Trudeau pledges funds, legislation for Trans Mountain pipeline

Justin Trudeau is promising “legislative and financial measures” to back the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, and has directed the finance minister to begin talks with Houston-based Kinder Morgan, the company behind the $7.4 billion project, after it threatened to cancel it a week ago.

The goal of these talks, which will be held in private, is to “remove the uncertainty overhanging [the project],” the Prime Minister said during a press conference Sunday following a meeting with B.C. premier John Horgan who has vowed measures that could stop the pipeline and Alberta premier Rachel Notley who wants it built as soon as possible.

Notley said her government and Ottawa have a plan to “establish a financial relationship [with Kinder Morgan] that will eliminate investor risk.” But both leaders were thin on details.

“Construction will go ahead,” Trudeau vowed, again.

Approved by Trudeau’s government in November 2016, the project would expand an existing pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to the B.C. coast, tripling its capacity. Its proponents argue Canada needs to get Alberta oil to ocean ports cheaply and efficiently so it can be sold to Asian markets. Opponents say the project poses an unacceptable risk of oil spills along the B.C. coast, and ignores the rights of First Nations along the route.

Trudeau’s meeting Sunday with Notley and Horgan did little to resolve the jurisdictional showdown between the federal and B.C. governments. Trudeau maintained the federal government has legal jurisdiction to ensure the project is built, while Horgan insisted his government has the right to consider regulatory action against the project.

“Despite all of the commonality between the three of us, we continue to disagree on the question of moving diluted bitumen from Alberta to the port of Vancouver,” Horgan said after the meeting.

Bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands is thick and sticky, so it is diluted with lighter hydrocarbons so it can be moved more easily, but critics point out that it can also be more difficult to clean up when it spills.

Horgan has suggested the feuding governments refer the matter to the Supreme Court. On Sunday he said his province is preparing a court reference, and he would respect the court’s decision on the matter.

The project would be built through the territory of B.C. First Nations who oppose it, but those leaders were not invited to the table Sunday. Pointing to previous Supreme Court rulings, legal experts have called First Nations along the pipeline route “the jurisdictional elephant in the room no one is talking about.”

“We have a duty to make sure the rights of all First Nations who could be affected by an oil spill are respected,” Horgan tweeted Sunday. “The national interest is not served if we force the risk of catastrophe on unwilling communities. Nor does it advance meaningful reconciliation.”

One week ago, Kinder Morgan CEO Steve Kean said the company would cancel Trans Mountain by May 31 if the Canadian government didn’t take “some kind of pre-emptive action” to stop regulatory threats by the B.C. government, and give the project “entitlement to proceed.”

In a statement Sunday, Kinder Morgan reiterated that the company needs to “obtain certainty” that it can build the pipeline through B.C., and must protect its shareholders. The company said it would not release any updates “until we've reached a sufficiently definitive agreement on or before May 31 that satisfies our objectives."