CALGARY — Ottawa is moving to designate Premier Danielle Smith’s proposed one million-barrel-per-day crude oil pipeline to the West Coast a project of national interest.According to the Canadian Press, a notice published in the Canada Gazette on August 1 gives Canadians until September 18 to submit comments on the proposed designation.Under the Building Canada Act, projects deemed to be in the national interest can receive expedited federal approval and be exempted from certain requirements under environmental and regulatory laws.The proposal submitted to the federal Major Projects Office (MPO) concerns a proposed 1,250-kilometre interprovincial pipeline that would run from Bruderheim, Alberta (approximately 50 km northeast of Edmonton) to a deepwater port near Delta, British Columbia (approximately 35 km south of Vancouver), where crude oil would be transferred to maritime vessels and then shipped to global markets..UPDATED: Alberta submits West Coast pipeline proposal, partners with Trans Mountain and Pembina.The pipeline is a central component of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy that was signed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Danielle Smith and will be owned by Trans Mountain, the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission and Pembina Pipeline Corporation.Initially, Pembina will hold a 10% ownership stake in the project, with an option to acquire an additional 10% once the pipeline becomes operational.According to the Gazette notice, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc will “consult with the Governments of Alberta and British Columbia, the provinces in which the project would be situated,” while consultation with indigenous rights-holders is “already underway.”So far, Ottawa has listed three other projects as being in the national interest — the Grays Bay road and port project in Nunavut, the Mackenzie Valley Highway in the Northwest Territories and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization's proposed deep geological repository in northern Ontario.
