Canada pipeline construction dispute goes to federal court

Opponents of a pipeline from Canada's land-locked oil sands to the Pacific Coast went to court this week in a desperate bid to stop a major pipeline expansion.

American energy giant Kinder Morgan began preliminary construction this fall on a project to nearly triple the half-century-old Trans Mountain pipeline's capacity at a cost of nearly US$6 billion.

The 1,150-kilometer (715-mile) pipeline carries bitumen from Alberta's oil sands overland to the west through the mountainous province of British Columbia, with a final destination of the coastal metropolis of Vancouver where it's loaded onto tankers and shipped across the Pacific Ocean.

Building a second larger conduit on the existing line would allow for a total of 890,000 barrels of oil per day to be shipped.

But a coalition of aboriginal bands, environmental groups, municipalities and the newly-elected British Columbia provincial government is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to overturn the 2016 federal government's approval of the pipeline expansion.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs pledged Monday to continue fighting the pipeline even at the risk of being jailed, should the legal bid fail.

"We will protect the future of our children and our grandchildren," he told a cheering crowd of several hundred people at a rally outside the courtroom.

The case landed at the federal appeal court after four years of protests, lawsuits by indigenous groups and municipalities along the route, and pushback by environmentalists at National Energy Board hearings before it was finally greenlit by Ottawa in November 2016.

Pipeline proponents include the federal Canadian and provincial Alberta governments and the National Energy Board regulator.

- Economy versus environment -

They contend that expanding the Trans Mountain pipeline is in Canada's national interest -- a critical factor in its approval -- because it will boost Alberta's capacity to export oil at world prices.

They cite the creation of thousands of jobs, and say economic, social, cultural, environmental and policy implications were considered in the evaluation process.

Opponents, however, fight back with a variety of arguments, including that greater numbers of oil tankers would threaten British Columbia's pristine rainforest coastal environment, as well as its tourism and fishing economy.

They say the approval process did not fully factor in the impact of increased oil sands production on climate change. And, an increase in tanker traffic, and the risk of an oil spill, would threaten the already-endangered orcas, or killer whales.

They also argue that the previous approval process was flawed.

Some of the arguments, pro and con, will rest on technical legal aspects of the approval process.

Matthew Kirchner, a lawyer representing four indigenous tribes, told the court Monday that the approval "must be set aside" because the Coldwater band had not been fully consulted on risks to their water supply -- consultation which Canada's top court has ruled is required by law.

Lawyers for Kinder Morgan will begin their arguments Thursday, followed by the Canadian and Alberta governments and the National Energy Board.

The hearings are scheduled to last nine days, and the court was not expected to issue its ruling for several months.

It's possible that no matter the verdict, it will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Source: AFP