Page 5 - NorthAmOil Week 06

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil
Source: The Canadian Press
Even following the re-approval, the expan- sion has had to navigate through further legal challenges. A key victory came last week, when Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal dismissed four challenges from British Columbia First Nations against the re-approval of the project. The court said in its decision that the record showed a “gen- uine effort” had been made to take into account the main concerns of the groups involved. While the applicants may believe their concerns have not been fully met, “to insist on that happening is to impose a standard of perfection, a standard notrequiredbylaw”,thecourtadded.
Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O’Regan welcomed the ruling as a sign that major projects can still be built in the coun- try if consultations and reviews are carried out properly.
“The courts have acknowledged that we listened and that we want to do things right,” O’Regan said.
What next?
Opponents of the project may still attempt to take a last-ditch legal challenge to the Supreme Court and 35% of the detailed route still needs to be approved, so further delays cannot be ruled out with certainty. However, construction is now accelerating on the expansion.
The project entails adding 980km of new pipeline parallel to the existing 1,150-km Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta to BC, nearly tripling capacity on the system to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd). In Alberta, pipe is in the ground and terminal construction is underway, while work is also ongoing at the Burnaby and West- ridge marine terminals in BC. Construction is
anticipated to be underway along the entire pipe- line before the end of 2020.
The in-service date of the expansion is now set for December 2022, marking another slight delay from the previous estimate of the prior quarter of that year.
Meanwhile, Ottawa has launched a new set of consultations with indigenous groups on their potential participation in the pipeline. The fed- eral government had always planned to return the project to the private sector once the expan- sion was complete – or at least guaranteed to go ahead. The idea of First Nations ownership of the project emerged more recently, and has been welcomed, given expectations that it could bol- ster the legitimacy of the expansion project in the eyes of indigenous communities.
Up to 129 communities will be consulted over the coming weeks to ensure they have a chance for “meaningful economic participation” in Trans Mountain, Canadian Minister of Finance Bill Morneau said at an event in Calgary this week.
“This next step will be focused on differ- ent models of economic participation such as equity-based or revenue-sharing options and will seek to build momentum towards a widely acceptable option for the groups that we’re consulting with,” Morneau added. “We’ll also explore whether the participating communities are willing to work together, either through an existing entity or a new one.”
Several First Nations have expressed an interest in the project, which is expected to bring the Canadian government earnings of CAD500mn ($377mn) per year in taxes once it enters service.™
The in-service date of the expansion is now set for December 2022, marking another slight delay.
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