BC The Key To Northern Gateway
There are many more hurdles for Enbridge to overcome before the Northern Gateway pipeline is built. While the company has received the green light from the National Energy Board that is but the first mile in a long road ahead.
Enbridge can expect a series of legal actions to be launched to try and stop the project. The first up to the plate will be those First Nations who have not signed on to the project and while some may (if Enbridge is prepared to make the risk of a spill secondary to a lot of money) be prepared to sign on , there are a host of others who simply are saying no way.
So the question of rights and title will have to wind its way through the court . Then there is the matter of the Environmental groups who saw the approval of the project, subject to 209 recommendations, as not sufficient and they, in tandem, are not prepared to walk away from the fight.
Finally to add a further hurdle, and probably the most important one, the Province of BC. While the Feds, along with Alberta, are chomping at the bit in the hopes of picking up some new found money, Christy Clark's government is not about to allow a project with a lot of risks, to be built, if BC is left carrying the can. Unless BC gets a new export tax added to the cost of the product heading to China don't look for this province to jump on the Enbridge train. The amount of money we would receive if we take the present deal is a pittance over the long term and one spill could eat it all up.
So that brings us to the conclusion , the price of the line has already risen to $7.9 billion up about $1.5 billion over the past couple of years. If you add a further few billion onto that tab and the people who call the shots at Enbridge may be asking for a second look as to whether the project is economically feasible. The Mackenzie pipeline took a host of years to wind itself through to conclusion and in the end it was the lack of profit in the line that killed it.
The USA is moving towards self sufficiency in fossil fuel production , that frees up a lot of international product that countries who have been living on their oil reserves need to sell.
As the saying goes, "it ain't over till the Fat Lady sings' and at the moment, there isn't anyone warming up their vocal chords.
I'm Meisner and that's one man's opinion.
Comments
I think Nathen Cullen says what needs to be said.
http://www.nathancullen.com/news/article/statement_from_nathan_cullen_on_recommendation_of_the_joint_review_panel_fo
The ‘Fat Lady Sings’ moment I think will be when we see how far Harper is willing to go to undermine the Supreme Court and our Canadian constitution for the export of bituman to China. Only then will we truly realize our country was sold out by Harper through his FIPA deal with China. Then it will be interesting to see who apologizes for treason, and who is willing to stand up for the Canadian constitution.
Apologizes for treason? What does the good ole US of A do to those whom commit treason? If the shoe fits…..
These projects are a requirement for the Economic Future of our country. It’s just that simple!
I still don’t understand why we can’t refine it in Canada, and work towards being more self-sufficient.
Wouldnt that be better for the Economic Future of our country?
What happens to Canada when all of our oil is gone?
Why the rush to give away all of our resources?
They are only going to get more valuable in the future.
Hear hear, econ101! Rape and pillage at any cost! Any why develop any of our natural resources here? Send the raw logs, the bitumen, and coal overseas for heavens sake.
I was under the belief crispy clark took the issue of more royalties off the table when her and redford patched things up after the liberal election win. Doesn’t sound too hardline to me. I think she is simply another politician waiting in line to sell us out to the lowest bidder.
The Oil Sands and (Bitumen) were under development, and being exported to the USA, long before Harper was ever elected.
Seems some people take the easy road and instead of trying to understand a problem, and fix it, they just blame Harper. Seems rather a weak argument to me.
We need to find markets for our oil and LNG. Especially now that the USA is becoming more self sufficient. If the US market declines and we have no new markets, then we are dead in the water.
We have something like 230,000 jobs invested in the oil and gas industry in BC, Alberta, and Sask. so its time for people to either understand the situation, and come up with an alternative to the pipeline or accept the line.
Personally I would push for Keystone, and Eastern Canada, and if possible a Refinery somewhere in Alberta, however we have to face one undeniable truth.
***WE HAVE SOLD OUT OUR INTERESTS IN THE OIL AND GAS IN THIS COUNTRY MANY YEARS AGO TO THE OIL INDUSTRY. WE HAVE VERY LITTLE OR NO SAY IN WHERE THEY SELL IT, OR WHAT PRICE THEY SELL IT FOR*** We can stop them for putting in a pipeline, however if they decide to cut back on production for a few years and access their oil from other places (and there are a lot of other places) then its us, not them that will suffer.
This situation needs to be resolved by people with clear heads, and some long term vision. Not by scatterbrains, running in circles, making asinine statements based on fictitious facts.
“We have something like 230,000 jobs invested in the oil and gas industry in BC, Alberta, and Sask.”
LOL …..
Here we are saying that we will have, and apparently already have, a crisis of access to skilled workers. As a result of that, we will have to import workers from other countries, either as immigrants or as temporary workers just as other countries have done and still do when they were and are confronted with a worker shortage.
So, it seems that the issue of “jobs” neutralizes the issue of “greatest benefit” to Canada.
Thus, the discussion should be how much net benefit, after “jobs” are taken out of the equation, do we actually get from oil (gas is a separate issue since it is the oil pipeline that is the root of this controversy) as opposed to all of the other industries which are trying to get access to some of the skilled workers in the oil associated business.
We need someone who can tackle this problem with a bit of an open mind. We need someone who has the skills to do that as effectively as possible.
Sounds similar to Palopu’s words, doesn’t it? “This situation needs to be resolved by people with clear heads, and some long term vision.”
BUT, it starts off with a bit of a different and holistic twist.
Let us say we have the smarts, as a country, to increase the value we add in Canada to products we sell to the world right now and new products we can develop, so that the return on investment to Canada is greater than the return on investment to oil, why would we not want to do that?
Because it is the low hanging fruit, is about all I can think.
If we do not discipline ourselves to access some of the higher hanging fruit that takes more discipline but has greater and more sustainable rewards, then we will be following the unsustainable path to self sufficiency and we will, one day, become a country that has to hold its hand out for support from other countries.
We need the money out west here to send to Qeebec. Why should they go to all the bother to develop their natural resources if they know they are for sure gonna get a cheque every month. Sound familiar in this country? Never mind.
Gus. As stated by others who post here. We have lost the battle of producing a lot of things in Canada. The loss started with Japan in the 1950’s and has spread around the world. ie; Mexico, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc; etc; etc;.
We cannot competitively produce products when our competition is paying wages much lower that we could ever pay, and in addition they have access to a huge market area.
We could perhaps make significant progress in the food industry, such as beef, pork, chickens, fruit and vegetables, canned goods etc., however this requires vision, and some good leadership. The signing of the trade agreement with the European Union, which did not get much press coverage, will over the long term be a boon to Canadian business. We need to find our niche and exploit it, not sell all our resources to Countries that will eventually put us out of business.
We should be using our surplus of LNG to generate electricity, that would create jobs, and if done correctly supply cheap gas, and electricity to manufacturers and producers in Canada. We should not be flooding good farmland to generate electricity at a cost much higher than LNG, just to create jobs and profits in the short term.
Site C is nothing but a conduit through which BC Tax dollars are routed to eventually end up in the hands of those who build the project. Whether it has any real value by producing electricity is moot.
Petro-China wants to bid on the building of the pipeline. Enbridge thinks they could get it done cheaper through them, and thinks the people of B.C. wouldn’t complain if they brought in their workers from China.
Site c very cheap power after it’s built. Gas generation open to world prices. Who bows what thefuture will bring for gas price.
Want to see farm land loss, check out the lower mainland with the ever expansion of single familly dwellings eating up prime farm land.
Build new generation nuclear same as most other countries.
Here is a site that shows the destruction at the tar sands.
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-destructive-canada-oil-sands-2012-10?op=1
It’s very easy to shut the oilsands down. Stop using oil!
It’s very easy to keep the oil sands from expanding, stop voting Conservative! Vote for a government that is willing to gradually move us away from fossil fuels, and towards clean green energy :-)
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