By Roy L Hales

Prior to his election as Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau promised that the National Energy Board hearings on the proposed Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion would not go forward. We need a new review process, which both focuses on science and seeks social license in the areas where projects like this are being suggested. That changed after his election. The hearings resumed and, sometime before May 20, the National Energy Board is expected to recommend the Trans Mountain project be approved. If the Prime Minister agrees, there will be a seven-fold increase of diluted bitument coming through the most populated area of British Columbia. In anticipation of the proposed pipeline, the province of British Columbia is drawing up legislation for “world-leading provincial spills regime.” This is the backdrop for the ECOreport’s Monday, April 11, program on CKTZ:   Bitumen sinks and is almost impossible to clean up.

Bitumen Sinks & Is Almost Impossible to Clean Up

Interviews with:

• Cheryl Oates, from the office of the Premier of Alberta
• Larissa Stendie, from Sierra Club BC
• Nathan Cullen, the NDP critic for the Environment and Climate Change
• Peter McCartney from the Wilderness Committee

Index for Podcast

0 – 1:39  – Introduction, Roy L Hales

1:40 – 7:38 – Interview with Cheryl Oates, Office of the Premier of Alberta

• Why do we need a pipeline?
• How the present government of Alberta is addressing its environmental challenges
• Bitumen sinks & is almost impossible to clean up
• Introducing the idea that the pipeline benefits all Canadians

7:39- 10:50 – Roy L Hales commentary:

• How closely the Canadian dollar is tied to price of oil
• The drop in oil prices
• The Government of Alberta loses 90% of its oil revenues
• Canadian exports  to the US hit a record high in January
• Unemployment statistics from Canada & the United States

10:51-11:39 –  Interview with Larissa Stendie, Sierra Club BC:

•  Already too much oil in the pipeline.
• The international market is turning to renewable energy

11:40-12:-34 – Interview with  NDP Environment & Climate Change Critc, Nathan Cullen:

• The Liberal Government’s revised NEB hearing process.

12:35- 15:28 – Interview with Larissa Stendie:

• On the NEB process;
• Rumor that BC’s Lower Mainland is being sacrificed so Alberta can  have a pipeline

15:29-18:40 – Interview with Nathan Cullen:

• That rumour about BC being sacrificed is a rumour
• Increased lobbyist activity in Ottawa since the Liberal Government was elected;
• How Justin Trudeau’s approach to the Kinder Morgan Pipeline project changed after he was elected Prime Minister.

18:40-19:37 – Interview with Larissa Stendie

• This pipeline project does not have social license

19:38—21:58 – Interview with Nathan Cullen

• Does this project have social license?
• Comment the province of BC’s legislation
• Bitumen sinks  & is almost impossible to clean up at sea

21:59-22:33 – Roy L Hales commentary

• UBC study on the effects of a spill
• Computer simulations on the effects of a spill

22:34-23:33 – Interview with Peter McCartney, Wilderness Committee

• BC’s “World class spill regime” will not protect British Columbia because bitumen sinks & is almost impossible to clean up

23:33-24:35 – Interview with Larissa Stendie:

• The province of British Columbia’s legislation, bitumen sinks

24:26-26:02 – Interview with Peter McCartney:

• After the NEB recomends this project

26:03- 26:53 – Interview with Nathan Cullen:

• the Government in power has to honor its promises,
• the transition to a clean economy has to happen

26:54-27:54 –  Interview with Larissa Stendie:

• Need to transition to a clean green economy

27:54- 29:29 – Conclusion, Roy L Hales

Related Links

• UBC News – Single Spill Could Wipe Out Economic Gains From Northern Gateway
• Levelton – Air Quality Impacts from Simulated Oil Spills in Burrard Inlet & English Bay in Vancouver
• Alberta Government: Premier Rachel Notley’s Address to Albertans
• Business News Network: Record exports inspire hope for rebound in Canadian economy 
• Bureau of Labour Statistics for US Employment
• Statistics Canada: Labour Force Survey, March 2016 
• New York Times: Oil Prices: What’s Behind
  the Drop? Simple Economics
• The ECOreport tab for Trans Mountain Pipeline Hearings

Top Photo Credit: Along the tanker route: James Bay in Victoria – Roy L Hales photo