FLETCHER: Canada’s bumpy road to being an energy superpower

Tom Fletcher has covered BC politics and business as a journalist since 1984.VICTORIA – It’s not all obstacles ahead of the proposed West Coast Oil Pipeline, as the third and largest project to deliver oil from northern Alberta to southern BC struggles to move ahead.Buried in the Alberta government’s submission to Mark Carney’s new Major Projects Office is a suggestion that the pipeline from Bruderheim to a new terminal at Roberts Bank could actually result in a reduction of oil tanker traffic in the region.The original Trans Mountain line and the recently completed TMX expansion line both terminate at Westridge terminal in Burnaby, where tanker size is restricted by the depth of Burrard Inlet and passage under the Second Narrows bridge. Approval has been given to dredge the channel so that the relatively small Aframax tankers serving the route can be loaded to full capacity.With a new terminal that can accommodate Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), with about four times the capacity, the Westridge terminal could convert at least some of its traffic to shuttle service.“The project may explore coordinated scheduling of crude oil exports with the existing Trans Mountain system, whereby Aframax tankers loading at Westridge would transship crude to VLCCs at the new facility,” the submission states. “The integrated approach would help to optimize the total number of tankers across both the Trans Mountain system and the project while maximizing parcel sizes suited for long-haul markets such as India.”Another key advantage, as I described two weeks ago, is the extensive work that has been done to reopen the original 1950s right-of-way to heavy equipment for the TMX expansion. But there are many obstacles, some of which go beyond the usual climate emergency posturing..One is that a new VLCC terminal would require a large tank farm in South Delta, some of the most fertile agricultural land in the world. Some of this land would likely fall on the treaty territory of the Tsawwassen First Nation, which is taking a businesslike wait-and-see position on the proposal, as one would expect from leadership that has developed a sprawling shopping centre on its treaty lands.Environmental objections are always a sensitive issue as one approaches southern BC, and the local politics here sometimes have to be seen to be believed. A measure of that was taken this week as Saanich council considered a motion to endorse the principles of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Tree. This motion was voted down, as most councillors chose not to follow the lead of Terrasse-Vaudreuil, Quebec, based on an initiative in France that humans “must act with the tree in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity.” But the fact that it was debated at all says something about the political climate in BC, not to mention Quebec, where Saudi and Nigerian oil are shipped in while politicians deride the very notion of allowing Alberta crude.The West Coast Oil Pipeline’s corridor crosses the habitat of the Oregon Forestsnail, Lewis’s Woodpecker, and Williamson’s Sapsucker, all protected under the federal Species At Risk Act. More significantly, the proposed route crosses critical habitat for mountain and boreal caribou, which have seen their numbers dwindle for a century as road access and snowmobile trails have opened vast regions to winter predators.It’s not well known how integrated Western Canada’s oilsands and LNG development have become. Oilsands development required upgraders to break down the long chains of heavy oil molecules to dilute it so it can flow and to make products like diesel. More recently, the light liquids that come up with natural gas from BC and Alberta’s rich Montney shale formation have provided a large share of that necessary diluent.Natural gas is historically a by-product of oil production, so the development of oil and LNG are interdependent. The latest project, Ksi Lisims LNG at Kitimat, shows the difficulties it has with indigenous claims, even though it is partly owned by the Nisga’a Nation..The Globe and Mail reported this week that Ksi Lisims has reached a deal with another of its rights holders, the Gitga’at First Nation. Among the myriad of tribes with overlapping territorial claims along the BC coast, Ksi Lisims has signed “benefit agreements” with the Lax Kw’alaams Band, Metlakatla First Nation, and Gitxaala Nation, and is still in discussions with the Kitsumkalem First Nation.These types of agreements have been hammered out along the Trans Mountain route, and various environmental actions, legal or otherwise, have been navigated and endured. What remains now is whether the whole thing can be done competitively, despite BC and Canada’s unique conditions of electric-compressed LNG and “decarbonized” oil.These energy products are becoming more in demand than ever, and the fact remains that most of their carbon dioxide emissions occur when they are actually used.Tom Fletcher has covered BC politics and business as a journalist since 1984.tomfletcherbc@gmail.comX: @tomfletcherbc

FLETCHER: Canada’s bumpy road to being an energy superpower

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