Gateway fails yet again to sell its pipeline to British Columbians
In its final submission to a panel studying the Northern Gateway pipeline, Enbridge showed once more why it has not gained the confidence of British Columbians.
From the time it began promoting its proposal in 2008, the Calgary company has botched the sales job on its proposed $6 billion 1,200-kilometre pipeline.
Gateway was billed by Stephen Harper as a strategic imperative for Canada, giving Alberta bitumen access to tidewater for export to Asian markets.
But it always conflicted with the green, sustainable vision people living on the West Coast have for their province.
True to form, at hearings before the federal Joint Review Panel in Terrace this week, Enbridge failed to reassure British Columbians who have been bombarded by environmental warnings about the pipeline despoiling their land and rivers and the perils of tanker traffic off B.C.’s coast.
Company lawyer Richard Neufeld instead argued economics, warning Canada could face financial disaster should the pipeline be rejected.
“How about a decision from the U.S. that it will no longer need Canadian oil?” he challenged. “Canadians would be facing, we suggest, an economic catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.”
While his dire message was aimed at the panel assigned to make recommendations to government by year’s end, it had scant resonance in B.C.
For better or worse, people here have never been overly concerned about getting Alberta bitumen to their coast. Or about securing export markets for the oil.
They’ve been unswayed by promises of 3,000 B.C. construction jobs, 560 long-term jobs and $1.2 billion in tax revenue for the province over 30 years.
What they do fret about is pipeline safety and the company’s liability for any spills.
They’ve been vexed at the prospect of oil tanker operations out of Kitimat, which is slightly inland from the coast, and wonder how an impasse with B.C.’s aboriginal people will be resolved.
Enbridge needed to focus specifically on those issues because, ultimately, it’s British Columbians who will decide Northern Gateway’s future.
The Harper government, of course, will be free to endorse the project even if the review panel turns thumbs down.
But it’s unlikely the Conservatives would ignore public opinion in a province where they hold so many seats, especially when federal New Democrats and Liberals oppose Gateway.
Moreover, Christy Clark’s Liberals would be able to thwart any pipeline by denying required provincial permits.
Certainly, Enbridge’s efforts to win social licence in B.C. have been stymied as reports of pipeline leaks and spills elsewhere kept hitting headlines even as the panel conducted its deliberations.
And inexplicably, Enbridge waited until this week to float a pretty good idea: an industry-financed environmental protection megafund for catastrophic spills related to Northern Gateway.
Also hard to understand is why the company approached aboriginal groups so late in its pipeline planning process, trying to buy their support with offers of an equity stake instead of inviting them in as foundational partners from Day 1.
The only lifeline this project now has is one thrown to it last July by B.C.’s premier, in the form of her famous five conditions.
In presenting them — and at the time angering many by doing so — Clark charted a roadmap that at least gives the company a chance to get to Yes.
With the conclusion this week of the hearings, four conditions remain, pertaining to financial benefits for B.C., aboriginal consent and environmental concerns.
Regardless of the review panel’s recommendations to government, it’s only by successfully addressing the pertinent provincial issues that Northern Gateway stands any hope whatever of being built.
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