LINE 9 REVERSAL WINS APPROVAL
Conditions for Enbridge; harsh words for activists
The National Energy Board handed a conditional approval to a proposal to reverse the flow and expand Enbridge’s controversial Line 9 so it can move western oil to refineries in Ontario and Quebec, and doled out harsh words to activists who disrupted its hearings.
In a 141-page ruling released Thursday, the board said the decision “enables Enbridge to react to market forces and provide benefits to Canadians, while at the same time implementing the project in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner.”
The federal regulator said the 30 conditions imposed on Enbridge would enhance the pipeline’s integrity and environmental protection, improve emergency response and require continued consultation. The regulator turned down a request by Enbridge to exempt it from a final check to ensure all conditions are met.
The approval is final. It involves a 639-kilometre stretch between North Westover, Ont., and Montreal, as well as an increase of the pipeline’s capacity to 300,000 from 240,000 barrels per day. Enbridge also won permission to move heavy oil. The NEB had already approved the reversal of the western portion of Line 9, a 194-kilometre segment linking Sarnia, Ont., to North Westover.
The federal regulator’s endorsement comes three months after a panel of regulators backed another major pipeline, Enbridge’s Northern Gateway from Alberta to the West Coast, after finding that Canada would be better off with the new project than without it.
The pipelines are part of a build up of transportation capacity to expand markets for western Canada’s growing oil production. Two other major projects, Energy East from Alberta to the East Coast proposed by TransCanada Corp., and the expansion of the TransMountain pipeline by Kinder Morgan from Alberta to Vancouver, are also before regulators.
The board’s decision was welcomed by the natural resources minister, who said the National Energy Board had conducted “an independent, scientific review” of Enbridge’s proposal.
“This will protect highquality, skilled jobs in Quebec and create market opportunities for Western Canada’s oil producers,” Joe Oliver said.
“Furthermore,’ the minister said, “by replacing higher-cost foreign crude with Canadian crude, the reversal will strengthen Quebec’s refining and petrochemical industries.”
For environmental organizations targeting pipeline expansions to constrain oil sands growth, Line 9’s approval marks another setback.
“We are deeply disappointed that the National Energy Board decided to rubberstamp this risky project,” said Adam Scott, a spokesman from Environmental Defence, which had cast Line 9 as “a proposal to bring dirty tar sands oil through Ontario and Quebec.”
Rising Tide Toronto, representing some aboriginal communities along the pipeline route, called the decision “reckless” and promoted unspecified acts of civil disobedience.
“The NEB hearings have always been a rubber-stamping process. It doesn’t matter how many people participate, how many municipalities or band Councils say they don’t want this project — or haven’t even been consulted,” Amanda Lickers of Reclaim Turtle Island said in a statement.
“Canada is in cahoots with industry and we are all going to lose. This madness needs to be stopped at the source, at the tar sands,” Ms. Lickers said.
The quasi-judicial board acknowledged there is rising public concern about pipeline safety, but condemned the disruption of its hearings.
“The board expects participants and other members of the public attending its hearings to act with courtesy and respect during proceedings. Unfortunately, this was not always the case,” the National Energy Board said in its decision.
“The board takes seriously the unfortunate instances during which parties were interrupted by individuals attending the hearing at both venues (in Montreal and Toronto). Ultimately, this lack of decorum and disruptive conduct resulted in the final day of oral argument being cancelled, due to concerns with respect to the security of attendees.”
Al Monaco, president and chief executive of Enbridge, said the project will bring reliable western Canadian supplies to Quebec refineries and protect more than 4,000 jobs, sustain the petrochemical sector and strengthen the economy.
“The approval of this project is not the end of the process for us. We look forward
In cahoots with industry and we are all going to lose
to continuing our efforts to build trust in these communities and continue the discussion of how to make a safe and well-performing pipeline even safer,” he said in a statement.
Built in 1976, the pipeline originally moved oil from Sarnia to Montreal, but was reversed in the late 1990s to pump oil imported from abroad. Western Canadian oil has been selling for lower prices than imports priced at higher world prices and shipped on tankers from as far away as Nigeria and Venezuela.
The decision doesn’t require another level of approval from the federal government because it’s not a new build. However, it can be appealed within 30 days. The reversal, expected to cost $400-million, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.