In a move that many expect will dramatically increase the number of oil tankers moving through the waters between the U.S. and Canada, Canadian energy regulators are recommending approval of Kinder Morgan Canada’s plan to nearly triple pipeline capacity.
The $5.4 billion Trans Mountain project will carry an estimated 890,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta’s oil sands to near Vancouver, British Columbia. There, the oil will be loaded onto tankers for export to Asian and U.S. markets and it should increase vessel traffic through the Salish Sea by seven-fold, according to a report in the Associated Press.
As a result of the pipeline expansion, the country expects to see thousands of construction jobs as well as hundreds of long-term jobs.
Kinder Morgan is promising the expansion will be carried out with a minimal impact on the environment. Despite those assurances, several Indian tribes in Canada and the U.S. have fought the project. So have environmental groups.
“We are facing the very real threat of an oil spill that puts the Salish Sea at risk,” claimed Mel Sheldon, chairman of the Tulalip Tribes. “The fishing grounds of the Salish Sea are the lifeblood of our peoples. We cannot sit idly by while these waters are threatened by reckless increases in oil tanker traffic and the increased risk of catastrophic oil spills.”
