Alta. environment minister applauds federal gov’ t decision
Minister of Environment and Parks Shannon Phillips is applauding the federal government’s decision to buy out Kinder-Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline to ensure the project gets built.
“It’s a really important day for Albertans and Canadians,” said Phillips, MLA for Lethbridge West. “We know the project is going to be profitable, because we know the tremendous economic benefits it provides. Not only for Albertans, but certainly for British Columbians, and certainly for all Canadians.”
Phillips said her government believes in the importance of the project and is ready to guarantee an additional indemnity up to $2 billion on top of the federal government’s investment to ensure the project goes forward without further delay.
“Our commitment to indemnity is up to $2 billion, and would be payable only once oil begins to flow through the pipeline,” she explained. “And at that point, our investment would be converted to equity, ensuring value for our piece of this project. It is possible we will never spend a dollar of that on this pipeline, but if we need to we will. But we will do it in a way that Albertans own a piece of the project, if that’s the case.”
Phillips said Alberta has the ethics right on this project — striking a good balance between environmental concerns and economic considerations.
“As the Environment Minister I listen to my constituents in Lethbridge West, and I know people in Lethbridge West understand climate change is real, and Alberta must do its part,” she said.
“That’s why I am so proud to be able to report back to my constituents on the work we have done on the Climate Leadership Plan. It is the most comprehensive and ambitious climate plan on the North American continent, and one of the most comprehensive climate plans in the industrialized world.”
“This project is being built under that new climate plan,” she emphasized, “with an understanding there is a legislated cap on emissions. That’s a really big achievement. The fact of the matter is we have reduced Alberta’s greenhouse gas emissions, and we will continue to do so. I wasn’t sure that was going to be possible when I first took this job three years ago. I looked at our emissions profile, and all of our challenges, and it was really daunting. And now we are looking at a situation where all the models show we will be stabilizing our emissions at 2014 levels and reducing them.”
Kinder-Morgan has also fulfilled its duty to consult Indigenous peoples on whose territories the pipleline passes though, said Phillips, and the Alberta and Canadian governments have said they will honour all agreements which came out of those consultations. Phillips noted there are 43 separate mutual benefit agreements with First Nations along the route worth $400 million in value to those communities.
“The Alberta government is committed to substantively addressing peoples’ (environmental and Indigenous consultation) concerns, and we have done that,” said Phillips. “Having said that, the billions of dollars of investment, the tens of thousands of jobs and the fact that working people in this province, and across this country, will be substantially better off if we can get a better price for the production we are making right now. That is in the national interest, and it is in the national interest to get Albertans back to work to put this economy back on its feet, and to be able to get full value for our resources.”