British Columbia’s Energy Minister Adrian Dix said there are no proponents for such a project.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
British Columbia’s Energy Minister has shut down the idea of a new pipeline in the province, citing the impracticality and massive costs associated with such a proposal.
Adrian Dix’s comments follow Monday’s first ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon, in which talk of “nation-building” energy projects dominated. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been pushing for the revival of the Northern Gateway pipeline project, which would have moved bitumen from Alberta to the northern coast of B.C.
But Mr. Dix said Wednesday that there are no proponents for such a project, in large part because there is no economic case to be made.
“We need projects that are actual projects – that are viable, economic projects,” he told reporters.
“With respect to pipelines and what we’re seeing from the province of Alberta, we respond to practical proposals.”
The Energy Minister noted that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which was considered more practical as it was the twinning of an existing line, ballooned in costs to $34-billion – “a massive public investment by the taxpayers of Canada.” Kinder Morgan Inc. had initially pegged the expansion to cost $5.4-billion.
Prime Minister Mark Carney met with oil and gas executives in Calgary on Sunday to get their input for his plans to make Canada an energy superpower. Carney, in his first visit to Calgary since being sworn in as prime minister, sat down for a closed-door roundtable with several representatives of the energy sector.
The Canadian Press
Premier David Eby has expressed similar sentiments.
“It’s not my job to tell to tell Premier Smith that her vision for a North Coast pipeline is many, many years off and there’s no proponent at this point,” he told reporters on Tuesday from Osaka, Japan, during a trade mission to East Asia.
“My job is to ensure that British Columbians’ interests are protected and promoted, and one of those ways that we’re doing that is driving forward shovel-ready projects.”
Both Mr. Dix and Mr. Eby said that B.C. does not support a ban on lifting the ban on oil-tankers off the coast of B.C., which would be needed for such a project.
Carney tells energy leaders how infrastructure projects in national interest will be assessed
Brian Jean, Alberta’s Minister of Energy and Minerals, said his province’s position continues to be that a pipeline to the northwest coast of B.C. would be of national interest, and that no other project would provide as large a positive impact to Canadian gross domestic product or to Indigenous economic reconciliation.
“Premier David Eby is on the record as saying that he will respect the Prime Minister’s and Canadian’s desire to build nation-building projects,” Mr. Jean said in a statement to The Globe and Mail on Wednesday.
“If Prime Minister Mark Carney clears the regulatory hurdles the private sector will be keen to build a pipeline to serve growing Asian markets. Of all the projects under consideration, this is the one that will lead to the most jobs, taxes, royalties and opportunities for Indigenous Canadians. This project is good for Albertans, British Columbians and Canadians.”
Northern Gateway was subject to furious protest and lawsuits from Indigenous and environmental groups, and was also opposed by the B.C. government.
The Federal Court of Appeal ruled in 2016 that the Conservative government of Stephen Harper had failed to adequately consult Indigenous communities when it issued the conditional permit for the pipeline in 2014. The court overturned the permit, and ordered the new Liberal government to revisit the process and come up with a fresh decision.
Opinion: Free the market for renewable energy in Alberta
Instead, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau killed the project, declaring that “the Great Bear Rainforest is no place for a crude oil pipeline.” Enbridge formally withdrew the project in 2017.
Amy Janzwood, an assistant professor in the department of political science at the Bieler School of the Environment at McGill University, said it was unlikely such a project would materialize. There is much uncertainty about future demand, and the oil industry has been savvy in using existing infrastructure, she said.
“The industry has not been in the market for new mega oil sands pipeline developments. They have long since moved away from this,” Prof. Janzwood said in an interview, noting that there has not been a new proposal to the Canada Energy Regulator, formerly the National Energy Board, in more than a decade.
“I would be extremely shocked to see any kind of serious proposal, not to mention the political conflicts, Indigenous consultation and all of the challenges that come with mega infrastructure projects.”