Resource development projects offer First Nations “an unprecedented opportunity” to gain economic benefits and resolve social issues in their communities, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said during an informal discussion at the Vancouver Board of Trade Monday. Harper, in response to questions from board of trade CEO Iain Black, vowed that his government would not approve pipeline projects “unless they meet the highest standards of environmental protection.” Ottawa will also live up to its constitutional obligation to consult with First Nations on resource development, he said.
On Monday (December 16), six “anti-capitalist” Santas from the activist group Rising Tide delivered coal to the private offices of “naughty” Port Metro Vancouver. PMV is reviewing the permit application and consultation process for the proposed Fraser Surrey Docks coal port development. This project would see the delivery of at least four million tonnes of coal by train, and then open barge to Texada Island, to be loaded onto ships and sold to Asia.
The fossil fuel industry offensive in British Columbia and across Canada is proceeding relentlessly. This is a report from some of the key fronts of the fossil fuel wars. On December 16, Kinder Morgan company made its official application to the National Energy Board for approval to build a $5.4-billion tar sands pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver harbour. The new line will use the path of its existing Trans Mountain Pipeline for part of the route, but it will diverge from that significantly in places, including in the final leg of the line into metropolitan Vancouver.
Vancouver: The Joint Review Panel (the Panel) for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Project today recommended that the federal government approve the project, subject to 209 required conditions. Based on a scientific and precautionary approach to this complex review, the Panel found that the project, if built and operated in compliance with the conditions set out in its report, would be in the public interest.
A second pipeline proposal to transport oil to Asia was officially launched on Monday when Kinder Morgan filed a project application for its $5.4-billion Trans Mountain expansion. The project would nearly triple oil capacity to 890,000 barrels annually and bring about 400 more tankers a year into Burrard Inlet (up from about 80) if it is approved by the National Energy Board and subsequently by the federal government. The 1,150-kilometre pipeline will carry diluted bitumen from the Alberta oilsands, starting in Edmonton, through Jasper and across B.C.
OTTAWA — Enbridge Inc., through an anonymous numbered company, is seeking to build an undisclosed number of hydroelectric projects — many on salmon-bearing rivers and creeks on traditional aboriginal territories — in B.C. and Alberta, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
Enbridge says they are part of the company’s green energy plans and are not being built to power pumps for the company’s proposed 1,177-kilometre Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat.
The new National Energy Board rules restricting public participation in oil pipeline project hearings were taken directly from an August 2012 oil industry report, ForestEthicsAdvocacy said today. The report, Who Writes the Rules?
We appreciate the chance to respond to the union members’ op-ed on coal exports from Nov. 27, (Critics of coal exports are misinformed) as it provides an opportunity to clear up misunderstandings circulated by the coal lobby. As the members pointed out, they are responsible for mining and transporting B.C.’s metallurgical coal to markets overseas. The key word here is metallurgical. We are opposed to Fraser Surrey Docks’ proposal to export U.S. thermal coal.
The federal government has major gaps to fill to keep its promise to establish a world-class safety system for oil supertankers plying Canadian waters off the coast of British Columbia, an expert panel reports. Ottawa established the panel to recommend safety enhancements as part of its effort to win support from the B.C. government and First Nations for crude oil pipelines and tanker ports that would give the oil industry access to Asian markets. Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver released the report with its 45 recommendations in Vancouver on Tuesday.
The city councils of Surrey and White Rock say they are keenly interested in a relocation inland of the railway line that runs along their ocean shorelines. That message was welcomed by most of the 400-plus people attending a public forum on the topic that the two councils hosted at the Pacific Inn in south Surrey on Nov 26. The forum featured Surrey mayor Dianne Watts and White Rock mayor Wayne Baldwin. Each was given much applause when they declared that it’s time to move the line inland. The case for relocation of the BNSF line has long been compelling.
