For
Your
Information
National
Energy
Board Again Recommends
Proceeding with Trans Mountain Expansion Project
Posted below are
extracts from the National Energy
Board[1] statement and
report released February 22.[2]
***
The National Energy Board (NEB) today delivered
its
Reconsideration report to the Government of Canada, with an
overall recommendation that the Trans Mountain Expansion Project
is in the Canadian public interest and should be approved.
If approved [by the Federal Cabinet], the Project
would
expand the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline system between
Edmonton, Alberta and Burnaby, British Columbia, nearly tripling
its capacity to ship oil from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day
[...]. The Project includes approximately 987 kilometres of new
pipeline, new and modified facilities, such as pump stations and
tanks, and the reactivation of 193 kilometres of existing
pipeline. The Westridge Marine Terminal (WMT) would also be
expanded. Oil would be loaded onto tankers at the WMT for transit
to Washington State, California, and Asia. [The Trans Mountain
Pipeline connects with the Trans Mountain Puget Sound Pipeline at
Abbotsford, BC in the Lower Mainland before its final destination
in Burnaby. The Puget Sound pipeline carries some of the Alberta
heavy crude directly to Washington state refineries in Anacortes,
Cherry Point and Ferndale -- TML Ed. Note.]
Reason for reconsideration of the original
approval:
In May 2016, after an approximately two-year
regulatory
review, the Board issued its Report recommending that the
Governor in Council (GIC) approve the Project.
On August 30, 2018, the Federal Court of Appeal
in Tsleil-Waututh
Nation
v.
Canada
(Attorney
General)
set
aside [the approval], in part because, in the Court's view, the
Board unjustifiably excluded Project-related marine shipping from
the scope of the "designated project."
On September 20, 2018, the GIC [directed] the
Board to
conduct a Reconsideration taking into account the environmental
effects of Project-related marine shipping [...] and the adverse
effects of Project-related marine shipping on species at
risk.
The Board has undertaken this Reconsideration in
accordance
with the requirements of the NEB Act [...] and with the
Canadian public interest as a guide. Weighing the public
interest, as required by the NEB Act, is not a rigid or
mechanical task. It is a complex, flexible, and multifaceted
inquiry that requires the Board [...] to weigh and balance the
overall benefits and burdens of the Project; and to draw
conclusions. This consideration of benefits and burdens also
informs the Board's recommendation [...] regarding whether any
significant adverse environmental effects can be justified in the
circumstances.
The Reconsideration report concludes that
Project-related
marine shipping is likely to cause significant adverse
environmental effects on the Southern resident killer whale and
on Indigenous cultural use associated with the Southern resident
killer whale.
The NEB also found that greenhouse gas emissions
from
Project-related marine vessels would likely be significant.
While a credible worst-case spill from the
Project or a
Project-related marine vessel is not likely, if it were to occur
the environmental effects would be significant.
In consideration of Project-related marine
shipping,
the NEB
recommends that the Government of Canada find that [they -- the
adverse effects] can be justified in the circumstances, in light
of the considerable benefits of the Project and measures to
minimize the effects.
The considerable benefits of the Project
include:
- increased access to diverse markets for
Canadian oil;
-
jobs created across Canada;
- the development of capacity of
local and Indigenous individuals, communities and businesses;
- direct spending on pipeline materials in Canada;
- and
considerable revenues to various levels of government.
Notes
1. The National
Energy Board is an independent federal regulator of several parts
of Canada's energy industry. It regulates pipelines, energy
development and trade in the public interest with safety as its
primary concern.
2. The regulator's full 689-page report is
available here.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 8 - March 9, 2019
Article Link:
For
Your
Information: National
Energy
Board Again Recommends
Proceeding with Trans Mountain Expansion Project
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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