The Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion: Trudeau’s broken promise
Early in October, Prime Minister Trudeau proposed a national carbon tax plan that would be put into effect by 2018. However, Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project was approved in late November. While Canada still heavily relies on fossil fuels, which means that the era of clean energy has yet to come, it seems that Trudeau has no choice but to balance the demands from environmental supporters as well as fossil fuel industries.
The Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion essentially adds an additional pipeline alongside the existing pipeline, creating a twinned-pipeline system. The expansion consists of about 980km of new mainland pipeline and it roughly connects Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, BC. Kinder Morgan claims that 73% of the expansion will be “on or adjacent to the existing right-of-way” and 16% will “follow other existing utility corridors or other infrastructure” in order to minimize the environmental impacts. In addition, there will be 12 new pump stations and 19 new tanks at the current storage terminals and 3 new berths at the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby.
TMEP SYSTEM MAP CANADA FEB 25 2015.DWG
The cost of the expansion is expected to be $6.8 billion. The money will enable the pipeline to transport 890,000 barrels of tar sands per day from Alberta to the Vancouver harbour, where tons of tar sands are shipped around the world. The additional pipeline and infrastructures surely will get the Alberta tar sands out faster. Trudeau must be relieved that Canada is able to increase its access to international oil markets, particularly Asian markets. A better access to Asian markets will reduce Canada’s reliance on the U.S., Canada’s traditional and the largest oil importer. It may also lower the political and economic influences from the U.S. on Canada as oil is usually used as a politico-economic leverage.
The benefits of the expansion are not only limited to the tremendous anticipated revenues received from international oil markets, but they also include domestic job generation. Kinder Morgan expects to generate 15,000 jobs during construction and 37,000 jobs per year during operations. Economic gains are undeniable benefits of the expansion. However, there are strong oppositions to the expansion from environmentalists, conservationists, indigenous communities and municipal governments, including the City of Vancouver and the City of Burnaby. The predominant concerns of the expansion are the environmental effects and violation to indigenous rights. Even though these issues are often contested by fossil fuel giants like Kinder Morgan, there is evidence that points to the truth.
The new segment of pipeline will create a significant amount of greenhouse (GHG) emissions. According to The Environment and Climate Change Canada’s assessment, it is estimated that the added carrying capacity of barrels due to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will increase the upstream GHG emissions of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline system by 13 to 15 megatons of CO2 equivalent per year. The GHG emissions from the existing Trans Mountain pipeline along with its expansion are estimated to range from 21 to 26 megatons of CO2 equivalent per year considering combustion, industrial processes, flaring, venting, and fugitive sources that release carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Considering that Canada has committed to the Paris Climate Agreement, this is no doubt a blow to the country’s climate leadership, and more importantly, its future environmental condition.
Moreover, there have been massive oppositions from the indigenous communities to the pipeline expansion despite of its approval by the federal government. The expansion may bring billions of dollars and high-paying jobs to the regions, but it will endanger human and environmental health due to risk of oil spills. Heavy crude oil like diluted bitumen is a carcinogen and it is toxic to humans and animals. Not to mention that the pipeline has to go through indigenous lands. Kinder Morgan had claimed to work with local indigenous communities regarding the expansion. However, only 39 of the 120 indigenous communities supported the project.
CBC
With Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway Pipeline denied, Trudeau had to satisfy the oil industry somehow if he wanted to maintain a positive relationship with Alberta in the light of the national carbon tax plan. The approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion was not shocking since the opposition it faced was less intense compared to the Northern Gateway Pipeline. Nevertheless, if Trudeau is serious about the Paris Climate Agreement or Canada’s emissions reduction, any carbon-intensive project or infrastructure should be unaccepted.
By Jakob Ke
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