Environmentalists will regret their gloating over another setback to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in Canada.
An Aug. 30 court decision nixing federal approval of the project represents “a win for indigenous communities and the climate,” crowed Greenpeace USA. In response to the Federal Court of Appeal decision, however, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley withdrew from the federal government’s aggressive program on climate change.
Aligning with federal goals for greenhouse gas emissions, Notley’s New Democratic Party government in 2016 enacted a carbon tax and capped carbon dioxide emissions from oil sands operations.
The Liberal government in Ottawa responded by approving Trans Mountain expansion, needed to relieve transport congestion suppressing oil prices in Alberta.
“Alberta has done everything right, and we have been let down,” Notley said after the court decision. Alberta’s disengagement will last “until the federal government gets its act together,” she said, adding: “Without Alberta, that [federal] plan isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
Alberta joins Saskatchewan and Ontario in opposition to the federal effort. Saskatchewan never has supported it, and Ontario recently elected a premier promising to dismantle his predecessor’s program built around a cap-and-trade scheme for emissions.
Notley called on Ottawa to appeal the court decision, which faulted National Energy Board approval of the Trans Mountain expansion on two points: failure to account for environmental effects of increased tanker traffic and insufficient attention to concerns of aboriginal peoples.
She also asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call a special session of Parliament to address what she called “a crisis.”
Greenpeace USA, meanwhile, chided Trudeau for his “stubborn support for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion,” which he has committed his government to buy, with the existing system, to overcome opposition in British Columbia.
Climate absolutists, with two legal technicalities, thus have won a battle. But they’ll lose the war. They have lost Notley. And they’re losing Trudeau. Canadians must hope the inevitable reckoning with economic reality happens before their country loses more allure as a business destination.
(From the subscription area of www.ogj.com, posted Aug. 31, 2018; to comment, join the Commentary channel at www.ogj.com/oilandgascommunity.)