No upside for pipelines: CEO.

Pipeline companies won’t benefit from rail disaster, says Girling

CALGARY — Executives with major Canadian pipeline companies say they see no silver lining in the Lac-Mégantic train disaster.

There have been suggestions that transporting oil by pipeline may seem more palatable after several oil-laden rail cars exploded over the weekend, killing more than a dozen people and devastating the small Quebec town.

But TransCanada Corp. CEO Russ Girling said Tuesday there’s “no good news here for anybody” and the notion that the pipeline industry will benefit from the tragedy makes no sense.

“This is a tragic event that shakes everybody and shakes all of us that are in the business,” he told reporters at the TD Securities Calgary Energy Conference.

While disasters ranging from Lac-Mégantic to the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico three years ago jolt the public, Girling said companies such as TransCanada still have a responsibility to build new energy infrastructure.

“People continue to have needs for starting their vehicles every morning, cooking their food, heating their homes. We have an obligation to do that as safely as we can.”

His comments were echoed by Ian Anderson, president of Kinder Morgan Canada, which is pursuing the twinning of the Trans Mountain Pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C.

“I think pipeline regulations will continue to be under scrutiny, as will rail legislation,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair to comment yet on pipe versus rail as alternatives. Both of them I think are part of the fabric of what producers are looking at these days in terms of flexibility and optionality.

“I think that the public is obviously very concerned about the broad safety net that is available for both rail and pipelines. I think it’s a question of all operators — whether it’s pipe or rail or trucking for that matter — (to) continue to be very diligent and vigilant in their safety precautions.”

Both of Canada’s major rail operators were represented at the conference. James Cairns, vice-president of petroleum and chemicals for Canadian National Railway Co., defended the safety record of railroads while pointing out the cause of the Lac-Mégantic incident is unknown.

“It was a terrible, terrible tragedy and our sympathies are with the people of that town. Having said that, we’ve been running the railway for a lot of years and we do a real good job on transporting dangerous commodities very safely.”

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. vice-president Tracy Robinson said the company moves about 70,000 carloads of oil per year (about 125,000 barrels per day), up from 13,000 in 2011. That is forecast to grow to 140,000 to 210,000 carloads by 2015.

Cairns criticized the Alberta government’s decision last month to agree to ship 100,000 bpd of bitumen for 20 years on TransCanada’s Energy East line, an underused natural gas pipeline that could send up to 850,000 barrels a day of Western crude to eastern markets. The province has access to 400,000 barrels per day of bitumen in lieu of receiving royalties.

So far this year, there have been 10 new applications for sidewalk cafés.

“That’s a pretty sharp increase,” he said.

Only a couple of permits would have been received during the same period in past years.

Not including any applications currently under review, there are 57 sidewalk cafés with valid permits and licences in Edmonton, according to the city.

Sidewalk cafés are also getting bigger as restaurants take advantage of the rule changes and more flexible attitudes of city officials, Mackie said.

“We’re really trying to encourage it as opposed to being the rule enforcers,” Mackie said.

Coun. Ben Henderson, who along with fellow councillors Don Iveson and Kerry Diotte, spearheaded the change, said the policy appears to be working and he has noticed more outdoor cafés.

“The big questions that we still need to deal with, but are unfortunately out of our power to deal with, have to do with the province and some of the liquorlicensing questions, which they’ve been stubborn on,” Henderson said.

“The AGLC is aware of the City of Edmonton’s ideas for liquor service on patios and will take these ideas into consideration when this policy comes under review,” AGLC spokesperson Jody Korchinski said in an email.

While outdoor dining spaces may energize a city’s street life, that’s not usually the primary motivation for a restaurateur to open one. Sidewalk cafés can significantly boost both seating, and — if the weather and business model click — revenues in the chancy food industry.

The patio at Tres Carnales will boost seating capacity by about 50 per cent, Sills said.

At the 65-seat Café Amore, at 10807 106th Avenue, co-owner Cristo Crudo is working through the city’s application process to open a patio with an extra 24 seats.

“So far, so good,” Crudo said. “We’re generating an extra 24 seats out there so hopefully that means 24 more people that we’re anticipating.”