TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Canadian federal government on Tuesday accepted an independent panel’s recommendation to approve the Enbridge Northern Gateway project, subject to 209 conditions.

In outlining the federal government’s decision for the C$6.5-billion project, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford said the Northern Gateway Pipelines project was in the public interest, noting that the decision constituted another step in the approval process.

“In future, the proponent must demonstrate to the independent regulator, [the National Energy Board (NEB)], how it will meet the 209 conditions. It will also have to apply for regulatory permits and authorisations from federal and provincial governments,” Rickford noted.

Further, Enbridge would have to continue its consultations with Aboriginal communities, many of which were fiercely opposed to the oil pipeline running through their traditional lands, as part of many of the 209 conditions that had been established and as part of the process for regulatory authorisations and permits.

“The proponent clearly has more work to do in order to fulfil the public commitment it has made to engage with Aboriginal groups and local communities along the route,” Rickford said.

The pipeline would link Canada’s significant oil sands crude oil-producing province of Alberta, through British Columbia, with the Pacific Ocean, providing a 1 170 km, 525 000 bbl/d gateway that would ship oil sands crude to new markets in Asia.

Running from Bruderheim, Alberta, to a deep-water port at Kitimat, British Columbia, the controversial pipeline project also envisaged a second pipeline that would return 193 000 bbl/d of condensate, which would be used to blend into the thick tar-like oil sands bitumen, enabling it to flow through the pipelines.

Canada’s Athabasca oil sands are large deposits of bitumen or extremely heavy, tarry crude oil, located in north-eastern Alberta, roughly centred on the boomtown of Fort McMurray.

The Northern Gateway Pipelines Limited Partnership submitted the pipeline proposal to the NEB for an environmental assessment and regulatory examination in 2010.

The joint review panel for the Northern Gateway project was an independent body established by the Environment Minister and the NEB to review the project. The panel in December recommended to the federal government to approve the project, subject to 209 conditions being met.

The review panel found the project to be in the public interest, stating that "opening the Pacific Basin markets is important to the Canadian economy and society".

The panel had also found that "the project would bring significant local, regional and national economic and social benefits".

Rickford said the review panel conducted a rigorous science-based review that included feedback from more than 1 450 participants in 21 different communities, reviewing over 175 000 pages of evidence and receiving 9 000 letters of comment.

The NEB is responsible for regulating some 73 000 km of pipelines transporting crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products across Canada.

Integrated steel making and mining company EVRAZ hailed the pipeline's approval.

"We enthusiastically applaud this approval as it generates outstanding economic development for Canada through the direct creation of over 3 000 construction jobs and 560 long-term jobs in British Columbia. With our Canadian workforce of over 2 200 employees in Saskatchewan and across Alberta, we are excited to bid on the opportunity to manufacture the high-quality pipe needed to supply this Enbridge project," EVRAZ North America president and CEO Conrad Winkler said.

FIERCE OPPOSITION

Canadian environmental activist organisation the Pembina Institute was quick to issue a statement condemning the government’s acceptance of the project proposal.

Pembina analyst Erin Flanagan argued that the oil sands sector was already Canada’s fastest-growing source of carbon pollution, yet there were no federal regulations to limit that growth.

“We are very concerned about Cabinet’s decision to approve a project that will allow oil sands development – and its associated carbon pollution – to grow faster at a time when industry and regulators are failing to manage the impacts and risks of current production. The Pembina Institute’s analysis shows the carbon pollution generated by filling the Northern Gateway pipeline would be equivalent to adding over three-million cars to Canada’s roads,” Flanagan said.

She further argued that approving pipeline infrastructure that incentivises further oil sands expansion was not in the public interest in the absence of credible regulations to curb the growth of carbon pollution from the sector.

“The NEB panel excluded the environmental impacts of oil sands development from its review of the Northern Gateway project. It concluded there was not a ‘sufficiently direct connection’ between the project and oil sands expansion,” Flanagan said, adding that the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers cited pipeline infrastructure as one of the key factors that influence the sector’s growth outlook.

“It’s time to modernise Canada’s pipeline review process. The federal government should reform its National Energy Board Act to include upstream carbon pollution in all future reviews of oil sands infrastructure projects,” she said.