Former B.C. energy minister Richard Neufeld, now a Conservative senator, said he strongly supports the construction of pipelines to the B.C. coast so Canada can ship Alberta’s diluted bitumen crude to booming Asian markets.
But he said Enbridge has so badly mismanaged the $6-billion project that he questions whether the Calgary company has the public credibility to proceed with the megaproject even if the National Energy Board approves the application next year.
“I don’t know whether Enbridge has actually screwed up bad enough that even if it was okayed, whether let’s say the NEB says, ‘Hey, this plan looks good, we can go ahead,’ that Enbridge would be able to actually build that pipeline,” he told The Vancouver Sun.
“I just think Enbridge has left such a sour taste in most peoples’ mouths.”
Neufeld also said he supports B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s demand to get a bigger share of cash for B.C. from the project before approving it.
He supports Premier Alison Redford’s position that B.C. has no right to claim a share of Alberta’s royalties, but said Victoria should have no trouble using its taxing authority to raise money from the project.
He questioned, however, Clark’s apparent hard line against the Alberta government and the oilpatch, in particular her veiled threat in Calgary last week to withhold electric power needed to operate the pipeline and Kitimat terminal in B.C.
“Those kind of things shouldn’t be said. You just don’t do that,” he said, adding that former premier Gordon Campbell spent years trying to build a close relationship between Alberta and B.C.
“This is kind of tearing it apart and I don’t think it’s good … I don’t know the reasoning behind that but if I’d been there (in the B.C. cabinet) it’s something I would have talked against.”
An Enbridge spokesman rejected Neufeld’s assertion that the company failed to adequately consult British Columbians and especially First Nations.
“Our work on Northern Gateway has included the most extensive consultation process ever undertaken for a Canadian pipeline project: over 2,500 meetings, 123 open houses, 150 presentations, and 64 workshops,” Todd Nogier said in an email interview.
“In total, we’ve consulted directly with more than 17,000 people. That far exceeds anything required by the regulator.”
Neufeld, 67, was former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell’s energy minister from 2001 until shortly after his appointment to the Senate in December 2008.
He has long called for a robust Canadian energy industry and for years promoted oil and gas exploration off the B.C. coast — an option Neufeld acknowledges isn’t viable due to political opposition combined with vast shale gas reserves that are now being exploited in B.C.
Neufeld said he instigated after his 2008 appointment a major Senate committee study, released this summer, that described Canada’s energy industry as “critical” to Canada’s well-being. Last week, he was elected chairman of the committee that produced that report, the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources.
And he’ll go to the barricades to defend the Alberta and federal government position that the oilsands industry needs access to B.C.’s ports to diversify its markets away from the U.S., which is growing increasingly self-sufficient in oil and gas.
He said advances in tanker safety, combined with the importance of taxes from the energy industry to fund social programs, are compelling arguments to support pipeline construction.
“I have oil pipelines that I live beside (in Fort St. John), and who’s benefiting? Those in (Greater Vancouver) who want to drive their cars all the time. Or those on the coast those who want to do some fishing. How often have you seen them doing that with oars?”
But Neufeld said Enbridge didn’t adequately recognize that B.C. is far different from Alberta when it began consultations on its proposed 1,177-kilometre twin pipelines from the Edmonton area to Kitimat.
“I don’t think Enbridge first off understood where they were going with that pipeline,” he said, citing the pipeline’s route through the mountains and “pristine” forested areas, and over or under important salmon-bearing rivers and streams.
“In Alberta, it’s a little bit different to build a pipeline. In fact, a whole bunch different,” said Neufeld, who was born in Lethbridge.
“The whole province, they’ve got thousands and thousands of miles of pipeline. I doubt there’s anyone who’s born and raised in Alberta who hasn’t had an experience with a pipeline.
“It’s a little different when you head into northwestern British Columbia, which has only seen one pipeline,” he said, referring to what he called the relatively “small” Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. pipeline gas pipeline.
He said the company, which on its website under “Benefits for British Columbians” promises 3,000 construction jobs and 560 long-term jobs, isn’t being straight with the public.
“I’ve had briefings (with Enbridge), they talk about all the jobs and the economic activity in B.C. And I said, ‘Look, I’ve been in the oilpatch and the world long enough to know that that pipeline will be built in a hurry, and that means people come from all over the place. Don’t tell me all of those jobs will involves British Columbians. It just won’t happen.
“So let’s be honest with those numbers. Let’s tell the people what is truthful.”
He also said the company didn’t do enough to win support from British Columbians in remote regions along the route, and especially First Nations.
“They haven’t done their consultation correctly -- not that you can win over all the First Nations, I know that. But if you work with the ones that want to work and move forward, you can usually get somewhere with them.”
And he said the company raised many eyebrows in July when it announced $500 million in new safety measures after the release of a U.S. regulator’s devastating report on the 2010 Kalamazoo River pipeline rupture. Enbridge personnel, the U.S. Transportation Agency said, behaved like the Keystone Kops before, during and after the disaster.
“Where the hell did you start from in the first place? Did you start at the basement with the lowest safety factors, and then you can add another $500 million? Why didn’t you start there to start with, if that was the best, because that’s what people are demanding.”
Enbridge’s Nogier said the company has already proven it is listening to British Columbians, and said the commitment of up to $500 million in new safety measures should be viewed more positively.
“We felt we already had an industry-leading project in terms of safety and these enhancements were intended to make the project even safer,” he wrote.
“Northern Gateway is continually evolving, based on input from the communities and interested parties, and this announcement is an example of doing what we can to address concerns.”
He said First Nations and Metis groups will get almost $1 billion in total benefits over the life of the project, with roughly 60 per cent of the First Nations population along the Alberta-B.C. route having taken an equity stake in the pipeline.
Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Peter O'Neil
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