Pipelines must be ‘ decided on science’

• The federal environment minister said the government’s pending decisions on pipelines proposed by Enbridge Inc. and others need to consider that the conduits themselves don’t add to greenhouse gas emissions since the industry can always turn to railways to ship their crude.

“It’s not pipelines that create emissions in the sense that oil and gas will go to market if there is a demand, and if they don’t go by pipe they will go by rail,” Catherine McKenna said in an interview to be aired Friday with Bloomberg TV Canada from Toronto.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is due to decide on Enbridge’s Line 3 and Northern Gateway projects as early as Friday, though the announcements may be extended into next week or l ater. McKenna didn’ t comment on t he merits of either project and said decisions must be made based on “science and evidence.”

The government is also set to rule next month on Kinder Morgan Inc.’ s $5.4-billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline that would triple capacity on the 1,150- kilometre route from Alberta to Vancouver.

Canada will proceed with actions to curb carbon emissions such as crafting new guidelines for cleaner fuels regardless of political uncertainty following the U.S. election, McKenna said.

“We’re certainly hopeful the U. S. will stay engaged and I think you’ve seen some more positive signals coming out of the U. S. in that regard,” McKenna said. “We are going to keep on keeping on.”