Ottawa insists pipeline expansion won’t be undermined by delays
Minister sends ‘signal’ on stalling, but evasive on what could be done
Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr had little to offer Kinder Morgan on Thursday in the way of direct action or tools the federal government might use to stop delays in the construction of the $7.4-billion expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
Carr had announced Wednesday that his Liberal government had sent a letter to the National Energy Board supporting a new process to resolve permitting delays at the local or provincial level.
Kinder Morgan has said its project is nine months behind because of permit delays, including in Burnaby, where the municipality opposes the expansion of the pipeline to deliver more oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast, which could open new export markets for Alberta oilsands in Asia and the U.S. West Coast.
Questioned by reporters after his speech at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s energy forum, Carr did not directly answer when asked if there were other actions the federal government would take to ensure permits were processed without delay.
He would say only that the government would make sure the Calgary-based NEB had the resources to do its job well, and cited the Liberal government’s majority in Parliament.
Asked what he considered an unnecessary delay, he said that was the NEB’s job to define.
“We just think that the signal we want to send to Canadians is that the project will be reviewed in a way that doesn’t show any unnecessary delays — that’s all it is,” Carr said.
The B.C. NDP government, which came to power last summer with the support of the Green party, is opposed to the oil pipeline expansion. While the B.C. government said it would do anything in its power to stop the project, its bureaucracy has been processing permits.
The provincial government also backed a Federal Court case opposing the project, where a decision has yet to be released.
On Wednesday, B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman called the federal government’s action to interfere with the NEB process highly troubling and an intrusion of B.C.’s right to enforce its permits and regulations, and defend the interests of its citizens.
Days before, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley called on Ottawa to step up its efforts to support the project. On Thursday, she said she was pleased the federal government is supporting the NEB process to resolve permit delays.
However, in response to questions from reporters on Thursday, she also offered no other actions or tools she would like to see the federal government use to ensure the project is built in a timely manner.
“I hope (the federal government) will continue to embrace their role as a key player in promoting what is, in my view, a national project,” Notley said.
The Alberta premier made an impassioned case to the more than 300 business-friendly participants at the energy forum that the Trans Mountain expansion project is good for Canada’s prosperity and will create welcome jobs, including for British Columbia.
Notley, who received a standing ovation, said that several years ago, 44,000 British Columbians earned $2 billion in income by working in Alberta.
She also argued the project will not increase oilsands emissions because Alberta has capped emissions and the province is taking the dramatic step of eliminating high-carbon-emission coal-energy plants by 2030.
Responding to Notley’s charge that no province should be able to block another from the coast, B.C. Premier John Horgan said Thursday it is his job to protect the interests of British Columbians.
“I do not believe that a sevenfold increase in tanker traffic for an unrefined product, that is basically a raw log in Alberta terms, is in the interests of the economy of this province,” he said.
Kinder Morgan president Ian Anderson said permits that should take five to seven weeks to approve are taking five to seven months.
Anderson said the company has only been able to start some construction on an expansion of its ship-loading terminal in Burnaby. He said he could not say when major construction on other parts of the project could start.
Anderson said the delays cause problems for investors and oil producers and also for communities and First Nations that support the project. It also sends the wrong signal to the general investment community, he said.
“The world is watching,” he said. The board of trade’s energy forum was interrupted by two protesters, once by a demonstrator from the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation and another from the environmental group Western Wilderness Committee.
Both oppose the projects over risks to the environment, including the chance of oil spills and the contribution to increased carbon emissions.
In a statement, Tsleil-Waututh member Will George said the project was “not welcome on his lands and water.”
Protesters also gathered outside the energy forum, which was held at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in downtown Vancouver.
I hope (the federal government) will continue to embrace their role as a key player in promoting what is, in my view, a national project.
RACHEL NOTLEY, Alberta premier