communities.
Eby said remote First Nations communities get their electric power from diesel generators.
The fight over the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion has escalated over the past weeks, since Houston, Texas-based Kinder Morgan issued an ultimatum that unless it has certainty by May 31 that it will be permitted to build the pipeline through B.C. and have protection for investors, it would walk away from the megaproject.
The project — whose opponents include First Nations, environmental groups and municipalities such as Burnaby and Vancouver — would triple capacity and open up markets for Alberta crude in California and Asia.
Kinder Morgan CEO Steve Kean has pointed the finger squarely at Premier John Horgan’s NDP government, noting the province’s plan to bring in new laws to restrict heavy oil shipments and introduce new spill-mitigation rules were creating too much uncertainty.
The company has already spent more than $1 billion and cannot afford to put any more capital at risk, Kean has said.
Recently, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has said it will indemnify the project from risk, but there have been few details on how that might be accomplished. So far, Kinder Morgan has not said the Trudeau government’s position will satisfy its demands.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley will not attend this week’s Western Premiers’ Conference in the Northwest Territories. In a tweet Monday, Notley said she would be staying in Alberta to work on securing a deal for the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline.
“It would be surreal and exceptionally tone deaf for anyone to think we could politely discuss pharmacare and cannabis when one of the players is hard at work trying to choke the economic lifeblood of the province and the country,” said Notley, presumably referring to Horgan.
On Tuesday, Eby argued B.C.’s actions are not delaying the project, noting it was issuing permits to Kinder Morgan at the same pace as the former B.C. Liberal government.