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NEWS: Line 9 pipeline could link to ships on the St. Lawrence River

Texas-based Valero Energy Corp. plans to receive light crude from Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline in Montreal and then ship it up the St. Lawrence to its 265,000 barrel a day refinery near Quebec City.

The Globe and Mail reports, “A Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce-sponsored poll found 70 per cent of Quebeckers supported the Enbridge plan to bring western crude to Montreal. …But environmentalist Stephen Guilbeault, of the Montreal-based group Equiterre, said supporters of the pipelines should not underestimate the concerns in Quebec. He noted that several municipalities, including Montreal, have urged the provincial government to hold its own environmental assessment of the Line 9 plan.”

The National Energy Board will hold hearings in Ontario and Quebec on Enbridge’s proposed pipeline reversal (likely in August).

iPolitics adds, “The Quebec government announced their own hearings on Line 9 in part to give voice to environmentalists’ views, despite the fact that interprovincial pipelines are a federal jurisdiction and administered by the National Energy Board. Yves-Francois Blanchet, the Quebec environment minister, says he decided to hold the hearings because of Ottawa’s recent restrictions on public participation at NEB hearings. …The NEB said it won’t accept any of the information gathered in the provincial hearing if it falls outside of the new restrictions.”

That news article notes, “Line 9 will be mostly transporting oil from the Bakken oil formation in Alberta and Saskatchewan and not from the oilsands, said Eric Prud’Homme, head of public affairs for Eastern Canada at Enbridge.” But last November CBC reported, “In its latest document filed with the NEB, the pipeline company says they would like to ship heavier crudes — like oilsands bitumen — at a later date.”

For more, please read:
NEWS: Mulcair opposes reversal of Line 9 pipeline
NEWS: Harper government says ‘Line 9 would show eastern Canadians the benefits of Alberta oilsands development’
NEWS: Enbridge broke NEB safety rules for Line 9 pipeline

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