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Tag: TransCanada Pipeline
Trans Mountain, Coastal GasLink, Keystone XL: where things stand with Canada’s pipeline projects
The Narwhal discusses the Trans Mountain, Coastal GasLink, and Keystone XL pipelines. Amid legal hurdles in the U.S. and continued opposition from First Nations, the federal government is doubling down on its vow to do whatever it takes to get key oil and gas pipelines built.
Even as calls abound for a green economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, construction is underway on major new pipelines in B.C. and Alberta to carry diluted bitumen and natural gas to international markets.
For experts who say the world is already moving too slowly to avoid catastrophic climate change the decision to build new pipelines is a pressing concern. But for Alberta’s oil industry, which has felt the pinch from a lack of pipeline capacity for years, new construction offers hope for better prices down the road.
DeSmogBlog, August 15, 2020
Articles include: Plastics Spill on the Mississippi River; Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline; Big Oil Faces Mounting Legal Battles; Bakken Boom Goes Bust; SoCalGas Sues California Over Climate Policy; Demand Court Shut Down Ecuador’s Oil Pipelines After Spill; UK’s Deniers Turn to COVID-19; Climate Disinformation Database: Malcolm Roberts.
Canadian Supreme Court rejects the Trans Mountain legal challenges. So, what’s next?
The Narwhal discusses the Canadian Supreme Court’s rejection of the Trans Mountain legal challenges. So, what’s next? Cases regarding the pipeline’s impacts on endangered killer whales and Indigenous rights won’t be heard, but opponents of the project say its future is far from certain.
A legal challenge launched to protect critically endangered southern resident killer whales from increased tanker traffic has reached the end of the line, but opponents of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion say the years-long effort to stop the project is far from over.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the legal challenge launched by Ecojustice, on behalf of its clients Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Living Oceans Society, which argued the decision to re-approve the Trans Mountain expansion violated Canada’s Species at Risk Act.
The Supreme Court also refused to hear a case from Tsleil-Waututh First Nation challenging a Federal Court of Appeal decision to limit the scope of a judicial review hearing into the pipeline approval.
What the Trans Mountain pipeline court decision means for Alberta’s oilpatch.
This CBC article discusses what the Trans Mountain decision means for Alberta’s oilpatch. Pipeline ruling could let off steam from frustration building over project’s uncertainty.
If there were cheers around Alberta’s oilpatch Tuesday, they may have been drowned out by the sighs of relief.
In the days leading up to the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, common wisdom across the sector was the ruling should go in its favour.
Still, few who work in oil and gas take anything for granted these days. The higher the stakes, it seems, the greater the anxiety.
But the results did go in the sector’s favour — an outcome seen as vital to the industry for more than a few reasons, including hope it’ll help boost confidence and, ultimately, investment in Western Canada’s oilpatch.
Canadian court upholds Trans Mountain pipeline expansion approval
This The Guardian article discusses a recent Canadian court ruling approving the TransMountain pipeline expansion. Federal court of appeals in a 3-0 decision rejected four challenges from First Nations to government’s approval of the project.
Canada’s federal court of appeal has dismissed legal objections to the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion that would nearly triple the flow of oil from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific coast.
In a 3-0 decision, the court rejected four challenges from First Nations in British Columbia to the federal government’s approval of the project.
That means construction can continue on the project, though the First Nations have 60 days to appeal to the supreme court.
The natural resources minister, Seamus O’Regan, said the ruling proves that if consultations and reviews are done properly, major projects can be built in Canada.
“The courts have acknowledged that we listened and that we want to do things right,” O’Regan said.
The pipeline expansion would triple the capacity of an existing line to carry oil extracted from the oil sands in Alberta across the snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies. It would end at a terminal outside Vancouver, resulting in a sevenfold increase in the number of tankers in the shared waters between Canada and Washington state.
Trans Mountain Deal Was Structured to Bleed Billions, Finds Economist
This The Tyee article discusses the Trans Mountain Deal Was Structured to Bleed Billions, Finds Economist. Robyn Allan dug into the megaproject’s economics and says it’s already losing money.
When Finance Minister Bill Morneau paid $4.5 billion for the 66-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018, he vowed the deal would bring cash and smiles to taxpayers.
Almost 18 months after the purchase, economist Robyn Allan started looking for evidence of the promised benefits. She didn’t find any.
What she did find should disturb any fiscal conservative, if such a species still exists in Canada.
The existing pipeline is losing money, concluded Allan, the former CEO of the Insurance Corporation of BC and chief economist for BC Central Credit Union.
South Dakota Is Dropping Its Draconian “Riot Boosting” Law Targeting Pipeline Protests
This Mother Jones article discusses why South Dakota dropped its Draconian “Riot Boosting” law targeting pipeline protests. A legal challenge from the ACLU and Indigenous groups has prevailed.
In a major victory for Indigenous groups, local environmentalists, and free speech advocates, the Governor and Attorney General of South Dakota on Thursday submitted a settlement agreement that would stop enforcement of key provisions in the state’s “riot-boosting” law, which legislators passed earlier this year after lobbying from law enforcement groups and TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline.
In the settlement, the state of South Dakota has agreed to not enforce provisions of the law that dole out felonies and create costly fines for people who “encourage” riots without participating. Like other states, South Dakota law defines “riot” broadly enough to include some forms of peaceful protest.
How five activists (the Valve Turners) fought global warming
This NY Times article talks about the Valve Turners. ‘I’m Just More Afraid of Climate Change Than I Am of Prison’. That’s a quote from one of the activists who chose to turn off the spigot despite knowing that they could go to prison for doing so. The activists called the operations center of the pipeline’s owner, the TransCanada Corporation, and told them they were going to turn off the Keystone Pipeline. While they were closing off the Keystone Pipeline, four other cross-border pipelines — in Washington, Montana and Minnesota — were being shut down, too. Together, the pipelines carry nearly 70 percent of the crude oil imported to the United States from Canada.
Activists Protest Proposed Gas Pipeline Underneath Potomac River In Maryland
The Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project, a proposed 3.5-mile natural gas pipeline underneath the Potomac River, has drawn the attention of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network. Members of the group are calling on the Maryland Department of the Environment and Governor Larry Hogan to reject the project, saying it would carry gas that is produced by “fracking.”
http://morningsidemaryland.com/activists-protest-proposed-gas-pipeline-underneath-potomac-river-in-maryland/