FACING HEAT
Despite stiff opposition, TransCanada CEO remains hopeful about Keystone, Energy East outcomes,
A day after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said developing Alberta’s oilsands would considerably increase emissions — a conclusion green groups say gives U.S. President Barack Obama reason to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline — TransCanada’s CEO called it “illogical,” but insisted he was still hopeful.
“I don’t have a backup plan for something as illogical as that,” said Russ Girling on Wednesday.
“Oil will move in some way . . . At some point in time, the sentiment will change, because the cheapest and the safest way to get that oil from Canada to the U.S. and the Gulf Coast is a pipeline.”
In Toronto to speak to the Toronto Board of Trade, a frustrated Girling pointed out in an interview with the Star that “a very, very safe transportation industry has now become synonymous with emissions. It has become synonymous with every plight that humans face right now.”
Social issues are important, he said, “but it is also important that we reliably and safely get energy every day. My fear is that if we stall this (pipeline projects), we aren’t going to be able to do this safely any more. We are loading up the alternative transportation systems and that will result in accidents, a greater impact on the environment.”
Keystone XL, now estimated to cost $8 billion (U.S.), would carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day, some of it from the Alberta oilsands, some from the Bakken region of the United States.
The pipeline faces fierce opposition from environmentalists in the U.S. and Canada; Obama has said he will reject the proposal if it would lead to a significant increase in emissions.
But Keystone isn’t the only pipeline on Girling’s mind — he is also gearing up for a review of the Energy East project, which is already facing opposition in Ontario and Quebec.
If it gets the go-ahead, the $12-billion Energy East project will carry diluted bitumen from Saskatchewan to Ontario and on to Quebec and then export terminals and refineries in New Brunswick.
The application was filed in Octo- ber; the National Energy Board (NEB) will start the review in the next few months. Energy East is longer and larger than Keystone XL.
A report by the Pembina Institute last February said that the proposed pipeline would release 30 to 32 million tonnes of emissions annually — the same as adding seven million cars to Canada’s roads.
Environmentalists are asking the NEB to consider climate change when assessing the project.
Connecting the emissions debate to Energy East “is crazy, in my mind,” said Girling. “We are going to produce oil in the world, whether it is produced in Western Canada or someplace else . . . Until you stop driving your car, we will need oil. The question is: Where do you want to get the oil from?”
TransCanada made mistakes with Keystone XL, said Girling, including the assumption that “everyone understands that this (a pipeline) is the safest and the best way of transportation. We learned that is not the case . . . We have had to start a whole new dialogue in this country and the U.S. about energy choices and what the reality is.”
But the company engaged early on with Energy East, he said. TransCanada officials have “met thousands of people and have made numerous changes to the route of the pipeline.”
The proposed pipeline is critical for the country, Girling said. “If we don’t do this, we will do something a lot inferior than what we are proposing. And that is a tragedy.”