Federal government to release new rules for assessing oil pipelines

OTTAWA – The Liberal government is poised to announce new rules today for assessing major resource projects such as oil pipelines.

A technical briefing is being scheduled for news media before Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr announces the new process this afternoon.

Liberals say the new rules will cover a transition period that will include existing pipeline applications already in the works.

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Those includes Kinder Morgan’s proposed twinning of the TransMountain pipeline in British Columbia and TransCanada’s massive Energy East project that would take Alberta and Saskatchewan crude to New Brunswick.

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Pipeline politics have dominated the return of Parliament this week amid deep regional acrimony.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, say any new pipeline approval by the Trudeau government will undermine the Liberals’ commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.