An indigenous coalition is forming in Canada with the aim of buying a controlling interest in the Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion project between Alberta and British Columbia from the federal government.
The Globe and Mail newspaper reports that the group, Project Reconciliation, has invited all First Nations in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia to participate.
First Nation groups near the British Columbia coast were active in opposition to Kinder Morgan’s plan to raise Trans Mountain capacity from 590,000 b/d of crude oil and refinery products to 400,000 b/d, largely through construction of 1,150-km of 36-in. OD pipeline along the existing system.
Although the expansion had been approved by the National Energy Board, the British Columbia government and municipalities in the province strongly opposed it.
That position has strained British Columbia’s relations with Alberta, which supports the expansion as relief from transport congestion costly to oil sands producers and the provincial economy.
With the project stalemated and interprovincial conflict intense, the federal government bought the Trans Mountain system and expansion project from Kinder Morgan last year for $4.5 billion (Can.) (OGJ Online, May 29, 2018).
Delbert Wapass, leader of Project Reconciliation and former chief of the Thunderchild First Nation in Saskatchewan, told the Globe and Mail the aim is to secure $6.8 billion in bank finance to fund the purchase of a 51% Trans Mountain interest.
In a Mar. 25 statement, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau acknowledged indigenous-group interest in participating in the Trans Mountain expansion.
“The government welcomes the interest and hopes to engage on that topic in the event that the government decides to approve the project,” he said. “This was communicated to indigenous groups involved in the consultation process earlier this month.”
The government ordered the NEB last September to reconsider its approval of the expansion.