Canada places more delays on 2 major pipeline projects

Natural Resources Canada confirmed that Carr will ask for an extra four months to make a decision on the approval of Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project – meaning the federal government will make a decision in December 2016, rather than August, as previously planned.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa Wednesday afternoon, Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna laid out the government’s plan, which they touted as one to balance private sector growth with environmental and First Nations concerns taken into consideration.

“We are reviewing today’s announcement about interim measures for our pipeline review and will be assessing what it will mean for the schedule of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project“.

“If we’re going to attract the investments we need to sustainably develop our energy resources, then we have to better engage Canadians, conduct deeper consultations with indigenous peoples and base decisions on science, facts and evidence”, Carr said.

She declined to explain how much weight would be given to the climate change effects, saying there would be no maximum fixed for each project, and she said it would only be one of many factors the government would take into account in determining whether a project was in the national interest.

The Wilderness Committee criticized the government’s failure to include downstream carbon emissions that make up the bulk of the climate impacts of new pipelines.

“We have done our part to earn that confidence of Canadians”, said Phillips.

The federal government has unveiled interim changes to how the National Energy Board reviews pipeline projects. That project would transport oil to refineries in Eastern Canada.

The new reviews will be carried out apart from and in addition to deliberations by the National Energy Board, which under the previous Conservative government was given the power to do environmental assessments and public consultations under circumscribed timelines.

The head of the country’s pipeline lobby said his organization wasn’t consulted about the Liberal government’s changes, and expressed disappointment about the delayed timeline for projects already under review.

TransCanada spokesman Mark Cooper said the company needs time to digest the new rules.

Kinder Morgan filed its application to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline back in 2013 and a spokesperson for the company told the Financial Post last week that the company “would be very concerned about anything that would push back the deadlines for construction and the in-service date”. But in both cases, the permitting process has been targeted by opponents including environmentalists, aboriginals and local officials.