When the federal Conservative government gave its approval on the Northern Gateway pipeline project, it appeared to be a move to take the burden off Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s shoulders and place the pressure squarely on Enbridge and British Columbia Premier Christy Clark.
The Tories June 17 approval is contingent of Enbridge’s pipeline project meeting the 209 conditions previously recommended by the independent National Energy Board.
The pipeline proponents also have to satisfy the four remaining conditions Clark placed on Enbridge before the B.C. Liberal government would allow the pipeline to go through B.C.
Clearly, Enbridge has a lot of hurdles to overcome before it can even consider building a pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast of B.C.
Opposition to the pipeline, as well as the company’s spill-response performance, has been growing exponentially ever since Enbridge’s proposal became public.
There are varying degrees of opposition ranging from those who are dead against the idea to those who would like to see the project postponed until further safety measures can be put in place, such as refining the bitumen into a "less toxic brew" before it’s shipped from Kitimat and through the coastal waters of B.C.
Meanwhile, there are folks who see the pipeline project being vital to the national economy, as well as for B.C.’s economy in the form of fees and jobs.
B.C. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO John Winter notes that “oil is a major source of Canada’s resource wealth, but with virtually no pipeline capacity to the West Coast, Canada’s producers are stuck at selling oil at depressed prices to the [United States] – sometimes $30 a barrel below world prices.”
However, the biggest hurdles for Enbridge are the 31 First Nations groups in the North, Coastal, Vancouver Island and the Interior that are strongly opposed to the bitumen transport by pipeline to the West Coast and then by tanker "endangering" the coastline.
They say they pursue every legal means to block the project.
Art Sterritt, Coastal First Nations executive director, says the pipeline project is virtually dead because Enbridge will never be able to fulfill the 209 conditions.
“We’ve been clear there is no technology to clean up an oil spill and the dispersant that is used causes more damage than the oil itself.”
Obviously, conversations and negotiations between the First Nations and Enbridge have to occur and first-class measures for safe transportation of bitumen over the land and oceans have to be in place before the pipeline goes in the ground.