Canada PM Trudeau approves Kinder Morgan pipeline

Trudeau announced that the Line 3 pipeline replacement in Alberta was also approved, and the Northern Gateway project on BC’s coast was rejected. But in a period of low crude oil prices, it is also extremely important for countries to look for new avenues and areas for oil.

Trans Mountain pipeline construction is slated to begin for 2017, Kinder Morgan president Ian Anderson said following the federal government’s approval of the project.

The Liberals offered a supplementary review of the Trans Mountain expansion project, but not a completely new review, as was promised.

Canada relies on the United States nearly exclusively as an oil export destination and the government in Ottawa has worked to expand its trade reach to Asia. Ninety-seven percent of Canadian oil exports now go to the U.S.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley welcomed the Liberals’ decision as “good news”, calling it a chance for Alberta to “break (their) landlock”.

The pipeline expansion planned by Kinder Morgan – the largest energy infrastructure company in the US, based in Houston, Texas – will increase capacity of Trans Mountain from 300,000 barrels of oil a day to 890,000 barrels a day. Environmental and Indigenous activists claim Trudeau is reneging on key campaign promises, and hinting that protests similar to those in Standing Rock could be planned to greet the constructions.

Tuesday’s ruling is a big deal for Kinder Morgan because the Houston pipeline giant can move forward with its biggest project, said Brandon Blossman, energy analyst for Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.in Houston. Trudeau had long opposed the project, which would run through the Great Bear Rainforest.

The Trudeau government announced that it would introduce legislation to implement a moratorium on crude-oil tankers along British Columbia’s northern coast, an area that extends from the province’s border with Alaska to a point close to the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

About 220 large oil tankers a year would have visited the Pacific coast town of Kitimat.

“Her responsibility is clearly to the people of Alberta, my responsibility is clearly to the people of British Columbia”.

But while Clark was optimistically suggesting the five conditions would be met well before the spring election, B.C.’s environment minister fired off a letter to three federal cabinet ministers listing 10 gaps in marine spill response. Aside from a looming provincial government ruling and the company’s final investment decision, court challenges are likely – Northern Gateway was approved by government in 2014 only to have its permits struck down over the lack of consultations with indigenous communities.

An estimated 5000 people march down Cambie Street from Vancouver city hall to downtown Vancouver Saturday, November 19, 2016 protesting the proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline. As Trudeau himself said, speaking to media after the announcement of the cabinet decision, Canada is now using its pipeline network at capacity as oil sands production grows. The Line 3 pipeline would send oil from Alberta to Wisconsin, where it would connect to a pipeline network that extends to Freeport, Texas. President-elect Donald Trump has expressed support for Keystone XL.

Gitga’at, which spent more than a decade opposing Enbridge’s plan to build the pipeline, scored another significant victory Tuesday.