Liberals quick to dismiss risks in pipeline expansion

Trudeau replicating errors made during Harper years

One of the many promises made by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in taking power was a review of the federal environmental assessment process. And the need for change on that front was highlighted when the Harper government’s approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline was overturned by the courts.

But somehow, all the lessons that should have been learned from that failure seem to have been thrown out the window when it comes to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. And in the face of an artificial deadline imposed by Kinder Morgan, we’re just now discovering how far Trudeau has gone in replicating the mistakes of his predecessor.

For example, in the fall of 2016, researchers, including Thomas Sisk, completed a new study of the potential impacts of diluted bitumen on the marine environment. That study found substantial gaps in our ability to assess and respond to the dangers of diluted bitumen — and its authors offered to meet with government officials to highlight their research in greater depth.

Instead, Trudeau approved the Trans Mountain expansion without taking any steps to address the risks involved.

But that isn’t to say the research was ignored altogether. Instead, Sisk eventually learned that the federal government’s response to his offer of up-to-date expert information was … to dismiss it internally with political talking points.

And this week, a report by Mike De Souza confirmed that a similar strategy was applied to the Liberals’ overall review process for Trans Mountain.

Even as Trudeau’s government claimed to be carrying out consultations, it issued instructions to public servants demanding excuses to approve the expansion, while refusing to even consider whether a rejection or even a new review might be feasible options.

And the Liberals acted at the behest of Kinder Morgan in shortening timelines and dismissing concerns.

(As such, there’s ample precedent for Kinder Morgan’s threats extracting concessions from our governments.)

Speaking of Kinder Morgan, its own background is also worth noting in evaluating the Liberals’ actions.

As pointed out by journalist Andrew Nikiforuk, Kinder Morgan emerged as a spinoff of Enron — another corporate monolith that conspicuously applied political pressure to undermine regulatory processes, then exploited the resulting lack of regulation. (Of course, in Enron’s case the result was a corporate structure which collapsed under the weight of widespread fraud.)

And Kinder Morgan has elected not to put its own skin in the game to fund Trans Mountain.

While its Canadian subsidiary was able to raise $1.6 billion in an initial public offering, that money was used to pay off the debts of its American corporate parent rather than funding any development.

Now, the federal and Alberta governments are talking about handing Kinder Morgan public money to paper over its refusal to invest in its own project — and all in the name of allowing for guaranteed profits without investor risk.

The federal government’s record of supplication to Kinder Morgan would be appalling enough if it weren’t for the main public response — which has been the complaint of conservative, oil-sponsored politicians that the Liberals haven’t been biased enough in stifling any opposition.

Rather than echoing corporate threats, we should recognize that the escalating set of provincial trade wars and strategic accusations surrounding Trans Mountain represents reason to step back and seek some perspective.

If a Trans Mountain expansion is actually in the national interest, then it should be able to win approval in a fair assessment process, rather than requiring an atmosphere of intimidation and denial to proceed. And if not, then the last thing we need is to have it pushed forward solely by petro politics.