The Alberta government says it will be announcing plans for its proposed pipeline to the West Coast on Thursday.
It’s a change from the province’s previous plan to give details on Tuesday, according to information available on a publicly viewable website.
“We will have a major announcement on July 2 to share new details about the Government of Alberta’s submission to the Major Projects Office for a new one-million-barrel-per-day oil pipeline to Canada’s West Coast,” Sam Blackett, press secretary to Premier Danielle Smith, said in an email to Global News.
Smith and her government previously said they planned to present a final pipeline proposal to Ottawa on July 1. Blackett noted that July 1 was a holiday in his email to Global News.
Tim Hodgson, federal minister of energy and natural resources, said Monday that negotiations between Ottawa and Alberta toward a pipeline deal were “going well.”
Asked Monday if Alberta’s adoption of the Pathways carbon storage project was necessary to secure a deal, he said the pipeline and carbon capture initiative were “mutually dependent on one another.”
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Earlier this month, documents first reported on by CBC News showed a number of options for the pipeline, with the majority ending in British Columbia.
Heather Exner-Pirot, with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, told Global News it appeared all the routes were going farther north than the Northern Gateway pipeline.
Exner-Pirot, who is also a special advisor on energy to the Business Council of Canada, said the routes appear to have been selected for political advantage to go through areas more supportive of oil and gas, rather than economics.
Any pipeline that goes through B.C. is likely to face opposition from Premier David Eby and would require the lifting of the federal ban on northern oil tankers, something the B.C. government and several First Nations oppose.
A week after the documents were reported, B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix expressed frustration about communications involving the pipeline.
He said it was “pretty late in the process” for the B.C. government to learn of the proposals but also rejected the notion that the province was “caught off guard,” adding that any pipeline would face “significant fundamental challenges.”
— with files from Global News’ Amy Judd
Anyone who’s dumb enough to support this pipeline and the destruction of our local environment is dumb enough to vote for OneBC!
So way past time for Carnival Carney to stop up to the plate he built. tell BC that coastal waterways are Federal jurisdiction, and Canada is going to ignore BC’s coastal tanker ban.
And stand up to the small group of natives that are trying to ransom our pipeline. – if they have not signed a treaty, they should have no treaty rights. If they have, it clearly would say they have no rights to even slow down industry.
Hope the route avoids any native reserves and they get nothing for all this whining.
Good luck getting past Dickweed Eby and his FN overlords .The Stewards of Government Handouts might take a bribe but Eby resides in a delusional Liberal utopia fantasy.
Canada needs to stop importing oil we could have easily and more sustainably refined ourselves.
And, I do not care that a group of native inhabitants call us greedy because we migrated here, and opened up the country so even more could enjoy it.
How is thinking your little incohesive tribes are entitled to one of the largest countries in the world not immensely more greedy?
Uh-huh. Whatever you say. All of this is becoming a political bunch of bull. Have you spoken with the tribes yet? These hereditary heretics here? Boy they got to be pretty rich with all the handouts to shut em up by now yet they just dont go away! THIS IS MY COUNTRY AND THE PIPELINES ARE NEEDED!!
EBBY DOES NOT GET THE FINAL SAY FOR BCers or CANADA!! S IS THIS STILL A DEMOCRACY??
Carney said, “We must fight for our rights.” Ok. I’m fighting for my right to use oil as my energy of choice. I’m fighting for my rights to have cheap energy and basics! I’m fighting for DEMOCRACY! F*CK YOUR F*SCISM!