TransCanada vice-president Louis Bergeron.
Calgary-based TransCanada has told a Senate Committee it will proceed with its application for the 1.1 million barrel per day Energy East pipeline.
With the Trudeau government’s recent approvals of the 890,000 barrel per day Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, the 760,000 barrel per day Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, and the 830,000 barrel per day TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline over the past two months, several business analysts have stated the Energy East pipeline project could be delayed by about ten years.
But The Globe and Mail now reports, “TransCanada Corp. has long-term contracts from shippers backing its $15.7-billion Energy East project and is determined to proceed despite forecasts of a surplus in pipeline capacity in the next decade, company officials told a Senate hearing Tuesday.”
The article adds, “At a committee hearing in Ottawa, a senior TransCanada executive said Western Canadian crude production is expected to grow by between 1.5 million and two million barrels per day over the next 15 years, but acknowledged that the capacity of pipeline projects currently being proposed would exceed that supply growth. TransCanada vice-president Louis Bergeron told the Senate committee the company remains committed to the Energy East project that would provide producers access to new markets in Eastern Canada, the Atlantic basin and even Asia.”
The article highlights, “Senators warned the company that it continues to face political opposition, particularly from First Nations and municipalities in Quebec who fear the project threatens the environment and drinking-water sources. Grand Chief Serge Simon of the Kanesatake Mohawk First Nation said his community has had no contact with TransCanada about the proposed pipeline that would cross its traditional territory. ‘What is there to say – the project is dead’, Chief Simon said Tuesday. ‘They don’t have the consent of First Nations to build the pipeline, nor will they.'”
While it had been expected that the National Energy Board would make its recommendation on Energy East by March 2018, with the federal government making its decision by September 2018, and the pipeline operational by 2020, it’s unclear now what that timeline might be. There is speculation that the NEB review would not be complete until early 2020 meaning it could be 2022 when the pipeline is operational.
The Council of Canadians opposes the Energy East, Keystone XL, Line 3 and Trans Mountain export pipelines.
All these pipelines mean a continued expansion of the tar sands, all cross waterways and sources of drinking water, and all cross Indigenous lands and territories without adequate consultation and consent.
We believe the Trudeau government has not demonstrated “climate leadership” by approving 2.48 million barrels per day of export capacity with Keystone XL, Line 3 and TransMountain. For it still to be considering the 1.1 million barrels per day with Energy East is the height of irresponsibility.
The Financial Post notes, “Canadian crude oil exports to the United States reached its highest level ever of 3.4 million barrels per day in the first week of January, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Canadian conventional and oil production fell last year, but heavy oil production from oilsands projects rose 250,000 bpd and will rise by another 260,000 bpd, energy investment broker Peters & Co. said in a report. Canadian oil now accounts for 45 per cent of all U.S. import crude imports, from about 30 per cent three years ago.”
For more on our campaign to stop Energy East, please click here.
