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Clark's and Polak's Feet Firmly Planted In Thin Air
13/01/16
Contrary to the suggestion that the BC government has 'put its foot down on Kinder Morgan’s controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion' the reality is that Premier Christy Clark and Environment Minister Mark Polak have their feet firmly planted in thin air. No sooner had the story broken that BC was asking the National Energy Board to set aside the Kinder Morgan expansion based on current information that KD's application doesn't meet provincial expectations, Mary Polak was on the radio assuring the fossil fuelers that the project wasn't actually dead, but rather just resting, and that it might well be that Kinder Morgan could, with a bit more work, meet the so-called five conditions required to receive the BC government's stamp of approval.
Christy Clark is trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear and trying to be all things to all people in the lead up to the May 2017 provincial election. With world prices for oil and gas plummeting and with no recovery anticipated for well past the upcoming election, the economics of the Kinder Morgan pipeline and the shipping diluted oil sands bitumen is a non-starter for any foreseeable future. No one is going to lend the tens of billions required for the transportation and shipping infrastructure at this time, which puts Christy Clark's pie-in-the-sky promises of a debt free BC into the realm of sheer fantasy. So rather than suffer the embarrassment she so clearly deserves, why not attempt to pacify fossil fuel critics with the pretence that Christy is getting tough with Kinder Morgan when no such genuine intent exists? Maybe she can buy herself another term and then find, assuming the economics recover, that Kinder Morgan can go ahead after all.
It is pure political subterfuge, which also serves Kinder Morgan's interests with its potential lenders, keeping them on stand by while they wait for the provincial election to come and go with the hopes of buying themselves a compliant government for another four years inclusive of a green light to proceed, all the while hoping global prices recover enough to make the lenders agreeable to take the risk.
The 'BC government has put its foot down'! Hey, that's the best one I've heard all day!
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