New resource reviews to look at upstream greenhouse gas emis

[Oscar]

New resource reviews to look at upstream greenhouse gas emissions

[ http://ipolitics.ca/2016/01/27/new-reso ... emissions/ ]

By Canadian Press | Jan 27, 2016 5:54 pm |

The federal government is revamping the way resource projects are reviewed in Canada — changes that include a requirement to look at upstream greenhouse gas emissions.

The new policy, which the government calls a transition step while it hammers out new permanent rules, will also require more consultation with Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples.

The changes apply to two contentious pipeline projects that are currently dominating headlines: the proposed Trans Mountain oil pipeline in B.C. and TransCanada’s Energy East project from Alberta to New Brunswick.

But they’ll also apply to all resource projects, including LNG and mining proposals.

“We believe it is important and, in fact, essential to rebuild Canadians’ trust in our environmental assessment processes,” Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told a news conference Wednesday.

“We need to take into account the views and concerns of Canadians, respect the rights and interests of indigenous peoples and support our natural resources sector.”

Hearings on Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain twinning project are almost over and the government is extending the deadline for a decision by four months, pushing it to next December.

As for Energy East, the government is extending the project review period by an extra six months and adding three temporary members to the National Energy Board in an effort to do greater public consultation.

TransCanada spokesman Mark Cooper said the company needs time to digest the new rules.

“We support a strong and clear regulatory framework that helps Canadians see our commitment to building and operating oil and gas pipelines in the safest and most environmentally sound way possible,” he said in an emailed statement.

“TransCanada operates in a highly regulated industry. We will continue to work with all levels of government and our regulators to ensure the continued safe and environmentally sound transportation of our natural resources to market.”

A decision on Energy East is now not expected before the middle of 2018.

The new assessment rules stress the requirement for input from indigenous communities; the government says it will provide funding to assist those deliberations.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said the changes will provide pipeline proponents greater certainty about the time involved in reaching decisions.

“If we’re going to attract the investments we need to sustainably develop our energy resources, then we have to better engage Canadians, conduct deeper consultations with indigenous peoples and base decisions on science, facts and evidence,” Carr said.

[Oscar]

Ottawa chapter activist challenges Globe and Mail editorial on pipeline reviews

[ http://canadians.org/blog/ottawa-chapte ... ne-reviews ]

January 28, 2016

Council of Canadians Ottawa chapter activist Phil Soubliere pokes some fun at the Globe and Mail editorial board's stance on pipeline reviews.

Yesterday, the Globe and Mail editorial board wrote, "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has finally taken a stand on the Energy East pipeline, and it’s the right one. He says he wants to see it built but that there must be a robust assessment of the $15-billion project that takes into account a new and heightened appreciation of environmental and aboriginal issues. ...He isn’t asking the NEB to start over, but he is giving it a rather difficult assignment. [What will be] the impact of greenhouse gas emissions created by a pipeline[?] Will the companies extracting the oil in Alberta have continued to lower the GHG emissions created by the extraction process? ...Mr. Trudeau is not wrong to ask the NEB to ask these questions." [ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/try-it-n ... d=28403383 ]

Their editorial says, "His stance is laudable and very 2016, but it can’t hide one hard fact: If he fails to convince Canadians to build this pipeline, it will be a disaster for the country. ...Mr. Trudeau needs to persuade Canadians of the fact that a healthy energy sector is a key part of a healthy economy, and of the consequence flowing from that: Oil must move. Where pipelines can transport oil safely, efficiently and in an environmentally respectful way that passes muster with a timely, arm’s-length review process, they should be built. The Prime Minister doesn’t need to be a cheerleader. A plain old leader will do."

In his letter to the editor published in today's Globe and Mail, Soubliere wryly comments, "You want Justin Trudeau to be referee, but call the game your way? But only after making the assessment process as credible as possible, of course. FIFA could learn a thing or two from you." [ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/ ... e28421415/ ]

For further commentary on yesterday's announcement by the Trudeau government on interim measures for pipeline reviews, please see Council of Canadians energy and climate justice campaigner Andrea Harden-Donahue's blog, Feds new pipeline rules show some promise, but the devil is in the details. [ http://canadians.org/blog/feds-new-pipe ... il-details ]

Soubliere also tweets regularly at @PhilSoubliere.

Tags: chapters:
[ http://canadians.org/tags/chapters ]


Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

[Oscar]

New Pipeline Rules Deliver a Reality Check for Environmental Assessment

From: Sierra Club Canada Foundation
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2016 3:34 PM
Subject: New Pipeline Rules Deliver a Reality Check for Environmental Assessment

“Due to financial restraint, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off until further notice.”

More than 30 years ago, on a hand-printed sign in a back corridor at the National Research Council in Ottawa, that message captured the sense of desperation brought on by an earlier generation of federal cutbacks.

The light may have flickered back on yesterday, when Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr announced five new principles to guide federal decisions on two controversial energy megaprojects, Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline.

The Feds Step Up

Some of the details are still hazy. But so far, the five principles read like a solid first step to restore Canadians’ confidence in a badly broken environmental assessment process. Here they are, direct from the Natural Resources Canada website: [ http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?mth ... id=1029999 ]

No project proponent will be asked to return to the starting line—project reviews will continue within the current legislative framework and in accordance with treaty provisions, under the auspices of relevant responsible authorities and Northern regulatory boards;
Decisions will be based on science, traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and other relevant evidence;
The views of the public and affected communities will be sought and considered;
Indigenous peoples will be meaningfully consulted, and where appropriate, impacts on their rights and interests will be accommodated; and
Direct and upstream greenhouse gas emissions linked to the projects under review will be assessed.

Working With What They’ve Got

In so many ways, this announcement shows the new federal government making the best of a bad situation, using the very limited tools at their disposal.

After Canada’s environmental assessment regulations were dismantled in 2012, the National Energy Board summarily decided to exclude consideration of greenhouse gas emissions from its assessments of major pipeline projects. The NEB panel reviewing the Trans Mountain project isn’t even allowing cross-examination of Kinder Morgan’s submissions or testimony. That decision makes evidence in the hearings essentially useless according to Green Party leader Elizabeth May, a lawyer and former Sierra Club executive director who first intervened before the NEB in the early 1980s.

But as May pointed out yesterday, McKenna and Carr would have triggered a torrent of lawsuits if they’d forced the Trans Mountain and Energy East hearings back to the starting gate. Gathering more robust data to inform their own future decisions on the two pipeline proposals is the best they can do—after a previous government took decision-making authority away from the NEB and handed it to the federal Cabinet.

An Important Reality Check

Even if Wednesday’s announcement is imperfect, the five review principles are an important reality check for pipelines and other energy megaprojects. As we said in a news release we issued this morning:

Canada’s environmental assessment processes are badly broken. By setting out broad expectations that resource projects will have to meet, the government has begun the process of earning public and stakeholder confidence in the process.

It’s tremendously important that the government is returning to its past practice of including greenhouse gas emissions in its assessment of major energy proposals like the Energy East pipeline and the Trans Mountain expansion. But it isn’t yet clear what criteria Cabinet will use to determine the acceptable level of emissions from each project. We’re hoping Minister McKenna answered that question in Paris last month, when she committed Canada to a long-term goal of limiting average global warming to 1.5°C.

Getting clarity on what is and is not acceptable in hydrocarbon development in Canada is also the first step in diversifying the country’s resource economy and ensuring a fair, smooth transition for people who work in the fossil fuel industries. Clean energy already produced more direct employment in Canada than the tar sands, even before falling oil prices set off layoffs in the Alberta oilpatch. Canadian workers and small businesses deserve better, and we look forward to seeing the federal government tap the huge potential for stable, steady clean energy jobs across the country.

From yesterday’s announcement, there may actually be a light at the end of the tunnel for Canada’s environmental assessment processes. Time will tell, but yesterday’s announcement was a courageous and noteworthy first step.

Sincerely,

Diane Beckett
Interim Executive Director
Sierra Club Canada Foundation
1510-1 Nicholas St
Ottawa, ON K1N 7B7 Canada

One Earth • One Chance

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