On Nov. 27, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith shook hands on a new pipeline that will carry 1 million barrels of oil from Alberta’s oil sands to the B.C. coast every day.
However, on Nov. 29, a train carrying propane derailed just outside Cranbrook, B.C., leading the District of East Kootenay to issue an evacuation order of multiple nearby rural properties.
The derailment caused one of the train cars carrying propane to begin leaking on land just by the Kootenay River.
The derailment and subsequent leak have added concern to the new pipeline proposal when it comes to the safety surrounding the transport of oil and gas.
Dr. Shelly Luce, campaigns director with Sierra Club B.C. says that no matter the amount, it is not safe to move oil through a pipeline.
“At some point there is always a leak or a breakage. And if we look at records from all over North America, we see consistently damage to wildlife habitat, streams, rivers, wetlands, all kinds of ecosystems that are damaged by contamination from this very toxic product,” Luce says.
The agreement announcement surrounding the pipeline was made by Smith and Carney, without any representative from B.C.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith with their signer pipeline agreement (Credit: CPAC)
“I feel that B.C. has been completely shut out from these negotiations. And I think it’s very, very infuriating for people in B.C. I think a lot of people feel extremely disrespected and quite curious really, as to why Alberta would warrant this kind of special treatment, these carve outs from existing environmental regulations, when they already have refused to meet environmental regulations,” Luce says.
“Now we’re carving things out for them. They have also smothered their renewable energy industry. They basically put a moratorium on new renewable energy, even though the wind and sunshine abundance and the resources of wind and sun in Alberta are enormous,” Luce added about Alberta’s restrictive policies around renewable energy and where sources can be built.
Luce believes the negatives of the pipeline for B.C. outweigh the positives when it comes to the potential for long term damage to the environment.
“It would also cost billions of dollars to even try to clean it up. But as we know, you cannot totally clean up an oil spill. We have seen that in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon spill. Those fisheries have not fully recovered. Those families have not fully regained their sustaining jobs. So the potential here for disaster is huge,” Luce says about the potential of a spill in the currently restricted north coast.
The pipeline is currently set to begin construction in 2029, but Indigenous consultations and negotiations with B.C. must first take place.
