Originally posted 4 February 2018
Trans Mountain drama continues
Trudeau in difficult spot
Notley and oil industry press for declaration project is in national interest
Weaver pulling strings in Victoria?
On Tuesday, 30 January the British Columbia Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister, the Honourable George Heyman, dropped a bombshell. Mr. Heyman {Heyman Biography} announced that his Ministry would undertake to consult with the public on means ” to improve preparedness, response and recovery from potential spills.” B.C. announcement Not noticed in the flurry of media comment and political swash buckling is the fact that back in October 2017, a regulation was passed which applied “to pipelines transporting any quantity of liquid petroleum products, and rail or trucking operations transporting over 10,000 litres of liquid petroleum products.”
In the second phase of the regulatory process, the Government is seeking “feedback” on: response times to spills; geographic response plans; compensation for loss of public and cultural use of land; maximizing application of regulations to marine spills (whatever that means as that is federal jurisdiction); and “restrictions on the increase of diluted bitumen (“dilbit”) transportation until the behaviour of spilled bitumen can be better understood and there is certainty regarding the ability to adequately mitigate spills.”
The Ministry will establish an independent scientific advisory panel to make recommendations “on if and how heavy oils can be safely transported and cleaned up, if spilled.” The communique goes on to note “British Columbians rightfully expect their government to defend B.C.’s coastline and our inland waterways, and the economic and environmental interests that are so important to the people in our province, and we are working hard to do just that.”
The timeframe for this extends over the coming weeks and months. An “intentions paper” will be posted before the end of February and this will provide an overview of the proposed regulations.
While it is understandable that British Columbians and their government are concerned with the prospect of a large spill on “their” coastline, it is also unfortunate that the drafters of the 1867 Constitution could not foresee a clash between the environment and the economy. Doubtless B.C.’s Attorney General’s staff have been labouring over case-law on the environment, marine law, and interprovincial trade and commerce jurisprudence. There is probably a great deal of agreement (behind closed doors) on the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels and the need to slow the production of oil and bitumen between B.C. and Alberta NDP partisans. It’s just that Alberta’s new government cannot throw out the cards (an economy and government overly dependent on the oil and oilsands industries to provide revenue and jobs).
In Alberta, and to a much lesser extent in B.C., the energy industry is persuasive in arguing the case for growth and employment. But B.C., its residents, and its coastline bear the risk but do not see much of the reward. So why would B.C. blink? Christy Clark’s government made Kinder Morgan pay over a twenty year period: Perhaps the NDP-Green coalition can extract more money or an indemnity for an oil spill?
For the Trudeau government, it faces pressure from Alberta to support and respect decisions all ready made. However the Liberals hold more seats in B.C. (17) and especially in vote rich Vancouver than the four seats held in Alberta. Trudeau has faced difficult town-halls in Edmonton and Nanaimo this week and seems to have escaped largely unscathed.
What the pipeline and oil industries ideally seek is a declaration by Parliament that the Kinder Morgan pipeline constitutes a “national work and undertaking” Section 92 of the Constitution Act, that enumerates provincial powers, does contain this important exception.
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(a)Lines of Steam or other Ships, Railways, Canals, Telegraphs, and other Works and Undertakings connecting the Province with any other or others of the Provinces, or extending beyond the Limits of the Province:
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(b)Lines of Steam Ships between the Province and any British or Foreign Country:
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(c)Such Works as, although wholly situate within the Province, are before or after their Execution declared by the Parliament of Canada to be for the general Advantage of Canada or for the Advantage of Two or more of the Provinces. (emphasis added)
This provision seems tailor-made to decide the issue once and for all. The oil and pipeline companies will be pushing the Trudeau government to make such a declaration as the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Tim McMillan hints at in a recent op-ed.
As Gary Mason opined in this week’s Globe and Mail, none of the three political leaders can “win” on this file. It’s a question of damage control. The environment appears to be in the ascendancy.
The $7.4 billion question remains: how long will Kinder Morgan, its directors, officers, shareholders, and bondholders wait before bailing out?
If the pipeline proceeds, we can expect blockades and other environmental and First Nations’ protests to register dissent.