Canada’s National Energy Board recommended the approval of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline expansion project as it delivered its reconsideration report with 156 conditions and 16 new recommendations to the federal government on Feb. 22. NEB’s recommended approval came despite the board’s conclusion that project-related marine shipping would likely cause adverse environmental effects on the southern resident killer whale and on indigenous cultural uses associated with the animal. It also found that greenhouse gas emissions from project-related marine vessels would be substantial.
NEB carried out the reconsideration and met a 155-day deadline after a federal appeals court cancelled the crude oil and products pipeline project’s 2016 authorization last year (OGJ Online, Aug. 31, 2018). The proposed $7.4-billion (Can.) crude oil and products pipeline would be near one that was built in 1953 and increase capacity to 890,000 b/d from 300,000 b/d.
While a credible worst-case spill from the project or a related marine vessel is not likely, environmental effects would be weighty if one occurred, the report said. “While these effects weighed heavily in the NEB’s consideration of project-related marine shipping, the NEB recommends that the government of Canada find that they can be justified in the circumstances, in light of the considerable benefits of the project and measures to minimize the effects,” it said.
These benefits include increased access to diverse markets for Canadian oil; jobs created across Canada; the development of capacity of local and indigenous individuals, communities, and businesses; direct spending on pipeline materials in Canada; and considerable revenues to various levels of government, the report said.
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