The National Energy Board recommended on Friday that the federal government approve for a second time the long-stalled Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, despite the fact it would likely have “significant adverse” impacts on endangered killer whales and the Indigenous communities in British Columbia that revere them.
In its 700-page report, the energy regulator said the expansion of the crude oil pipeline would be in the public interest by creating a diverse market for Western Canadian oil producers; spurring job creation and economic development for local and Indigenous communities, and enhancing revenues for governments. While the benefits would be largely national and regional in scope, the environmental risks will largely be borne by local communities, including First Nations, the board noted.
The federal government will continue its consultations with First Nations to determine what precise concerns affected communities have about the project, and how their views can be accommodated. Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi said Ottawa will aim to conclude its consultations and make a decision by June.
Despite negative impacts, “the NEB recommends that the government of Canada finds that they can be justified in the circumstances in light of the considerable benefits of the projects and measures to mitigate the effects,” the board’s chief environment officer, Robert Steedman, told a Friday news conference in Calgary. The board set out 156 conditions the pipeline proponent – now the federal government – would have to meet, while making 16 recommendations to Ottawa for measures that would limit the impact of increased ship traffic in the Salish Sea and help restore the already-polluted, heavily travelled waterway.
The pipeline expansion plan has provoked inter-provincial feuding, oil-industry rage and fears among activists and some First Nations communities over threats to the environment and marine species. The government of Alberta and the oil industry maintain the Trans Mountain project is a crucial economic lifeline to expand crude exports and relieve the frequent price pressure on Western Canadian crude that results from insufficient pipeline capacity. Environmental activists decried the NEB’s conclusion, saying it is clear the pipeline will cause further damage to the orcas in the Salish Sea and would increase greenhouse gas emissions from the oil industry.
Ottawa’s 2016 approval of the pipeline expansion was quashed last August when a Federal Court of Appeal judge found the government’s First Nations consultations had been inadequate and that the NEB did not properly consider the impacts of increased marine traffic.
Explainer: Trans Mountain, Trudeau and First Nations: A guide to the political saga so far
However, the project was in trouble even before the court decision. Faced with opposition from the government of British Columbia, Indigenous leaders, and environmental groups, former owner Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd., announced last April that it was halting construction.
In late May, the Liberal government announced it would purchase the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and terminal for $4.5-billion and finance the expansion project until it could eliminate much of the political and legal risk and resell it to the private sector. Some First Nations leaders in Alberta and B.C. have expressed an interest in purchasing a stake in the pipeline project, a notion the Liberal government supports.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the NEB’s revised conditions and additional recommendations were sound, though she cautioned that Friday’s report isn’t the end of the process. Specifically, she acknowledged that the project could still face more court challenges and protests.
“Many obstacles have been put in our way, and quite clearly we are not done yet,” she told reporters in Calgary.
Ms. Notley said that once the federal cabinet makes its decision, which she expects before the federal election, construction would likely resume very quickly. In the meantime, she said she’ll be pressing the federal government to ensure consultations with First Nations are adequate so a new federal approval won’t be derailed by another court challenge.
British Columbia’s Environment Minister, George Heyman, said he was disappointed at the NEB’s ruling. “They found there would be significant impacts on southern resident killer whales, [and] that there would be a catastrophic impact if there was a spill," he said. "And they reached the conclusion, astoundingly, that no new conditions were needed.” He vowed B.C. will continue with legal reference case that will test the constitutional limits of the province’s authority to restrict the flow of oil crossing its borders.
Indigenous leaders opposed to the pipeline project said Friday the board’s report does nothing to allay their concerns about risks to the salmon and killer whales. And they vow to pursue further legal challenges if Ottawa approves it again.
“We have a reciprocal and loving and spiritual relationship with the lands and the water and the things on it like the salmon and the whales,” said Rueben George, of the Tsleil Waututh First Nation, which was part of the legal challenge that quashed the first permit. “We’ll do whatever it takes to protect the things that we love, because no price can be put on the sacred.”
With a report from Jonathan Ventura.
Legend
National parks
Existing pipeline
Parks
Expansion pipeline
Terminal
Indigenous lands
Pump station
Edmonton
0
80
KM
Jasper
National
Park
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
Banff
National
Park
Calgary
Kamloops
Kelowna
Westridge
Van.
Sumas
Burnaby
Ferndale
WASH.
IDAHO
MONT.
Anacortes
MURAT YÜKSELIR AND JOHN SOPINSKI / THE GLOBE
AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP
CONTRIBUTORS; HIU; NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA;
OPEN GOVERNMENT; GRAPHIC NEWS; KINDER MORGAN
Legend
0
80
KM
Existing pipeline
ALBERTA
Expansion pipeline
Edmonton
Indigenous lands
National parks
Parks
Jasper
National
Park
Terminal
Pump station
Banff
National
Park
Calgary
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Kamloops
Kelowna
Westridge
Vancouver
Sumas
Burnaby
WASH.
IDAHO
MONT.
Ferndale
Pacific
Ocean
Anacortes
MURAT YÜKSELIR AND JOHN SOPINSKI / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP CONTRIBUTORS; HIU;
NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; OPEN GOVERNMENT; GRAPHIC
NEWS; KINDER MORGAN
Legend
Edmonton
Existing pipeline
Expansion pipeline
16
ALBERTA
Indigenous lands
Jasper
National
Park
National parks
Parks
2
Terminal
Pump station
97
Banff
National
Park
Calgary
1
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
Kamloops
Vancouver
Island
Kelowna
Westridge
Sumas
Vancouver
Burnaby
Pacific
Ocean
Ferndale
WASH.
IDAHO
MONT.
0
80
Anacortes
KM
MURAT YÜKSELIR AND JOHN SOPINSKI / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP
CONTRIBUTORS; HIU; NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; OPEN GOVERNMENT; GRAPHIC NEWS; KINDER MORGAN
B.C.
Westridge
KEY
Killer
whale
foraging
area
Salmon
closure
area
Sumas
Burnaby
Ferndale
Slowdown zone
Existing
pipeline
Vancouver Island
Anacortes
Victoria
WASH.
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Proposal to move
shipping away from
foraging areas
WASH.
Edmonton
TRANS MOUNTAIN
PIPELINE PROJECT
Proposed
new line
B.C.
Existing line
ALTA.
DETAIL
canada
u.S.
Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW)
Name:Killer whale or orca (Orcinus orca)
Social:The SRKW lives inan extended family
made up of three pods: J,K,L
Range:Inshore waters of the Salish Sea
Diet:Mostly salmon
Key threats
Shipping; noise; pollution; oil spills; declining food
Rounded
dorsal fin
Open saddle
patch marking
Fluke
Eye
Pectoral flipper
SOURCE: government Of canadA; centre for
whale research; evotis.org; noaa;
kinder morgan; qgis
Kingsvale
Kelowna
Westridge
B.C.
KEY
Sumas
Salmon
closure
area
Killer
whale
foraging
area
Burnaby
Ferndale
Slowdown zone
Existing
pipeline
Vancouver Island
Anacortes
Victoria
WASH.
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Proposal to move
shipping away from
foraging areas
WASH.
Edmonton
TRANS MOUNTAIN
PIPELINE PROJECT
Proposed
new line
B.C.
Existing line
ALTA.
DETAIL
canada
u.S.
Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW)
Name:Killer whale or orca (Orcinus orca)
Social:The SRKW lives inan extended family
made up of three pods: J,K,L
Range:Inshore waters of the Salish Sea
Diet:Mostly salmon
Key threats
Shipping; noise; pollution; oil spills; declining food
Rounded
dorsal fin
Open saddle
patch marking
Fluke
Eye
Pectoral flipper
SOURCE: government Of canadA; centre for whale
research; evotis.org; noaa; kinder morgan; qgis
Edmonton
Westridge
TRANS MOUNTAIN
PIPELINE PROJECT
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Proposed
new line
Vancouver
Burnaby
B.C.
Sumas
Existing line
ALTA.
DETAIL
Strait of Georgia
canada
u.S.
Ferndale
Existing
pipeline
WASH.
Vancouver Island
Anacortes
Victoria
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Southern Resident
killer whale (SRKW)
KEY
Name:Killer whale or
orca (Orcinus orca)
Killer
whale
foraging
area
Rounded
dorsal fin
Proposal to move
shipping away from
foraging areas
Social:The SRKW lives in
an extended family made
up of three pods: J,K,L
Open saddle
patch marking
Salmon
closure
area
Range:Inshore waters of
the Salish Sea
Diet:Mostly salmon
Slowdown
zone
Key threats
Shipping; noise; pollution;
oil spills; declining food
Fluke
Eye
Pectoral flipper
SOURCE: government Of canadA; centre for whale research;
evotis.org; noaa; kinder morgan; qgis