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Northern Gateway rejection should lead to a fatter deal
e-KNOW Editorial
One can easily picture many hundreds of fabulously wealthy Alberta oil sheiks sitting about on plush heated leather sofas, clutching swirling glasses of brandy found on a Phoenician wreck circa 1000 BC, fluffling and harrumphing and meaning to miss when they spit at golden spittoons, because they are not amused.
“Those hippy sons of bitches! Those weed huffin’ commie sons of bitches! Smart Car-drivin’, anti business socialist sons of bitches!” and similar howls echo off the walls of the inner chambers of Canada’s big oil elite.
The B.C. government, in what seems grandly symbolic timing following the BC Liberal’s recent election stunner, has told the Northern Gateway Pipeline Joint Review Panel it cannot support the project as presented because Northern Gateway has been unable to address British Columbians’ environmental concerns.
“British Columbia thoroughly reviewed all of the evidence and submissions made to the panel and asked substantive questions about the project including its route, spill response capacity and financial structure to handle any incidents,” said Environment Minister Terry Lake earlier today (May 31). “Our questions were not satisfactorily answered during these hearings. We have carefully considered the evidence that has been presented to the Joint Review Panel. The panel must determine if it is appropriate to grant a certificate for the project as currently proposed on the basis of a promise to do more study and planning after the certificate is granted. Our government does not believe that a certificate should be granted before these important questions are answered.”
And cue the wailing from the eastern side of the Rockies. This is a cadre that is used to getting its way and when at first they don’t succeed, they buy, buy again.
So what the B.C. government has done is force those who wish to have their heavy oil pumped across B.C. on the cheap in order to greatly more reap – to dig deeper.
It is never a bad thing to see a government showing caution and recognizing the fact that big business will smear crap all over the place if it is not kept in proper check. Had our government stepped aside and said ‘welcome’ when Northern Gateway is failing badly at providing adequate assurances that environmental nightmares will not spring forth, it would have simply smacked of yet another sadly purchased pack of politicians but the Liberals’ move today provides one with a modicum of hope that our senior provincially elected officials actually DO care about this province and won’t roll over when the huffers and puffers fluffle and harrumph.
And if you are thinking it’s just a shell game with smoke and mirrors and a red wagon filled with laughing gas and the guidebook ‘How to perform amazing feats of distraction’ – consider the five main areas where the province formed its position against the current proposal.
Before it can provide support for the project the government wants to see Northern Gateway successfully complete an environmental review process. In the case of Northern Gateway, that would mean a recommendation by the National Energy Board Joint Review Panel that the project proceed.
The province says there must be “world-leading marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery systems for B.C.’s coastline and ocean to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy-oil pipelines and shipments. And world-leading practices for land oil spill prevention, response and recovery systems to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy-oil pipelines.”
Additionally, the province wants legal requirements regarding Aboriginal and treaty rights to be addressed, and First Nations provided with the opportunities, information and resources necessary to participate in and benefit from a heavy-oil project.
Finally, the province wants to receive a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits of a proposed heavy-oil project that reflect the level, degree and nature of the risk borne by the province, the environment and taxpayers, essentially the same stance that Premier Christy Clark famously assumed last year.
“Northern Gateway has said that they would provide effective spill response in all cases. However, they have presented little evidence as to how they will respond,” Lake said. “For that reason, our government cannot support the issuance of a certificate for the pipeline as it was presented to the Joint Review Panel.”
In April 2012, the Joint Review Panel released 199 potential conditions that could form part of an authorization for the Northern Gateway Pipeline project if it received federal approval. In preparing the final argument submission, the Province’s legal and technical experts analyzed the conditions and determined that they must be strengthened to meet B.C.’s interests and requirements.
It is likely that this move was anticipated by Enbridge – and with the right expenditures here and there, this heavily opposed project will get the green light down the winding road when the government’s demands are met and the witches are consulted.
Environmentalists should not be viewing the government’s correctly made move as an assurance their cause is won; far from it. The provincial government has merely made the strong statement that B.C. is open for business but at a fair price and it wants assurances that any sane and functional government should be seeking.
Today’s announcement was pretty much a no-brainer.
The province’s submission to the Joint Review Panel can be viewed at:
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/main/docs/2013/BC-Submission-to-NGP-JointReviewPanel_130531.pdf
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW
