Rail may be option if pipeline projects are rejected: BC, AB

VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – The BC and Alberta governments say if proposals for two pipeline projects are rejected, they could turn to rail as an option to transport bitumen into this province.

The possibility is included in the terms of reference for the energy export strategy the two provinces are working on together.

“As previously discussed, there are two oil pipeline projects that have been proposed in British Columbia – the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines project and the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project,” it states in the 10-page document.

“However, rail can be considered a viable alternative to pipeline movement based on costs of transport. If pipelines are not developed, rail will step into the void to deliver bitumen to the West Coast.”

Rail safety is top of mind throughout the country after a train carrying crude oil exploded in July in Lac Megantic, Quebec, killing dozens of people.

The report expresses the need to study the potential environmental, social and economic impacts of transporting bitumen by train.

“When developing recommendations related to energy exports, the benefits and costs of transportation options need to be weighed to determine which transportation mode provides the greatest economic benefits while minimizing environmental risks,” it says.

Coastal First Nations Executive Director Art Sterritt says northern BC’s Aboriginals are opposed to seeing a pipeline built along their traditional territories and believe the risk of an oil tanker spill is too great to even contemplate.

Sterritt also says the possibility of transporting Alberta oil to the BC coast by rail, “boggles the mind.”

He warns much of BC’s rail infrastructure runs over mountains and along rivers, meaning it wouldn’t change the potential risk of a spill.

Sterritt says his group intends to hold Clark’s Liberals to the government’s previous statements that the Northern Gateway pipeline, as it is currently proposed, fails to adequately address the potential environmental risks.

“They don’t have the technology,” he says. “The geography is not very friendly and there isn’t anybody in the north that wants the project. I don’t know how they are going to make it work.”

A final report, complete with recommendations and an action plan, is due by the end of the year.

Alberta Premier Alison Redford is expected to provide more information when she addresses the Vancouver Board of Trade next month.

The premiers are attempting to move past their very public clash over the Northern Gateway pipeline, which was the subject of a meeting in Calgary last October that Clark later described as “frosty.”