Just as the Carney government approves its first natural gas pipeline, First Nations are warning oil companies there will be consequences if they take up a proposed bitumen pipeline. On Friday, the Canada Energy Regulator approved the $4 billion Sunrise Expansion Program, which would expand an existing natural gas pipeline running from Chetwynd, B.C., to the U.S. border.
The approval marks the first time that the Carney government has delivered on its promise to expand Canada's network of oil and gas pipelines. In a statement, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said 'this is what being an energy superpower looks like.'
Nevertheless, the Enbridge project is getting the go-ahead at the same time that a consortium of B.C. First Nations are systematically contacting Canadian oil companies and warning them to 'stay away' from a far more lucrative federal proposal to build a bitumen pipeline to the Pacific.
First Nations Coalition Takes Action
Six First Nations governments, representing about 8,500 total members, drafted a letter explicitly warning oil and gas companies to 'steer clear' of any plan to build a pipeline to the Northwest Coast, and threatening 'significant risk' if any were attempted.
'Haida, Kitasoo Xai'xais, Gitga'at, and Heiltsuk Nations advise pipeline companies of risk of backing a Northwest Coast crude oil pipeline and tankers project, urge CEOs to stay away,' reads a press release issued by the Council of the Haida Nation.
The 'steer clear' letter was presented in person to executives with Pembina Pipeline Corporation and Trans Mountain Corporation, and then delivered to 'several other major pipeline companies' who declined a meeting.
Background of the Proposed Pipeline
The consortium is attempting to pre-emptively shut down the proposed 'West Coast Oil Pipeline,' the result of a November agreement between Alberta and the Carney government to build a 'bitumen pipeline to Asian markets.'
As yet, there's no agreed-upon route for the proposed pipeline, although the Alberta government revealed this month it is favouring a terminus somewhere on the northern B.C. coast. It's also not clear whether any of the private sector companies contacted by the consortium have even considered getting involved.
Planning for the West Coast Oil Pipeline is entirely within the hands of the Alberta government, while several major private sector companies have publicly said that political difficulties have scared them away from the idea of running liquids pipelines to the Pacific.
Enbridge, which lost an estimated $373 million on the now-cancelled Northern Gateway project, has been vocal about its intention to avoid Canadian oil pipelines altogether unless Ottawa can overhaul the regulatory process. At an October speech to the Empire Club of Canada, Enbridge CEO Greg Abel specifically mentioned the continued existence of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which bars large tankers from sailing off the northern B.C. coast.
