OTTAWA—More than 1,000 Canadians have spoken out at public hearings on whether to build the Northern Gateway oil pipeline through the British Columbia wilderness.
The information-gathering sessions, which resumed this week, will go on for months, with thousands of others waiting to give evidence.
But, even as corporate backers of the proposed $6-billion project began presenting their case, there was a growing conviction that the pipeline to carry oilsands-derived crude from Alberta to the B.C. coast had already become a non-starter.
On Tuesday in Edmonton, the so-called joint review panel set up by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government heard for the first time from senior executives of Enbridge Inc., the Calgary-base energy giant proposing to build Northern Gateway.
It was the latest stage in a process that will see the National Energy Board-led panel deliver a yes-or-no recommendation to the federal cabinet by late next year. The final decision on building the pipeline will be made by Harper.
Only a few months ago, it was widely thought the Conservatives’ unexpected decision to transfer final decision-making power from the independent regulators of the National Energy Board to Harper’s cabinet meant approval of the pipeline would be a slam dunk.
But it’s not turning out that way.
The plan to construct a pipeline to carry oil through northern B.C. for transport on supertankers has prompted an outpouring of opposition unlike anything seen in years.
“The coalition of civil society that is coming together against this is unprecedented in Canada,” observed Karen Wristen, executive director of the Living Oceans Society in Vancouver.
Those organizing against the pipeline include environmental groups, churches, B.C. municipalities, aboriginals and large numbers of residents along the planned Northern Gateway route. Across British Columbia, polls show growing public opposition.
Premier Christy Clark has threatened to block construction unless Enbridge guarantees world-class environmental protection and B.C. gets a larger share of pipeline revenues.
B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix, who could win the provincial election next spring, according to polls, goes even further. If elected, he says, his government will make its own decision on whether the project is environmentally safe enough to proceed.
While Ottawa has constitutional control over pipelines, it’s generally accepted that B.C.’s jurisdiction over land and water would give the province ample power to hold up Enbridge’s project.
The scope of the political opposition and the likelihood of years of court action by the 100-plus aboriginal groups opposing the pipeline are fanning doubts about whether it will ever get past the drawing board, despite the Harper government’s support.
In a recent analysis, energy stock experts at CIBC World Markets said Northern Gateway faces “ever-increasing political risk” and has no better than a 50/50 chance of being built before the end of the decade.
Roger McKnight, senior petroleum adviser at Oshawa-based En-Pro International Inc., also said Enbridge faces an uphill struggle.
“I personally don’t think Northern Gateway will go through anytime soon or if it ever will,” he said in an interview. “There’s just too much politics in the soup and there are too many environmental concerns in the soup and there’s aboriginal rights in the soup and that makes for a pretty unsavory soup.”
Asked if the federal government had been caught off guard, McKnight said, “Yeah, they misread the temperature of the water, environmentally and politically.”
He said Ottawa has jurisdiction over pipelines but “Mr. Harper, who has 21 Conservative seats in B.C., is between a rock and hard place on this.”
That point is borne out by a poll released Aug. 23 by Abacus Data Inc. that found 56 per cent of British Columbians oppose the pipeline, with 40 per cent strongly opposed. Supporters totalled 24 per cent, with 7 per cent expressing strong support.
“The implication overall is that the project is going to have a difficult time turning that opposition into support,” said David Coletto, Abacus’ chief analyst. That’s because the percentage of British Columbians strongly opposed is so large, he said.
The poll also found 40 per cent of British Columbians who voted for the federal Conservatives are against Northern Gateway. With Harper’s government highly supportive of the proposed pipeline, “the potential political implications of this could be huge,” Coletto said.
“If the pipeline issue becomes attached to the Tories in a way that’s negative, it could cost them some of the closer seats around the Lower Mainland of B.C. and on Vancouver Island” in the 2015 election, Coletto remarked.
Enbridge wants to build a 1,172-kilometre pipeline that would carry 500,000 barrels a day of oilsands-derived crude from Edmonton across the Rockies to Kitimat on the B.C. coast. There, 200 supertankers would dock annually to export the petroleum to the U.S. and Asia.
But the proposal has been a lightning rod for opposition because it would pass through some of the continent’s most pristine wilderness regions.
“The opposition is incredible,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, MP for the B.C. riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.
“There is an enormous level of visceral opposition to anything that threatens the survival of wild salmon in B.C.,” she said. “And of course the oil tanker spill issue plays into that. People do not want our coastline polluted with an oil spill — ever.”
The pipeline controversy also touches on a wider range of issues, including resource revenue-sharing among provinces under the constitution, First Nations’ land claims, global warming, protection of marine life, pipeline safety, water use, job creation and how quickly to develop the oilsands.
More than 4,000 people have signed up to speak before the three-person federal review panel that started gathering information in January. As of last week, 1,105 aboriginals, residents along the pipeline route and others had appeared at the hearings in B.C. and Alberta, according to the NEB. Others will give evidence over the next six months.
As the review panel began to hear from Enbridge this week, Northern Gateway Pipelines Inc. president John Carruthers acknowledged that most of those heard so far had been against the pipeline.
“The majority of those who have appeared before the panel consist of people who have concerns regarding oilsands development and the project and its potential effects on their interests and who would argue that the project should be refused,” Carruthers told the panellists.
But he expressed hope the public will support Northern Gateway once people become aware of projected economic benefits that will provide “a significant improved quality of life for all Canadians, including aboriginal Canadians.”
At the same time, Carruthers said, the company hopes to address concerns about oil spills and co-operate with greens to make the pipeline a model of environmental protection.
“For groups with an interest in local and regional environmental protection, as opposed to those whose primary interest is to delay or impede oilsands development, we believe there are real opportunities to work together,” he told the panel.
Northern Gateway has been an important priority for the federal Conservatives. After the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. was delayed last year, the Harper government stressed the need to establish a conduit that would enable Canadian companies to market oilsands-derived crude in Asia.
Now, in the face of rising opposition, the Harper Conservatives appear to be tinkering with the message. In early August, Harper suggested for the first time the decision will hinge on the findings of the regulators on the joint review panel.
“The only way governments can handle controversial projects of this manner is to ensure that things are evaluated on an independent basis scientifically, and not simply on political criteria,” he said during a visit to B.C.
But all indications are the federal government remains committed to building an export route across the Pacific for Alberta’s oilsands-derived crude. The Green Party’s May says this sets the stage for a political clash of historic proportions over Northern Gateway.
“As long as Stephen Harper is prime minister, he will work to build that project,” she said. “But I don’t think it will get built because the level of public unrest over this will be sufficient to force Harper out of office.”
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Les Whittington
The information-gathering sessions, which resumed this week, will go on for months, with thousands of others waiting to give evidence.
But, even as corporate backers of the proposed $6-billion project began presenting their case, there was a growing conviction that the pipeline to carry oilsands-derived crude from Alberta to the B.C. coast had already become a non-starter.
On Tuesday in Edmonton, the so-called joint review panel set up by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government heard for the first time from senior executives of Enbridge Inc., the Calgary-base energy giant proposing to build Northern Gateway.
It was the latest stage in a process that will see the National Energy Board-led panel deliver a yes-or-no recommendation to the federal cabinet by late next year. The final decision on building the pipeline will be made by Harper.
Only a few months ago, it was widely thought the Conservatives’ unexpected decision to transfer final decision-making power from the independent regulators of the National Energy Board to Harper’s cabinet meant approval of the pipeline would be a slam dunk.
But it’s not turning out that way.
The plan to construct a pipeline to carry oil through northern B.C. for transport on supertankers has prompted an outpouring of opposition unlike anything seen in years.
“The coalition of civil society that is coming together against this is unprecedented in Canada,” observed Karen Wristen, executive director of the Living Oceans Society in Vancouver.
Those organizing against the pipeline include environmental groups, churches, B.C. municipalities, aboriginals and large numbers of residents along the planned Northern Gateway route. Across British Columbia, polls show growing public opposition.
Premier Christy Clark has threatened to block construction unless Enbridge guarantees world-class environmental protection and B.C. gets a larger share of pipeline revenues.
B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix, who could win the provincial election next spring, according to polls, goes even further. If elected, he says, his government will make its own decision on whether the project is environmentally safe enough to proceed.
While Ottawa has constitutional control over pipelines, it’s generally accepted that B.C.’s jurisdiction over land and water would give the province ample power to hold up Enbridge’s project.
The scope of the political opposition and the likelihood of years of court action by the 100-plus aboriginal groups opposing the pipeline are fanning doubts about whether it will ever get past the drawing board, despite the Harper government’s support.
In a recent analysis, energy stock experts at CIBC World Markets said Northern Gateway faces “ever-increasing political risk” and has no better than a 50/50 chance of being built before the end of the decade.
Roger McKnight, senior petroleum adviser at Oshawa-based En-Pro International Inc., also said Enbridge faces an uphill struggle.
“I personally don’t think Northern Gateway will go through anytime soon or if it ever will,” he said in an interview. “There’s just too much politics in the soup and there are too many environmental concerns in the soup and there’s aboriginal rights in the soup and that makes for a pretty unsavory soup.”
Asked if the federal government had been caught off guard, McKnight said, “Yeah, they misread the temperature of the water, environmentally and politically.”
He said Ottawa has jurisdiction over pipelines but “Mr. Harper, who has 21 Conservative seats in B.C., is between a rock and hard place on this.”
That point is borne out by a poll released Aug. 23 by Abacus Data Inc. that found 56 per cent of British Columbians oppose the pipeline, with 40 per cent strongly opposed. Supporters totalled 24 per cent, with 7 per cent expressing strong support.
“The implication overall is that the project is going to have a difficult time turning that opposition into support,” said David Coletto, Abacus’ chief analyst. That’s because the percentage of British Columbians strongly opposed is so large, he said.
The poll also found 40 per cent of British Columbians who voted for the federal Conservatives are against Northern Gateway. With Harper’s government highly supportive of the proposed pipeline, “the potential political implications of this could be huge,” Coletto said.
“If the pipeline issue becomes attached to the Tories in a way that’s negative, it could cost them some of the closer seats around the Lower Mainland of B.C. and on Vancouver Island” in the 2015 election, Coletto remarked.
Enbridge wants to build a 1,172-kilometre pipeline that would carry 500,000 barrels a day of oilsands-derived crude from Edmonton across the Rockies to Kitimat on the B.C. coast. There, 200 supertankers would dock annually to export the petroleum to the U.S. and Asia.
But the proposal has been a lightning rod for opposition because it would pass through some of the continent’s most pristine wilderness regions.
“The opposition is incredible,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, MP for the B.C. riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.
“There is an enormous level of visceral opposition to anything that threatens the survival of wild salmon in B.C.,” she said. “And of course the oil tanker spill issue plays into that. People do not want our coastline polluted with an oil spill — ever.”
The pipeline controversy also touches on a wider range of issues, including resource revenue-sharing among provinces under the constitution, First Nations’ land claims, global warming, protection of marine life, pipeline safety, water use, job creation and how quickly to develop the oilsands.
More than 4,000 people have signed up to speak before the three-person federal review panel that started gathering information in January. As of last week, 1,105 aboriginals, residents along the pipeline route and others had appeared at the hearings in B.C. and Alberta, according to the NEB. Others will give evidence over the next six months.
As the review panel began to hear from Enbridge this week, Northern Gateway Pipelines Inc. president John Carruthers acknowledged that most of those heard so far had been against the pipeline.
“The majority of those who have appeared before the panel consist of people who have concerns regarding oilsands development and the project and its potential effects on their interests and who would argue that the project should be refused,” Carruthers told the panellists.
But he expressed hope the public will support Northern Gateway once people become aware of projected economic benefits that will provide “a significant improved quality of life for all Canadians, including aboriginal Canadians.”
At the same time, Carruthers said, the company hopes to address concerns about oil spills and co-operate with greens to make the pipeline a model of environmental protection.
“For groups with an interest in local and regional environmental protection, as opposed to those whose primary interest is to delay or impede oilsands development, we believe there are real opportunities to work together,” he told the panel.
Northern Gateway has been an important priority for the federal Conservatives. After the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. was delayed last year, the Harper government stressed the need to establish a conduit that would enable Canadian companies to market oilsands-derived crude in Asia.
Now, in the face of rising opposition, the Harper Conservatives appear to be tinkering with the message. In early August, Harper suggested for the first time the decision will hinge on the findings of the regulators on the joint review panel.
“The only way governments can handle controversial projects of this manner is to ensure that things are evaluated on an independent basis scientifically, and not simply on political criteria,” he said during a visit to B.C.
But all indications are the federal government remains committed to building an export route across the Pacific for Alberta’s oilsands-derived crude. The Green Party’s May says this sets the stage for a political clash of historic proportions over Northern Gateway.
“As long as Stephen Harper is prime minister, he will work to build that project,” she said. “But I don’t think it will get built because the level of public unrest over this will be sufficient to force Harper out of office.”
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Les Whittington
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