Feds Say Yes To Northern Gateway
Map of pipeline route courtesy Enbridge
Prince George, B.C. – The Federal Government has given the green light to the Northern Gateway twin pipeline project. The approval comes with a call for more consultation with First Nations, and 209 conditions.
The approval doesn’t mean construction of the twin line between Bruderheim Alberta and Kitimat will start any time soon, as there continues to be opposition to the project.
First Nations have indicated they will fight this project in the courts and would resort to civil disobedience if necessary, the Province of BC has presented 5 conditions which must be met before it would approve the project and to date, there has been no indication those conditions have been met.
Environmental groups have organized a rally to take place in Vancouver this evening with the theme “The Answer is Still No”.
Comments
Cue the caterwauling.
Shocking! Well, actually it is in no way shocking, after all the pressure on Obama to say yes to Keystone by Harper, of course they had to approve Northern Gateway. This is a no brainer and if you didn’t see it coming that is shocking.
Yep cue the whining and crying!
No, cue the democratic expression of the citizens’ will!
Finally, some good news!
I blame the Teachers ;)
lol, Axman, just stirring the pot i see. No one in their right mind could ACTUALLY think this is GOOD news.
Not surprising. As virtually everyone has already said, this doesn’t mean the pipeline goes ahead. The courts will still settle that and to a greater extent, the willingness of Enbridge and their resources to fight it out over the next decade or so.
We need this project (and others) to pay for the teachers wage demands – or do the resident lefties still think money grows on trees?
Finally a good decision made by the government. More tax dollar revenues to fund our social programs. We need to put a bit of a scare into the americans, and tell remind them we are a sovereign country too, not their pet.
A good day for all Canadians, across the country. We all use oil, so for all the naysayers, your being a hypocrite.
A terrible decision. Not only is it an environmental disaster waiting to happen, but the economic benefit to BC is quite limited even in the best conditions, and the overall economic benefit is questionable according to independent economists.
A stupid but entirely predictable decision.
Enbridge estimates that total local, provincial and federal tax revenues over the 30 year lifespan of the project will be approximately $2.6B.
Enbridge’s liability in a spill is capped at $1.0B so a single major spill will more than wipe out ALL the provincial and federal tax revenues over whole the 30 year lifespan.
This doesn’t even begin to address the ecological costs of a spill which will be much higher than the crass $ cost of the inadequate cleanup which is the best we can do with current technology.
Good news for Enbridge, bad news for everyone else.
Arguments based purely on emotion will get you nowhere, as evidenced by the decision today.
We all have opinions. Peter, if it was strictly in the sense of economy. The 2.6 billion in revenues is reflective of the cut they get from the oil line only. This does not include the money they get from the royalties from the extraction site. The income tax collected from all the new workers on the plant side.
The money collected during constructing the pipeline by all levels of government will well exceed the 2 billion dollars, from profit made by contractors, suppliers, hotels, and income tax.
In the mean time, we have another place to sell our oil.
Wow, it must $uck to be a NDP’r, can’t win a election, can’t stop the pipeline, can’t even get leadership race, because it has no money. Well, keep trying….. cause nothing we like more than knowing we’re going to win again, as the socialist groups flounder away on the beach like a washed ashore whale.
Why does Enbridge get away with being required to carry only $1.0B of liability insurance??
It cost over $3.5B USD to clean up the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. This doesn’t even the include losses to the tourism and sport fishing industries, at least another $2.0B USD.
Why can’t we make Enbridge carry adequate liability insurance?
That’s actually a rhetorical question… we can’t because Enbridge has bought and paid for the political influence which makes even such conservative business logic immaterial.
“More tax dollar revenues to fund our social programs. “
You do realize that oil in this country only accounts for 2% of the GDP right?
I just wish our government wouldn’t give away our natural resources to foreign investors for pennies on the dollar.
@He spoke.
I’m not an NDP’r, I’m a middle aged male taxpayer, no party affiliation, with an engineering degree, an MBA and half a lifetime in private sector business, both for profit and not for profit.
It’s common sense… the polluter should pay for the damage their pollution causes. If they are engineering a corporate and legal structure where the won’t pay, then you and I will be picking up the tab.
The $2.6B is Enbridge’s own figure… I’m sure it is a very generous estimate.
What’s that squeaking sound I hear? Must be the Temporary Foreign Workers program door slowly opening again.
Sounds like it needs some oil.
You all think your going to get jobs with this project? Good luck with that. These projects are funded by foreign interests. They will pick and choose their employees. Enbridge is just the front man.
1. Keystone XL
Why it matters
If the oilsands are going to expand by two-million barrels per day in the next eight years, the industry needs as many ways of getting it out of Alberta as possible. TransCanada’s Keystone XL will be a big part of that export plan. If it ever gets up and running, the plan is for it to carry 830,000 barrels per day from just outside Edmonton, through the middle American states and down to the Texas refineries on the Gulf of Mexico coast.
What’s the problem?
U.S. President Barack Obama’s unwillingness to make a decision on whether or not to allow the pipeline to cross the border. The Americans tell us they want to make sure it’s safe, technically and environmentally. The truth of the matter is, it’s all about politics. Obama, like politicians on both sides of the American political divide, sees the dollar signs next to TransCanada’s pipeline. But he gets a lot of money from environmentalists and they have turned Keystone XL into the bad boy of climate change.
Where it stands
The southern portion of the pipeline is built and working, although there were some problems with the welds. After two U.S. State Department environmental assessments and a redrawing of the route around an environmentally sensitive area in Nebraska, everyone is still waiting on a decision from the White House.
2. Energy East
Why it matters
If Northern Gateway doesn’t get built, this is another way to get 1.1-million barrels per day of Canadian oil to tidewater â the long way around, mind you. The terminus for this pipeline is Saint John, N.B. For now though, it is about breaking eastern Canada’s Middle Eastern and West African oil habits.
What’s the problem?
The plan is to change an existing natural gas pipe into an oil pipe. That means a lot of retrofitting and it also worries Ontario gas customers, who get 40 per cent of their home heating fuel in the winter through that pipe. Also, the existing pipeline ends just west of Montreal. To make it to Saint John, about 900 kilometres of new pipes need to be built.
Where it stands
TransCanada submitted a project description to the National Energy Board in March. NEB information sessions have only just begun.
3. Line 9 reversal
Why it matters
Canadian energy independence. And another way to eventually get bitumen to tidewater. When Enbridge built the pipeline between Sarnia, Ont., and Montreal in the 1970s, it was originally meant to bring western oil to eastern Canada. As the global economics of oil changed, the flow was reversed to bring Middle Eastern and African oil to Ontario. Now Enbridge wants to switch it back around.
What’s the problem?
While Enbridge will initially use Line 9 to ship conventional oil, the company has left open the possibility of switching to heavier grades (i.e., oilsands bitumen) in the future. That has many people in the Toronto area worried since the pipe runs through important municipal water sources. There is also a fear in the U.S. state of Maine, where the belief is that Line 9 will be hooked up to the Montreal-Portland Pipeline sending Alberta bitumen through areas where there are many important municipal water sources.
Where it stands
The pipeline is divided into two sections. Line 9a runs from Sarnia, Ont., to just west of Hamilton. The regulatory process is complete and the flow has been reversed for that portion. Line 9b runs the rest of the way to Montreal. The NEB hearings are over and in March of this year approval was granted to reverse the flow.
4. Trans Mountain expansion
Why it matters
It’s the only pipeline that brings Alberta oil to the Pacific coast. Owner Kinder Morgan wants to expand the carrying capacity of the line by twinning the pipes. Right now, it carries about 300,000 barrels per day. If the expansion is approved, that number will bump up to 890,000 barrels a day. The pipeline has been in operation since 1953, largely incident free.
What’s the problem?
Northern Gateway. It would be fair to say that Trans Mountain’s expansion application is suffering collateral damage from the controversy farther north.
Where it stands
Kinder Morgan filed its application with the NEB in December of last year. If it makes it through the application process, construction begins in late 2015 or early 2016, and by 2017 the company should be pumping that extra 600,000 barrels of oil each day.
5. Flanagan South/Seaway Twin
Why it matters
This is actually two pipelines but they will work in tandem. They are both in the U.S., but they are linked and integral to the Canadian system. Flanagan South â an Enbridge project â will move an additional 600,000 barrels per day from Illinois to the big storage hub in Cushing, Okla. Seaway Twin, owned by the Seaway Crude Pipeline Company, will move an additional 450,000 barrels a day out of Cushing to the refineries on the Texas coast.
What’s the problem?
None â if you’re an Alberta oil guy. More bitumen flowing means more money. Plenty â if you’re an environmentalist. More bitumen flowing means more greenhouse gases.
Where it stands
Seaway will be up and running later this month. Flanagan South is built and is scheduled to start pumping sometime later this year.
From cbc news
“We need to put a bit of a scare into the americans, and tell remind them we are a sovereign country too, not their pet”
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LOL. Yes, I’m sure that the largest economy on the planet is just cowering in fear over a project that, even if it does go ahead, will not see the light of day until the next two presidential elections are over.
Actually, the Americans along with the Brits and the other big fish in the world, are currently trying to figure out how to deal with the mess in Iraq, a mess so big that they are re-opening relations with Iran to try and help resolve it. Where are we? Oh that’s right, at the proverbial kiddy table throwing out hollow verbal commentary, as if to pretend that we even matter anymore when it comes to anything of global significance.
Put a bit of a scare into the Americans? That’s a riot!!!
Iraq is actually the exact reason why we need to build this pipeline.
I am a salmon fisherman and lover of the wilderness.
But our oil is needed because we spend those huge petrodollars on education and health care, instead of nuclear weapons programs and gold plated jumbo jets.
In order to bring us to the world of solar panels and electric cars we need to have the profit to invest in this clean tech. A world without oil would be a poorer, war torn miserable place. (Kind of like the world was before it had oil).
People! We need to wean ourselves off this oil addiction and fund alternative CLEAN energy sources! Burning more fossil fuels isn’t going to help reduce the impact of climate change. The time is right to begin heavy investment into green energy rather than perpetuating the status quo.
“But our oil is needed because we spend those huge petrodollars on education and health care”
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Those are both Provincial responsibilities. Better hope that BC gets a better shake than what they were initially promised if you are thinking that this specific proposal will have any material impact on Provincial education or health care budgets . . .
Good!! now lets get on with building it….and if the natives want “civil unrest” they can have another oka only this time with troops just bhack from Afghanistan, see how well that works out for them!
Today Northern Gateway, tomorrow the rest of our pipelines everywhere in Canada. If Northern Gateway is nasty then they are all nasty. No more oil tankers in the St. Lawrence River too. We’ll get right on that after we kill Northern Gateway. I don’t need oil. I ride the bus.
Nice dividends ahead.
ride the bus hahaha good one harb, that’s why if you protest … live naked , walk everywhere and eat leaves in your tree fort you have the right to protest.
Why should we abide by the decisions of a Government, that may not have even been fairly elected?
As our Slime Minister takes us one step closer to civil disobedience!
http://www.canadianprogressiveworld.com/2013/02/07/a-case-for-civil-disobedience-in-canada/
Hey harbinger, I still see buses blasting out black smoke from their diesel engines….I doubt that it’s French fry oil being burnt.
“Good!! now lets get on with building it….and if the natives want “civil unrest” they can have another oka only this time with troops just bhack from Afghanistan, see how well that works out for them!” You presume only the Indians are the ones who will be protesting, and you would be presuming wrong. You seriously think the military is going to be called out to basically quell an entire province. There are far more opponents in BC than proponents. There have already been a response of 21,000 people who have signed on to peaceably protest this pipelines with blockades, as a measuring gauge, clayquot sound only enticed 1000 protestors and look what they did.
Time for the ‘protesters’ to fade away and move onto the next crisis.
” Posted by: monkeyseemonkeydo on June 17 2014 8:44 PM
ride the bus hahaha good one harb, that’s why if you protest … live naked , walk everywhere and eat leaves in your tree fort you have the right to protest.”
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The flip side being that if you don’t do those things then you don’t have the right to protest? This is an argument put forth by people who are not intelligent enough to understand that people can be against a specific project but not an entire industry.
In fact, the “all development is good” argument is akin to the “all development is bad” argument. How ironic that you appear to have the same mental capacity as the people you are speaking against.
good one NMG I find it pretty sad that people that are for this pipeline are using these ignorant arguments! I have also noticed all the posters in 250 that are for this project(like all 4 of them) seem to have the same view. now they think they have won something because a fact and science denying ideologue in Ottawa holds the same opinion.
I don’t think we should risk our rivers and ocean to supply communist China with oil.
I wonder how many anti-oil, anti-pipeliners have houses full of Chinese made stuff? Probably most of them. Some time ago, those same people decided to buy cheap foreign made stuff as opposed to more expensive North American made stuff, so we don’t manufacture much here anymore (big surprise!).
This pipeline is happening because the North American consumer demands it, despite when they write in comment blogs. Most of them don’t see the hypocrisy in their statements.
Just be thankful the pipeline was approved and the oil isn’t going to be moved by rail.
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