Canadian provinces in bitter court battle as pipeline row escalates
CANADA’S westernmost province is sueing its neighbor to try to stop it from turning off oil and gas taps in an escalating row over a proposed pipeline expansion.
British Columbia filed a statement of claim in Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday seeking an injunction and damages should the latter move to throttle energy shipments.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley bowed out of a meeting of regional leaders in protest.
The two provinces have been at loggerheads for months over the proposed twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline to move 890,000 barrels of oil per day from landlocked Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific coast, for shipping to new overseas markets.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government approved the US$5.9 billion project in 2016, saying it is “in the national interest” as it would allow Canada to diversify its oil exports — 99 percent of which now go to the United States.
But British Columbia’s new social democratic government recently joined environmental activists’ fight against the project, provoking an Alberta boycott of its wines and threats to devastate the British Columbia economy by curbing Alberta oil and gas supplies.
The feud reached a boiling point last month when Kinder Morgan suspended most work on the pipeline amid the uncertainty, and said it would drop the project if the parties fail to resolve their differences by May 31.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau has met Kinder Morgan executives and pledged last week to compensate the company for any losses caused by political delays.
But he declined to provide details and Kinder Morgan has not said if it is enough to allay investor fears.
In court documents, British Columbia said Alberta’s threat to throttle gasoline, diesel and crude oil shipments would cause “irreparable harm” to its economy and “could injure human health and safety in remote communities.”
Notley told British Columbia’s position was contradictory: “On one hand they don’t want our oil. And on the other hand (BC) is suing us to give them our oil.”