Another bad idea, eh?

Despite Protests, Canada Approves Northern Gateway Oil Pipeline

By IAN AUSTEN, New York Times

JUNE 17, 2014

The Northern Gateway project, which the government approved on Tuesday as expected, would send heavy, oil-bearing bitumen to Asia, giving Canadian producers better access to the world markets. The pipeline, being built by Enbridge, has been championed by the federal government as a way to diversify Canada’s energy industry from its current dependence on exports to the United States.

But opponents in British Columbia, who span the political spectrum, threatened to block the pipeline altogether. The fear is that the pipeline would make the province vulnerable to an oil spill, damaging the rugged and scenic coastline.

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Northern Gateway has become something of backup for Canada, as approval for the Keystone XL pipeline remains mired in Washington. If built, Northern Gateway would ship about 500,000 barrels of bitumen a day to the coast compared with the 700,000-barrel-a-day capacity of Keystone XL, which would take oil sands production to the Gulf Coast of the United States. When Northern Gateway is combined with the country’s other pipeline plans, Canada could expand shipments from the oil sands by three million barrels a day.

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The National Energy Board, which originally reviewed the proposal, attached a list of 209 conditions to the deal, although none of them are viewed as insurmountable. The government’s approval on Tuesday is also predicated on fulfilling those conditions.

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The most pressing problem is addressing the concerns of the native Canadian tribes. About a decade ago, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that such native groups must be consulted and accommodated about projects that cross their land. The definition of both terms remains fuzzy, but most legal experts say that the native groups do not have a veto.

Still, such groups are preparing for a fight. Art Sterritt, the executive director of Coastal First Nations, an alliance of nine native groups opposed to the pipeline, said his organization would take legal action and form political alliances to block the project. On Monday, the Coastal First Nations formed a group with Unifor, formerly the Canadian Auto Workers union, and several environmental groups to quash the project.

The main issue for his members, Mr. Sterritt said, was the oil industry’s inability to demonstrate that it could effectively clean up coastal oil spills. If legal and political challenges are ultimately unsuccessful, Mr. Sterritt added, “our people will be out there stopping the bulldozers.”